Genesis 16-19

Genesis 16

¹Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.

²So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

³So after he had lived in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to Abram to be his wife.

⁴And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I delivered my servant into your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

⁶“Here,” said Abram, “your servant is in your hands. Do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she fled from her.

⁷Now the angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur.

⁸“Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied.

⁹So the angel of the LORD told her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.”

¹⁰Then the angel added, “I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will be too numerous to count.”

¹¹The angel of the LORD proceeded: “Behold, you have conceived and will bear a son. And you shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction.

¹²He will be a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”

¹³So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!”

¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi. It is located between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.

¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

Genesis 17

¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.

²I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.”

³Then Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,

⁴“As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.

⁵No longer will you be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.

⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you.

⁷I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

⁸And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.”

⁹God also said to Abraham, “You must keep My covenant—you and your descendants in the generations after you.

¹⁰This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, which you are to keep: Every male among you must be circumcised.

¹¹You are to circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and this will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.

¹²Generation after generation, every male must be circumcised when he is eight days old, including those born in your household and those purchased from a foreigner—even those who are not your offspring.

¹³Whether they are born in your household or purchased, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh will be an everlasting covenant.

¹⁴But if any male is not circumcised, he will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai, for her name is to be Sarah.

¹⁶And I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will descend from her.”

¹⁷Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?”

¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live under Your blessing!”

¹⁹But God replied, “Your wife Sarah will indeed bear you a son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

²⁰As for Ishmael, I have heard you, and I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He will become the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.

²¹But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”

²²When He had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.

²³On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised them, just as God had told him.

²⁴So Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised,

²⁵and his son Ishmael was thirteen;

²⁶Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the same day.

²⁷And all the men of Abraham’s household—both servants born in his household and those purchased from foreigners—were circumcised with him.

Genesis 18

¹Then the LORD appeared to Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre in the heat of the day, while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent.

²And Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

³“My lord,” said Abraham, “if I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by.

⁴Let a little water be brought, that you may wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree.

⁵And I will bring a bit of bread so that you may refresh yourselves. This is why you have passed your servant’s way. After that, you may continue on your way.” “Yes,” they replied, “you may do as you have said.”

⁶So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Prepare three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and bake some bread.”

⁷Meanwhile, Abraham ran to the herd, selected a tender and choice calf, and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.

⁸Then Abraham brought curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and he set them before the men and stood by them under the tree as they ate.

⁹“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked. “There, in the tent,” he replied.

¹⁰Then the LORD said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was behind him, listening at the entrance to the tent.

¹¹And Abraham and Sarah were already old and well along in years; Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.

¹²So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

¹³And the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really bear a child when I am old?’

¹⁴Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵But Sarah was afraid, so she denied it and said, “I did not laugh.” “No,” replied the LORD, “but you did laugh.”

¹⁶When the men got up to leave, they looked out over Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them off.

¹⁷And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?

¹⁸Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

¹⁹For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has promised.”

²⁰Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,

²¹I will go down to see if their actions fully justify the outcry that has reached Me. If not, I will find out.”

²²And the two men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.

²³Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

²⁴What if there are fifty righteous ones in the city? Will You really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous ones who are there?

²⁵Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

²⁶So the LORD replied, “If I find fifty righteous ones within the city of Sodom, on their account I will spare the whole place.”

²⁷Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord—though I am but dust and ashes—

²⁸suppose the fifty righteous ones lack five. Will You destroy the whole city for the lack of five?” He replied, “If I find forty-five there, I will not destroy it.”

²⁹Once again Abraham spoke to the LORD, “Suppose forty are found there?” He answered, “On account of the forty, I will not do it.”

³⁰Then Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak further. Suppose thirty are found there?” He replied, “If I find thirty there, I will not do it.”

³¹And Abraham said, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord, suppose twenty are found there?” He answered, “On account of the twenty, I will not destroy it.”

³²Finally, Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak once more. Suppose ten are found there?” And He answered, “On account of the ten, I will not destroy it.”

³³When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, He departed, and Abraham returned home.

Genesis 19

¹Now the two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them, bowed facedown,

²and said, “My lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant; wash your feet and spend the night. Then you can rise early and go on your way.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”

³But Lot insisted so strongly that they followed him into his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house.

⁵They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have relations with them!”

⁶Lot went outside to meet them, shutting the door behind him.

⁷“Please, my brothers,” he pleaded, “don’t do such a wicked thing!

⁸Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you, and you can do to them as you please. But do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

⁹“Get out of the way!” they replied. And they declared, “This one came here as a foreigner, and he is already acting like a judge! Now we will treat you worse than them.” And they pressed in on Lot and moved in to break down the door.

¹⁰But the men inside reached out, pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.

¹¹And they struck the men at the entrance, young and old, with blindness, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the door.

¹²Then the two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—a son-in-law, your sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,

¹³because we are about to destroy this place. For the outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴So Lot went out and spoke to the sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage to his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

¹⁵At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

¹⁶But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters. And they led them safely out of the city, because of the LORD’s compassion for them.

¹⁷As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”

¹⁸But Lot replied, “No, my lords, please!

¹⁹Your servant has indeed found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I cannot run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die.

²⁰Look, there is a town nearby where I can flee, and it is a small place. Please let me flee there—is it not a small place? Then my life will be saved.”

²¹“Very well,” he answered, “I will grant this request as well, and will not demolish the town you indicate.

²²Hurry! Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you reach it.” That is why the town was called Zoar.

²³And by the time the sun had risen over the land, Lot had reached Zoar.

²⁴Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.

²⁵Thus He destroyed these cities and the entire plain, including all the inhabitants of the cities and everything that grew on the ground.

²⁶But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.

²⁸He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.

²⁹So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that destroyed the cities where he had lived.

³⁰Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains—for he was afraid to stay in Zoar—where they lived in a cave.

³¹One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us, as is the custom over all the earth.

³²Come, let us get our father drunk with wine so we can sleep with him and preserve his line.”

³³So that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁴The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let us get him drunk with wine again tonight so you can go in and sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.”

³⁵So again that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁶Thus both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.

³⁷The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites of today.

³⁸The younger daughter also gave birth to a son, and she named him Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites of today.