Wayfinding Bible - Flipbook - Page 38
32
Genesis 20
PG 30
21:1-34
SCENIC
15
ISAAC AND ISHMAEL
Abraham and Sarah had attempted to fulfill God’s promises by their own strategies, but instead it brought resentment and conflict. Now, just as God promised,
Sarah becomes pregnant and bears Abraham a son. God’s promise to Abraham
of many descendants begins with just one—Isaac. Isaac brings laughter to their
home. But Abraham and Sarah’s first strategy has consequences that linger on:
Now there are two boys in the family, and this leads to trouble.
23
Lot reached the village just as the sun was
rising over the horizon. 24 Then the Lord rained
down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on
Sodom and Gomorrah. 25 He utterly destroyed
them, along with the other cities and villages
of the plain, wiping out all the people and
every bit of vegetation. 26 But Lot’s wife looked
back as she was following behind him, and she
turned into a pillar of salt.
27
Abraham got up early that morning and
hurried out to the place where he had stood
in the Lord’s presence. 28 He looked out across
the plain toward Sodom and Gomorrah and
watched as columns of smoke rose from the
cities like smoke from a furnace.
29
But God had listened to Abraham’s request
and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain.
LOT AND HIS DAUGHTERS
Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid
of the people there, and he went to live in a
cave in the mountains with his two daughters.
31
One day the older daughter said to her sister, “There are no men left anywhere in this
entire area, so we can’t get married like every
one else. And our father will soon be too old to
have children. 32 Come, let’s get him drunk with
wine, and then we will have sex with him. That
way we will preserve our family line through
our father.”
33
So that night they got him drunk with
wine, and the older daughter went in and had
intercourse with her father. He was unaware of
her lying down or getting up again.
34
The next morning the older daughter said
to her younger sister, “I had sex with our father last night. Let’s get him drunk with wine
again tonight, and you go in and have sex with
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him. That way we will preserve our family line
through our father.” 35 So that night they got
him drunk with wine again, and the younger
daughter went in and had intercourse with
him. As before, he was unaware of her lying
down or getting up again.
36
As a result, both of Lot’s daughters became
pregnant by their own father. 37 When the older
daughter gave birth to a son, she named him
Moab.* He became the ancestor of the nation
now known as the Moabites. 38 When the youn
ger daughter gave birth to a son, she named him
Ben-ammi.* He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Ammonites.
ABRAHAM DECEIVES ABIMELECH
20
Abraham moved south to the Negev and
lived for a while between Kadesh and
Shur, and then he moved on to Gerar. While living there as a foreigner, 2 Abraham introduced
his wife, Sarah, by saying, “She is my sister.”
So King Abimel ech of Gerar sent for Sarah and
had her brought to him at his palace.
3
But that night God came to Abimelech in a
dream and told him, “You are a dead man, for
that woman you have taken is already married!”
4
But Abimelech had not slept with her yet,
so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? 5 Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is
my sister’? And she herself said, ‘Yes, he is my
brother.’ I acted in complete innocence! My
hands are clean.”
6
In the dream God responded, “Yes, I know
you are innocent. That’s why I kept you from
sinning against me, and why I did not let
you touch her. 7 Now return the woman to her
husband, and he will pray for you, for he is a
19:37 Moab sounds like a Hebrew term that means “from father.”
19:38 Ben-ammi means “son of my kinsman.”
