My Beautiful Princess Bible - Flipbook - Page 19
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heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-yearold ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 So
Abram presented all these to him and killed them.
Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid
the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut
the birds in half. 11 Some vultures swooped down
to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.
12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a
deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down
over him. 13Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can
be sure that your descendants will be strangers in
a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as
slaves for 400 years. 14But I will punish the nation
that enslaves them, and in the end they will come
away with great wealth. 15(As for you, you will die
in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.) 16 After
four generations your descendants will return here
to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet
warrant their destruction.”
17 After the sun went down and darkness fell,
Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch
pass between the halves of the carcasses. 18 So the
Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and
said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all
the way from the border of Egypt* to the great Euphrates River—19 the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites,
Rephaites, 21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and
Jebusites.”
The Birth of Ishmael
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able
to bear children for him. But she had an
Egyptian servant named Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to
Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having
children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps
I can have children through her.” And Abram
agreed with Sarai’s proposal. 3 So Sarai, Abram’s
wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her
to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after
Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)
4 So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar,
and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew
she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress,
Sarai, with contempt. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram,
“This is all your fault! I put my servant into your
arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me
with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—
you or me!”
6 Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so
deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated
Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a
spring of water in the wilderness, along the road
to Shur. 8The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are
you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,” she
replied.
9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to
your mistress, and submit to her authority.” 10Then
he added, “I will give you more descendants than
you can count.”
11And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant
and will give birth to a son. You are to name him
Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the Lord
has heard your cry of distress. 12 This son of yours
will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey!
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He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open
hostility against all his relatives.”
13 Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer
to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You
are the God who sees me.”* She also said, “Have
I truly seen the One who sees me?” 14 So that well
was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of
the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found
between Kadesh and Bered.
15So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named
him Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old
when Ishmael was born.
Abram Is Named Abraham
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the
Lord appeared to him and said, “I am ElShaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and
live a blameless life. 2 I will make a covenant with
you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.”
3 At this, Abram fell face down on the ground.
Then God said to him, 4“This is my covenant with
you: I will make you the father of a multitude of
nations! 5What’s more, I am changing your name.
It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be
called Abraham,* for you will be the father of
many nations. 6I will make you extremely fruitful.
Your descendants will become many nations, and
kings will be among them!
7 “I will confirm my covenant with you and your
descendants* after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always
be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8And I will give the entire land of Canaan,
where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your
descendants. It will be their possession forever,
and I will be their God.”
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The Mark of the Covenant
9 Then God said to Abraham, “Your responsibility
is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all
your descendants have this continual responsibility. 10 This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must
be circumcised. 11You must cut off the flesh of your
foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and
you. 12 From generation to generation, every male
child must be circumcised on the eighth day after
his birth. This applies not only to members of your
family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have
purchased. 13 All must be circumcised. Your bodies
will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant. 14Any
male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from
the covenant family for breaking the covenant.”
Sarai Is Named Sarah
15 Then God said to Abraham, “Regarding Sarai,
your wife—her name will no longer be Sarai. From
now on her name will be Sarah.* 16And I will bless
her and give you a son from her! Yes, I will bless
13:15 Hebrew seed; also in 13:16. 14:1 Hebrew Shinar; also in 14:9.
14:3 Hebrew Salt Sea. 14:8 Hebrew Siddim Valley (see 14:3); also in
14:10. 14:18 Hebrew El-Elyon; also in 14:19, 20, 22. 15:18 Hebrew the
river of Egypt, referring either to an eastern branch of the Nile River or
to the Brook of Egypt in the Sinai (see Num 34:5). 16:13 Hebrew El-roi.
17:5 Abram means “exalted father”; Abraham sounds like a Hebrew
term that means “father of many.” 17:7 Hebrew seed; also in 17:7b, 8,
9, 10, 19. 17:15 Sarai and Sarah both mean “princess”; the change in
spelling may reflect the difference in dialect between Ur and Canaan.
