Genesis 20-22

New American Standard Bible

Abraham’s Treachery

20 Now Abraham journeyed from ^(A)there toward the land of ^(B)the ^[a]Negev, and ^[b]settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he lived for a time in ^(C)Gerar. ² And Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “^(D)She is my sister.” So ^(E)Abimelech king of Gerar sent men and took Sarah. ^3 (F)But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, ^(G)you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is ^[c]married.” ⁴ Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, ^(H)will You kill a nation, even though ^[d]blameless? ⁵ Did he himself not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she ^(I)herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In ^(J)the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my ^[e]hands I have done this.” ⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also ^[f](K)kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now then, return the man’s wife, for ^(L)he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will certainly die, you and all who are yours.”

⁸ So Abimelech got up early in the morning and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ^[g]presence; and the people were greatly frightened. ^9 (M)Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And ^[h]how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom ^(N)a great sin? You have done to me ^[i]things that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you ^[j]encountered, that you have done this thing?” ¹¹ Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no ^(O)fear of God in this place, and ^(P)they will kill me because of my wife. ¹² Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife; ¹³ and it came about, when ^(Q)God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is ^[k]the kindness which you will show to me: ^[l]everywhere we go, ^(R)say of me, “He is my brother.”’” ^14 (S)Abimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him. ¹⁵ Abimelech said, “^(T)Behold, my land is before you; ^[m]settle wherever ^[n]you please.” ¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given your ^(U)brother a thousand pieces of silver. ^[o]It is ^[p]your vindication before all who are with you, and before everyone you are cleared.” ¹⁷ Then ^(V)Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his female slaves, so that they gave birth to children. ^18 (W)For the Lord had completely closed all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Isaac Is Born

21 ^(X)Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had ^[q]promised. ^2 (Y)So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at ^(Z)the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. ³ Abraham named his son who was born to him, the son whom Sarah bore to him, ^(AA)Isaac. ⁴ Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was ^(AB)eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵ Now Abraham was ^(AC)a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ Sarah said, “God has made ^(AD)laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh ^[r]with me.” ⁷ And she said, “^(AE)Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son in his old age.”

⁸ And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah Turns against Hagar

⁹ Now Sarah saw ^(AF)the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^(AG)mocking Isaac. ¹⁰ Therefore she said to Abraham, “^(AH)Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son ^[s]Isaac!” ^11 (AI)The matter ^[t]distressed Abraham greatly because of his son Ishmael. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “^[u]Do not be distressed because of the boy and your slave woman; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for ^(AJ)through Isaac ^[v]your descendants shall be named. ¹³ And of ^(AK)the son of the slave woman I will make a nation also, because he is your ^[w]descendant.” ¹⁴ So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a ^[x]skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was used up, she ^[y]left the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “May I not ^[z]see the boy die!” And she sat opposite him, and ^(AL)raised her voice and wept. ¹⁷ God ^(AM)heard the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “^[aa]What is the matter with you, Hagar? ^(AN)Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ¹⁸ Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him by ^[ab]the hand, ^(AO)for I will make a great nation of him.” ¹⁹ Then God ^(AP)opened her eyes, and she saw ^(AQ)a well of water; and she went and filled the ^[ac]skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰ And ^(AR)God was with the boy, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer. ^21 (AS)He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Covenant with Abimelech

²² Now it came about at that time that ^(AT)Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “^(AU)God is with you in all that you do; ²³ so now, ^(AV)swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my descendants, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have resided.” ²⁴ Abraham said, “I swear it.” ²⁵ But Abraham ^[ad]complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech ^(AW)had seized. ²⁶ And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it ^[ae]until today.”

²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and ^(AX)the two of them made a covenant. ²⁸ But Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. ²⁹ Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?” ³⁰ He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a ^(AY)witness for me, that I dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore he called that place ^[af](AZ)Beersheba, because there the two of them took an oath. ³² So they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, got up and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there ^(BA)he called on the name of the Lord, the ^(BB)Everlasting God. ³⁴ And Abraham resided ^(BC)in the land of the Philistines for many days.

The Offering of Isaac

22 Now it came about after these things, that ^(BD)God tested Abraham, and said to him, “^(BE)Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ² Then He said, “Take now ^(BF)your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of ^(BG)Moriah, and offer him there as a ^(BH)burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” ³ So Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. ⁵ Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” ⁶ And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and ^(BI)laid it on his son Isaac, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. ⁷ Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the ^(BJ)lamb for the burnt offering?” ⁸ Abraham said, “God will ^[ag]provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

⁹ Then they came to ^(BK)the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built ^(BL)the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and ^(BM)laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham reached out with his hand and took the knife to ^[ah]slaughter his son. ¹¹ But ^(BN)the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹² He said, “Do not reach out your hand against the boy, and do not do anything to him; for now ^(BO)I know that you ^[ai]fear God, since you have not withheld ^(BP)your son, your only son, from Me.” ¹³ Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in the place of his son. ¹⁴ And Abraham named that place ^[aj]The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “On the mountain of the Lord ^(BQ)it will ^[ak]be provided.”

¹⁵ Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, ¹⁶ and said, “^(BR)By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷ indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly ^(BS)multiply your ^[al]seed as the stars of the heavens and as ^(BT)the sand, which is on the seashore; and ^(BU)your ^[am]seed shall possess the gate of ^[an]their enemies. ¹⁸ And ^(BV)in your ^[ao]seed all the nations of the earth shall ^[ap]be blessed, because you have ^(BW)obeyed My voice.” ^19 (BX)So Abraham returned to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived in Beersheba.

²⁰ Now it came about after these things, that Abraham was told, saying, “Behold, ^(BY)Milcah ^[aq]also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ²¹ Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), ²² Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel”— ²³ and it was Bethuel who fathered ^(BZ)Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ His concubine, whose name was Reumah, ^[ar]also gave birth to Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.