You shall go to your fathers in peace;
You shall be buried at a ripe old age.
16And they shall return here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
17When the sun set and it was very dark, there appeared a smoking oven, and a flaming torch which passed between those pieces. 18On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I assign this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: 19the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgash- ites, and the Jebusites.”
16 Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had an Egyp- tian maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2And Sarai said to Abram, “Look, the LORD has kept me from bearing. Consort with my maid; perhaps I shall have a sona through her.” And Abram heeded Sarai’s request. 3So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian— after Abram had dwelt in the land of Canaan ten years—and gave her to her husband Abram as concubine. 4He cohabited with Hagar and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was lowered in her esteem. 5And Sarai said to Abram, “The wrong done me is your fault! I myself put my maid in your bosom; now that she sees that she is pregnant, I am lowered in her esteem. The LORD decide between you and me!” 6Abram said to Sarai, “Your maid is in your hands. Deal with her as you think right.” Then Sarai treated her harshly, and she ran away from her.
7An angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur, 8and said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.”
9 And the angel of the LORD said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit to her harsh treatment.” 10And the angel of the LORD said to her,
“I will greatly increase your offspring,
And they shall be too many to count.”
11The angel of the LORD said to her further,
“Behold, you are with child
And shall bear a son;
You shall call him Ishmael,b
For the LORD has paid heed to your suffering.
12He shall be a wild ass of a man;
His hand against everyone,
And everyone’s hand against him;
He shall dwell alongside of all his kinsmen.”
13And she called the LORD who spoke to her, “You Are El-roi,”c by which she meant, d-“Have I not gone on seeing after He saw me!”-d 14Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi;e it is between Kadesh and Bered.— 15Hagar bore a son to Abram, and Abram gave the son that Hagar bore him the name Ishmael. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai.a Walk in My ways and be blameless. 2I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will make you exceedingly numerous.”
3Abram threw himself on his face; and God spoke to him further, 4“As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5And you shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham,b for I make you the father of a multitude of nations. 6I will make you exceedingly fertile, and make nations of you; and kings shall come forth from you. 7I will maintain My covenant be- tween Me and you, and your offspring to come, as an everlasting covenant throughout the ages, to be God to you and to your offspring to come. 8I assign the land you sojourn in to you and your offspring to come, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting holding. I will be their God.”
9God further said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring to come throughout the ages shall keep My covenant. 10Such shall be the covenant between Me and you and your offspring to follow which you shall keep: every male among you shall be circumcised. 11You shall cir- cumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that shall be the sign of the cov- enant between Me and you. 12And throughout the generations, every male among you shall be circumcised at the age of eight days. As for the homeborn slave and the one bought from an outsider who is not of your offspring, 13they must be circumcised, homeborn and purchased alike. Thus shall My covenant be marked in your flesh as an everlasting pact. 14And if any male who is uncircumcised fails to circumcise the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his kin; he has broken My covenant.”
15And God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah.c 16I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she shall give rise to nations; rulers of peoples shall issue from her.” 17Abraham threw himself on his face and laughed, as he said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man a hundred years old, or can Sarah bear a child at ninety?” 18And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live by Your favor!” 19God said, “Nevertheless, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac;d and I will maintain My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring to come. 20As for Ishmael, I have heeded you.e I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and exceedingly numerous. He shall be the father of twelve chieftains, and I will make of him a great nation. 21But My covenant I will maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.” 22And when He was done speaking with him, God was gone from Abraham.
23Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, and all his homeborn slaves and all those he had bought, every male in Abraham’s household, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins on that very day, as God had spoken to him. 24Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, 25and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26Thus Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on that very day; 27and all his household, his homeborn slaves and those that had been bought from outsiders, were circumcised with him.
18 The LORD appeared to him by the terebinths of Mamre; he was sitting at the entrance of the tent as the day grew hot. 2Looking up, he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them and, bowing to the ground, 3he said, “My lords,a if it please you, do not go on past your servant. 4Let a little water be brought; bathe your feet and recline under the tree. 5And let me fetch a morsel of bread that you may refresh yourselves; then go on—seeing that you have come your servant’s way.” They replied, “Do as you have said.”
Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quick, three seahs of choice flour! Knead and make cakes!” Then Abraham ran to the herd, took a calf, tender and choice, and gave it to a servant-boy, who hastened to prepare it. 8He took curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared and set these before them; and he waited on them under the tree as they ate.
9They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he replied, “There, in the tent.” 10Then one said, “I will return to you next year,b and your wife Sarah shall have a son!” Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, which was behind him. 11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, ad- vanced in years; Sarah had stopped having the periods of women. 12And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “Now that I am withered, am I to have enjoyment—with my husband so old?” 13Then the LORD said to Abra- ham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I in truth bear a child, old as I am?’ 14Is anything too wondrous for the LORD? I will return to you at the same season next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15Sarah lied, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was frightened. But He replied, “You did laugh.”
16The men set out from there and looked down toward Sodom, Abra- ham walking with them to see them off. 17Now the LORD had said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18since Abraham is to become a great and populous nation and all the nations of the earth are to bless themselves by him? 19For I have singled him out, that he may instruct his children and his posterity to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is just and right, in order that the LORD may bring about for Abraham what He has promised him.” 20Then the LORD said, “The out- rage of Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave! 21I will go down to see whether they have acted altogether according to the outcry that has reached
