The story of Abraham
Prologue
The Birth of Abraham
When Terah was seventy years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. This is the record of the
descendants of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran became the father of
Lot. Haran died before his father Terah, in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. Abram and Nahor took
wives; the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, daughter of Haran, the
father of Milcah and Iscah. Sarai was barren; she had no child. Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot,
son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and brought them out of Ur of the
Chaldeans, to go to the land of Canaan. But when they reached Haran, they settled there. The lifetime of Terah
was two hundred and five years; then Terah died in Haran.
Chapter 12
God's Call
The Lord said to Abram: "Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father's house to a land that I
will show you. "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you
will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the
earth shall find blessing in you." Abram went as the Lord directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was
seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai, his brother's son Lot, all the possessions
that they had accumulated, and the persons they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of
Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land as far as the sacred place at
Shechem, by the terebinth of Moreh. (The Canaanites were then in the land.) The Lord appeared to Abram
and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So Abram built an altar there to the Lord who had
appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel, pitching his tent with Bethel to the
west and Ai to the east. He built an altar there to the Lord and invoked the Lord by name. Then Abram
journeyed on by stages to the Negeb. There was famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn
there, since the famine in the land was severe. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai: "I
know well how beautiful a woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'She is his wife'; then
they will kill me, but let you live. Please say, therefore, that you are my sister, so that it may go well with me
on your account and my life may be spared for your sake." Then Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw
how beautiful the woman was; and when Pharaoh's courtiers saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. So she was
taken into Pharaoh's palace. On her account it went very well with Abram, and he received flocks and herds,
male and female slaves, male and female asses, and camels. But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household
with severe plagues because of Abram's wife Sarai. Then Pharaoh summoned Abram and said to him: "How
could you do this to me! Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that
I took her for my wife? Here, then, is your wife. Take her and be gone!" Then Pharaoh gave men orders
concerning him, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and all that belonged to him.
Chapter 13
The Parting of the Ways
From Egypt Abram went up to the Negeb with his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot accompanied
him. Now Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold. From the Negeb he travelled by stages toward
Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly stood, the site where he had first built
the altar; and there he invoked the Lord by name. Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and
tents, so that the land could not support them if they stayed together; their possessions were so great that they
could not dwell together. There were quarrels between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and those of Lot's.
(At this time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were occupying the land.) So Abram said to Lot: "Let there be
no strife between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are kinsmen. Is not the whole land
at your disposal? Please separate from me. If you prefer the left, I will go to the right; if you prefer the right, I
will go to the left." Lot looked about and saw how well watered the whole Jordan Plain was as far as Zoar, like
the Lord's own garden, or like Egypt. (This was before the Lord had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) Lot,
therefore, chose for himself the whole Jordan Plain and set out eastward. Thus they separated from each other;
Abram stayed in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the Plain, pitching his tents near
Sodom. Now the inhabitants of Sodom were very wicked in the sins they committed against the Lord. After
Lot had left, the Lord said to Abram: "Look about you, and from where you are, gaze to the north and south,
east and west; all the land that you see I will give to you and your descendants forever. I will make your
descendants like the dust of the earth; if anyone could count the dust of the earth, your descendants too might
be counted. Set forth and walk about in the land, through its length and breadth, for to you I will give it."
Abram moved his tents and went on to settle near the terebinth of Mamre, which is at Hebron. There he built
an altar to the Lord.
Chapter 14
The Order of Melchizedek
In the days of. . . , Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal
king of Goiim made war on Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber
king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). All the latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim
(that is, the Salt Sea). For twelve years they had been subject to Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they
rebelled. In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him came and defeated the Rephaim
in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites in the hill country
of Seir, as far as Elparan, close by the wilderness. They then turned back and came to Enmishpat (that is,
Kadesh), and they subdued the whole country both of the Amalekites and of the Amorites who dwelt in
Hazazon-tamar.Thereupon the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of
Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out, and in the Valley of Siddim they went into battle
against them: against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch
king of Ellasar-four kings against five. Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits; and as the kings of
Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into these, while the rest fled to the mountains. The victors seized all the
possessions and food supplies of Sodom and Gomorrah and then went their way, taking with them Abram's
nephew Lot, who had been living in Sodom, as well as his possessions. A fugitive came and brought the news
to Abram the Hebrew, who was camping at the terebinth of Mamre the Amorite, a kinsman of Eshcol and
Aner; these were in league with Abram. When Abram heard that his nephew had been captured, he mustered
three hundred and eighteen of his retainers, born in his house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He and his
party deployed against them at night, defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of
Damascus. He recovered all the possessions, besides bringing back his kinsman Lot and his possessions, along
with the women and the other captives. When Abram returned from his victory over Chedorlaomer and the
kings who were allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to greet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the
King's Valley). Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most
High, he blessed Abram with these words: Blessed be Abram by God Most High, the creator of heaven and
earth; And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your foes into your hand." Then Abram gave him a tenth
of everything. The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people; the goods you may keep." But Abram
replied to the king of Sodom: "I have sworn to the Lord, God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth, that I
would not take so much as a thread or a sandal strap from anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I made
Abram rich.' Nothing for me except what my servants have used up and the share that is due to the men who
joined me - Aner, Eshcol and Mamre; let them take their share."
Chapter 15
God's Promise
Some time after these events, this word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram! I am your
shield; I will make your reward very great." But Abram said, "O Lord God, what good will your gifts be, if I
keep on being childless and have as my heir the steward of my house, Eliezer?" Abram continued, "See, you
have given me no offspring, and so one of my servants will be my heir." Then the word of the Lord came to
him: "No, that one shall not be your heir; your own issue shall be your heir." He took him outside and said:
"Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so," he added, "shall your descendants be." Abram put
his faith in the Lord, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness. He then said to him, "I am the Lord who
brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession." "O Lord God," he asked, "How
am I to know that I shall possess it?" He answered him, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-
goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon." He brought him all these, split them in two,
and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up. Birds of prey swooped down on the
carcasses, but Abram stayed with them. As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep,
terrifying darkness enveloped him. Then the Lord said to Abram: "Know for certain that your descendants
shall be aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. But
I will bring judgment on the nation they must serve, and in the end they will depart with great wealth. You,
however, shall join your forefathers in peace; you shall be buried at a contented old age. In the fourth time-
span the others shall come back here; the wickedness of the Amorites will not have reached its full measure
until then." When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch,
which passed between those pieces. It was on that occasion that the Lord made a covenant with Abram,
saying: "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River (the Euphrates), the
land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the
Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."
Chapter 16
The Fate of Hagar
Abram's wife Sarai had borne him no children. She had, however, an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.
Sarai said to Abram: "The Lord has kept me from bearing children. Have intercourse, then, with my maid;
perhaps I shall have sons through her." Abram heeded Sarai's request. Thus, after Abram had lived ten years in
the land of Canaan, his wife Sarai took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to
be his concubine. He had intercourse with her, and she became pregnant. When she became aware of her
pregnancy, she looked on her mistress with disdain. So Sarai said to Abram: "You are responsible for this
outrage against me. I myself gave my maid to your embrace; but ever since she became aware of her
pregnancy, she has been looking on me with disdain. May the Lord decide between you and me!" Abram told
Sarai: "Your maid is in your power. Do to her whatever you please." Sarai then abused her so much that
Hagar ran away from her. The Lord's messenger found her by a spring in the wilderness, the spring on the
road to Shur, and he asked, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She
answered, "I am running away from my mistress, Sarai." But the Lord's messenger told her: "Go back to your
mistress and submit to her abusive treatment. I will make your descendants so numerous," added the Lord's
messenger, "that they will be too many to count. Besides," the Lord's messenger said to her: "You are now
pregnant and shall bear a son; you shall name him Ishmael, For the Lord has heard you, God has answered
you. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; In
opposition to all his kin shall he encamp." To the Lord who spoke to her she gave a name, saying, "You are the
God of Vision"; she meant, "Have I really seen God and remained alive after my vision?" That is why the well
is called Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered. Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram named the son
whom Hagar bore him Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Chapter 17
God's Covenant With Abraham
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said: "I am God the Almighty. Walk in
my presence and be blameless. Between you and me I will establish my covenant, and I will multiply you
exceedingly." When Abram prostrated himself, God continued to speak to him: "My covenant with you is this:
you are to become the father of a host of nations. No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be
Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations. I will render you exceedingly fertile; I will make
nations of you; kings shall stem from you. I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after
you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. I
will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now staying, the whole land of
Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God." God also said to Abraham: "On your part, you
and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages. This is my covenant with you
and your descendants after you that you must keep: every male among you shall be circumcised. Circumcise
the flesh of your foreskin, and that shall be the mark of the covenant between you and me. Throughout the
ages, every male among you, when he is eight days old, shall be circumcised, including houseborn slaves and
those acquired with money from any foreigner who is not of your blood. Yes, both the houseborn slaves and
those acquired with money must be circumcised. Thus my covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting
pact. If a male is uncircumcised, that is, if the flesh of his foreskin has not been cut away, such a one shall be
cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant." God further said to Abraham: "As for your wife Sarai, do
not call her Sarai; her name shall be Sarah. I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. Him also will I
bless; he shall give rise to nations, and rulers of peoples shall issue from him." Abraham prostrated himself and
laughed as he said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Or can Sarah give
birth at ninety?" Then Abraham said to God, "Let but Ishmael live on by your favour!" God replied:
"Nevertheless, your wife Sarah is to bear you a son, and you shall call him Isaac. I will maintain my covenant
with him as an everlasting pact, to be his God and the God of his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I am
heeding you: I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become
the father of twelve chieftains, and I will make of him a great nation. But my covenant I will maintain with
Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you by this time next year." When he had finished speaking with him, God
departed from Abraham. Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all his slaves, whether born in his house or
acquired with his money - every male among the members of Abraham's household - and he circumcised the
flesh of their foreskins on that same day, as God had told him to do. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when
the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised, and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when the flesh of his
foreskin was circumcised. Thus, on that same day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised; and all the
male members of his household, including the slaves born in his house or acquired with his money from
foreigners, were circumcised with him.
Chapter 18
The Trinity
The Lord appeared to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre, as he sat in the entrance of his tent, while the day
was growing hot. Looking up, he saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the
entrance of the tent to greet them; and bowing to the ground, he said: "Sir, if I may ask you this favour, please
do not go on past your servant. Let some water be brought, that you may bathe your feet, and then rest
yourselves under the tree. Now that you have come this close to your servant, let me bring you a little food,
that you may refresh yourselves; and afterward you may go on your way." "Very well," they replied, "do as
you have said." Abraham hastened into the tent and told Sarah, "Quick, three seahs of fine flour! Knead it and
make rolls." He ran to the herd, picked out a tender, choice steer, and gave it to a servant, who quickly
prepared it. Then he got some curds and milk, as well as the steer that had been prepared, and set these before
them; and he waited on them under the tree while they ate. "Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked him.
"There in the tent," he replied. One of them said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and
Sarah will then have a son." Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, just behind him. Now Abraham
and Sarah were old, advanced in years, and Sarah had stopped having her womanly periods. So Sarah
laughed to herself and said, "Now that I am so withered and my husband is so old, am I still to have sexual
pleasure?" But the Lord said to Abraham: "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I really bear a child, old as I
am?' Is anything too marvellous for the Lord to do? At the appointed time, about this time next year, I will
return to you, and Sarah will have a son." Because she was afraid, Sarah dissembled, saying, "I didn't laugh."
But he said, "Yes you did." The men set out from there and looked down toward Sodom; Abraham was
walking with them, to see them on their way. The Lord reflected: "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about
to do, now that he is to become a great and populous nation, and all the nations of the earth are to find blessing
in him? Indeed, I have singled him out that he may direct his sons and his posterity to keep the way of the
Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord may carry into effect for Abraham the promises he
made about him." Then the Lord said: "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so
grave, that I must go down and see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them that
comes to me. I mean to find out." While the two men walked on farther toward Sodom, the Lord remained
standing before Abraham. Then Abraham drew nearer to him and said: "Will you sweep away the innocent
with the guilty? Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city; would you wipe out the place, rather than
spare it for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to make the
innocent die with the guilty, so that the innocent and the guilty would be treated alike! Should not the judge of
all the world act with justice?" The Lord replied, "If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will spare
the whole place for their sake." Abraham spoke up again: "See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord,
though I am but dust and ashes! What if there are five less than fifty innocent people? Will you destroy the
whole city because of those five?" "I will not destroy it," he answered, "if I find forty-five there." But Abraham
persisted, saying, "What if only forty are found there?" He replied, "I will forebear doing it for the sake of the
forty." Then he said, "Let not my Lord grow impatient if I go on. What if only thirty are found there?" He
replied, "I will forebear doing it if I can find but thirty there." Still he went on, "Since I have thus dared to speak
to my Lord, what if there are no more than twenty?" "I will not destroy it," he answered, "for the sake of the
twenty." But he still persisted: "Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time. What if there
are at least ten there?" "For the sake of those ten," he replied, "I will not destroy it." The Lord departed as soon
as he had finished speaking with Abraham, and Abraham returned home.
Chapter 19
The Pillar of Salt
The two angels reached Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he
got up to greet them; and bowing down with his face to the ground, he said, "Please, gentlemen, come aside
into your servant's house for the night, and bathe your feet; you can get up early to continue your journey."
But they replied, "No, we shall pass the night in the town square." He urged them so strongly, however, that
they turned aside to his place and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking cakes without
leaven, and they dined. Before they went to bed, all the townsmen of Sodom, both young and old - all the
people to the last man - closed in on the house. They called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who
came to your house tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have intimacies with them." Lot went out to
meet them at the entrance. When he had shut the door behind him, he said, "I beg you, my brothers, not to do
this wicked thing. I have two daughters who have never had intercourse with men. Let me bring them out to
you, and you may do to them as you please. But don't do anything to these men, for you know they have
come under the shelter of my roof." They replied, "Stand back! This fellow," they sneered, "came here as an
immigrant, and now he dares to give orders! We'll treat you worse than them!" With that, they pressed hard
against Lot, moving in closer to break down the door. But his guests put out their hands, pulled Lot inside with
them, and closed the door; at the same time they struck the men at the entrance of the house, one and all, with
such a blinding light that they were utterly unable to reach the doorway. Then the angels said to Lot: "Who
else belongs to you here? Your sons (sons-in-law) and your daughters and all who belong to you in the city -
take them away from it! We are about to destroy this place, for the outcry reaching the Lord against those in
the city is so great that he has sent us to destroy it." So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had
contracted marriage with his daughters. "Get up and leave this place," he told them; "the Lord is about to
destroy the city." But his sons-in-law thought he was joking. As dawn was breaking, the angels urged Lot on,
saying, "On your way! Take with you your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept
away in the punishment of the city." When he hesitated, the men, by the Lord's mercy, seized his hand and the
hands of his wife and his two daughters and led them to safety outside the city. As soon as they had been
brought outside, he was told: "Flee for your life! Don't look back or stop anywhere on the Plain. Get off to the
hills at once, or you will be swept away." "Oh, no, my lord!" replied Lot. "You have already thought enough of
your servant to do me the great kindness of intervening to save my life. But I cannot flee to the hills to keep the
disaster from overtaking me, and so I shall die. Look, this town ahead is near enough to escape to. It's only a
small place. Let me flee there - it's a small place, isn't it? - that my life may be saved." "Well, then," he replied,
"I will also grant you the favour you now ask. I will not overthrow the town you speak of. Hurry, escape there!
I cannot do anything until you arrive there." That is why the town is called Zoar. The sun was just rising over
the earth as Lot arrived in Zoar; at the same time the Lord rained down sulphurous fire upon Sodom and
Gomorrah (from the Lord out of heaven). He overthrew those cities and the whole Plain, together with the
inhabitants of the cities and the produce of the soil. But Lot's wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar
of salt. Early the next morning Abraham went to the place where he had stood in the Lord's presence.
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
As he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole region of the Plain, he saw dense smoke over
the land rising like fumes from a furnace. Thus it came to pass: when God destroyed the Cities of the Plain, he
was mindful of Abraham by sending Lot away from the upheaval by which God overthrew the cities where
Lot had been living. Since Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, he and his two daughters went up from Zoar and
settled in the hill country, where he lived with his two daughters in a cave. The older one said to the younger:
"Our father is getting old, and there is not a man on earth to unite with us as was the custom everywhere.
Come, let us ply our father with wine and then lie with him, that we may have offspring by our father." So
that night they plied their father with wine, and the older one went in and lay with her father; but he was not
aware of her lying down or her getting up. Next day the older one said to the younger: "Last night it was I who
lay with my father. Let us ply him with wine again tonight, and then you go in and lie with him, that we may
both have offspring by our father." So that night, too, they plied their father with wine, and then the younger
one went in and lay with him; but again he was not aware of her lying down or her getting up. Thus both of
Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father. The older one gave birth to a son whom she named Moab,
saying, "From my father." He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today. The younger one, too, gave birth to a
son, and she named him Ammon, saying, "The son of my kin." He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.
Chapter 20
Abimelech's Narrow Escape
Abraham journeyed on to the region of the Negeb, where he settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he
stayed in Gerar, he said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah.
But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You are about to die because of the
woman you have taken, for she has a husband." Abimelech, who had not approached her, said: "O Lord,
would you slay a man even though he is innocent? He himself told me, 'She is my sister,' and she herself also
stated, 'He is my brother.' I did it in good faith and with clean hands." God answered him in the dream: "Yes, I
know you did it in good faith. In fact, it was I who kept you from sinning against me; that is why I did not let
you touch her. Therefore, return the man's wife - as a spokesman he will intercede for you - that your life may
be saved. If you do not return her, you can be sure that you and all who are yours will certainly die." Early the
next morning Abimelech called all his court officials and informed them of everything that had happened, and
the men were horrified. Then Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him: "How could you do this to us!
What wrong did I do to you that you should have brought such monstrous guilt on me and my kingdom? You
have treated me in an intolerable way. What were you afraid of," he asked him, "that you should have done
such a thing?" "I was afraid," answered Abraham, "because I thought there would surely be no fear of God in
this place, and so they would kill me on account of my wife. Besides, she is in truth my sister, but only my
father's daughter, not my mother's; and so she became my wife. When God sent me wandering from my
father's house, I asked her: 'Would you do me this favour? In whatever place we come to, say that I am your
brother.'" Then Abimelech took flocks and herds and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham; and
after he restored his wife Sarah to him, he said, "Here, my land lies at your disposal; settle wherever you
please." To Sarah he said: "See, I have given your brother a thousand shekels of silver. Let that serve you as a
vindication before all who are with you; your honour has been preserved with everyone." Abraham then
interceded with God, and God restored health to Abimelech, that is, to his wife and his maidservants, so that
they could bear children; for God had tightly closed every womb in Abimelech's household on account of
Abraham's wife Sarah.
Chapter 21
Sarah's Jealousy
The Lord took note of Sarah as he had said he would; he did for her as he had promised. Sarah became
pregnant and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time that God had stated. Abraham gave the name
Isaac to this son of his whom Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised
him, as God had commanded. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah
then said, "God has given me cause to laugh, and all who hear of it will laugh with me. Who would have told
Abraham," she added, "that Sarah would nurse children! Yet I have borne him a son in his old age." Isaac
grew, and on the day of the child's weaning, Abraham held a great feast. Sarah noticed the son whom Hagar
the Egyptian had borne to Abraham playing with her son Isaac; so she demanded of Abraham: "Drive out that
slave and her son! No son of that slave is going to share the inheritance with my son Isaac!" Abraham was
greatly distressed, especially on account of his son Ishmael. But God said to Abraham: "Do not be distressed
about the boy or about your slave woman. Heed the demands of Sarah, no matter what she is asking of you;
for it is through Isaac that descendants shall bear your name. As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a
great nation of him also, since he too is your offspring." Early the next morning Abraham got some bread and
a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. Then, placing the child on her back, he sent her away. As she roamed
aimlessly in the wilderness of Beer-sheba, the water in the skin was used up. So she put the child down under a
shrub, and then went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away; for she said to herself, "Let me not
watch to see the child die." As she sat opposite him, he began to cry. God heard the boy's cry, and God's
messenger called to Hagar from heaven: "What is the matter, Hagar? Don't be afraid; God has heard the boy's
cry in this plight of his. Arise, lift up the boy and hold him by the hand; for I will make of him a great nation."
Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, and then let
the boy drink. God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert bowman,
with his home in the wilderness of Paran. His mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt. About that
time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham: "God is with you in
everything you do. Therefore, swear to me by God at this place that you will not deal falsely with me or with
my progeny and posterity, but will act as loyally toward me and the land in which you stay as I have acted
toward you." To this Abraham replied, "I so swear." Abraham, however, reproached Abimelech about a well
that Abimelech's men had seized by force. "I have no idea who did that," Abimelech replied. "In fact, you never
told me about it, nor did I ever hear of it until now." Then Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to
Abimelech and the two made a pact. Abraham also set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock, and Abimelech
asked him, "What is the purpose of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?" Abraham answered, "The
seven ewe lambs you shall accept from me that thus I may have your acknowledgment that the well was dug
by me." This is why the place is called Beer-sheba; the two took an oath there. When they had thus made the
pact in Beer-sheba, Abimelech, along with Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of
the Philistines. Abraham planted a tamarisk at Beer-sheba, and there he invoked by name the Lord, God the
Eternal. Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines for many years.
Chapter 22
A Sacrifice Foreshadowed
Some time after these events, God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, "Abraham!" "Ready!" he replied.
Then God said: "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you
shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you." Early the next morning Abraham
saddled his donkey, took with him his son Isaac, and two of his servants as well, and with the wood that he had
cut for the holocaust, set out for the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham got sight of
the place from afar. Then he said to his servants: "Both of you stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I
go on over yonder. We will worship and then come back to you." Thereupon Abraham took the wood for the
holocaust and laid it on his son Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two
walked on together, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham. "Father!" he said. "Yes, son," he replied. Isaac
continued, "Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the holocaust?" "Son," Abraham
answered, "God himself will provide the sheep for the holocaust." Then the two continued going forward.
When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood
on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the altar. Then he reached out and took
the knife to slaughter his son. But the Lord's messenger called to him from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!"
"Yes, Lord," he answered. "Do not lay your hand on the boy," said the messenger. "Do not do the least thing to
him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son." As
Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and
offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son. Abraham named the site Yahweh-yireh; hence people now say,
"On the mountain the Lord will see." Again the Lord's messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said: "I
swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your
beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and
the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your
descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing - all this because you obeyed my command.''
Abraham then returned to his servants, and they set out together for Beer-sheba, where Abraham made his
home. Some time afterward, the news came to Abraham: "Milcah too has borne sons, to your brother Nahor:
Uz, his first-born, his brother Buz, Kemuel (the father of Aram), Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel."
Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Abraham's brother Nahor. His concubine,
whose name was Reumah, also bore children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
Chapter 23
The Death of Sarah
The span of Sarah's life was one hundred and twenty-seven years. She died in Kiriatharba (that is, Hebron) in
the land of Canaan, and Abraham performed the customary mourning rites for her. Then he left the side of his
dead one and addressed the Hittites: "Although I am a resident alien among you, sell me from your holdings a
piece of property for a burial ground, that I may bury my dead wife." The Hittites answered Abraham:
"Please, sir, listen to us! You are an elect of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial sites.
None of us would deny you his burial ground for the burial of your dead." Abraham, however, began to bow
low before the local citizens, the Hittites, while he appealed to them: "If you will allow me room for burial of
my dead, listen to me! Intercede for me with Ephron, son of Zohar, asking him to sell me the cave of
Machpelah that he owns; it is at the edge of his field. Let him sell it to me in your presence, at its full price, for a
burial place." Now Ephron was present with the Hittites. So Ephron the Hittite replied to Abraham in the
hearing of the Hittites who sat on his town council: "Please, sir, listen to me! I give you both the field and the
cave in it; in the presence of my kinsmen I make this gift. Bury your dead!" But Abraham, after bowing low
before the local citizens, addressed Ephron in the hearing of these men: "Ah, if only you would please listen to
me! I will pay you the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there." Ephron replied to
Abraham, "Please, sir, listen to me! A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver - what is that between
you and me, as long as you can bury your dead?" Abraham accepted Ephron's terms; he weighed out to him
the silver that Ephron had stipulated in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver at the current
market value. Thus Ephron's field in Machpelah, facing Mamre, together with its cave and all the trees
anywhere within its limits, was conveyed to Abraham by purchase in the presence of all the Hittites who sat on
Ephron's town council. After this transaction, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field of
Machpelah, facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Thus the field with its cave was transferred
from the Hittites to Abraham as a burial place.
Chapter 24
Abraham had now reached a ripe old age, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. Abraham said to the
senior servant of his household, who had charge of all his possessions: "Put your hand under my thigh, and I
will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not procure a wife for
my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live, but that you will go to my own land and to
my kindred to get a wife for my son Isaac." The servant asked him: "What if the woman is unwilling to follow
me to this land? Should I then take your son back to the land from which you migrated?" "Never take my son
back there for any reason," Abraham told him. "The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's
house and the land of my kin, and who confirmed by oath the promise he then made to me, 'I will give this
land to your descendants' - he will send his messenger before you, and you will obtain a wife for my son there.
If the woman is unwilling to follow you, you will be released from this oath. But never take my son back
there!" So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore to him in this
undertaking. The servant then took ten of his master's camels, and bearing all kinds of gifts from his master,
he made his way to the city of Nahor in Aram Naharaim. Near evening, at the time when women go out to
draw water, he made the camels kneel by the well outside the city. Then he prayed: "Lord, God of my master
Abraham, let it turn out favourably for me today and thus deal graciously with my master Abraham. While I
stand here at the spring and the daughters of the townsmen are coming out to draw water, if I say to a girl,
'Please lower your jug, that I may drink,' and she answers, 'Take a drink, and let me give water to your camels,
too,' let her be the one whom you have decided upon for your servant Isaac. In this way I shall know that you
have dealt graciously with my master." He had scarcely finished these words when Rebekah (who was born to
Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor) came out with a jug on her shoulder. The girl
was very beautiful, a virgin, untouched by man. She went down to the spring and filled her jug. As she came
up, the servant ran toward her and said, "Please give me a sip of water from your jug." "Take a drink, sir," she
replied, and quickly lowering the jug onto her hand, she gave him a drink. When she had let him drink his fill,
she said, "I will draw water for your camels, too, until they have drunk their fill." With that, she quickly
emptied her jug into the drinking trough and ran back to the well to draw more water, until she had drawn
enough for all the camels. The man watched her the whole time, silently waiting to learn whether or not the
Lord had made his errand successful. When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold ring
weighing half a shekel, which he fastened on her nose, and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels, which he
put on her wrists. Then he asked her: "Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please. And is there room in your
father's house for us to spend the night?" She answered: "I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah,
whom she bore to Nahor. There is plenty of straw and fodder at our place," she added, "and room to spend the
night." The man then bowed down in worship to the Lord, saying: "Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master
Abraham, who has not let his constant kindness toward my master fail. As for myself also, the Lord has led me
straight to the house of my master's brother." Then the girl ran off and told her mother's household about it.
Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban. As soon as he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister Rebekah
and heard her words about what the man had said to her, Laban rushed outside to the man at the spring.
When he reached him, he was still standing by the camels at the spring. So he said to him: "Come, blessed of
the Lord! Why are you staying outside when I have made the house ready for you, as well as a place for the
camels?" The man then went inside; and while the camels were being unloaded and provided with straw and
fodder, water was brought to bathe his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. But when the table was
set for him, he said, "I will not eat until I have told my tale." "Do so," they replied. "I am Abraham's servant," he
began. "The Lord has blessed my master so abundantly that he has become a wealthy man; he has given him
flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and asses. My master's wife Sarah bore a
son to my master in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. My master put me under oath,
saying: 'You shall not procure a wife for my son among the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live;
instead, you shall go to my father's house, to my own relatives, to get a wife for my son.' When I asked my
master, 'What if the woman will not follow me?,' he replied: 'The Lord, in whose presence I have always
walked, will send his messenger with you and make your errand successful, and so you will get a wife for my
son from my own kindred of my father's house. Then you shall be released from my ban. If you visit my
kindred and they refuse you, then, too, you shall be released from my ban.' "When I came to the spring today,
I prayed: 'Lord, God of my master Abraham, may it be your will to make successful the errand I am engaged
on! While I stand here at the spring, if I say to a young woman who comes out to draw water, Please give me a
little water from your jug, and she answers, Not only may you have a drink, but I will give water to your
camels, too - let her be the woman whom the Lord has decided upon for my master's son.' "I had scarcely
finished saying this prayer to myself when Rebekah came out with a jug on her shoulder. After she went down
to the spring and drew water, I said to her, 'Please let me have a drink.' She quickly lowered the jug she was
carrying and said, 'Take a drink, and let me bring water for your camels, too.' So I drank, and she watered the
camels also. When I asked her, 'Whose daughter are you?' she answered, 'The daughter of Bethuel, son of
Nahor, borne to Nahor by Milcah.' So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. Then I bowed
down in worship to the Lord, blessing the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right
road to obtain the daughter of my master's kinsman for his son. If, therefore, you have in mind to show true
loyalty to my master, let me know; but if not, let me know that, too. I can then proceed accordingly." Laban
and his household said in reply: "This thing comes from the Lord; we can say nothing to you either for or
against it. Here is Rebekah, ready for you; take her with you, that she may become the wife of your master's
son, as the Lord has said." When Abraham's servant heard their answer, he bowed to the ground before the
Lord. Then he brought out objects of silver and gold and articles of clothing and presented them to Rebekah;
he also gave costly presents to her brother and mother. After he and the men with him had eaten and drunk,
they spent the night there. When they were up the next morning, he said, "Give me leave to return to my
master." Her brother and mother replied, "Let the girl stay with us a short while, say ten days; after that she
may go." But he said to them, "Do not detain me, now that the Lord has made my errand successful; let me go
back to my master." They answered, "Let us call the girl and see what she herself has to say about it." So they
called Rebekah and asked her, "Do you wish to go with this man?" She answered, "I do." At this they allowed
their sister Rebekah and her nurse to take leave, along with Abraham's servant and his men. Invoking a
blessing on Rebekah, they said: "Sister, may you grow into thousands of myriads; And may your descendants
gain possession of the gates of their enemies!" Then Rebekah and her maids started out; they mounted their
camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and went on his way. Meanwhile Isaac had gone
from Beer-lahai-roi and was living in the region of the Negeb. One day toward evening he went out. . . in the
field, and as he looked around, he noticed that camels were approaching. Rebekah, too, was looking about,
and when she saw him, she alighted from her camel and asked the servant, "Who is the man out there,
walking through the fields toward us?" "That is my master," replied the servant. Then she covered herself with
her veil. The servant recounted to Isaac all the things he had done. Then Isaac took Rebekah into his tent; he
married her, and thus she became his wife. In his love for her Isaac found solace after the death of his mother
Sarah.
Chapter 25
Abraham is Gathered to the Lord
Abraham married another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian,
Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. The descendants of Dedan were the
Asshurim, the Letushim, and the Leummim. The descendants of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida,
and Eldaah. All of these were descendants of Keturah. Abraham deeded everything that he owned to his son
Isaac. To his sons by concubinage, however, he made grants while he was still living, as he sent them away
eastward, to the land of Kedem, away from his son Isaac. The whole span of Abraham's life was one hundred
and seventy-five years. Then he breathed his last, dying at a ripe old age, grown old after a full life; and he was
taken to his kinsmen. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron,
son of Zohar the Hittite, which faces Mamre, the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites; there he
was buried next to his wife Sarah.
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