Genesis 16-19

Genesis 16

¹Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

²Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing. Please go in to my servant. It may be that I will obtain children by her.” Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

³Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife.

⁴He went in to Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

⁵Sarai said to Abram, “This wrong is your fault. I gave my servant into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, she despised me. May the LORD judge between me and you.”

⁶But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your hand. Do to her whatever is good in your eyes.” Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face.

⁷The LORD’s angel found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain on the way to Shur.

⁸He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where did you come from? Where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai.”

⁹The LORD’s angel said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands.”

¹⁰The LORD’s angel said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, that they will not be counted for multitude.”

¹¹The LORD’s angel said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has heard your affliction.

¹²He will be like a wild donkey among men. His hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. He will live opposed to all of his brothers.”

¹³She called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?”

¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵Hagar bore a son for Abram. Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.

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

Genesis 17

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

²I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”

³Abram fell on his face. God talked with him, saying,

⁴“As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations.

⁵Your name will no more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you.

⁷I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you.

⁸I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God.”

⁹God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.

¹⁰This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised.

¹¹You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a token of the covenant between me and you.

¹²He who is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring.

¹³He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your money, must be circumcised. My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

¹⁴The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”

¹⁵God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah.

¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?”

¹⁸Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”

¹⁹God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.

²⁰As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.

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

²²When he finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.

²³Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money: every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day, as God had said to him.

²⁴Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

²⁵Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

²⁶In the same day both Abraham and Ishmael, his son, were circumcised.

²⁷All the men of his house, those born in the house, and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Genesis 18

¹The LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.

²He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood near him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,

³and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don’t go away from your servant.

⁴Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.

⁵I will get a piece of bread so you can refresh your heart. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant.” They said, “Very well, do as you have said.”

⁶Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly prepare three seahs of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.”

⁷Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it.

⁸He took butter, milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree, and they ate.

⁹They asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” He said, “There, in the tent.”

¹⁰He said, “I will certainly return to you at about this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.

¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.

¹²Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”

¹³The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child when I am old?’

¹⁴Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes around, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵Then Sarah denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

¹⁶The men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way.

¹⁷The LORD said, “Will I hide from Abraham what I do,

¹⁸since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him?

¹⁹For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the LORD may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him.”

²⁰The LORD said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous,

²¹I will go down now, and see whether their deeds are as bad as the reports which have come to me. If not, I will know.”

²²The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.

²³Abraham came near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked?

²⁴What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it?

²⁵May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”

²⁶The LORD said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

²⁷Abraham answered, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes.

²⁸What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?” He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

²⁹He spoke to him yet again, and said, “What if there are forty found there?” He said, “I will not do it for the forty’s sake.”

³⁰He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?” He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹He said, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.”

³²He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.”

³³The LORD went his way as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Genesis 19

¹The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth,

²and he said, “See now, my lords, please come into your servant’s house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way.” They said, “No, but we will stay in the street all night.”

³He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter.

⁵They called to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them.”

⁶Lot went out to them through the door, and shut the door after himself.

⁷He said, “Please, my brothers, don’t act so wickedly.

⁸See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don’t do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof.”

⁹They said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them!” They pressed hard on the man Lot, and came near to break the door.

¹⁰But the men reached out their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.

¹¹They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

¹²The men said to Lot, “Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place:

¹³for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown so great before the LORD that the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up! Get out of this place, for the LORD will destroy the city!” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking.

¹⁵When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city.”

¹⁶But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and his two daughters’ hands, the LORD being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city.

¹⁷It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, “Escape for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!”

¹⁸Lot said to them, “Oh, not so, my lord.

¹⁹See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can’t escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die.

²⁰See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn’t it a little one?), and my soul will live.”

²¹He said to him, “Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.

²²Hurry, escape there, for I can’t do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

²³The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

²⁴Then the LORD rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of the sky.

²⁵He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground.

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

²⁷Abraham went up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD.

²⁸He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹When God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

³⁰Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters.

³¹The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on the earth to come in to us in the way of all the earth.

³²Come, let’s make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.”

³³They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she arose.

³⁴It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.”

³⁵They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she got up.

³⁶Thus both of Lot’s daughters were with child by their father.

³⁷The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.

³⁸The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.