NAS - Genesis Chapter 21 to 22

21 Isaac Is Born

¹Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised. ²So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. ³Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. ⁴Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." ⁷And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

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

Sarah Turns against Hagar

⁹Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. ¹⁰Therefore she said to Abraham, "Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac." ¹¹The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. ¹²But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named. ¹³"And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant." ¹⁴So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a 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.

¹⁵When the water in the skin was used up, she left the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, "Do not let me see the boy die." And she sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷God 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? 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 the hand, for I will make a great nation of him." ¹⁹Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad a drink.

²⁰God was with the lad, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer. ²¹He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Covenant with Abimelech

²²Now it came about at that time that Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, "God is with you in all that you do; ²³now therefore, 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." ²⁴Abraham said, "I swear it." ²⁵But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had seized. ²⁶And Abimelech said, "I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it until today."

²⁷Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. ²⁸Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. ²⁹Abimelech said to Abraham, "What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?" ³⁰He said, "You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a witness to me, that I dug this well." ³¹Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them took an oath. ³²So they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. ³⁴And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines for many days.

22 The Offering of Isaac

¹Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." ²He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you." ³So 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. ⁴On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. ⁵Abraham 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." ⁶Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and 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. ⁷Isaac 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 lamb for the burnt offering?" ⁸Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together.

⁹Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." ¹²He said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." ¹³Then 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. ¹⁴Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the LORD it will be provided."

¹⁵Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, ¹⁶and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. ¹⁸"In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." ¹⁹So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.

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