Genesis 12-22

EasyEnglish Bible

Abram leaves Haran

12 The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country and the people of your father's family. Go to the land that I will show you.^[a]

² I will cause your descendants to become a great nation. I will bless you. Everyone will know your name. You will bring my blessing to other people. ³ I will bless those people who bless you. But I will curse anyone who insults you. Through you, I will bless all the families of people on the earth.’^[b]

⁴ Abram did what the Lord had told him. He left Haran. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. Lot went with him. ⁵ Abram took his wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot. He took everything that belonged to them. He also took the people that worked for them in Haran. They all left to go to the land of Canaan.

When they arrived in Canaan, ⁶ Abram walked through the land. He went as far as Shechem, to the special oak tree of Moreh. At that time, Canaanites lived in this land. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram there. He said, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’ So Abram built an altar in that place to worship the Lord.^[c] He did that because the Lord had appeared to him.

⁸ Then Abram left Shechem. He went to the hills that are on the east of Bethel. He put up his tent in that place. Bethel was towards the west, and Ai was towards the east. Abram also built an altar there to worship the Lord.

⁹ Then Abram took his tent and he left that place. He continued to travel towards the Negev.^[d]

Abram and Sarai in Egypt

¹⁰ There was a famine in the land of Canaan. So Abram went to live in Egypt for some time, because the famine was very bad.^[e]

¹¹ When Abram came near to Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, ‘Listen to me. I know that you are a very beautiful woman. ¹² When the Egyptians see you they will say, “This is Abram's wife.” Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.^{[f] 13} So tell them that you are my sister. Then they will do good things to me, because they want to please you. They will not kill me because they will think that you are my sister.’

¹⁴ When Abram arrived in Egypt, the people saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. ¹⁵ The king's officers saw her. They told Pharaoh that she was very beautiful. They took her to the king's palace.^[g]

¹⁶ Pharaoh did good things to help Abram because of Sarai. He gave Abram sheep, cows, donkeys and camels. He also gave Abram male servants and female servants.

¹⁷ But the Lord made Pharaoh and the people in his palace very ill. The Lord did this because the king had taken Abram's wife Sarai. ¹⁸ So Pharaoh called Abram to come to him. Pharaoh said, ‘You have done this bad thing to me! You did not tell me that Sarai is your wife! Why not? ¹⁹ You told me “She is my sister”. As a result, I took her to be my wife. Now, here is your wife. Take her and go away!’

²⁰ Pharaoh told his officers what to do with Abram. They sent Abram away, with his wife and everything that belonged to them.

Abram and Lot go different ways

13 Abram left Egypt and he travelled north to the Negev. He took his wife and everything that belonged to him. Lot also went with him. ² Abram had many valuable things. He had many cows, and much silver and gold.

³ Then Abram left the Negev and he went to different places. He arrived at Bethel. He returned to the place where he had put up his tent before. That place was between Bethel and Ai. ⁴ It was where Abram had first built an altar to worship the Lord.

⁵ Lot was travelling with Abram. Lot also had many cows, sheep and tents. ⁶ But the land could not grow enough food for all of them to eat. They could not all live together in the same place, because they had so many animals and people with them. ⁷ Abram's shepherds and Lot's shepherds began to quarrel with each other. (At that time, Canaanites and Perizzites also lived in the land.)^[h]

⁸ Abram said to Lot, ‘We must not quarrel with each other. Your shepherds and my shepherds must not quarrel with each other. Remember that we belong to the same family. ⁹ Look everywhere! There is enough land for all of us. We must go different ways. If you go to the left, I will go to the right. If you go to the right, I will go to the left.’

¹⁰ Lot looked up and he saw the flat land of Jordan, as far as Zoar. He saw that it had lots of water, like the garden of the Lord. It was good land, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed the cities there called Sodom and Gomorrah.) ¹¹ So Lot chose for himself the valley of the Jordan River. He travelled towards the east.^[i]

¹² Abram stayed in the land of Canaan and he lived there. But Lot lived near the cities that were in the Jordan Valley. He put up his tents near the city of Sodom. ¹³ The people of Sodom were very wicked. They did not obey the Lord at all.

¹⁴ After Lot had gone away, the Lord said to Abram, ‘Stand where you are and look all around! Look to the north, the south, the east and the west. ¹⁵ I will give you all the land that you can see. I will give it to you and your descendants. It will belong to them for ever. ¹⁶ I will make your descendants become very many. Like the dust of the ground, people will not be able to count them all. ¹⁷ Go and travel round all this land. Look at it, because I am giving it to you!’

¹⁸ So Abram moved his tents. He went to live near the special oak trees of Mamre. That place is at Hebron. Abram built an altar to worship the Lord there.

Abram at war with the kings

14 ^1-4 Now there were many kings living in that land, at that time. They fought against each other. One fight was when Kedorlaomer had ruled over the other kings for 12 years. And in the next year, five kings made one group like that and fought against him. Kedorlaomer joined with three other kings. So it was four kings against five other kings.

The four kings were Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goiim. Those kings fought a war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela. (Bela is another name for the town of Zoar.) They fought in the Valley of Siddim. (That is the Salt Sea.) ⁵ In the 14th year, Kedorlaomer and the kings with him won against the Rephaites. This was in Ashteroth Karnaim. They won against the Zuzites in Ham. They won against the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim. ⁶ And they won against the Horites in the country of Seir. This was as far as El Paran near the desert. ⁷ They then went back. They went to En Mishpat. (That is Kadesh.) They took the whole land of the Amalekites. They also took the land of the Amorites who were living in Hazezon Tamar.

⁸ Then, the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is Zoar) went to fight. That was in the Valley of Siddim. ⁹ They fought against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar. There were four kings fighting against five kings. ¹⁰ The Valley of Siddim had many holes in the ground. The holes were filled with tar. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah ran away. Some of their men fell into the deep tar. The other men ran away to the hills. ¹¹ The four kings took everything in Sodom and Gomorrah, including all the food. Then they went away. ¹² Abram's nephew, Lot, was living in Sodom at that time. So they took him away from there, and everything that belonged to him.

Abram and Melchizedek

¹³ At that time, Abram, the Hebrew man, was living near the special oak trees of Mamre. Mamre was an Amorite. He was the brother of Eshcol and Aner. These men had agreed to be Abram's friends.

A man ran away from Sodom. He told Abram everything that had happened. ¹⁴ Abram understood that the kings had caught his nephew. So he called 318 men to come together. These men had been born in Abram's camp and they knew how to fight. Abram took his men with him. They went to attack the men who had caught Lot. They went as far as Dan.

¹⁵ During the night, Abram separated his men into two groups. Then they attacked Kedorlaomer and his men who had taken Lot. Those men ran away and Abram followed them as far as Hobah. Hobah is north of Damascus. ¹⁶ Abram took back everything that those men had taken from Sodom. He also brought back his nephew Lot, together with the women and the other people.

¹⁷ In that way, Abram won against Kedorlaomer and the kings with him. As Abram was returning home, the king of Sodom came out to meet him. They met in the Valley of Shaveh, which people call the King's Valley.

¹⁸ Melchizedek was the king of Salem, and he was a priest of the Most High God. He brought out bread and wine for Abram. ¹⁹ He blessed Abram. He said, ‘I pray that the Most High God who made heaven and earth will bless Abram. ²⁰ Praise the Most High God! He has given you power over your enemies.’

After that, Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth part of everything.^[j]

²¹ Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, ‘Give back to me all my people. Take everything else for yourself.’ ²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I have made a strong promise to the Lord, the Most High God who made heaven and earth. ²³ I promised that I would not take anything that belonged to you. I will not take the smallest thing, not even a piece of string, or part of a shoe. Then you will never be able to say, “I made Abram become rich.” ²⁴ I myself will accept only the food that my young men have eaten. But Aner, Eshcol and Mamre went with me to help me to fight. They should take their part of the things that we brought back with us.’^[k]

The Lord's covenant with Abram

15 After this, the Lord spoke to Abram in a dream. God said, ‘Do not be afraid Abram. I will keep you safe. I myself will give you many good gifts.’

² But Abram said, ‘Almighty Lord, there is one gift that I want. I still have no children. When I die, Eliezer of Damascus will receive everything that I have. ³ Because you have not given me any children, understand this: Everything that I have will one day belong to a servant in my house.’^[l]

⁴ The Lord gave Abram this message: ‘No! Eliezer will not be the one who receives your things. You will have your own son. He will be the one who receives everything that you have.’

⁵ The Lord took Abram outside. He said to Abram, ‘Look up at the sky. Count the stars. They are too many for you to count!’ Then God said, ‘That is how many descendants you will have.’

⁶ Abram believed the Lord. As a result, the Lord accepted Abram as right with him.

⁷ The Lord also said to Abram, ‘I am the Lord. I brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to bring you to this land. I am giving it to you. It will belong to you.’ ⁸ But Abram said, ‘Almighty Lord, how can I be sure that this land will belong to me?’

⁹ The Lord said to Abram, ‘Bring a young cow, a goat and a male sheep to offer them to me. Each animal must be three years old. Also bring a dove and a young pigeon.’

¹⁰ Abram brought the three animals and the two birds to offer to God. Abram cut each animal in two pieces. He put the halves opposite each other. But he did not cut the birds in two pieces. ¹¹ Some birds flew down to eat the animals' dead bodies. But Abram sent them away.

¹² When the sun was going down, Abram started to sleep. Suddenly he became very afraid because it was dark all around him. ¹³ Then the Lord said to Abram, ‘Be sure of this: Your descendants will live in a foreign country. They will be strangers there. People will do bad things to them and they will become slaves. This will continue for 400 years. ¹⁴ But I will punish the people of that country who give them trouble. After this, your descendants will leave that country. They will take many valuable things with them. ¹⁵ But as for you, Abram, you will have a long life. When you die, you will have peace in your mind. ¹⁶ After four generations, your descendants will come back here to Canaan. At that time, I will punish the Amorites because they do very bad things. But the time has not yet arrived that I will punish them.’^[m]

¹⁷ Then the sun went down and it became dark. Abram saw a pot that had coals in it. The coals were burning and making smoke. There was also a branch that burned with bright fire. These passed between the halves of the animals that Abram had cut in two pieces.^[n]

¹⁸ On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram. The Lord promised, ‘I give this land to your descendants. The land starts from the river of Egypt and continues as far as the River Euphrates. ¹⁹ These people live in the land: Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹ Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.’^[o]

Sarai and Hagar

16 Abram's wife, Sarai, had not given birth to any children. She had an Egyptian servant. The servant's name was Hagar. ² Sarai said to Abram, ‘The Lord has not let me have any children. Go and sleep with my servant. Then if she gives birth, her children will be my family.’ Abram agreed to do this.^[p]

³ Abram had now been living in Canaan for ten years. Sarai gave her Egyptian servant, Hagar, to him. She became like another wife for Abram.

⁴ Abram had sex with Hagar and she became pregnant. When Hagar knew that she was pregnant, she no longer respected Sarai.

⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘It is because of you that Hagar is now insulting me. I gave her to you so that you could have sex with her. Now she is pregnant and she does not respect me. The Lord will decide who is right, you or me.’

⁶ Abram said to Sarai, ‘Hagar is your servant and you have authority over her. Do to her whatever you think is right.’ Then Sarai caused trouble for Hagar. So Hagar ran away from Sarai.

⁷ The angel of the Lord found Hagar. She was by a spring of water in the desert. The spring was near the road to Shur. ⁸ The angel said, ‘Sarai's servant, Hagar, where have you come from? Where are you going?’ Hagar replied, ‘I am running away from Sarai. I am her servant.’

⁹ The angel of the Lord told Hagar, ‘Go back to Sarai. You are her servant and you must obey her.’

¹⁰ The angel also said, ‘I will make the number of your descendants become very many. They will be too many for people to count.’

¹¹ The angel of the Lord said to Hagar,

‘Now you are pregnant and you will give birth to a son.

When you cried in pain, the Lord heard you,

so you must give your son the name “Ishmael”.^[q]

¹² Like a wild donkey, nobody will be able to rule him.

He will fight against everyone, and everyone will fight against him.

He will think that everyone is his enemy.

He will keep away from his brothers.’

¹³ When Hagar heard what the angel said, she said to herself, ‘I have seen the God who sees me!’ So she called the Lord ‘The God who sees me.’ ¹⁴ That is why they called the well in that place ‘Beer Lahai Roi’.^[r] The well is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ After some time Hagar gave birth to a son. Abram was his father. Abram gave his son the name ‘Ishmael’. ¹⁶ Abram was 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.

God changes Abram's name to Abraham

17 When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him. The Lord said, ‘I am God Almighty. In all your life, obey me and do nothing wrong. ² Then I will certainly keep my covenant with you. I will make your descendants grow in number.’^[s]

³ Abram fell down so that his face touched the ground. God said to him, ⁴ ‘As for me, this is my covenant that I have made with you. You will become the ancestor of many nations of people. ⁵ Your name will not be Abram any more. Instead your name will be Abraham, because I will cause you to become the ancestor of many nations. ⁶ I will give you many descendants. These will make many nations of people. Some of your descendants will become kings.

⁷ My covenant with you is very strong. I am making it with you and with your descendants. It will continue for generation after generation of your descendants, for all time. I will be your God. I will also be the God of all your descendants. ⁸ You are now living here in Canaan as a foreign person. But I will give all of this land to you and to your descendants. It will belong to them for ever. I will be their God.’

Circumcision

⁹ God continued to speak to Abraham. He said, ‘As for you, you must agree to obey me. You must obey the rules of my covenant. You, and all your descendants after you must obey it. ¹⁰ This is what you and all your descendants must do to obey my covenant: Every male person in your family must be circumcised. ¹¹ Your circumcision will show that you have agreed to my covenant with you. ¹² Every male child among you must be circumcised when he is eight days old. You must continue to do this for every generation. Do it for every male that lives with you, not just your own family. Circumcise servants that have been born in your house. Also circumcise foreign servants that you have bought with money. ¹³ You must circumcise all the male servants who work for you in your house. Circumcision will be a mark in your bodies which shows that you accept my covenant. It will continue for all time.

¹⁴ If any male person among you has not been circumcised, I will not accept him as one of my people. He must become separate from his people. He has not obeyed my covenant.’^[t]

God changes Sarai's name to Sarah

¹⁵ Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for your wife, do not call her Sarai any more. Instead, her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶ I will bless her. She will give birth to a son for you. Many nations of people will be her descendants. Some of them will become kings. That is how much I will bless her!’

¹⁷ Abraham fell down so that his face touched the ground. He laughed and he said to himself, ‘I am now 100 years old. That is too old to have a son. Sarah is 90 years old, so she could never give birth to a child. That is too old to have a child.’ ¹⁸ So Abraham said to God, ‘I would be happy if you would bless Ishmael as my son.’

¹⁹ God said to Abraham, ‘No, your wife Sarah will give birth to a son for you. You must give him the name “Isaac”.^[u] I will make my covenant with him and with his descendants for all time. ²⁰ I have heard what you want me to do for Ishmael. I will bless him. I will cause him to have many descendants. Among his descendants there will be 12 rulers. His descendants will become a great nation. ²¹ But I will make my covenant with Isaac, not with Ishmael. At about this time next year, Sarah will give birth to your son, Isaac.’

²² When God had finished speaking to Abraham, he went away.

²³ On that same day, Abraham circumcised Ishmael and every male person in his house. He circumcised every male servant that was born in his house, as well as those that he had bought with money. He did this in the way that God had told him. ²⁴ Abraham himself was circumcised when he was 99 years old. ²⁵ His son, Ishmael, was 13 years old when he was circumcised. ²⁶ Abraham and Ishmael were circumcised on the same day. ²⁷ As well as them, all the male people living in Abraham's house were circumcised. This included the male servants that had been born in his house and those that he had bought with money.

God promises a son to Abraham

18 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the special oak trees of Mamre. It was the hot time of day and Abraham was sitting by the door of his tent. ² Abraham looked up and he saw three men. He ran in a hurry to meet them. He bent down to the ground to respect them.^[v]

³ Abraham said, ‘Please sir, stop here and let me serve you. That would make me very happy. ⁴ Let us bring some water so that you can all wash your feet. Then you can rest under this tree. ⁵ Let me also bring some food for you to eat. Now that you have come to my home, you should rest and become strong again. Then you will be ready to continue with your journey.’ The men replied, ‘That is good. Please do what you have said.’

⁶ Abraham went quickly to the tent. He said to Sarah, ‘Be quick! Get plenty of good flour and make bread with it.’ ⁷ Then Abraham ran to his cows. He chose a very nice young cow. He gave it to his servant. The servant quickly prepared it for the men to eat. ⁸ Then Abraham also brought some cream and some milk, as well as the meat from the cow. He put all the food in front of the men. While they ate it, Abraham stood near them, under a tree.

⁹ Then the men asked Abraham, ‘Where is Sarah, your wife?’ Abraham replied, ‘She is there in the tent.’

¹⁰ Then one of the men said, ‘I will certainly return to you at about this time next year. At that time Sarah, your wife, will have a son!’

Sarah was listening to all this. She was at the door of the tent, near to where they were talking. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were now very old. Sarah was past the age when she could give birth to a child. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself. She thought, ‘I have become old and weak. My husband is also old. I will never have a baby and be happy like that.’

¹³ Then the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh like that? She said, “I am too old to have a child.” ¹⁴ But surely, nothing is too difficult for the Lord to do. At this time next year, I will return to you and Sarah will have a son.’

¹⁵ Then Sarah was afraid. So she told a lie. She said, ‘I did not laugh.’ But the Lord said, ‘Yes, you did laugh.’

God decides to punish the people in Sodom

¹⁶ Then Abraham's visitors started to leave. They looked down in the valley towards Sodom. Abraham was walking with them to say ‘goodbye’ to them. ¹⁷ Then the Lord said to himself, ‘I should tell Abraham what I have decided to do. ¹⁸ Abraham's descendants will become a great nation of people. They will be very powerful. Through him, I will bless all the nations of the earth.^{[w] 19} I have chosen him so that he will teach my message to his children and their families. He will teach them to do what is right and what is fair. Then I, the Lord, will do for Abraham everything that I have promised to him.’

²⁰ So the Lord said to Abraham, ‘I have heard how bad the people in Sodom and Gomorrah are. Everybody says that their sins are very bad. ²¹ So I must go down there to see if it is really true. I will see if those people are as bad as everybody says they are. Then I will know what is true.’

²² The other two men then turned away and they went towards Sodom. But Abraham stayed there to talk with the Lord.

²³ Then Abraham went near to the Lord and he asked, ‘Will you destroy the good people as well as the bad people? ²⁴ There might be 50 people in the city who live in a good way. Will you still destroy the whole city? Or will you leave it there, because there are 50 good people in it? ²⁵ Will you kill them all, the good people and the bad people? Surely you would not do anything like that! You would not punish good people in the same way as bad people. You are the great judge of everyone on the earth. You will surely do what is right!’

²⁶ The Lord replied, ‘If I see that there are 50 good people in the city of Sodom, I will not destroy that place. Because of those 50 good people, I will leave the city there.’

²⁷ Then Abraham spoke again. He said, ‘I have been brave enough to speak to the Lord. I know that I am nothing more than dust and ashes.^{[x] 28} But let me ask you this. What will you do if there are 45 good people in the city? Will you destroy the city, because there are only five fewer good people there?’ The Lord replied, ‘If I see that there are 45 good people in the city, I will not destroy it.’

²⁹ Abraham spoke to God again. He said, ‘What will you do if only 40 good people are there?’ The Lord said, ‘Because of 40 good people, I will not destroy the city.’

³⁰ Then Abraham said, ‘Please do not be angry, Lord. Let me speak again. What will you do if there are only 30 good people there?’ The Lord answered, ‘I will not destroy the city if I find 30 good people there.’

³¹ Abraham said, ‘I have been brave to speak to you, Lord. What will you do if only 20 good people are there?’ The Lord said, ‘Because of 20 good people, I will not destroy the city.’

³² After all that, Abraham said, ‘Please do not be angry, Lord. Let me speak just one more time. If there are only ten good people there, what will you do?’ The Lord replied, ‘Because of ten good people, I will not destroy the city.’^[y]

³³ The Lord had finished speaking with Abraham. So he continued on his journey. Abraham returned home.

Lot leaves Sodom

19 The two angels arrived at Sodom. It was evening and Lot was sitting near the city gate. When Lot saw the angels, he got up to meet them. He turned his face towards the ground to respect them. ² Lot said, ‘My lords, please come to stay in my house. You can wash your feet and stay the night there. Then you can continue your journey early in the morning.’ The angels replied, ‘No, we will stay the night here in this public place.’ ³ But Lot continued to ask them to stay with him. So the angels went with Lot to his house. Lot prepared a big meal for them, with some bread that he had baked without yeast. The angels ate the food.

⁴ After that, they were preparing to go to bed. Then all the men who lived in Sodom came to Lot's house. They were old men and young men, who came from every part of the city. They stood all round the house. ⁵ The men shouted to Lot, ‘Where are the men who are staying with you tonight? Bring them out here to us. We want to have sex with them.’

⁶ Lot went outside to talk to the men. He shut the door of his house behind him. ⁷ He said, ‘No, my friends. Please do not do this evil thing. ⁸ See here! I have two daughters. They have never had sex with a man. Let me bring them out to you. Then you can do whatever you want with them. But do not do anything to these men. They are my visitors and I cannot let anyone hurt them.’

⁹ The men from the city said, ‘Do not try to stop us! You are a stranger here in this city. You cannot tell us what to do! Be careful or we will do even worse things to you.’ They pushed against Lot and tried to reach the door of his house. They wanted to break the door and go in to the house. ¹⁰ The two visitors who were inside the house opened the door. They pulled Lot back into his house and they shut the door quickly. ¹¹ Then they caused all the men outside to become blind. The young men of the city and the old men all became blind. As a result, they could not find the door of the house, even though they tried for some time.

¹² The two visitors asked Lot, ‘Do you have any of your family here in the city? Do you have any sons or daughters, or husbands for your daughters? If you have any family, you must take them away from here. ¹³ We will soon destroy this city. Everybody knows how bad the people who live here are. As a result, the Lord has sent us to destroy this place.’

¹⁴ So Lot went out of his house. He spoke to the men who would marry his daughters. He said to them, ‘Hurry! Leave this city now, because the Lord has decided to destroy it.’ But the men did not believe Lot. They thought he was not being serious.

¹⁵ At dawn, the two angels told Lot he must leave quickly. They said to him, ‘Hurry! Take your wife and take your two daughters who are here. If you do not go quickly, you will all die when the Lord destroys the city.’ ¹⁶ But Lot did not move.^[z] So the angels took hold of Lot's hand, as well as the hands of his wife and his two daughters. The Lord was very kind to Lot and his family and the angels led them away from the city.

¹⁷ When they had reached a place outside the city, one of the angels said, ‘Now run! Your lives are in danger. Do not look behind you! Do not stop anywhere in this valley. Run up into the mountains or you will die.’ ¹⁸ But Lot said, ‘No! Please, my lords, I cannot do that! ¹⁹ I am your humble servant and you have been very kind to me. You have saved my life. But I cannot run away into the mountains. If I try to do that, this punishment will catch me before I reach there. Then I will surely die. ²⁰ Look! See that town over there. It is near and I can run to it safely. And it is a small town. So please let me run there. You can see that it is only a small place. If I go there, I will stay alive.’

²¹ The angel said to Lot, ‘OK, I will let you do what you have asked. I will not destroy that town. ²² But run there quickly. I cannot do anything until you arrive in the town.’ (The name of the town became ‘Zoar’, because it was small.)

²³ Lot reached Zoar at the time when the sun was rising that morning.

²⁴ Then the Lord poured sulphur that was on fire down on Sodom and Gomorrah. It fell from the sky like rain.^{[aa] 25} In that way God destroyed those cities and everything in the valley. He killed all the people who lived in those cities. And he killed all the plants that grew on the land.

²⁶ But as they ran away, Lot's wife looked back at the city. When she did that, she became a large piece of salt, like a pillar.^[ab]

²⁷ Early in the morning, Abraham returned to the place where he had spoken with the Lord. ²⁸ He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole valley. He saw thick dark smoke that was rising from the land. It was the smoke from a big fire.

²⁹ When God destroyed the cities of the valley, he saved Lot from that punishment. God remembered what Abraham had asked him. He took Lot away from the cities where he had lived. Then God destroyed those cities.

Lot and his daughters

³⁰ Lot was afraid to live in Zoar. So he took his two daughters and they went up into the mountains. They lived together in a cave. ³¹ One day, the older daughter said to her sister, ‘Our father is now old. There are no men who live near here, so there is nobody to marry us. We cannot have sex like everyone on the earth wants to do. ³² So we should give our father much wine to drink. When he becomes drunk, we will have sex with him. Then our father's family will continue to have descendants.’

³³ That night they caused their father to become drunk with wine. The older daughter had sex with him. Lot was very drunk. He did not know when she came to him. And he did not know when she left him. ³⁴ The next day the older daughter said to her younger sister, ‘Last night I had sex with my father. We should make him drunk with wine again tonight. Then you can have sex with him. As a result, our father's family will continue.’

³⁵ So that night, they caused their father to become drunk again. The younger daughter had sex with her father. He did not know when she came to him. And he did not know when she left him.

³⁶ In that way, Lot caused both of his daughters to become pregnant. ³⁷ The older daughter gave birth to a son. She called him Moab. He became the ancestor of the Moabites. ³⁸ The younger daughter also gave birth to a son. She called him Ben-Ammi. He became the ancestor of the Ammonites.

Abraham and Abimelech

20 Abraham travelled south to the Negev desert. He lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a time he stayed in Gerar. ² While he was there, Abraham told people that his wife, Sarah, was his sister. Because of this, the king of Gerar took Sarah so that she would become his wife. The king's name was Abimelech.

³ But God appeared to Abimelech in a dream. He said to Abimelech, ‘Now you will die! The woman that you have taken to be your wife is already a married woman.’

⁴ But Abimelech had not yet touched Sarah. He said to God, ‘Lord, I have not done anything wrong. Surely you will not destroy me and my people. ⁵ Abraham told me that Sarah was his sister. And she herself said, “I am his sister.” So I am not guilty! I did not think that I was doing a bad thing.’

⁶ God spoke to Abimelech again in a dream. He said, ‘That is true. You did not think that you were doing something wrong. I know that. So I did not let you touch her. I stopped you from doing anything wrong against me. ⁷ You must now give her back to her husband. He is a prophet and he will pray for you. Because of that, you will not die. But if you do not give her back, you and all your people will surely die.’

⁸ Early the next morning, Abimelech called together his officers. He told them what had happened. When the officers heard about it, they were very afraid. ⁹ Abimelech called Abraham to come to him. He said to Abraham, ‘Why have you done this bad thing against us? I have not done anything wrong against you. Now you have made me and the people in my kingdom guilty of a very bad thing. Nobody should ever do the things that you have done to me.’ ¹⁰ Abimelech asked Abraham, ‘What caused you to do this?’

¹¹ Abraham replied, ‘I did it because I was afraid. I thought, “The people here do not respect God. They will kill me so that they can take my wife from me.”^{[ac] 12} And also, she really is my sister. She is the daughter of my father. But she is not the daughter of my mother. And she became my wife. ¹³ God told me to leave my father's house and to travel. At that time I said to Sarah, “This is how you can show that you love me. Everywhere we go, tell people that I am your brother.” ’

¹⁴ Then Abimelech brought sheep and cows to give to Abraham. He also gave to Abraham male and female servants. And he gave Sarah back to Abraham. ¹⁵ Abimelech said, ‘Look! See my land all round you. Go and live anywhere that you want to live.’

¹⁶ Abimelech said to Sarah, ‘I have given 1,000 pieces of silver to your brother.^[ad] This is to show everyone that you yourself did nothing wrong. It will pay you for any trouble that you have received.’

¹⁷ Then Abraham prayed to God. As a result, God made Abimelech become well again. He also made Abimelech's wife and his female slaves become well, so that they could have children again. ¹⁸ The Lord had made them unable to have children. He did this because of what happened to Abraham's wife, Sarah.

Abraham's sons

21 The Lord was kind to Sarah. He did what he had promised to do for her. ² Sarah became pregnant. She gave birth to a son for Abraham when he was very old. This happened at the time when God had said that it would.^[ae]

³ Abraham called his son ‘Isaac’. This is the son that Sarah gave birth to. ⁴ When Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him. That is what God had told him to do.^[af]

⁵ Abraham was 100 years old when his son, Isaac, was born. ⁶ Sarah said, ‘Now God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears about what has happened will be happy with me.’ ⁷ She also said, ‘Abraham would never have thought that I would feed a child at my breasts. But I have given birth to a son for him, even when he is old.’

⁸ The child grew stronger, and he began to eat food. On that day, Abraham prepared a big party meal.

⁹ Then Sarah saw that Ishmael was laughing at Isaac. (Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Hagar, the Egyptian servant.) ¹⁰ So Sarah said to Abraham, ‘Send that slave woman and her son away from here. Ishmael must never receive any of our family's things. Everything must belong to my own son, Isaac.’

¹¹ This made Abraham very sad, because Ishmael was his own son.

¹² God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be upset about Ishmael or about Hagar. Do whatever Sarah tells you. Your family's descendants will come through Isaac, not Ishmael. ¹³ But, because Ishmael is also your son, I will make his descendants become a great nation of people too.’

¹⁴ Abraham woke up early the next morning. He took some food and some water in a bottle that was made from animal skin. He gave them to Hagar and he put them on her shoulders. Then he sent Hagar away, with their son, Ishmael.

She went and she travelled round the wilderness of Beersheba.^{[ag] 15} After they had drunk all the water, Hagar put her son in the shade under a bush. ¹⁶ She herself went and sat down about 100 metres away from him. She thought, ‘I cannot watch the boy die.’ As she sat there, she began to cry.

¹⁷ Ishmael was crying and God heard him. The angel of God spoke to Hagar from heaven. He said, ‘What is the trouble, Hagar? Do not be afraid. God has heard the boy while he is crying there. ¹⁸ Go over to him and lift him up. Take hold of his hand and help him to stand. I will make him become a great nation of people.’^[ah]

¹⁹ Then God helped Hagar to see clearly. She saw a well with water in it. She went to the well and she filled the bottle with water. She gave the boy some water to drink.

²⁰ God took care of Ishmael while he grew up. The boy lived in the desert. He became a hunter of wild animals. ²¹ He lived in the Paran wilderness. Hagar, his mother, found an Egyptian wife for him to marry.

Abraham and Abimelech make an agreement together

²² At that time Phicol was the leader of King Abimelech's army. Abimelech and Phicol said to Abraham, ‘We see that God helps you in everything that you do. ²³ So please make a promise to me in front of God. Promise that you will never deceive me, or my children, or my descendants. You are living here in this land as a stranger. I have been kind to you, so please show that you will also be kind to us.’ ²⁴ Abraham said, ‘I promise to do all that.’

²⁵ One day, Abraham complained to Abimelech about a certain well of water. Abimelech's servants had taken the well from Abraham. They said that the well belonged to them. ²⁶ Abimelech said, ‘I do not know who has done this. You did not tell me before. I did not hear about it until today.’

²⁷ So Abraham brought some sheep and some cows and he gave them to Abimelech. The two men made a promise to help each other. ²⁸ Abraham took seven female lambs from the sheep. He put them in a different place from the other animals. ²⁹ Abimelech asked Abraham, ‘Why have you put these seven lambs in a different place?’ ³⁰ Abraham replied, ‘You must accept these seven lambs as a gift from me. That will show that you agree that I dug this well. Everyone will know that it belongs to me.’ ³¹ Because of that, the name of the place became ‘Beersheba’, because the two men made a promise there.^[ai]

³² In that way, they made a promise at Beersheba to help one another. Then Abimelech and Phicol, the leader of his army, returned to the land of the Philistines.

³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba.^[aj] In that place, he worshipped the Lord who is God for ever.

³⁴ Abraham lived in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

Abraham and Isaac

22 Some time later, God wanted to see if Abraham really trusted him. God said to him, ‘Abraham!’ Abraham replied, ‘Here I am.’ ² God said, ‘Take your son and go to the land of Moriah. Take your only son Isaac, whom you love. You must offer him to me there as a burnt offering. I will show you the mountain where you must do this.’

³ Abraham got up early the next morning. He made his donkey ready for the journey. He took two servants with him, and also his son Isaac. First, he cut wood for the fire to make the burnt offering. Then he started on his journey to the place that God had told him. ⁴ On the third day of the journey, Abraham could see the place. It was not very far away. ⁵ He said to his servants, ‘Stay here with the donkey. I will take the boy and we will go over there. We will worship God in that place and then we will come back to you.’^[ak]

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering. He gave it to Isaac to carry. Abraham himself carried the fire and the knife. The two of them walked on together. ⁷ Isaac spoke to his father, Abraham. He said, ‘Father?’ Abraham replied ‘Yes my son, what is it?’ Isaac replied, ‘I see that the fire and the wood are here. But where is the lamb so that we can make the burnt offering?’^[al]

⁸ Abraham replied, ‘My son, God himself will bring the lamb for the burnt offering.’

The two of them continued to walk on together. ⁹ They came to the place that God told them. Abraham built an altar there. He put the wood on it, ready for the fire. Then he tied his son Isaac. He lifted him up and he put him on top of the wood on the altar. ¹⁰ Then Abraham took hold of the knife. He was ready to kill his son as a sacrifice.

¹¹ But then the angel of the Lord spoke to Abraham from heaven. He said, ‘Abraham! Abraham!’ Abraham replied, ‘Here I am.’ ¹² The angel said, ‘Do not hurt the boy! Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you respect God and you obey him. Isaac is your only son and you agreed to offer him to me as a sacrifice. You did not try to keep him safe.’^[am]

¹³ Just then, Abraham looked round and he saw a male sheep behind him. Its horns were caught in some bushes. So he went and he took hold of the sheep. Abraham killed the sheep on the altar as a burnt offering to God. In that way, he killed the sheep as a sacrifice, instead of his son.^[an]

¹⁴ Abraham called that place ‘The Lord will give me what I need.’^[ao] People still say today, ‘On the mountain of the Lord, he will give us what we need.’

¹⁵ The angel of the Lord called from heaven to Abraham again. ¹⁶ The angel said, ‘This is what the Lord says: I promise that this is what I will do for you. You did not try to keep your son safe, but you offered him to me. And he was your only son. ¹⁷ Because you have done this, I will bless you. I will make your descendants become so many that people cannot count them. They will be as many as the stars that are in the sky. They will be as many as the pieces of sand on the shore by the sea. Your descendants will win against their enemies and their enemies' cities. ¹⁸ I will bless all the nations on the earth through your descendants. I will do this because you have obeyed me.’

¹⁹ Then Abraham returned to his servants, with Isaac. Together they all left to go to Beersheba. Abraham lived there for a time.

²⁰ Later, someone told Abraham ‘Milcah also has given birth to children. Your brother Nahor is their father.’ ²¹ The names of the children were: Uz, the son who was born first. Then his brother Buz. Then Kemuel, who is the father of Aram. ²² Then five more sons: Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel. ²³ Bethuel later became the father of Rebekah. Those were the eight sons of Milcah and Abraham's brother, Nahor. ²⁴ Nahor also had a slave wife. Her name was Reumah. She also gave birth to sons for Nahor. Their names were: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah.