A Tree and Its Fruit
7:15 “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves. 1
15:3 Abram added, 1 “Since 2 you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!” 3 15:4 But look, 4 the word of the Lord came to him: “This man 5 will not be your heir, 6 but instead 7 a son 8 who comes from your own body will be 9 your heir.” 10 15:5 The Lord 11 took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars – if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.”
15:6 Abram believed 12 the Lord, and the Lord 13 considered his response of faith 14 as proof of genuine loyalty. 15
15:7 The Lord said 16 to him, “I am the Lord 17 who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans 18 to give you this land to possess.” 15:8 But 19 Abram 20 said, “O sovereign Lord, 21 by what 22 can I know that I am to possess it?”
15:9 The Lord 23 said to him, “Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 15:10 So Abram 24 took all these for him and then cut them in two 25 and placed each half opposite the other, 26 but he did not cut the birds in half. 15:11 When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
15:12 When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, 27 and great terror overwhelmed him. 28 15:13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain 29 that your descendants will be strangers 30 in a foreign country. 31 They will be enslaved and oppressed 32 for four hundred years. 15:14 But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. 33 Afterward they will come out with many possessions.
16:6 Abram said to Sarai, “Since your 1 servant is under your authority, 2 do to her whatever you think best.” 3 Then Sarai treated Hagar 4 harshly, 5 so she ran away from Sarai. 6
16:7 The Lord’s angel 7 found Hagar near a spring of water in the desert – the spring that is along the road to Shur. 8 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 9 my mistress, Sarai.”
16:9 Then the Lord’s angel said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit 10 to her authority. 16:10 I will greatly multiply your descendants,” the Lord’s angel added, 11 “so that they will be too numerous to count.” 12 16:11 Then the Lord’s angel said to her,
“You are now 13 pregnant
and are about to give birth 14 to a son.
You are to name him Ishmael, 15
for the Lord has heard your painful groans. 16
16:12 He will be a wild donkey 17 of a man.
He will be hostile to everyone, 18
and everyone will be hostile to him. 19
He will live away from 20 his brothers.”
The Death of Sarah
23:1 Sarah lived 127 years. 1
24:11 He made the camels kneel down by the well 1 outside the city. It was evening, 2 the time when the women would go out to draw water. 