16:1 Now Sarai, ¹  Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, ²  but she had an Egyptian servant ³  named Hagar. ⁴  16:2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since ⁵  the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with ⁶  my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” ⁷  Abram did what ⁸  Sarai told him.

16:3 So after Abram had lived ⁹  in Canaan for ten years, Sarai, Abram’s wife, gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant, ¹⁰  to her husband to be his wife. ¹¹  16:4 He had sexual relations with ¹²  Hagar, and she became pregnant. ¹³  Once Hagar realized she was pregnant, she despised Sarai. ¹⁴  16:5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You have brought this wrong on me! ¹⁵  I allowed my servant to have sexual relations with you, ¹⁶  but when she realized ¹⁷  that she was pregnant, she despised me. ¹⁸  May the Lord judge between you and me!” ¹⁹ 

16:6 Abram said to Sarai, “Since your ²⁰  servant is under your authority, ²¹  do to her whatever you think best.” ²²  Then Sarai treated Hagar ²³  harshly, ²⁴  so she ran away from Sarai. ²⁵ 

16:7 The Lord’s angel ²⁶  found Hagar near a spring of water in the desert – the spring that is along the road to Shur. ²⁷  16:8 He said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She replied, “I’m running away from ²⁸  my mistress, Sarai.”

16:9 Then the Lord’s angel said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit ²⁹  to her authority. 16:10 I will greatly multiply your descendants,” the Lord’s angel added, ³⁰  “so that they will be too numerous to count.” ³¹  16:11 Then the Lord’s angel said to her,

“You are now ³²  pregnant

and are about to give birth ³³  to a son.

You are to name him Ishmael, ³⁴ 

for the Lord has heard your painful groans. ³⁵ 

16:12 He will be a wild donkey ³⁶  of a man.

He will be hostile to everyone, ³⁷ 

and everyone will be hostile to him. ³⁸ 

He will live away from ³⁹  his brothers.”

16:13 So Hagar named the Lord who spoke to her, “You are the God who sees me,” ⁴⁰  for she said, “Here I have seen one who sees me!” ⁴¹  16:14 That is why the well was called ⁴²  Beer Lahai Roi. ⁴³  (It is located ⁴⁴  between Kadesh and Bered.)

16:15 So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, whom Abram named Ishmael. ⁴⁵  16:16 (Now ⁴⁶  Abram was 86 years old ⁴⁷  when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.) ⁴⁸ 

17:1 When Abram was 99 years old, ⁴⁹  the Lord appeared to him and said, ⁵⁰  “I am the sovereign God. ⁵¹  Walk ⁵²  before me ⁵³  and be blameless. ⁵⁴  17:2 Then I will confirm my covenant ⁵⁵  between me and you, and I will give you a multitude of descendants.” ⁵⁶ 

17:3 Abram bowed down with his face to the ground, ⁵⁷  and God said to him, ⁵⁸  17:4 “As for me, ⁵⁹  this ⁶⁰  is my covenant with you: You will be the father of a multitude of nations. 17:5 No longer will your name be ⁶¹  Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham ⁶²  because I will make you ⁶³  the father of a multitude of nations. 17:6 I will make you ⁶⁴  extremely ⁶⁵  fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you. ⁶⁶  17:7 I will confirm ⁶⁷  my covenant as a perpetual ⁶⁸  covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁶⁹  17:8 I will give the whole land of Canaan – the land where you are now residing ⁷⁰  – to you and your descendants after you as a permanent ⁷¹  possession. I will be their God.”

17:9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep ⁷²  the covenantal requirement ⁷³  I am imposing on you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 17:10 This is my requirement that you and your descendants after you must keep: ⁷⁴  Every male among you must be circumcised. ⁷⁵  17:11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder ⁷⁶  of the covenant between me and you. 17:12 Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old ⁷⁷  must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants. 17:13 They must indeed be circumcised, ⁷⁸  whether born in your house or bought with money. The sign of my covenant ⁷⁹  will be visible in your flesh as a permanent ⁸⁰  reminder. 17:14 Any uncircumcised male ⁸¹  who has not been circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin will be cut off ⁸²  from his people – he has failed to carry out my requirement.” ⁸³ 

17:15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife, you must no longer call her Sarai; ⁸⁴  Sarah ⁸⁵  will be her name. 17:16 I will bless her and will give you a son through her. I will bless her and she will become a mother of nations. ⁸⁶  Kings of countries ⁸⁷  will come from her!”

17:17 Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed ⁸⁸  as he said to himself, ⁸⁹  “Can ⁹⁰  a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? ⁹¹  Can Sarah ⁹²  bear a child at the age of ninety?” ⁹³  17:18 Abraham said to God, “O that ⁹⁴  Ishmael might live before you!” ⁹⁵ 

17:19 God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. ⁹⁶  I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual ⁹⁷  covenant for his descendants after him. 17:20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. ⁹⁸  I will indeed bless him, make him fruitful, and give him a multitude of descendants. ⁹⁹  He will become the father of twelve princes; ¹⁰⁰  I will make him into a great nation. 17:21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.” 17:22 When he finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him. ¹⁰¹ 

17:23 Abraham took his son Ishmael and every male in his household (whether born in his house or bought with money) ¹⁰²  and circumcised them ¹⁰³  on that very same day, just as God had told him to do. 17:24 Now Abraham was 99 years old ¹⁰⁴  when he was circumcised; ¹⁰⁵  17:25 his son Ishmael was thirteen years old ¹⁰⁶  when he was circumcised. 17:26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the very same day. 17:27 All the men of his household, whether born in his household or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

18:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham ¹⁰⁷  by the oaks ¹⁰⁸  of Mamre while ¹⁰⁹  he was sitting at the entrance ¹¹⁰  to his tent during the hottest time of the day. 18:2 Abraham ¹¹¹  looked up ¹¹²  and saw ¹¹³  three men standing across ¹¹⁴  from him. When he saw them ¹¹⁵  he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed low ¹¹⁶  to the ground. ¹¹⁷ 

18:3 He said, “My lord, ¹¹⁸  if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by and leave your servant. ¹¹⁹  18:4 Let a little water be brought so that ¹²⁰  you may all ¹²¹  wash your feet and rest under the tree. 18:5 And let me get ¹²²  a bit of food ¹²³  so that you may refresh yourselves ¹²⁴  since you have passed by your servant’s home. After that you may be on your way.” ¹²⁵  “All right,” they replied, “you may do as you say.”

18:6 So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Take ¹²⁶  three measures ¹²⁷  of fine flour, knead it, and make bread.” ¹²⁸  18:7 Then Abraham ran to the herd and chose a fine, tender calf, and gave it to a servant, ¹²⁹  who quickly prepared it. ¹³⁰  18:8 Abraham ¹³¹  then took some curds and milk, along with the calf that had been prepared, and placed the food ¹³²  before them. They ate while ¹³³  he was standing near them under a tree.

18:9 Then they asked him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” He replied, “There, ¹³⁴  in the tent.” 18:10 One of them ¹³⁵  said, “I will surely return ¹³⁶  to you when the season comes round again, ¹³⁷  and your wife Sarah will have a son!” ¹³⁸  (Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, not far behind him. ¹³⁹  18:11 Abraham and Sarah were old and advancing in years; ¹⁴⁰  Sarah had long since passed menopause.) ¹⁴¹  18:12 So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, ¹⁴²  “After I am worn out will I have pleasure, ¹⁴³  especially when my husband is old too?” ¹⁴⁴ 

18:13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why ¹⁴⁵  did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really ¹⁴⁶  have a child when I am old?’ 18:14 Is anything impossible ¹⁴⁷  for the Lord? I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁴⁸  18:15 Then Sarah lied, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. But the Lord said, “No! You did laugh.” ¹⁴⁹ 

18:16 When the men got up to leave, ¹⁵⁰  they looked out over ¹⁵¹  Sodom. (Now ¹⁵²  Abraham was walking with them to see them on their way.) ¹⁵³  18:17 Then the Lord said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? ¹⁵⁴  18:18 After all, Abraham ¹⁵⁵  will surely become ¹⁵⁶  a great and powerful nation, and all the nations on the earth will pronounce blessings on one another ¹⁵⁷  using his name. 18:19 I have chosen him ¹⁵⁸  so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep ¹⁵⁹  the way of the Lord by doing ¹⁶⁰  what is right and just. Then the Lord will give ¹⁶¹  to Abraham what he promised ¹⁶²  him.”

18:20 So the Lord said, “The outcry against ¹⁶³  Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so blatant ¹⁶⁴  18:21 that I must go down ¹⁶⁵  and see if they are as wicked as the outcry suggests. ¹⁶⁶  If not, ¹⁶⁷  I want to know.”

18:22 The two men turned ¹⁶⁸  and headed ¹⁶⁹  toward Sodom, but Abraham was still standing before the Lord. ¹⁷⁰  18:23 Abraham approached and said, “Will you sweep away the godly along with the wicked? 18:24 What if there are fifty godly people in the city? Will you really wipe it out and not spare ¹⁷¹  the place for the sake of the fifty godly people who are in it? 18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the godly with the wicked, treating the godly and the wicked alike! Far be it from you! Will not the judge ¹⁷²  of the whole earth do what is right?” ¹⁷³ 

18:26 So the Lord replied, “If I find in the city of Sodom fifty godly people, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

18:27 Then Abraham asked, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord ¹⁷⁴  (although I am but dust and ashes), ¹⁷⁵  18:28 what if there are five less than the fifty godly people? Will you destroy ¹⁷⁶  the whole city because five are lacking?” ¹⁷⁷  He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

18:29 Abraham ¹⁷⁸  spoke to him again, ¹⁷⁹  “What if forty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”

18:30 Then Abraham ¹⁸⁰  said, “May the Lord not be angry ¹⁸¹  so that I may speak! ¹⁸²  What if thirty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

18:31 Abraham ¹⁸³  said, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

18:32 Finally Abraham ¹⁸⁴  said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

18:33 The Lord went on his way ¹⁸⁵  when he had finished speaking ¹⁸⁶  to Abraham. Then Abraham returned home. ¹⁸⁷ 

19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while ¹⁸⁸  Lot was sitting in the city’s gateway. ¹⁸⁹  When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground.

19:2 He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night ¹⁹⁰  and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” ¹⁹¹  “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.” ¹⁹² 

19:3 But he urged ¹⁹³  them persistently, so they turned aside with him and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them, including bread baked without yeast, and they ate. 19:4 Before they could lie down to sleep, ¹⁹⁴  all the men – both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom – surrounded the house. ¹⁹⁵  19:5 They shouted to Lot, ¹⁹⁶  “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex ¹⁹⁷  with them!”

19:6 Lot went outside to them, shutting the door behind him. 19:7 He said, “No, my brothers! Don’t act so wickedly! ¹⁹⁸  19:8 Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with ¹⁹⁹  a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please. ²⁰⁰  Only don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection ²⁰¹  of my roof.” ²⁰² 

19:9 “Out of our way!” ²⁰³  they cried, and “This man came to live here as a foreigner, ²⁰⁴  and now he dares to judge us! ²⁰⁵  We’ll do more harm ²⁰⁶  to you than to them!” They kept ²⁰⁷  pressing in on Lot until they were close enough ²⁰⁸  to break down the door.

19:10 So the men inside ²⁰⁹  reached out ²¹⁰  and pulled Lot back into the house ²¹¹  as they shut the door. 19:11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, ²¹²  with blindness. The men outside ²¹³  wore themselves out trying to find the door. 19:12 Then the two visitors ²¹⁴  said to Lot, “Who else do you have here? ²¹⁵  Do you have ²¹⁶  any sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or other relatives in the city? ²¹⁷  Get them out of this ²¹⁸  place 19:13 because we are about to destroy ²¹⁹  it. The outcry against this place ²²⁰  is so great before the Lord that he ²²¹  has sent us to destroy it.”

19:14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were going to marry his daughters. ²²²  He said, “Quick, get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy ²²³  the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was ridiculing them. ²²⁴ 

19:15 At dawn ²²⁵  the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, ²²⁶  or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!” ²²⁷  19:16 When Lot ²²⁸  hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters because the Lord had compassion on them. ²²⁹  They led them away and placed them ²³⁰  outside the city. 19:17 When they had brought them outside, they ²³¹  said, “Run ²³²  for your lives! Don’t look ²³³  behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! ²³⁴  Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”

19:18 But Lot said to them, “No, please, Lord! ²³⁵  19:19 Your ²³⁶  servant has found favor with you, ²³⁷  and you have shown me great ²³⁸  kindness ²³⁹  by sparing ²⁴⁰  my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountains because ²⁴¹  this disaster will overtake ²⁴²  me and I’ll die. ²⁴³  19:20 Look, this town ²⁴⁴  over here is close enough to escape to, and it’s just a little one. ²⁴⁵  Let me go there. ²⁴⁶  It’s just a little place, isn’t it? ²⁴⁷  Then I’ll survive.” ²⁴⁸ 

19:21 “Very well,” he replied, ²⁴⁹  “I will grant this request too ²⁵⁰  and will not overthrow ²⁵¹  the town you mentioned. 19:22 Run there quickly, ²⁵²  for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” (This incident explains why the town was called Zoar.) ²⁵³ 

19:23 The sun had just risen ²⁵⁴  over the land as Lot reached Zoar. ²⁵⁵  19:24 Then the Lord rained down ²⁵⁶  sulfur and fire ²⁵⁷  on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord. ²⁵⁸  19:25 So he overthrew those cities and all that region, ²⁵⁹  including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew ²⁶⁰  from the ground. 19:26 But Lot’s ²⁶¹  wife looked back longingly ²⁶²  and was turned into a pillar of salt.

19:27 Abraham got up early in the morning and went ²⁶³  to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 19:28 He looked out toward ²⁶⁴  Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of that region. ²⁶⁵  As he did so, he saw the smoke rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace. ²⁶⁶ 

19:29 So when God destroyed ²⁶⁷  the cities of the region, ²⁶⁸  God honored ²⁶⁹  Abraham’s request. He removed Lot ²⁷⁰  from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed ²⁷¹  the cities Lot had lived in.

19:30 Lot went up from Zoar with his two daughters and settled in the mountains because he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 19:31 Later the older daughter said ²⁷²  to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man anywhere nearby ²⁷³  to have sexual relations with us, ²⁷⁴  according to the way of all the world. 19:32 Come, let’s make our father drunk with wine ²⁷⁵  so we can have sexual relations ²⁷⁶  with him and preserve ²⁷⁷  our family line through our father.” ²⁷⁸ 

19:33 So that night they made their father drunk with wine, ²⁷⁹  and the older daughter ²⁸⁰  came and had sexual relations with her father. ²⁸¹  But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. ²⁸²  19:34 So in the morning the older daughter ²⁸³  said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. ²⁸⁴  Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” ²⁸⁵  19:35 So they made their father drunk ²⁸⁶  that night as well, and the younger one came and had sexual relations with him. ²⁸⁷  But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. ²⁸⁸ 

19:36 In this way both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 19:37 The older daughter ²⁸⁹  gave birth to a son and named him Moab. ²⁹⁰  He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today. 19:38 The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi. ²⁹¹  He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.

20:1 Abraham journeyed from there to the Negev ²⁹²  region and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived as a temporary resident ²⁹³  in Gerar, 20:2 Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.

20:3 But God appeared ²⁹⁴  to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “You are as good as dead ²⁹⁵  because of the woman you have taken, for she is someone else’s wife.” ²⁹⁶ 

20:4 Now Abimelech had not gone near her. He said, “Lord, ²⁹⁷  would you really slaughter an innocent nation? ²⁹⁸  20:5 Did Abraham ²⁹⁹  not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ³⁰⁰  ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a clear conscience ³⁰¹  and with innocent hands!”

20:6 Then in the dream God replied to him, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience. ³⁰²  That is why I have kept you ³⁰³  from sinning against me and why ³⁰⁴  I did not allow you to touch her. 20:7 But now give back the man’s wife. Indeed ³⁰⁵  he is a prophet ³⁰⁶  and he will pray for you; thus you will live. ³⁰⁷  But if you don’t give her back, ³⁰⁸  know that you will surely die ³⁰⁹  along with all who belong to you.”

20:8 Early in the morning ³¹⁰  Abimelech summoned ³¹¹  all his servants. When he told them about all these things, ³¹²  they ³¹³  were terrified. 20:9 Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? What sin did I commit against you that would cause you to bring such great guilt on me and my kingdom? ³¹⁴  You have done things to me that should not be done!” ³¹⁵  20:10 Then Abimelech asked ³¹⁶  Abraham, “What prompted you to do this thing?” ³¹⁷ 

20:11 Abraham replied, “Because I thought, ³¹⁸  ‘Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of ³¹⁹  my wife.’ 20:12 What’s more, ³²⁰  she is indeed my sister, my father’s daughter, but not my mother’s daughter. She became my wife. 20:13 When God made me wander ³²¹  from my father’s house, I told her, ‘This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me: ³²²  Every place we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”

20:14 So Abimelech gave ³²³  sheep, cattle, and male and female servants to Abraham. He also gave his wife Sarah back to him. 20:15 Then Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you; live wherever you please.” ³²⁴ 

20:16 To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver ³²⁵  to your ‘brother.’ ³²⁶  This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you.” ³²⁷ 

20:17 Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, as well as his wife and female slaves so that they were able to have children. 20:18 For the Lord ³²⁸  had caused infertility to strike every woman ³²⁹  in the household of Abimelech because he took ³³⁰  Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

21:1 The Lord visited ³³¹  Sarah just as he had said he would and did ³³²  for Sarah what he had promised. ³³³  21:2 So Sarah became pregnant ³³⁴  and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the appointed time that God had told him. 21:3 Abraham named his son – whom Sarah bore to him – Isaac. ³³⁵  21:4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, ³³⁶  Abraham circumcised him just as God had commanded him to do. ³³⁷  21:5 (Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.) ³³⁸ 

21:6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. ³³⁹  Everyone who hears about this ³⁴⁰  will laugh ³⁴¹  with me.” 21:7 She went on to say, ³⁴²  “Who would ³⁴³  have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son for him in his old age!”

21:8 The child grew and was weaned. Abraham prepared ³⁴⁴  a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ³⁴⁵  21:9 But Sarah noticed ³⁴⁶  the son of Hagar the Egyptian – the son whom Hagar had borne to Abraham – mocking. ³⁴⁷  21:10 So she said to Abraham, “Banish ³⁴⁸  that slave woman and her son, for the son of that slave woman will not be an heir along with my son Isaac!”

21:11 Sarah’s demand displeased Abraham greatly because Ishmael was his son. ³⁴⁹  21:12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be upset ³⁵⁰  about the boy or your slave wife. Do ³⁵¹  all that Sarah is telling ³⁵²  you because through Isaac your descendants will be counted. ³⁵³  21:13 But I will also make the son of the slave wife into a great nation, for he is your descendant too.”

21:14 Early in the morning Abraham took ³⁵⁴  some food ³⁵⁵  and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He put them on her shoulders, gave her the child, ³⁵⁶  and sent her away. So she went wandering ³⁵⁷  aimlessly through the wilderness ³⁵⁸  of Beer Sheba. 21:15 When the water in the skin was gone, she shoved ³⁵⁹  the child under one of the shrubs. 21:16 Then she went and sat down by herself across from him at quite a distance, about a bowshot ³⁶⁰  away; for she thought, ³⁶¹  “I refuse to watch the child die.” ³⁶²  So she sat across from him and wept uncontrollably. ³⁶³ 

21:17 But God heard the boy’s voice. ³⁶⁴  The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter, ³⁶⁵  Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard ³⁶⁶  the boy’s voice right where he is crying. 21:18 Get up! Help the boy up and hold him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 21:19 Then God enabled Hagar to see a well of water. ³⁶⁷  She went over and filled the skin with water, and then gave the boy a drink.

21:20 God was with the boy as he grew. He lived in the wilderness and became an archer. 21:21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran. ³⁶⁸  His mother found a wife for him from the land of Egypt. ³⁶⁹ 

21:22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you ³⁷⁰  in all that you do. 21:23 Now swear to me right here in God’s name ³⁷¹  that you will not deceive me, my children, or my descendants. ³⁷²  Show me, and the land ³⁷³  where you are staying, ³⁷⁴  the same loyalty ³⁷⁵  that I have shown you.” ³⁷⁶ 

21:24 Abraham said, “I swear to do this.” ³⁷⁷  21:25 But Abraham lodged a complaint ³⁷⁸  against Abimelech concerning a well ³⁷⁹  that Abimelech’s servants had seized. ³⁸⁰  21:26 “I do not know who has done this thing,” Abimelech replied. “Moreover, ³⁸¹  you did not tell me. I did not hear about it until today.”

21:27 Abraham took some sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech. The two of them made a treaty. ³⁸²  21:28 Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs apart from the flock by themselves. 21:29 Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these ³⁸³  seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?” 21:30 He replied, “You must take these seven ewe lambs from my hand as legal proof ³⁸⁴  that I dug this well.” ³⁸⁵  21:31 That is why he named that place ³⁸⁶  Beer Sheba, ³⁸⁷  because the two of them swore ³⁸⁸  an oath there.

21:32 So they made a treaty ³⁸⁹  at Beer Sheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, returned ³⁹⁰  to the land of the Philistines. ³⁹¹  21:33 Abraham ³⁹²  planted a tamarisk tree ³⁹³  in Beer Sheba. There he worshiped the Lord, ³⁹⁴  the eternal God. 21:34 So Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for quite some time. ³⁹⁵