The Son of Promise^(A)

18 Then the Lord appeared to him by ^[a]the ^(B)terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. ^2 (C)So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; ^(D)and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, ³ and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. ⁴ Please let ^(E)a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. ⁵ And ^(F)I will bring a morsel of bread, that ^(G)you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, ^(H)inasmuch as you have come to your servant.”

They said, “Do as you have said.”

⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.” ⁷ And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. ⁸ So ^(I)he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.

⁹ Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?”

So he said, “Here, ^(J)in the tent.”

¹⁰ And He said, “I will certainly return to you ^(K)according to the time of life, and behold, ^(L)Sarah your wife shall have a son.”

(Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) ¹¹ Now ^(M)Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and ^[b]Sarah ^(N)had passed the age of childbearing. ¹² Therefore Sarah ^(O)laughed within herself, saying, ^(P)“After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my ^(Q)lord being old also?”

¹³ And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ ^14 (R)Is anything too hard for the Lord? ^(S)At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

¹⁵ But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid.

And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”

Abraham Intercedes for Sodom

¹⁶ Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them ^(T)to send them on the way. ¹⁷ And the Lord said, ^(U)“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, ¹⁸ since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be ^(V)blessed in him? ¹⁹ For I have known him, in order ^(W)that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” ²⁰ And the Lord said, “Because ^(X)the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their ^(Y)sin is very grave, ^21 (Z)I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, ^(AA)I will know.”

²² Then the men turned away from there ^(AB)and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. ²³ And Abraham ^(AC)came near and said, ^(AD)“Would You also ^(AE)destroy the ^(AF)righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? ²⁵ Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so ^(AG)that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! ^(AH)Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

²⁶ So the Lord said, ^(AI)“If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”

²⁷ Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am ^(AJ)but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: ²⁸ Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?”

So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.”

²⁹ And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?”

So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.”

³⁰ Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?”

So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹ And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?”

So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.”

³² Then he said, ^(AK)“Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?”

^(AL)And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” ³³ So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.

Sodom’s Depravity

19 Now ^(AM)the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and ^(AN)Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. ² And he said, “Here now, my lords, please ^(AO)turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and ^(AP)wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.”

And they said, ^(AQ)“No, but we will spend the night in the open square.”

³ But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. ^(AR)Then he made them a feast, and baked ^(AS)unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴ Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. ^5 (AT)And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? ^(AU)Bring them out to us that we ^(AV)may know them carnally.”

⁶ So ^(AW)Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, ⁷ and said, “Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! ^8 (AX)See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, ^(AY)since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.”

⁹ And they said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one ^(AZ)came in to ^[c]stay here, ^(BA)and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.” So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. ¹⁰ But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. ¹¹ And they ^(BB)struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed^(BC)

¹² Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—^(BD)take them out of this place! ¹³ For we will destroy this place, because the ^(BE)outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and ^(BF)the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, ^(BG)who had married his daughters, and said, ^(BH)“Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!” ^(BI)But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.

¹⁵ When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, ^(BJ)“Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ And while he lingered, the men ^(BK)took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the ^(BL)Lord being merciful to him, ^(BM)and they brought him out and set him outside the city. ¹⁷ So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that ^[d]he said, ^(BN)“Escape for your life! ^(BO)Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape ^(BP)to the mountains, lest you be ^[e]destroyed.”

¹⁸ Then Lot said to them, “Please, ^(BQ)no, my lords! ¹⁹ Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. ²⁰ See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.”

²¹ And he said to him, “See, ^(BR)I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, escape there. For ^(BS)I cannot do anything until you arrive there.”

Therefore ^(BT)the name of the city was called ^[f]Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained ^(BU)brimstone and ^(BV)fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. ²⁵ So He ^[g]overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and ^(BW)what grew on the ground.

²⁶ But his wife looked back behind him, and she became ^(BX)a pillar of salt.

²⁷ And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where ^(BY)he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸ Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, ^(BZ)the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. ²⁹ And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God ^(CA)remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.

The Descendants of Lot

³⁰ Then Lot went up out of Zoar and ^(CB)dwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him; for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave. ³¹ Now the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man on the earth ^(CC)to come in to us as is the custom of all the earth. ³² Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we ^(CD)may preserve the ^[h]lineage of our father.” ³³ So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

³⁴ It happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, “Indeed I lay with my father last night; let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve the ^[i]lineage of our father.” ³⁵ Then they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

³⁶ Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; ^(CE)he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; ^(CF)he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.

Abraham and Abimelech

20 And Abraham journeyed from ^(CG)there to the South, and dwelt between ^(CH)Kadesh and Shur, and ^(CI)stayed in Gerar. ² Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, ^(CJ)“She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and ^(CK)took Sarah.

³ But ^(CL)God came to Abimelech ^(CM)in a dream by night, and said to him, ^(CN)“Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is ^[j]a man’s wife.”

⁴ But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, ^(CO)will You slay a righteous nation also? ⁵ Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ ^(CP)In the ^[k]integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.”

⁶ And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For ^(CQ)I also withheld you from sinning ^(CR)against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; ^(CS)for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, ^(CT)know that you shall surely die, you ^(CU)and all who are yours.”

⁸ So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were very much afraid. ⁹ And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I ^[l]offended you, ^(CV)that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me ^(CW)that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰ Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you have in view, that you have done this thing?”

¹¹ And Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely ^(CX)the fear of God is not in this place; and ^(CY)they will kill me on account of my wife. ¹² But indeed ^(CZ)she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. ¹³ And it came to pass, when ^(DA)God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is your kindness that you should do for me: in every place, wherever we go, ^(DB)say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”

¹⁴ Then Abimelech ^(DC)took sheep, oxen, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored Sarah his wife to him. ¹⁵ And Abimelech said, “See, ^(DD)my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” ¹⁶ Then to Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; ^(DE)indeed this ^[m]vindicates you ^(DF)before all who are with you and before everybody.” Thus she was ^[n]rebuked.

¹⁷ So Abraham ^(DG)prayed to God; and God ^(DH)healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; ¹⁸ for the Lord ^(DI)had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Isaac Is Born^(DJ)

21 And the Lord ^(DK)visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah ^(DL)as He had spoken. ² For Sarah ^(DM)conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, ^(DN)at the set time of which God had spoken to him. ³ And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—^(DO)Isaac.^{[o] 4} Then Abraham ^(DP)circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, ^(DQ)as God had commanded him. ⁵ Now ^(DR)Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ And Sarah said, ^(DS)“God has ^[p]made me laugh, and all who hear ^(DT)will laugh with me.” ⁷ She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? ^(DU)For I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Hagar and Ishmael Depart^(DV)

⁸ So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.

⁹ And Sarah saw the son of Hagar ^(DW)the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^(DX)scoffing.^{[q] 10} Therefore she said to Abraham, ^(DY)“Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.” ¹¹ And the matter was very ^[r]displeasing in Abraham’s sight ^(DZ)because of his son.

¹² But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for ^(EA)in Isaac your seed shall be called. ¹³ Yet I will also make ^(EB)a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your ^[s]seed.”

¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and ^[t]a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and ^(EC)sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. ¹⁵ And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.

¹⁷ And ^(ED)God heard the voice of the lad. Then the ^(EE)angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. ¹⁸ Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for ^(EF)I will make him a great nation.”

¹⁹ Then ^(EG)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. ²⁰ So God ^(EH)was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, ^(EI)and became an archer. ²¹ He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother ^(EJ)took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

A Covenant with Abimelech

²² And it came to pass at that time that ^(EK)Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, ^(EL)“God is with you in all that you do. ²³ Now therefore, ^(EM)swear^[u] to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring, or with my posterity; but that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt.”

²⁴ And Abraham said, “I will swear.”

²⁵ Then Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech’s servants ^(EN)had seized. ²⁶ And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor had I heard of it until today.” ²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them ^(EO)made a ^[v]covenant. ²⁸ And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

²⁹ Then Abimelech asked Abraham, ^(EP)“What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?”

³⁰ And he said, “You will take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that ^(EQ)they may be my witness that I have dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore he ^(ER)called that place ^[w]Beersheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.

³² Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. So Abimelech rose with Phichol, the commander of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and ^(ES)there called on the name of the Lord, ^(ET)the Everlasting God. ³⁴ And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.

Abraham’s Faith Confirmed^(EU)

22 Now it came to pass after these things that ^(EV)God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

² Then He said, “Take now your son, ^(EW)your only son Isaac, whom you ^(EX)love, and go ^(EY)to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a ^(EZ)burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

³ So 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 the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. ⁵ And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the ^[x]lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will ^(FA)come back to you.”

⁶ So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and ^(FB)laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. ⁷ But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”

And he said, “Here I am, my son.”

Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the ^[y]lamb for a burnt offering?”

⁸ And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the ^(FC)lamb for a ^(FD)burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

⁹ Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and ^(FE)laid him on the altar, upon the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

¹¹ But the ^(FF)Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

So he said, “Here I am.”

¹² And He said, ^(FG)“Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for ^(FH)now I know that you fear God, since you have not ^(FI)withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

¹³ Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ And Abraham called the name of the place, ^[z]The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

¹⁵ Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, ¹⁶ and said: ^(FJ)“By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— ¹⁷ blessing I will ^(FK)bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants ^(FL)as the stars of the heaven ^(FM)and as the sand which is on the seashore; and ^(FN)your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. ^18 (FO)In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, ^(FP)because you have obeyed My voice.” ¹⁹ So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to ^(FQ)Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

The Family of Nahor

²⁰ Now it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, “Indeed ^(FR)Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ^21 (FS)Huz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father ^(FT)of Aram, ²² Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ And ^(FU)Bethuel begot ^[aa]Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah.

The Son of Promise^(A)

18 Then the Lord appeared to him by ^[a]the ^(B)terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. ^2 (C)So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; ^(D)and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, ³ and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. ⁴ Please let ^(E)a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. ⁵ And ^(F)I will bring a morsel of bread, that ^(G)you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, ^(H)inasmuch as you have come to your servant.”

They said, “Do as you have said.”

⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.” ⁷ And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. ⁸ So ^(I)he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.

⁹ Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?”

So he said, “Here, ^(J)in the tent.”

¹⁰ And He said, “I will certainly return to you ^(K)according to the time of life, and behold, ^(L)Sarah your wife shall have a son.”

(Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) ¹¹ Now ^(M)Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and ^[b]Sarah ^(N)had passed the age of childbearing. ¹² Therefore Sarah ^(O)laughed within herself, saying, ^(P)“After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my ^(Q)lord being old also?”

¹³ And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ ^14 (R)Is anything too hard for the Lord? ^(S)At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

¹⁵ But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid.

And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”

Abraham Intercedes for Sodom

¹⁶ Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them ^(T)to send them on the way. ¹⁷ And the Lord said, ^(U)“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, ¹⁸ since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be ^(V)blessed in him? ¹⁹ For I have known him, in order ^(W)that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” ²⁰ And the Lord said, “Because ^(X)the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their ^(Y)sin is very grave, ^21 (Z)I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, ^(AA)I will know.”

²² Then the men turned away from there ^(AB)and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. ²³ And Abraham ^(AC)came near and said, ^(AD)“Would You also ^(AE)destroy the ^(AF)righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? ²⁵ Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so ^(AG)that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! ^(AH)Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

²⁶ So the Lord said, ^(AI)“If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”

²⁷ Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am ^(AJ)but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: ²⁸ Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?”

So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.”

²⁹ And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?”

So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.”

³⁰ Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?”

So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹ And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?”

So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.”

³² Then he said, ^(AK)“Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?”

^(AL)And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” ³³ So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.

Sodom’s Depravity

19 Now ^(AM)the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and ^(AN)Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. ² And he said, “Here now, my lords, please ^(AO)turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and ^(AP)wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.”

And they said, ^(AQ)“No, but we will spend the night in the open square.”

³ But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. ^(AR)Then he made them a feast, and baked ^(AS)unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴ Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. ^5 (AT)And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? ^(AU)Bring them out to us that we ^(AV)may know them carnally.”

⁶ So ^(AW)Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, ⁷ and said, “Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! ^8 (AX)See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, ^(AY)since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.”

⁹ And they said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one ^(AZ)came in to ^[c]stay here, ^(BA)and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.” So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. ¹⁰ But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. ¹¹ And they ^(BB)struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed^(BC)

¹² Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—^(BD)take them out of this place! ¹³ For we will destroy this place, because the ^(BE)outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and ^(BF)the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, ^(BG)who had married his daughters, and said, ^(BH)“Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!” ^(BI)But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.

¹⁵ When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, ^(BJ)“Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ And while he lingered, the men ^(BK)took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the ^(BL)Lord being merciful to him, ^(BM)and they brought him out and set him outside the city. ¹⁷ So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that ^[d]he said, ^(BN)“Escape for your life! ^(BO)Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape ^(BP)to the mountains, lest you be ^[e]destroyed.”

¹⁸ Then Lot said to them, “Please, ^(BQ)no, my lords! ¹⁹ Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. ²⁰ See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.”

²¹ And he said to him, “See, ^(BR)I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, escape there. For ^(BS)I cannot do anything until you arrive there.”

Therefore ^(BT)the name of the city was called ^[f]Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained ^(BU)brimstone and ^(BV)fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. ²⁵ So He ^[g]overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and ^(BW)what grew on the ground.

²⁶ But his wife looked back behind him, and she became ^(BX)a pillar of salt.

²⁷ And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where ^(BY)he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸ Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, ^(BZ)the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. ²⁹ And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God ^(CA)remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.

The Descendants of Lot

³⁰ Then Lot went up out of Zoar and ^(CB)dwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him; for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave. ³¹ Now the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man on the earth ^(CC)to come in to us as is the custom of all the earth. ³² Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we ^(CD)may preserve the ^[h]lineage of our father.” ³³ So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

³⁴ It happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, “Indeed I lay with my father last night; let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve the ^[i]lineage of our father.” ³⁵ Then they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

³⁶ Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; ^(CE)he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; ^(CF)he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.

Abraham and Abimelech

20 And Abraham journeyed from ^(CG)there to the South, and dwelt between ^(CH)Kadesh and Shur, and ^(CI)stayed in Gerar. ² Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, ^(CJ)“She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and ^(CK)took Sarah.

³ But ^(CL)God came to Abimelech ^(CM)in a dream by night, and said to him, ^(CN)“Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is ^[j]a man’s wife.”

⁴ But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, ^(CO)will You slay a righteous nation also? ⁵ Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ ^(CP)In the ^[k]integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.”

⁶ And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For ^(CQ)I also withheld you from sinning ^(CR)against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; ^(CS)for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, ^(CT)know that you shall surely die, you ^(CU)and all who are yours.”

⁸ So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were very much afraid. ⁹ And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I ^[l]offended you, ^(CV)that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me ^(CW)that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰ Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you have in view, that you have done this thing?”

¹¹ And Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely ^(CX)the fear of God is not in this place; and ^(CY)they will kill me on account of my wife. ¹² But indeed ^(CZ)she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. ¹³ And it came to pass, when ^(DA)God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is your kindness that you should do for me: in every place, wherever we go, ^(DB)say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”

¹⁴ Then Abimelech ^(DC)took sheep, oxen, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored Sarah his wife to him. ¹⁵ And Abimelech said, “See, ^(DD)my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” ¹⁶ Then to Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; ^(DE)indeed this ^[m]vindicates you ^(DF)before all who are with you and before everybody.” Thus she was ^[n]rebuked.

¹⁷ So Abraham ^(DG)prayed to God; and God ^(DH)healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; ¹⁸ for the Lord ^(DI)had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Isaac Is Born^(DJ)

21 And the Lord ^(DK)visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah ^(DL)as He had spoken. ² For Sarah ^(DM)conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, ^(DN)at the set time of which God had spoken to him. ³ And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—^(DO)Isaac.^{[o] 4} Then Abraham ^(DP)circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, ^(DQ)as God had commanded him. ⁵ Now ^(DR)Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ And Sarah said, ^(DS)“God has ^[p]made me laugh, and all who hear ^(DT)will laugh with me.” ⁷ She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? ^(DU)For I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Hagar and Ishmael Depart^(DV)

⁸ So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.

⁹ And Sarah saw the son of Hagar ^(DW)the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^(DX)scoffing.^{[q] 10} Therefore she said to Abraham, ^(DY)“Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.” ¹¹ And the matter was very ^[r]displeasing in Abraham’s sight ^(DZ)because of his son.

¹² But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for ^(EA)in Isaac your seed shall be called. ¹³ Yet I will also make ^(EB)a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your ^[s]seed.”

¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and ^[t]a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and ^(EC)sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. ¹⁵ And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.

¹⁷ And ^(ED)God heard the voice of the lad. Then the ^(EE)angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. ¹⁸ Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for ^(EF)I will make him a great nation.”

¹⁹ Then ^(EG)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. ²⁰ So God ^(EH)was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, ^(EI)and became an archer. ²¹ He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother ^(EJ)took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

A Covenant with Abimelech

²² And it came to pass at that time that ^(EK)Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, ^(EL)“God is with you in all that you do. ²³ Now therefore, ^(EM)swear^[u] to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring, or with my posterity; but that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt.”

²⁴ And Abraham said, “I will swear.”

²⁵ Then Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech’s servants ^(EN)had seized. ²⁶ And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor had I heard of it until today.” ²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them ^(EO)made a ^[v]covenant. ²⁸ And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

²⁹ Then Abimelech asked Abraham, ^(EP)“What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?”

³⁰ And he said, “You will take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that ^(EQ)they may be my witness that I have dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore he ^(ER)called that place ^[w]Beersheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.

³² Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. So Abimelech rose with Phichol, the commander of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and ^(ES)there called on the name of the Lord, ^(ET)the Everlasting God. ³⁴ And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.

Abraham’s Faith Confirmed^(EU)

22 Now it came to pass after these things that ^(EV)God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

² Then He said, “Take now your son, ^(EW)your only son Isaac, whom you ^(EX)love, and go ^(EY)to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a ^(EZ)burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

³ So 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 the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. ⁵ And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the ^[x]lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will ^(FA)come back to you.”

⁶ So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and ^(FB)laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. ⁷ But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”

And he said, “Here I am, my son.”

Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the ^[y]lamb for a burnt offering?”

⁸ And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the ^(FC)lamb for a ^(FD)burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

⁹ Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and ^(FE)laid him on the altar, upon the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

¹¹ But the ^(FF)Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

So he said, “Here I am.”

¹² And He said, ^(FG)“Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for ^(FH)now I know that you fear God, since you have not ^(FI)withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

¹³ Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ And Abraham called the name of the place, ^[z]The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

¹⁵ Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, ¹⁶ and said: ^(FJ)“By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— ¹⁷ blessing I will ^(FK)bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants ^(FL)as the stars of the heaven ^(FM)and as the sand which is on the seashore; and ^(FN)your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. ^18 (FO)In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, ^(FP)because you have obeyed My voice.” ¹⁹ So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to ^(FQ)Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

The Family of Nahor

²⁰ Now it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, “Indeed ^(FR)Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ^21 (FS)Huz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father ^(FT)of Aram, ²² Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ And ^(FU)Bethuel begot ^[aa]Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah.

Christ’s Birth Announced to Mary

²⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin ^(A)betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And having come in, the angel said to her, ^(B)“Rejoice, highly favored one, ^(C)the Lord is with you; ^[a]blessed are you among women!”

²⁹ But ^[b]when she saw him, ^(D)she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. ³⁰ Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found ^(E)favor with God. ^31 (F)And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and ^(G)shall call His name Jesus. ³² He will be great, ^(H)and will be called the Son of the Highest; and ^(I)the Lord God will give Him the ^(J)throne of His ^(K)father David. ^33 (L)And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴ Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I ^[c]do not know a man?”

³⁵ And the angel answered and said to her, ^(M)“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called ^(N)the Son of God. ³⁶ Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. ³⁷ For ^(O)with God nothing will be impossible.”

³⁸ Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

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Jesus Appears to His Disciples^(A)

^36 (B)Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” ³⁷ But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen ^(C)a spirit. ³⁸ And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹ Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. ^(D)Handle Me and see, for a ^(E)spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

^40 [a]When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. ⁴¹ But while they still did not believe ^(F)for joy, and marveled, He said to them, ^(G)“Have you any food here?” ⁴² So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish ^[b]and some honeycomb. ^43 (H)And He took it and ate in their presence.

The Scriptures Opened

⁴⁴ Then He said to them, ^(I)“These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” ⁴⁵ And ^(J)He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

⁴⁶ Then He said to them, ^(K)“Thus it is written, ^[c]and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, ⁴⁷ and that repentance and ^(L)remission of sins should be preached in His name ^(M)to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ And ^(N)you are witnesses of these things. ^49 (O)Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city ^[d]of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

The Ascension^(P)

⁵⁰ And He led them out ^(Q)as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. ^51 (R)Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. ^52 (S)And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, ⁵³ and were continually ^(T)in the temple ^[e]praising and blessing God. ^[f]Amen.

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Doom of False Teachers

⁴ For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to ^[a]hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; ⁵ and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and turning the cities of ^(A)Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; ⁷ and ^(B)delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked ⁸ (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, ^(C)tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— ⁹ then ^(D)the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially ^(E)those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. ^(F)They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of ^[b]dignitaries, ¹¹ whereas ^(G)angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.

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