Read the Bible

Isaac Is Born

^1 (C1)Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had ^(F1)promised.^2 (C1)So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at ^(C2)the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.³ Abraham named his son who was born to him, the son whom Sarah bore to him, ^(C1)Isaac.⁴ Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was ^(C1)eight days old, as God had commanded him.⁵ Now Abraham was ^(C1)a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.⁶ Sarah said, "God has made ^(C1)laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh ^(F1)with me."⁷ And she said, "^(C1)Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son in his old age."

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

Sarah Turns against Hagar

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was used up, she ^(F1)left the boy under one of the bushes.¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, "May I not ^(F1)see the boy die!" And she sat opposite him, and ^(C1)raised her voice and wept.¹⁷ God ^(C1)heard the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "^(F1)What is the matter with you, Hagar? ^(C2)Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.¹⁸ "Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him by ^(F1)the hand, ^(C1)for I will make a great nation of him."¹⁹ Then God ^(C1)opened her eyes, and she saw ^(C2)a well of water; and she went and filled the ^(F1)skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰ And ^(C1)God was with the boy, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer.^21 (C1)He 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 ^(C1)Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, "^(C2)God is with you in all that you do;²³ so now, ^(C1)swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my descendants, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have resided."²⁴ Abraham said, "I swear it."²⁵ But Abraham ^(F1)complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech ^(C1)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 ^(F1)until today."

²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and ^(C1)the two of them made a covenant.²⁸ But Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.²⁹ Then 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 ^(C1)witness for me, that I dug this well."³¹ Therefore he called that place ^(F1)(C1)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, got up and returned to the land of the Philistines.³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there ^(C1)he called on the name of the LORD, the ^(C2)Everlasting God.³⁴ And Abraham resided ^(C1)in the land of the Philistines for many days.