Genesis 15

The Lord’s Promise to Abram

1 Later the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision, “Abram, don’t be afraid! I will protect you and reward you greatly.”
2 But Abram answered, “Lord All-Powerful, you have given me everything I could ask for, except children. And when I die, Eliezer of Damascus will get all I own.t

3 You have not given me any children, and this servant of mine will inherit everything.”
4 The Lord replied, “No, he won’t! You will have a son of your own, and everything you have will be his.”5 t5 Then the Lord took Abram outside and said, “Look at the sky and see if you can count the stars. That’s how many descendants you will have.”6 t6 Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord was pleased with him.

The Lord Makes Another Promise to Abram

7 The Lord said to Abram, “I brought you here from Ur in Chaldea, and I gave you this land.”

8 Abram asked, “Lord God, how can I know the land will be mine?”

9 Then the Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a dove, and a young pigeon.”
10 Abram obeyed the Lord. Then he cutt the animals in half and laid the two halves of each animal opposite each other on the ground. But he did not cut the doves and pigeons in half.

11 And when birds came down to eat the animals, Abram chased them away.
12 t As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and everything became dark and frightening.

13-15 tt13-15 Then the Lord said: Abram, you will live to an old age and die in peace.
But I solemnly promise that your descendants will live as foreigners in a land that doesn’t belong to them. They will be forced into slavery and abused for four hundred years. But I will terribly punish the nation that enslaves them, and they will leave with many possessions.

16 Four generations later,t your descendants will return here and take this land, because only then will the people who live heret be so sinful that they deserve to be punished.
17 Sometime after sunset, when it was very dark, a smoking cooking pott and a flaming fire went between the two halves of each animal.18 t18 At that time the Lord made an agreement with Abram and told him: I will give your descendants the land east of the Shihor Rivert on the border of Egypt as far as the Euphrates River.19 They will possess the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaites,

21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

Genesis 16

Hagar and Ishmael

1 Abram’s wife Sarai had not been able to have any children. But she owned a young Egyptian slave woman named Hagar,2 and Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has not given me any children. Sleep with my slave, and if she has a child, it will be mine.”t Abram agreed,3 and Sarai gave him Hagar to be his wife. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan for ten years.

4 Later, when Hagar knew she was going to have a baby, she became proud and was hateful to Sarai.

5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “It’s all your fault!t I gave you my slave woman, but she has been hateful to me ever since she found out she was pregnant. You have done me wrong, and you will have to answer to the Lord for this.”

6 Abram said, “All right! She’s your slave, and you can do whatever you want with her.” But Sarai began treating Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.
7 Hagar stopped to rest at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur. While she was there, the angel of the Lord came to her

8 and asked, “Hagar, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She answered, “I’m running away from Sarai, my owner.”

9 The angel said, “Go back to Sarai and be her slave.10-11 I will give you a son, who will be called Ishmael,t because I have heard your cry for help. And later I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them all.

12 But your son will live far from his relatives; he will be like a wild donkey, fighting everyone, and everyone fighting him.”
13 Hagar thought, “Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?”t So from then on she called him, “The God Who Sees Me.”t

14 That’s why people call the well between Kadesh and Bered, “The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.” t

15-16 t15-16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to their son, and he named him Ishmael.

Genesis 17

God’s Promise to Abraham

1 Abram was ninety-nine years old when the Lord appeared to him again and said, “I am God All-Powerful. If you obey me and always do right,2 I will keep my solemn promise to you and give you more descendants than can be counted.”

3 Abram bowed with his face to the ground, and God said:
4-5 t4-5 I promise that you will be the father of many nations. That’s why I now change your name from Abram to Abraham.t

6 I will give you a lot of descendants, and in the future they will become great nations. Some of them will even be kings.
7 t I will always keep the promise I have made to you and your descendants, because I am your God and their God.

8 t8 I will give you and them the land in which you are now a foreigner. I will give the whole land of Canaan to your family forever, and I will be their God.
9 Abraham, you and all future members of your family must promise to obey me.10-11 t10-11 As the sign that you are keeping this promise, you must circumcise every man and boy in your family.12-13 From now on, your family must circumcise every baby boy when he is eight days old. You must even circumcise any man or boy you have as a slave, both those born in your homes and those you buy from foreigners. This will be a sign that my promise to you will last forever.

14 Any man who isn’t circumcised hasn’t kept his promise to me and cannot be one of my people.
15 Abraham, your wife’s name will now be Sarah instead of Sarai.

16 I will bless her, and you will have a son by her. She will become the mother of nations, and some of her descendants will even be kings.
17 Abraham bowed with his face to the ground and thought, “I am almost a hundred years old. How can I become a father? And Sarah is ninety. How can she have a child?” So he started laughing.

18 Then he asked God, “Why not let Ishmaelt inherit what you have promised me?”

19 But God answered: No! You and Sarah will have a son. His name will be Isaac,t and I will make an everlasting promise to him and his descendants.
20 I have heard what you asked me to do for Ishmael, and so I will also bless him with many descendants. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make his family a great nation.

21 But your son Isaac will be born about this time next year, and the promise I am making to you and your family will be for him and his descendants forever.

22 God finished speaking to Abraham and then left.

23-27 On that same day Abraham obeyed God by circumcising Ishmael. Abraham was also circumcised, and so were all other men and boys in his household, including his servants and slaves. He was ninety-nine years old at the time, and his son Ishmael was thirteen.