The Holy Bible

and sheep and oxen, servants and maidservants, he gave to Abraham, and he returned her to him. 15 * And Abimelech said to Abraham, "Behold, my land is before you; settle wherever it is pleasing to you." * And to Sarah he said, "Behold, I have given a thousand stater silver coins to your brother; let that be for you as an honor before your face, and for all who are with you; and speak all things righteously." * And Abraham prayed to God, and He healed Abimelech and his wife, and his maidservants, and they gave birth. * For the Lord had closed up on all sides every womb in the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

CH. 21

21 And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. * And Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the time that God had spoken to him. * And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. * And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac on the eighth day, as the Lord God had commanded him. * And Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. * And Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; for everyone who hears will rejoice with me." * And she said, "Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse a child? For I have borne a son in my old age." * And the child grew and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that his son Isaac was weaned.

24 * And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac, and she said to Abraham, * "Cast out this slave woman and her son; for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with my son Isaac." * And the matter seemed very severe before Abraham because of his son. * And God said to Abraham, "Do not let it seem severe before you because of the boy and the slave woman; listen to her in all that Sarah says to you, for through Isaac your offspring shall be called. * But I will make the son of the slave woman into a great nation, because he is your seed." * Abraham rose in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, and he placed the child on her shoulder, and sent her away. And she went and wandered in the desert by the well of the oath. * And the water in the skin was exhausted, and she cast the child under one of the fir trees; * and she went and sat opposite him at a distance, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, "I will not see the death of my son." And she sat opposite him, and the child lifted up his voice and wept. * And God heard the voice of the child from the place where he was; and an angel of God called from heaven and said to her, "What is this, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of your son from the place where he is. * Arise, take the child, and strengthen him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation." * And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of living water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the child to drink. And God was with the child; and he grew and became an archer. * And he lived in the desert of Pharan, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

25 * And it happened at that time that Abimelech, and Ochozath his steward, and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham and said, "God is with you in all that you do. * Now, swear to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my offspring, nor with my name; but according to the righteousness that I have done with you, you shall do with me, and with the land in which you have settled." * And Abraham said, "I will swear." * And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had taken away. * And Abimelech said to him, "I did not know who did this thing, and you did not tell me; nor had I heard of it, except today." * And Abraham took calves and sheep and gave them to Abimelech; and the two made a covenant with each other. * And Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. * And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What are these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart by themselves?" * And he said, "Take these seven ewe lambs from me, so that it may be as a testimony for me that I dug this well." * Therefore he named the name of that place The Well of the Oath, * because there the two of them swore to each other, and there they made a covenant at the Well of the Oath. Abimelech and Ochozath his steward and Phicol, the commander of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines. * And Abraham planted a grove by the Well of the Oath, and he called there the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. * And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines for many days.

CH. 22

26 And it happened after these matters that God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham, Abraham." And he said, "Here I am." * And He said to him, "Take your son, your beloved whom you loved, Isaac, and go to the high land, and offer him there as a whole burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." * And Abraham rose in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his servants with him, and his son Isaac; and he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went, and came to the place of which God had told him. * And on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from a distance. * And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and the young man will go over there, and we will worship and return to you." * And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it upon his son Isaac, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife, and they both went together. * And Isaac said to Abraham his father, "Father." And he said, "What is it, my son?" And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood; where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" * And he said, "God will see for Himself a lamb for a burnt offering, my son." And they both went together, * and they came to the place of which God had told him. Abraham built an altar there, and placed the wood upon it; and he bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar upon the wood. * And Abraham stretched out his hand to take the knife and to slay his son. * And the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham." And he said to him, "Here I am." * And he said, "Do not lay your hand on the young man, and do not do anything to him; for now I know that you are God-fearing, and you did not spare your beloved son for my sake." * Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, a ram caught by its horns in the Savek tree.

(15) Some say: "Behold, my land is before you." (16) Others: "Speak righteously." (17) In one copy: "And he prayed." Ch. 21 (2) Some: "And Sarah conceived and bore." (6) Some: "God has made me laugh; he will rejoice with me." (7) Some: "That she would nurse." (8) Some: "from the weaning of his son Isaac." (13) Some: "But also the son of the slave woman." (14) Some: "And he put the child on her shoulder." (16) Some: "Going, she sat opposite him at a distance." (17) Some: "at the weaning. And the angel of God called to Hagar." (22) Some: "And Abimelech spoke; and he said to Abraham." (23) Some: "Now swear to me." (23) In the text: "nor with my name"; though in some texts this is omitted. (25) Some: "Because of the well of water which." (31) Some: "The name of that place, the well of Beersheba." (33) Some: "The name of the Lord, the Everlasting God." Ch. 22 (6) Some: "the fire and the knife in his hand." (7) Some: "to Abraham his father." (9) Others: "on the altar upon the wood."