21:1 The Lord visited 1 Sarah just as he had said he would and did 2 for Sarah what he had promised. 3 21:2 So Sarah became pregnant 4 and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the appointed time that God had told him. 21:3 Abraham named his son – whom Sarah bore to him – Isaac. 5 21:4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, 6 Abraham circumcised him just as God had commanded him to do. 7 21:5 (Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.) 8
21:6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. 9 Everyone who hears about this 10 will laugh 11 with me.” 21:7 She went on to say, 12 “Who would 13 have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son for him in his old age!”
21:8 The child grew and was weaned. Abraham prepared 14 a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 15 21:9 But Sarah noticed 16 the son of Hagar the Egyptian – the son whom Hagar had borne to Abraham – mocking. 17 21:10 So she said to Abraham, “Banish 18 that slave woman and her son, for the son of that slave woman will not be an heir along with my son Isaac!”
21:11 Sarah’s demand displeased Abraham greatly because Ishmael was his son. 19 21:12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be upset 20 about the boy or your slave wife. Do 21 all that Sarah is telling 22 you because through Isaac your descendants will be counted. 23 21:13 But I will also make the son of the slave wife into a great nation, for he is your descendant too.”
21:14 Early in the morning Abraham took 24 some food 25 and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He put them on her shoulders, gave her the child, 26 and sent her away. So she went wandering 27 aimlessly through the wilderness 28 of Beer Sheba. 21:15 When the water in the skin was gone, she shoved 29 the child under one of the shrubs. 21:16 Then she went and sat down by herself across from him at quite a distance, about a bowshot 30 away; for she thought, 31 “I refuse to watch the child die.” 32 So she sat across from him and wept uncontrollably. 33
21:17 But God heard the boy’s voice. 34 The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter, 35 Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard 36 the boy’s voice right where he is crying. 21:18 Get up! Help the boy up and hold him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 21:19 Then God enabled Hagar to see a well of water. 37 She went over and filled the skin with water, and then gave the boy a drink.
21:20 God was with the boy as he grew. He lived in the wilderness and became an archer. 21:21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran. 38 His mother found a wife for him from the land of Egypt. 39
21:22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you 40 in all that you do. 21:23 Now swear to me right here in God’s name 41 that you will not deceive me, my children, or my descendants. 42 Show me, and the land 43 where you are staying, 44 the same loyalty 45 that I have shown you.” 46
21:24 Abraham said, “I swear to do this.” 47 21:25 But Abraham lodged a complaint 48 against Abimelech concerning a well 49 that Abimelech’s servants had seized. 50 21:26 “I do not know who has done this thing,” Abimelech replied. “Moreover, 51 you did not tell me. I did not hear about it until today.”
21:27 Abraham took some sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech. The two of them made a treaty. 52 21:28 Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs apart from the flock by themselves. 21:29 Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these 53 seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?” 21:30 He replied, “You must take these seven ewe lambs from my hand as legal proof 54 that I dug this well.” 55 21:31 That is why he named that place 56 Beer Sheba, 57 because the two of them swore 58 an oath there.
21:32 So they made a treaty 59 at Beer Sheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, returned 60 to the land of the Philistines. 61 21:33 Abraham 62 planted a tamarisk tree 63 in Beer Sheba. There he worshiped the Lord, 64 the eternal God. 21:34 So Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for quite some time. 65
22:1 Some time after these things God tested 66 Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham 67 replied. 22:2 God 68 said, “Take your son – your only son, whom you love, Isaac 69 – and go to the land of Moriah! 70 Offer him up there as a burnt offering 71 on one of the mountains which I will indicate to 72 you.”
22:3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. 73 He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out 74 for the place God had spoken to him about.
22:4 On the third day Abraham caught sight of 75 the place in the distance. 22:5 So he 76 said to his servants, “You two stay 77 here with the donkey while 78 the boy and I go up there. We will worship 79 and then return to you.” 80
22:6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. Then he took the fire and the knife in his hand, 81 and the two of them walked on together. 22:7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, 82 “My father?” “What is it, 83 my son?” he replied. “Here is the fire and the wood,” Isaac said, 84 “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 22:8 “God will provide 85 for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham replied. The two of them continued on together.
22:9 When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there 86 and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up 87 his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. 22:10 Then Abraham reached out his hand, took the knife, and prepared to slaughter 88 his son. 22:11 But the Lord’s angel 89 called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am!” he answered. 22:12 “Do not harm the boy!” 90 the angel said. 91 “Do not do anything to him, for now I know 92 that you fear 93 God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”
22:13 Abraham looked up 94 and saw 95 behind him 96 a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. So he 97 went over and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place “The Lord provides.” 98 It is said to this day, 99 “In the mountain of the Lord provision will be made.” 100
22:15 The Lord’s angel called to Abraham a second time from heaven 22:16 and said, “‘I solemnly swear by my own name,’ 101 decrees the Lord, 102 ‘that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 22:17 I will indeed bless you, 103 and I will greatly multiply 104 your descendants 105 so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession 106 of the strongholds 107 of their enemies. 22:18 Because you have obeyed me, 108 all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another 109 using the name of your descendants.’”
22:19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set out together 110 for Beer Sheba where Abraham stayed. 111
22:20 After these things Abraham was told, “Milcah 112 also has borne children to your brother Nahor – 22:21 Uz the firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel (the father of Aram), 113 22:22 Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 22:23 (Now 114 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah.) These were the eight sons Milcah bore to Abraham’s brother Nahor. 22:24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore him children – Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
23:1 Sarah lived 127 years. 115 23:2 Then she 116 died in Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 117
23:3 Then Abraham got up from mourning his dead wife 118 and said to the sons of Heth, 119 23:4 “I am a temporary settler 120 among you. Grant 121 me ownership 122 of a burial site among you so that I may 123 bury my dead.” 124
23:5 The sons of Heth answered Abraham, 125 23:6 “Listen, sir, 126 you are a mighty prince 127 among us! You may bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb to prevent you 128 from burying your dead.”
23:7 Abraham got up and bowed down to the local people, 129 the sons of Heth. 23:8 Then he said to them, “If you agree 130 that I may bury my dead, 131 then hear me out. 132 Ask 133 Ephron the son of Zohar 23:9 if he will sell 134 me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him sell it to me publicly 135 for the full price, 136 so that I may own it as a burial site.”
23:10 (Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth.) Ephron the Hethite 137 replied to Abraham in the hearing 138 of the sons of Heth – before all who entered the gate 139 of his city – 23:11 “No, my lord! Hear me out. I sell 140 you both the field and the cave that is in it. 141 In the presence of my people 142 I sell it to you. Bury your dead.”
23:12 Abraham bowed before the local people 23:13 and said to Ephron in their hearing, “Hear me, if you will. I pay 143 to you the price 144 of the field. Take it from me so that I may 145 bury my dead there.”
23:14 Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, 23:15 “Hear me, my lord. The land is worth 146 400 pieces of silver, 147 but what is that between me and you? So bury your dead.”
23:16 So Abraham agreed to Ephron’s price 148 and weighed 149 out for him 150 the price 151 that Ephron had quoted 152 in the hearing of the sons of Heth – 400 pieces of silver, according to the standard measurement at the time. 153
23:17 So Abraham secured 154 Ephron’s field in Machpelah, next to Mamre, including the field, the cave that was in it, and all the trees that were in the field and all around its border, 23:18 as his property in the presence of the sons of Heth before all who entered the gate of Ephron’s city. 155
23:19 After this Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah next to Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 23:20 So Abraham secured the field and the cave that was in it as a burial site 156 from the sons of Heth.