Old/New Testament
Chapter 20
God Corrects His Faithful Ones.[a] 1 Abraham broke camp and traveled into the Negeb, settling between Kedesh and Shur. He was dwelling in Gerar. 2 Abraham had said that Sarah, his wife, was his sister. Therefore, Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent to take Sarah for himself.
3 But God visited Abimelech during the night in a dream and said to him, “Behold, you are about to die because the woman you have taken belongs to her husband.”
4 Abimelech, who had not yet approached her, said, “My Lord, would you destroy an innocent nation? 5 Did he not tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And did she not also say, ‘He is my brother’? I did this with a pure conscience and in all innocence.”
6 God answered him in the dream, “I know that you acted with a good conscience when you did this. I prevented you from sinning against me. That is why I kept you from touching her. 7 Now give the woman back to this man. He is a prophet. He will intercede for you, and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you and everyone with you will die.”
8 Abimelech got up early in the morning and summoned all his servants to whom he recounted all these things. The men were terrified. 9 Then Abimelech summoned Abraham and told him, “What have you done to us? What did I do to you that you have subjected me and my kingdom to such a great sin? You have done things to me that you really should not have done.” 10 Then Abimelech asked Abraham, “What were you afraid of that you acted this way?”
11 Abraham answered, “I said to myself, ‘Certainly there will be no fear of God[b] in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ 12 Besides, she is really my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 When God made me wander from my father’s homeland, I said to her, ‘Please do me this favor. Wherever we go, say that I am your brother.’ ”
14 Abimelech took flocks and herds, male and female slaves, and he gave them to Abraham, and he also gave back his wife Sarah. 15 Furthermore, Abimelech said, “Look around at my land; go and live wherever you please!”
16 To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given two thousand shekels of silver to your brother. May that repay you for what has happened to you. Thus, your honor will be totally preserved.”
17 Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his maidservants so that they could once more have children. 18 For the Lord had rendered all the women in the household of Abimelech sterile because of Sarah, the wife of Abraham.
Chapter 21
The Promised Son.[c] 1 The Lord visited Sarah, as he had said he would. The Lord fulfilled what he had promised to Sarah. 2 Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age at the very time that the Lord had established. 3 Abraham named the son whom Sarah bore Isaac. 4 Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him to do. 5 Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born.
6 Sarah said, “God has given me a reason to laugh out loud. All will smile because of me.” 7 She then said, “Who would have ever said to Abraham, ‘Sarah will nurse sons’? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Ishmael Is Sent Away.[d] 8 Isaac grew and was weaned. On the day that he was weaned, Abraham threw a great banquet. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, the one whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with[e] her son Isaac. 10 She said to Abraham, “Send this slave and her son away, for the son of this slave must not be an heir together with my son Isaac.”
11 This greatly distressed Abraham for he was concerned for his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not let this matter with your son and the slave woman distress you. Listen to what Sarah tells you. Listen to her voice, for it is through Isaac that descendants will bear your name. 13 But I will also make the son of the slave woman become a great nation, for he is your son.”
14 Abraham arose early in the morning and gave Hagar bread and a skin of water, placing them on her back. He entrusted the child to her and sent her away. They left and wandered in the desert of Beer-sheba.
15 When they used up all the water in the skin, she placed the child under a bush 16 and went and sat down opposite him, about the distance of a bowshot. She said, “I do not want to see the child die.” She sat opposite him and began to sob.
17 But God heard the voice of the child, and the angel of God called upon Hagar from the heavens and said, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not fear because God has heard the voice of the child from where he lies. 18 Get up, take the child, and hold him by the hand because I will make a great nation of him.”
19 God opened her eyes, and she was able to see a spring of water. She went over to it and filled the skin and gave the child some water to drink.
20 God was with the child, and he grew and lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 He lived in the desert of Paran, and his mother found him a wife in the land of Egypt.
22 First Link with the Promised Land.[f] At that time, Abimelech along with Phicol, the commander of his army, came and said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything that you do. 23 Therefore, swear by God that you will not act deceitfully with me or with my sons or my descendants. As I have been friendly to you, so too, you will be friendly with me and with the land in which you have dwelt as a guest.”
24 Abraham answered, “I swear it.”
25 But Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that the servants of Abimelech had seized. 26 Abimelech said, “I do not know who did this thing. You never told me about this and I did not hear about it until today.”
27 So Abraham took some sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. 28 Abraham set apart seven fat lambs. 29 Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of the seven lambs that you have set aside?”
30 He answered, “Please take these seven lambs from me, and let them be a sign to you that I dug this well.” 31 Because of this the place is called Beer-sheba (the well of the seven), for they both swore an oath there. 32 After the covenant had been concluded at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk at Beer-sheba, and there he called upon the name of the Lord, the Eternal God. 34 Abraham dwelt in the land of the Philistines for many years.
Chapter 22
Sacrifice of the Son.[g] 1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am!”
2 God said, “Take your son, your only son, the one you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah[h] and offer him as a burnt offering on the mountain that I will show you.”
3 Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled a donkey, and took two servants and his son Isaac with him. He also took the wood for the burnt offering and set out toward the place about which God had spoken. 4 On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw that place from a distance. 5 Abraham said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there. We will worship and then we will return to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and loaded it upon his son Isaac. He himself carried the fire and the knife. They then set out together. 7 Isaac turned to his father Abraham and said, “My father!”
He answered, “Here I am, my son.”
He continued, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son!” And the two of them went on together.
9 They then arrived at the place of which God had spoken. There Abraham built an altar and piled up the wood. He tied up his son Isaac and placed him upon the altar so that he was lying upon the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to kill his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out from heaven and said, “Abraham! Abraham!”
He answered, “Here I am.”
12 The angel said, “Do not reach out your hand against the boy! Do not harm him in any way! Now I know that you fear God and you have not even withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
13 Abraham looked up and saw a ram that had its horns caught in a bush. Abraham took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 Abraham called that place, “The Lord will provide,” for he said, “On the mountain the Lord provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called Abraham from heaven again 16 and said, “I swear by my own self, thus says the Lord: because you have done this and did not withhold your son from me, your only son, 17 I will bless you with every blessing and I will make your descendants very numerous, like the stars of the heavens or the sand on the shore of the sea. Your descendants shall take possession of the cities of your enemies. 18 All the nations of the earth shall be blessed through your descendants, because you have obeyed my command.”
19 Abraham returned to his servants, and together they set out toward Beer-sheba, where Abraham made his dwelling.
20 Children of Abraham’s Brother.[i] Afterward, Abraham received this news: “Behold, Milcah has borne sons to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah gave birth to these eight sons for Nahor, the brother of Abraham. 24 His concubine, Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
19 Treasures in Heaven.[a]“Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where they will be destroyed by moth and rust and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Rather, store up treasure for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves cannot break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart also be.
22 The Lamp of the Body.[b]“The eyes are the lamp of the body. If your eyes are sound, your whole body will be filled with light. 23 However, if your eyes are diseased, your whole body will be in darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great will that darkness be!
24 God and Money.“No one can serve two masters. For you will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.[c]
25 Seek First the Kingdom of God.[d]“Therefore, heed my words. Do not be concerned about your life and what you will have to eat or drink, or about your body and what you will wear. Surely life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.
26 “Gaze upon the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or store in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of far greater value than they? 27 Can any of you through worrying add a single moment to your span of life?
28 “And why are you concerned about what you are to wear? Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow. They neither labor nor spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his royal splendor was clothed like one of these. 30 If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not all the more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore, stop being anxious about such things. Do not say: ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 These are things that are of concern to the Gentiles. Your heavenly Father is fully aware of all your needs. 33 Rather, seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own.
Copyright © 2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.