Genesis 18-22

New American Standard Bible 1995

Birth of Isaac Promised

18 Now ^(A)the Lord appeared to him by the ^[a](B)oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. ² When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three ^(C)men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, ³ and said, “^[b]My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not ^[c]pass Your servant by. ⁴ Please let a little water be brought and ^(D)wash your feet, and ^[d]rest yourselves under the tree; ⁵ and I will ^[e](E)bring a piece of bread, that you may ^[f]refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have ^[g]visited your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.” ⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “^[h]Quickly, prepare three ^[i]measures of fine flour, knead it and make bread cakes.” ⁷ Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and ^[j]choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. ⁸ He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree ^[k]as they ate.

⁹ Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” ¹⁰ He said, “^(F)I will surely return to you ^[l]at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. ¹¹ Now ^(G)Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was ^(H)past ^[m]childbearing. ¹² Sarah laughed ^[n]to herself, saying, “^(I)After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my ^(J)lord being old also?” ¹³ And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed ^[o]bear a child, when I am so old?’ ^14 (K)Is anything too ^[p]difficult for the Lord? At the ^(L)appointed time I will return to you, ^[q]at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁵ Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

¹⁶ Then ^(M)the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. ^17 (N)The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham ^(O)what I am about to do, ¹⁸ since Abraham will surely become a great and ^[r]mighty nation, and in him ^(P)all the nations of the earth will be blessed? ¹⁹ For I have ^[s](Q)chosen him, so that he may ^(R)command his children and his household after him to ^(S)keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham ^(T)what He has spoken about him.” ²⁰ And the Lord said, “^(U)The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. ²¹ I will ^(V)go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”

²² Then ^(W)the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before ^(X)the Lord. ²³ Abraham came near and said, “^(Y)Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not ^[t]spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ Far be it from You to do ^[u]such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not ^(Z)the Judge of all the earth ^[v]deal justly?” ²⁶ So the Lord said, “^(AA)If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will ^[w]spare the whole place on their account.” ²⁷ And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ^[x]ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but ^(AB)dust and ashes. ²⁸ Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ²⁹ He spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” ³⁰ Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” ³¹ And he said, “Now behold, I have ^[y]ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” ³² Then he said, “^(AC)Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” ³³ As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham ^(AD)the Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

The Doom of Sodom

19 Now the ^(AE)two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When ^(AF)Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and ^[z]bowed down with his face to the ground. ² And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.” ³ Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; ^(AG)and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴ Before they lay down, ^(AH)the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people ^[aa]from every quarter; ⁵ and they called to Lot and said to him, “^(AI)Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may ^[ab]have relations with them.” ⁶ But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, ⁷ and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. ⁸ Now behold, ^(AJ)I have two daughters who have not ^[ac]had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them ^[ad]whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the ^[ae]shelter of my roof.” ⁹ But they said, “Stand aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came in ^[af]as an alien, and already ^(AK)he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against ^[ag]Lot and came near to break the door. ¹⁰ But ^(AL)the men reached out their ^[ah]hands and brought Lot into the house ^[ai]with them, and shut the door. ^11 (AM)They ^[aj]struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.

¹² Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place; ¹³ for we are about to destroy this place, because ^(AN)their outcry has become so great before the Lord that ^(AO)the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who ^[ak]were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, ^(AP)get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city.” ^(AQ)But he appeared to his sons-in-law ^[al]to be jesting.

¹⁵ When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the ^[am]punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he hesitated. So the men ^(AR)seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the ^[an]hands of his two daughters, for ^(AS)the compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city. ¹⁷ When they had brought them outside, ^[ao]one said, “^(AT)Escape for your life! ^(AU)Do not look behind you, and do not stay ^[ap]anywhere in the ^(AV)valley; escape to ^(AW)the ^[aq]mountains, or you will be swept away.” ¹⁸ But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! ¹⁹ Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the ^[ar]mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die; ²⁰ now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) ^[as]that my life may be saved.” ²¹ He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this ^[at]request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the town was called ^[au](AX)Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord ^(AY)rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, ²⁵ and ^(AZ)He overthrew those cities, and all the ^[av]valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But his wife, from behind him, ^(BA)looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to ^(BB)the place where he had stood before the Lord; ²⁸ and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the ^[aw]valley, and he saw, and behold, ^(BC)the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a ^[ax]furnace.

²⁹ Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the ^[ay]valley, that ^(BD)God remembered Abraham, and ^(BE)sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

Lot Is Debased

³⁰ Lot went up from Zoar, and ^[az](BF)stayed in the ^[ba]mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to ^[bb]stay in Zoar; and he ^[bc]stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. ³¹ Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man ^[bd]on earth to ^(BG)come in to us after the manner of the earth. ³² Come, ^(BH)let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve ^[be]our family through our father.” ³³ So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁴ On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve ^[bf]our family through our father.” ³⁵ So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁶ Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son, and called his name ^(BI)Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the ^[bg]sons of ^(BJ)Ammon to this day.

Abraham’s Treachery

20 Now Abraham journeyed from ^(BK)there toward the land of ^(BL)the ^[bh]Negev, and ^[bi]settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in ^(BM)Gerar. ² Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “^(BN)She is my sister.” So ^(BO)Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. ^3 (BP)But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, ^(BQ)you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is ^[bj]married.” ⁴ Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, ^(BR)will You slay a nation, even though ^[bk]blameless? ⁵ Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she ^(BS)herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In ^(BT)the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my ^[bl]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 ^[bm](BU)kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for ^(BV)he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”

⁸ So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were greatly frightened. ^9 (BW)Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And ^[bn]how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom ^(BX)a great sin? You have done to me ^[bo]things that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you ^[bp]encountered, that you have done this thing?” ¹¹ Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no ^(BY)fear of God in this place, and ^(BZ)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 ^(CA)God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is ^[bq]the kindness which you will show to me: ^[br]everywhere we go, ^(CB)say of me, “He is my brother.”’” ^14 (CC)Abimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored his wife Sarah to him. ¹⁵ Abimelech said, “^(CD)Behold, my land is before you; ^[bs]settle wherever ^[bt]you please.” ¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your ^(CE)brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is ^[bu]your vindication before all who are with you, and before all men you are cleared.” ^17 (CF)Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore children. ^18 (CG)For the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Isaac Is Born

21 ^(CH)Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had ^[bv]promised. ^2 (CI)So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at ^(CJ)the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. ³ Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, ^(CK)Isaac. ⁴ Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was ^(CL)eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵ Now Abraham was ^(CM)one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ Sarah said, “God has made ^(CN)laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh ^[bw]with me.” ⁷ And she said, “^(CO)Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

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

Sarah Turns against Hagar

⁹ Now Sarah saw ^(CP)the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^[bx](CQ)mocking. ¹⁰ Therefore she said to Abraham, “^(CR)Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son ^[by]Isaac.” ^11 (CS)The matter ^[bz]distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “^[ca]Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for ^(CT)through Isaac ^[cb]your descendants shall be named. ¹³ And of ^(CU)the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your ^[cc]descendant.” ¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a ^[cd]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 ^[ce]left the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me ^[cf]see the boy die.” And she sat opposite him, and ^(CV)lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷ God ^(CW)heard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? ^(CX)Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. ¹⁸ Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by ^[cg]the hand, ^(CY)for I will make a great nation of him.” ¹⁹ Then God ^(CZ)opened her eyes and she saw ^(DA)a well of water; and she went and filled the ^[ch]skin with water and gave the lad a drink.

^20 (DB)God was with the lad, and he grew; and he ^[ci]lived in the wilderness and became an archer. ^21 (DC)He ^[cj]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 ^(DD)Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “^(DE)God is with you in all that you do; ²³ now therefore, ^(DF)swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have sojourned.” ²⁴ Abraham said, “I swear it.” ²⁵ But Abraham ^[ck]complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech ^(DG)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 ^[cl]until today.”

²⁷ Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and ^(DH)the two of them made a covenant. ²⁸ Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. ²⁹ 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 ^(DI)witness to me, that I dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore he called that place ^(DJ)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, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there ^(DK)he called on the name of the Lord, the ^(DL)Everlasting God. ³⁴ And Abraham sojourned ^(DM)in the land of the Philistines for many days.

The Offering of Isaac

22 Now it came about after these things, that ^(DN)God tested Abraham, and said to him, “^(DO)Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ² He said, “Take now ^(DP)your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of ^(DQ)Moriah, and offer him there as a ^(DR)burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” ³ So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose 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 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” ⁶ Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and ^(DS)laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. ⁷ Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the ^(DT)lamb for the burnt offering?” ⁸ Abraham said, “God will ^[cm]provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

⁹ Then they came to ^(DU)the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built ^(DV)the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and ^(DW)laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But ^(DX)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 stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now ^(DY)I know that you ^[cn]fear God, since you have not withheld ^(DZ)your son, your only son, from Me.” ¹³ Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. ¹⁴ Abraham called the name of that place ^[co]The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord ^(EA)it will ^[cp]be provided.”

¹⁵ Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, ¹⁶ and said, “^(EB)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 ^(EC)multiply your ^[cq]seed as the stars of the heavens and as ^(ED)the sand which is on the seashore; and ^(EE)your ^[cr]seed shall possess the gate of ^[cs]their enemies. ^18 (EF)In your ^[ct]seed all the nations of the earth shall ^[cu]be blessed, because you have ^(EG)obeyed My voice.” ^19 (EH)So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.

²⁰ Now it came about after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, “Behold, ^(EI)Milcah ^[cv]also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ²¹ Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram ²² and Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.” ²³ Bethuel ^[cw]became the father of ^(EJ)Rebekah; these eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ His concubine, whose name was Reumah, ^[cx]also bore Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.