Genesis 21

1 Now Yehovah looked on Sarah as He had said, and Yehovah did to Sarah as He had spoken. 2 And Sarah became pregnant, and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham named his son who was born to him, whom Sarah gave birth to for him, Isaac (which means He Will Laugh). 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Now Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. And everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7 She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham, that Sarah would nurse children? For I have given birth to a son for him in his old age.”

8 Now the child grew, and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had given birth to for Abraham, laughing. 10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Expel this slave and her son! For the son of this slave will not inherit with my son, with Isaac.”

11 And the saying was very bad in Abraham’s eyes because of his son. 12 And God said to Abraham, “Don’t let it be bad in your eyes because of the boy, and because of your slave. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For through Isaac your offspring will be called. 13 And also, the son of the slave I will build up into a nation, because he is your offspring.” 14 Now Abraham got up early in the morning, and took bread and a water pack, and gave it to Hagar—putting it on her shoulder--and the boy, and sent her away. And she left and wandered in the backcountry of Be’er-Sheva. 15 Now the water in the water pack was used up, and she put the child under one of the shrubs. 16 And she went and sat down far away, as far away as a bowshot, because she said, “Don’t let me see the child die.” And she sat far away, and raised her voice and cried. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy.

And the Angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him with your hand. For I will build him up into a great nation.”

19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the water pack with water, and gave the boy a drink. 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew. And he settled in the backcountry, and became a skilled archer. 21 And he settled in the backcountry of Paran. And his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

22 And it happened at that time that Avimelekh and Pikhol the captain of his army spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do. 23 Now therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son. But according to the kind favor that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have lived as a foreigner.”

24 And Abraham said, “I will swear.” 25 Now Abraham rebuked Avimelekh because of a water well, which Avimelech’s servants had stolen. 26 And Avimelekh said, “I don’t know who has done this thing. You didn’t tell me, and I also didn’t hear of it until today.”

27 And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Avimelekh. And the two of them made a contract. 28 And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. 29 And Avimelekh said to Abraham, “What are these seven ewe lambs, which you have set by themselves?”

30 And he said, “You will take seven ewe lambs from my hand, that it may be a witness for me, that I have dug this well.” 31 Therefore he called that place Be’er-Sheva (which means Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), because the two of them swore an oath there. 32 So they made a contract at Be’er-Sheva. And Avimelekh rose up with Pikhol, the captain of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. 33 Now he planted a tamarisk tree in Be’er-Sheva, and called there on the name of Yehovah, the Everlasting God. 34 And Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines many days.


Next: Chapter 22

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