Finally, a Baby for Sarah

21 The Lord kept the promise he had made to Sarah. The Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. ²Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. All these things happened exactly like God promised. ³Sarah gave birth to a son, and Abraham named him Isaac.* ⁴Abraham circumcised* Isaac when Isaac was eight days old like God had commanded. ⁵Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born. ⁶And Sarah said, “God has made me happy. Every person who hears about this will be happy with me. ⁷No one thought that I, Sarah, would be able to have Abraham’s child. But I have given Abraham a son even though he is old.”

Trouble at Home

⁸Isaac continued to grow. Soon he was old enough to begin eating solid food. So Abraham gave a big party. ⁹Hagar was the Egyptian slave woman who had had Abraham’s first son. Sarah saw Hagar’s son playing. {Sarah became upset.} ¹⁰Sarah said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son. Send them away! When we die, our son Isaac will get everything we have. I don’t want that slave woman’s son sharing those things with my son Isaac!” ¹¹This upset Abraham very much. He was worried about his son {Ishmael}. ¹²But God said to Abraham, “Don’t worry about the boy and the slave woman. Do what Sarah wants. Isaac will be your only heir.* ¹³But I will also bless the son of your slave woman. He is your son, so I will make a great nation from his family also.” ¹⁴Early the next morning, Abraham got some food and some water. Abraham gave these things to Hagar. Hagar carried these things and left with her boy. Hagar left that place and wandered in the desert of Beersheba. ¹⁵After some time, all the water was gone. There was none left to drink. So Hagar put her son under a bush. ¹⁶Hagar walked a short distance away. Then she stopped and sat down. Hagar thought her son would die because there was no water. She did not want to watch him die. She sat there and began to cry. ¹⁷God heard the boy crying. And God’s angel called to Hagar from heaven. He said, “What is wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid! The Lord has heard the boy crying there. ¹⁸Go help the boy. Hold his hand and lead him. I will make him the father of many, many people.” ¹⁹Then God allowed Hagar to see a well of water. So Hagar went to the well and filled her bag with water. Then she gave water to the boy to drink. ²⁰God continued to be with the boy while he grew up. Ishmael lived in the desert and became a hunter. He learned to shoot a bow very well. ²¹His mother found a wife for him in Egypt. They continued living in the Paran desert.

Abraham’s Bargain With Abimelech

²²Then Abimelech and Phicol spoke with Abraham. Phicol was the commander of Abimelech’s army. They said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. ²³So make a promise to me here before God. Promise that you will be fair with me and with my children. Promise that you will be kind to me and the country here where you have lived. Promise you will be as kind to me as I have been to you.” ²⁴And Abraham said, “I promise to treat you the same way you have treated me.” ²⁵Then Abraham complained to Abimelech. Abraham complained because Abimelech’s servants had captured a well of water. ²⁶But Abimelech said, “I don’t know who has done this thing. You never told me about this before today!” ²⁷So Abraham and Abimelech made an agreement. Abraham gave Abimelech some sheep and cattle as proof of the agreement. ²⁸Abraham also put seven* female lambs in front of Abimelech. ²⁹Abimelech asked Abraham, “Why did you put these seven female lambs by themselves?” ³⁰Abraham answered, “When you accept these lambs from me, it will be proof that I dug this well.” ³¹So after that, the well was called Beersheba.* He gave the well this name because it was the place where they made a promise to each other. ³²So Abraham and Abimelech made an agreement at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and his military commander went back to the country of the Philistines. ³³Abraham planted a special tree at Beersheba. At that place, Abraham prayed to the Lord, the God who lives forever. ³⁴And Abraham stayed a long time in the country of the Philistines.

Isaac This name means “he laughs” or “he is happy.” circumcise(d) Cutting the foreskin from a man. In Israel this was proof that a man had made a special agreement to obey God’s laws and teachings. heir A person who receives his parents’ property when they die. seven The Hebrew word for “seven” is like the Hebrew word for “oath” or “promise” and it is like the last part of the name Beersheba. The seven animals were proof of this promise. Beersheba This name means “well of the oath.”

Abraham, Kill Your Son!

22 After those things, God decided to test Abraham’s faith. God said to him, “Abraham!” And Abraham said, “Yes!” ²Then God said, “Take your son to the land of Moriah. At Moriah kill your son as a sacrifice* for me. This must be Isaac, your only son—the son you love. Use him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains there. I will tell you which mountain.” ³In the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. Abraham took Isaac and two servants with him. Abraham cut the wood for the sacrifice.* Then they went to the place God told them to go. ⁴After they traveled three days, Abraham looked up and in the distance, he saw the place they were going to. ⁵Then Abraham said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. I will take my son and go to that place and worship. Then we will come back to you later.” ⁶Abraham took the wood for the sacrifice* and put it on his son’s {shoulder}. Abraham took the special knife and fire. Then both Abraham and his son went together to the place for worship. ⁷Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” Abraham answered, “Yes, son.” Isaac said, “I see the wood and the fire. But where is the lamb we will burn as a sacrifice*?” ⁸Abraham answered, “God himself is providing the lamb for the sacrifice,* my son.”

Isaac Is Saved

So both Abraham and his son went together to that place. ⁹They came to the place where God told them to go. There, Abraham built an altar.* Abraham laid the wood on the altar. Then Abraham tied his son Isaac. Abraham laid Isaac on the altar on the wood. ¹⁰Then Abraham took his knife and prepared to kill his son. ¹¹But then the Angel of the Lord stopped Abraham. The angel called from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” Abraham answered, “Yes.” ¹²The angel said, “Don’t kill your son or hurt him in any way. Now I can see that you do respect and obey God. I see that you are ready to kill your son, your only son, for me.” ¹³Then Abraham saw a ram. The ram’s horns were caught in a bush. So Abraham went and got the ram and killed it. Abraham used the ram as a sacrifice* to God. Abraham’s son was saved. ¹⁴So Abraham gave that place a name, “YAHWEH YIREH.”* Even today people say, “On this mountain, the Lord can be seen.” ¹⁵The Angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time. ¹⁶The angel said, “You were ready to kill your son for me. This was your only son. Because you did this for me, I make you this promise: I, the Lord, promise that ¹⁷I will truly bless you. I will give you many, many descendants,* as many as the stars in the sky. There will be as many people as sand on the seashore. And your people will live in cities that they take from their enemies. ¹⁸Every nation on the earth will be blessed through your descendants.* I will do this because you obeyed me.” ¹⁹Then Abraham went back to his servants. They all traveled back to Beersheba and Abraham stayed there. ²⁰After all these things happened, a message was sent to Abraham. The message said, “Your brother Nahor and his wife Milcah have children now. ²¹The first son is Uz. The second son is Buz. The third son is Kemuel, the father of Aram. ²²Then there are Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³Bethuel was the father of Rebekah. Milcah was the mother of these eight sons, and Nahor was the father. Nahor was Abraham’s brother. ²⁴Also Nahor had four other sons from his woman servant* Reumah. The sons were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

sacrifice(s) A gift to God. Usually it was a special animal that was killed and burned on an altar. altar(s) A stone table used for burning sacrifices that were offered as gifts to God. YAHWEH YIREH Or, “Jehovah Jireh.” This means “the Lord sees” or “the Lord gives.” descendants A person’s children and their future families. descendants Or “Descendant.” See Paul’s discussion in Gal 3:16. woman servant Literally, “concubine.” A slave woman who was like a wife to a man.