Isaac Is Born

21 The Lord graciously remembered and visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for her as He had promised. ² So Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. ³ Abraham named his son Isaac (laughter), the son to whom Sarah gave birth. ⁴ So Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, just as God had commanded him. ⁵ Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born. ⁶ Sarah said, “God has made me laugh; all who hear [about our good news] will laugh with me.” ⁷ And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have given birth to a son by him in his old age.”^(A)

⁸ The child [Isaac] grew and was ^[a]weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah Turns against Hagar

⁹ Now [as time went on] Sarah saw [Ishmael] the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^[b]mocking [Isaac].^{(B) 10} Therefore 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.”^{(C) 11} The situation ^[c]distressed Abraham greatly because of his son [Ishmael]. ¹² God said to Abraham, “Do not let it distress you because of Ishmael and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her and do what she asks, for your descendants will be named through Isaac.^{(D) 13} And I will also make a nation of [Ishmael] the son of the maid, because he is your descendant.” ¹⁴ So Abraham got up 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 ^[d]away. And she left [but lost her way] and wandered [aimlessly] in the Wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was all gone, Hagar abandoned the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me see the boy die.” And as she sat down opposite him, she raised her voice and wept. ¹⁷ God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy from where he is [resting]. ¹⁸ Get up, help the boy up, and hold him by the hand, for I will make him a great nation.” ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the [empty] skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰ God was with Ishmael, and he grew and developed; and he lived in the wilderness and became an [expert] archer. ²¹ 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 at that time Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do; ²³ so now, swear to me here by God that you will not deal unfairly with me [by breaking any agreements we have] or with my son or with my descendants, but as I have treated you with kindness, you shall do the same to me and to the land in which you have sojourned (temporarily lived).” ²⁴ And Abraham said, “I will swear.” ²⁵ Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water which the servants of Abimelech had [violently] seized [from him], ²⁶ Abimelech said, “I do not know who did this thing. Indeed, you did not tell me, and I did not hear of it until today.”

²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant (binding agreement). ²⁸ Then Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock, ²⁹ and Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set apart?” ³⁰ Abraham said, “You are to accept these seven ewe lambs from me as a witness for me, that I dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore that place was called Beersheba (Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), because there the two of them swore an oath. ³² So they made a covenant at Beersheba; then 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 he called on the name of the Lord [in prayer], ^[e]the Eternal God. ³⁴ And Abraham lived [as a resident alien] in the land of the Philistines for ^[f]many days.

The Offering of Isaac

22 Now after these things, God tested [the faith and commitment of] Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.” ² God said, “Take now your son, your only son [of ^[g]promise], whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of ^[h]Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” ³ So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and then he got up and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day [of travel] Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵ Abraham said to his servants, “Settle down and stay here with the donkey; the ^[i]young man and I will go over there and worship [God], and we will come back to you.”^{(E) 6} Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it ^[j]on [the shoulders of] Isaac his son, and he took the ^[k]fire (firepot) in his own hand and the [sacrificial] knife; and the two of them walked on together. ⁷ And Isaac said to Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” ⁸ Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself ^[l]a lamb for the burnt offering.” So the two walked on together.

⁹ When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood, and bound Isaac his son and placed him on the altar, on top of the wood.^{(F) 10} Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to ^[m]kill his son.^{(G) 11} But the ^[n]Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He answered, “Here I am.” ¹² The Lord said, “Do not reach out [with the knife in] your hand against the boy, and do nothing to [harm] him; for now I know that you fear God [with reverence and profound respect], since you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son [of promise].” ¹³ Then Abraham looked up and glanced around, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering (ascending sacrifice) instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham named that place ^[o]The Lord Will Provide. And it is said to this day, “On the mountain of the Lord it ^[p]will be seen and provided.”

¹⁵ The ^[q]Angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time ¹⁶ and said, “By Myself (on the basis of Who I Am) I have sworn [an oath], declares the Lord, that since you have done this thing and have not withheld [from Me] your son, your only son [of promise], ¹⁷ indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies [as conquerors].^{(H) 18} Through your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have heard and obeyed My voice.”^{(I) 19} So Abraham returned to his servants, and they got up and went with him to Beersheba; and Abraham settled in Beersheba.

²⁰ Now after these things Abraham was told, “Milcah has borne children to your brother Nahor: ²¹ Uz the firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram, ²² Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.” ²³ Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight [children] Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ Nahor’s ^[r]concubine, whose name was Reumah, gave birth to Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.