One Year Pray for the Persecuted Bible - Flipbook - Page 47
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done! 10 Whatever possessed you to do such a
thing?”
11 Abraham replied, “I thought, ‘This is a godless place. They will want my wife and will kill
me to get her.’ 12 And she really is my sister,
for we both have the same father, but different mothers. And I married her. 13 When God
called me to leave my father’s home and to
travel from place to place, I told her, ‘Do me a
favor. Wherever we go, tell the people that I am
your brother.’”
14 Then Abimelech took some of his sheep
and goats, cattle, and male and female servants,
and he p
resented them to Abraham. He also
returned his wife, Sarah, to him. 15 Then Abim
elech said, “Look over my land and choose any
place where you would like to live.” 16 And he
said to Sarah, “Look, I am giving your ‘brother’
1,000 pieces of silver* in the presence of all
these witnesses. This is to compensate you for
any wrong I may have done to you. This will
settle any claim against me, and your reputation is cleared.”
17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God
healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female
servants, so they could have children. 18 For
the Lord had caused all the women to be infertile because of what happened with Abra
ham’s wife, Sarah.
21:1 The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah
exactly what he had promised. 2 She became
pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abra
ham in his old age. This happened at just the
time God had said it would. 3 And Abraham
named their son I saac. 4 Eight days after I saac
was born, Abraham circumcised him as God
had commanded. 5 Abraham was 100 years old
when I saac was born.
6 And Sarah declared, “God has brought me
laughter.* All who hear about this will laugh
with me. 7 Who would have said to Abraham
that Sarah would nurse a baby? Yet I have
given Abraham a son in his old age!”
8 When Isaac grew up and was about to
be weaned, Abraham prepared a huge feast
to celebrate the occasion. 9 But Sarah saw
Ishmael—the son of Abraham and her Egyptian servant Hagar—making fun of her son,
Isaac.* 10 So she turned to Abraham and demanded, “Get rid of that slave woman and her
son. He is not going to share the inheritance
with my son, Isaac. I won’t have it!”
11 This upset Abraham very much because
Ishmael was his son. 12 But God told Abraham,
“Do not be upset over the boy and your servant. Do whatever Sarah tells you, for Isaac is
the son through whom your descendants will
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be counted. 13 But I will also make a nation of
the descendants of Hagar’s son because he is
your son, too.”
14 So Abraham got up early the next morning, prepared food and a container of water,
and strapped them on Hagar’s shoulders.
Then he sent her away with their son, and
she wandered aimlessly in the wilderness of
Beersheba.
15 When the water was gone, she put the boy
in the shade of a bush. 16 Then she went and sat
down by herself about a hundred yards* away.
“I d
on’t want to watch the boy die,” she said, as
she burst into tears.
17 But God heard the boy crying, and the
angel of God called to Hagar from heaven,
“Hagar, what’s wrong? Do not be afraid! God
has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Go
to him and comfort him, for I will make a great
nation from his descendants.”
19 Then God opened Hagar’s eyes, and she
saw a well full of water. She quickly filled her
water container and gave the boy a drink.
20 And God was with the boy as he grew up
in the wilderness. He became a skillful archer,
21 and he settled in the wilderness of Paran. His
mother arranged for him to marry a woman
from the land of Egypt.
22 About this time, Abim
elech came with
Phicol, his army commander, to visit Abra
ham. “God is obviously with you, helping
you in everything you do,” Abimelech said.
23 “Swear to me in God’s name that you will
never deceive me, my children, or any of my
descendants. I have been loyal to you, so now
swear that you will be loyal to me and to this
country where you are living as a foreigner.”
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Abraham replied, “Yes, I swear to it!”
25 Then Abra
ham complained to Abimelech
about a well that Abimelech’s servants had
taken by force from Abraham’s servants.
26 “This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Abime
lech answered. “I have no idea who is responsible. You have never complained about this
before.”
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Abraham then gave some of his sheep,
goats, and cattle to Abimelech, and they made
a treaty. 28 But Abraham also took seven additional female lambs and set them off by themselves. 29 Abimelech asked, “Why have you set
these seven apart from the others?”
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Abraham replied, “Please accept these
seven lambs to show your agreement that
I dug this well.” 31 Then he named the place
Beersheba (which means “well of the oath”),
because that was where they had sworn the
oath.
32 After making their covenant at Beersheba,
