DaySpring Hope & Encouragement Bible - Flipbook - Page 39
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G enesis 17
After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot
and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. 18 So the Lord
made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to
your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt* to the great Euphrates River—19 the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and
Jebusites.”
17
The Birth of Ishmael
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for
him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. 2 So Sarai
said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go
and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And
Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. 3 So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the
Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years
after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)
4 So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant.
But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress,
Sarai, with contempt. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put
my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with
contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!”
6 Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.”
Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur. 8 The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant,
where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,” she replied.
9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit
to her authority.” 10 Then he added, “I will give you more descendants than
you can count.”
11 And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a
son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the Lord
has heard your cry of distress. 12 This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone
will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.”
13 Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had
spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.”* She also said, “Have
I truly seen the One who sees me?” 14 So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi
(which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found
between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael. 16 Abram
was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born.
16
Abram Is Named Abraham
When Abram was n
inety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him
and said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully
and live a blameless life. 2 I will make a covenant with you, by which I will
guarantee to give you countless descendants.”
3 At this, Abram fell face down on the ground. Then God said to him,
17
15:18 Hebrew the river of Egypt, referring either to an eastern branch of the Nile River or to the
Brook of Egypt in the Sinai (see Num 34:5). 16:13 Hebrew El-roi.
