The Birth of Isaac

(Romans 8:12-17; Galatians 4:1-7)

1And Jehovah visited Sarah as he had said, and Jehovah did to Sarah as he had spoken. 2And Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. 3And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 4And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6And Sarah said, God has made me laugh: all that hear will laugh with me. 7And she said, Who would have said to Abraham, Sarah will suckle children? For I have borne [him] a son in his old age.

8And the child grew, and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah Turns against Hagar

9And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. 10And she said to Abraham, Cast out this handmaid and her son; for the son of this handmaid shall not inherit with my son -- with Isaac. 11And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. 12And God said to Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad and because of thy handmaid: [in] all that Sarah hath said to thee hearken to her voice, for in Isaac shall a seed be called to thee. 13But also the son of the handmaid will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. 14And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a flask of water, and gave [it] to Hagar, putting [it] on her shoulder -- and the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

15And the water was exhausted from the flask; and she cast the child under one of the shrubs, 16and she went and sat down over against [him], a bow-shot off; for she said, Let me not behold the death of the child. And she sat over against [him], and lifted up her voice and wept. 17And God heard the voice of the lad. And the Angel of God called to Hagar from the heavens, and said to her, What [aileth] thee, Hagar? Fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad there, where he is. 18Arise, take the lad, and hold him in thy hand; for I will make of him a great nation. 19And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the flask with water, and gave the lad drink.

20And God was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran. And his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

The Covenant at Beersheba

22And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech, and Phichol the captain of his host, spoke to Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest. 23And now swear to me here by God that thou wilt not deal deceitfully with me, nor with my son, nor with my grandson. According to the kindness that I have done to thee, thou shalt do to me, and to the land in which thou sojournest. 24And Abraham said, I will swear. 25And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water that Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. 26And Abimelech said, I do not know who has done this, neither hast thou told me [of it], neither have I heard [of it] but to-day.

27And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant. 28And Abraham set seven ewe-lambs of the flock by themselves. 29And Abimelech said to Abraham, What [mean] these seven ewe-lambs, these which thou hast set by themselves? 30And he said, That thou take the seven ewe-lambs of my hand, that they may be a witness to me that I have dug this well. 31Therefore he called that place Beer-sheba, because there they had sworn, both of them. 32And they made a covenant at Beer-sheba. And Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the captain of his host, and returned into the land of the Philistines. 33And [Abraham] planted a tamarisk in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of Jehovah, the Eternal God. 34And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.