Genesis 16-19

New International Reader's Version

Hagar and Ishmael

16 Abram’s wife Sarai had never had any children by him. But she had a female slave from Egypt named Hagar. ² So she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go and sleep with my slave. Maybe I can have a family through her.”

Abram agreed to what Sarai had said. ³ His wife Sarai gave him her slave Hagar to be his wife. That was after he had been living in Canaan for ten years. ⁴ Then he slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant.

When Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to look down on the woman who owned her. ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “It’s your fault that I’m suffering like this. I put my slave in your arms. Now that she knows she’s pregnant, she looks down on me. May the Lord judge between you and me. May he decide which of us is right.”

⁶ “Your slave belongs to you,” Abram said. “Do with her what you think is best.” Then Sarai treated Hagar badly. So Hagar ran away from her.

⁷ The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring of water in the desert. The spring was beside the road to Shur. ⁸ The angel said, “Hagar, you are Sarai’s slave. Where have you come from? Where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my owner Sarai,” she answered.

⁹ Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to the woman who owns you. Obey her.” ¹⁰ The angel continued, “I will give you and your family many children. There will be more of them than anyone can count.”

¹¹ The angel of the Lord also said to her,

¹³ She gave a name to the Lord who spoke to her. She called him “You are the God who sees me.” That’s because she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” ¹⁴ That’s why the well was named Beer Lahai Roi. It’s still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ So Hagar had a son by Abram and Abram gave him the name Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was 86 years old when Hagar had Ishmael by him.

The Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him. He said, “I am the Mighty God. Walk faithfully with me. Live in a way that pleases me. ² I will now act on my covenant between me and you. I will greatly increase the number of your children after you.”

³ Abram fell with his face to the ground. God said to him, ⁴ “This is my covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations. ⁵ You will not be called Abram anymore. Your name will be Abraham, because I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶ I will greatly increase the number of your children after you. Nations and kings will come from you. ⁷ I will make my covenant with you last forever. It will be between me and you and your family after you for all time to come. I will be your God. And I will be the God of all your family after you. ⁸ You are now living in Canaan as an outsider. But I will give you the whole land of Canaan. You will own it forever and so will all your family after you. And I will be their God.”

⁹ Then God said to Abraham, “You must keep my covenant. You and your family after you must keep it for all time to come. ¹⁰ Here is my covenant that you and your family after you must keep. You and every male among you must be circumcised. ¹¹ That will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² It must be done for all time to come. Every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised. That includes those who are born into your own family or outside it. It also includes those bought with money from a stranger. ¹³ So any male born into your family or bought with your money must be circumcised. My covenant will last forever. Your body will have the mark of my covenant on it. ¹⁴ Any male who has not been circumcised will be separated from his people. He has broken my covenant.”

¹⁵ God also said to Abraham, “Do not continue to call your wife by the name Sarai. Her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶ I will give her my blessing. You can be sure that I will give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations. Kings of nations will come from her.”

¹⁷ Abraham fell with his face to the ground. He laughed and said to himself, “Can a 100-year-old man have a son? Can Sarah have a child at the age of 90?” ¹⁸ Abraham said to God, “I really wish Ishmael could receive your blessing!”

¹⁹ Then God said, “Yes, I will bless Ishmael. But your wife Sarah will have a son by you. And you will name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him. That covenant will last forever. It will be for Isaac and his family after him. ²⁰ I have heard what you said about Ishmael. I will surely bless him. I will make his family very large. He will be the father of 12 rulers. And I will make him into a great nation. ²¹ But I will establish my covenant with Isaac. By this time next year, Sarah will have a son by you.” ²² When God had finished speaking with Abraham, God left him.

²³ On that same day Abraham circumcised his son Ishmael. He also circumcised every male who was born into his family or bought with his money. He did exactly as God had told him. ²⁴ Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised. ²⁵ His son Ishmael was 13. ²⁶ Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day. ²⁷ And every male in Abraham’s household was circumcised along with him. That included those born into his family or bought from a stranger.

Three Men Visit Abraham

18 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the large trees of Mamre. Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent. It was the hottest time of the day. ² Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. So he quickly left the entrance to his tent to greet them. He bowed low to the ground.

³ He said, “My lord, if you are pleased with me, don’t pass me by. ⁴ Let me get you some water. Then all of you can wash your feet and rest under this tree. ⁵ Let me get you something to eat to give you strength. Then you can go on your way. I want to do this for you now that you have come to me.”

“All right,” they answered. “Do as you say.”

⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick!” he said. “Get about 36 pounds of the finest flour. Prepare it and bake some bread.”

⁷ Then he ran over to the herd. He picked out a choice, tender calf. He gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. ⁸ Then he brought some butter and milk and the calf that had been prepared. He served them to the three men. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.

⁹ “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.

“Over there in the tent,” he said.

¹⁰ Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year. Your wife Sarah will have a son.”

Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were already very old. Sarah was too old to have a baby. ¹² So she laughed to herself. She thought, “I’m worn out, and my husband is old. Can I really know the joy of having a baby?”

¹³ Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Will I really have a baby, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for me? I will return to you at the appointed time next year. Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵ Sarah was afraid. So she lied and said, “I didn’t laugh.”

But the Lord said, “Yes, you laughed.”

Abraham Pleads for Sodom

¹⁶ The men got up to leave. They looked down toward Sodom. Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. ¹⁷ Then the Lord said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? ¹⁸ He will certainly become a great and powerful nation. All nations on earth will be blessed because of him. ¹⁹ I have chosen him. He must direct his children to live in the way that pleases me. And he must direct the members of his family after him to do the same. So he must guide all of them in doing what is right and fair. Then I, the Lord, will do for Abraham what I have promised him.”

²⁰ The Lord also said, “The cries against Sodom and Gomorrah are very great. Their sin is so bad ²¹ that I will go down and see for myself. I want to see if what they have done is as bad as the cries that have reached me. If it is not, then I will know.”

²² The men turned away and went toward Sodom. But Abraham remained standing in front of the Lord. ²³ Then Abraham came up to him. He said, “Will you sweep away godly people along with those who are evil? ²⁴ What if there are 50 godly people in the city? Will you really sweep it away? Won’t you spare the place because of the 50 godly people in it? ²⁵ You would never kill godly people along with those who are evil, would you? Would you treat them all alike? You would never do anything like that! Won’t the Judge of the whole earth do what is right?”

²⁶ The Lord said, “If I find 50 godly people in the city of Sodom, I will spare it. I will spare the whole place because of them.”

²⁷ Then Abraham spoke up again. He said, “I have been very bold to speak to the Lord. After all, I’m only dust and ashes. ²⁸ What if the number of godly people is five fewer than 50? Will you destroy the whole city because there are five fewer people?”

“If I find 45 there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”

²⁹ Once again Abraham spoke to him. He asked, “What if only 40 are found there?”

He said, “If there are 40, I will not do it.”

³⁰ Then Abraham said, “Lord, please don’t be angry with me. Let me speak. What if only 30 can be found there?”

He answered, “If I find 30, I will not do it.”

³¹ Abraham said, “I have been very bold to speak to the Lord. What if only 20 can be found there?”

He said, “If I find 20, I will not destroy it.”

³² Then he said, “Lord, please don’t be angry with me. Let me speak just one more time. What if only ten can be found there?”

He answered, “If I find ten, I will not destroy it.”

³³ When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left. And Abraham returned home.

The Lord Destroys Sodom and Gomorrah

19 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening. Lot was sitting near the gate of the city. When Lot saw the angels, he got up to greet them. He bowed down with his face to the ground. ² “My lords,” he said, “please come to my house. You can wash your feet and spend the night there. Then you can go on your way early in the morning.”

“No,” they answered. “We’ll spend the night in the town square.”

³ But Lot wouldn’t give up. So they went with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them. He baked bread without using yeast. And they ate. ⁴ Before Lot and his guests had gone to bed, all the men came from every part of the city of Sodom. Young and old men alike surrounded the house. ⁵ They called out to Lot. They said, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us. We want to have sex with them.”

⁶ Lot went outside to meet them. He shut the door behind him. ⁷ He said, “No, my friends. Don’t do such an evil thing. ⁸ Look, I have two daughters that no man has ever slept with. I’ll bring them out to you now. Then do to them what you want to. But don’t do anything to these men. I’ve brought them inside so they can be safe.”

⁹ “Get out of our way!” the men of Sodom replied to Lot. “You came here as an outsider. Now you want to act like a judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept trying to force Lot to open the door. Then they moved forward to break it down.

¹⁰ But the angels inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. ¹¹ Then they made the men who were at the door of the house blind. They blinded both young and old men so that they couldn’t find the door.

¹² The two angels said to Lot, “Do you have any other family members here? Do you have sons-in-law, sons, daughters or any other relatives in the city? Get them out of here! ¹³ We are going to destroy this place. Many have cried out to the Lord against the people of this city. So he has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴ Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law. They had promised to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry up! Get out of this place! The Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

¹⁵ The sun was coming up. So the angels tried to get Lot to leave. They said, “Hurry up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out! If you don’t, you will be swept away when the city is destroyed.”

¹⁶ Lot didn’t move right away. So the men grabbed him by the hand. They also took hold of the hands of his wife and two daughters. They led all of them safely out of the city. The Lord had mercy on them. ¹⁷ As soon as the angels had brought them out, one of them spoke. He said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look back! Don’t stop anywhere in the valley! Run to the mountains! If you don’t, you will be swept away!”

¹⁸ But Lot said to them, “No, my lords! Please! ¹⁹ You have done me a big favor. You have been very kind to me by sparing my life. But I can’t run to the mountains. I won’t be able to escape this horrible thing that’s going to happen. And then I’ll die. ²⁰ Look, here’s a town near enough to run to. It’s small. Let me run to it. It’s very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”

²¹ The Lord said to Lot, “All right. I will also give you what you are asking for. I will not destroy the town you are talking about. ²² But run there quickly. I can’t do anything until you reach it.” The town was named Zoar. Zoar means Small.

²³ By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. ²⁴ Then the Lord sent down burning sulfur. It came down like rain on Sodom and Gomorrah. It came from the Lord. It came out of the sky. ²⁵ The Lord destroyed these cities and the whole valley. All the people who were living in the cities were wiped out. So were the plants in the land. ²⁶ But Lot’s wife looked back. When she did, she became a pillar made out of salt.

²⁷ Early the next morning Abraham got up. He returned to the place where he had stood in front of the Lord. ²⁸ He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole valley. He saw thick smoke rising from the land. It looked like smoke from a furnace.

²⁹ So when God destroyed the cities of the valley, he showed concern for Abraham. He brought Lot out safely when he destroyed the cities where Lot had lived.

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰ Lot and his two daughters left Zoar. They went to live in the mountains because Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar. So he and his daughters lived in a cave. ³¹ One day the older daughter spoke to the younger one. She said, “Our father is old. People all over the earth have men to marry and have children with. We do not. ³² So let’s get our father to drink wine. Then we can sleep with him. We can use our father to continue our family line.”

³³ That night they got their father to drink wine. Then the older daughter went in and slept with him. He wasn’t aware when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁴ The next day the older daughter spoke to the younger one again. She said, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight. Then you go in and sleep with him. We can use our father to continue our family line.” ³⁵ So they got their father to drink wine that night also. Then the younger daughter slept with him. Again he wasn’t aware when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁶ So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. ³⁷ The older daughter had a son. She named him Moab. He’s the father of the Moabites of today. ³⁸ The younger daughter also had a son. She named him Ben-Ammi. He’s the father of the Ammonites of today.