Hands-On Bible Sampler - Flipbook - Page 47
page 17
to the great Euphrates River—19 the land now oc-
cupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21Amorites,
Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
CHAPTER
16
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.)
4So 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!”
6Abram 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. 8The 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.”
10Then he added, “I will give you more descendants than you can count.”
11And 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?” 14So
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
... Genesis 17
named him Ishmael. 16Abram was eighty-six
years old when Ishmael was born.
CHAPTER
17
Abram Is Named Abraham
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord
appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God
Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. 2I will make a covenant with you, by
which I will guarantee to give you countless
descendants.”
3At this, Abram fell face down on the ground.
Then God said to him, 4“This is my covenant
with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations! 5 What’s more, I am changing
your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead,
you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. 6I will make you extremely
fruitful. Your descendants will become many
nations, and kings will be among them!
7 “I will confirm my covenant with you and
your descendants after you, from generation to
generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I
will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8And I will give the entire
land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be
their possession forever, and I will be their
God.”
The Mark of the Covenant
9 Then
God said to Abraham, “Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You
and all your descendants have this continual
responsibility. 10This is the covenant that you
and your descendants must keep: Each male
among you must be circumcised. 11 You must cut
off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12From generation
to generation, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family but
also to the servants born in your household and
the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased. 13All must be circumcised. Your bodies
will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant.
14Any male who fails to be circumcised will be
cut off from the covenant family for breaking
the covenant.”
Sarai Is Named Sarah
15 Then God said to Abraham, “Regarding Sarai,
your wife—her name will no longer be Sarai.
From now on her name will be Sarah. 16And I will
bless her and give you a son from her! Yes, I will
