Genesis 15

1 After all these things, this word of God came to Abram in a vision: "Don't be afraid, Abram. I'm your shield. Your reward will be grand!"

2 Abram said, "God, Master, what use are your gifts as long as I'm childless and Eliezer of Damascus is going to inherit everything?"3 Abram continued, "See, you've given me no children, and now a mere house servant is going to get it all."

4 Then God's Message came: "Don't worry, he won't be your heir; a son from your body will be your heir."

5 Then he took him outside and said, "Look at the sky. Count the stars. Can you do it? Count your descendants! You're going to have a big family, Abram!"

6 And he believed! Believed God! God declared him "Set-Right-with-God."

7 God continued, "I'm the same God who brought you from Ur of the Chaldees and gave you this land to own."

8 Abram said, "Master God, how am I to know this, that it will all be mine?"

9 God said, "Bring me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, and a dove and a young pigeon."

10 He brought all these animals to him, split them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite each other. But he didn't split the birds.11 Vultures swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram scared them off.12 As the sun went down a deep sleep overcame Abram and then a sense of dread, dark and heavy.

13 God said to Abram, "Know this: your descendants will live as outsiders in a land not theirs; they'll be enslaved and beaten down for 400 years.14 Then I'll punish their slave masters; your offspring will march out of there loaded with plunder.15 But not you; you'll have a long and full life and die a good and peaceful death.16 Not until the fourth generation will your descendants return here; sin is still a thriving business among the Amorites."

17 When the sun was down and it was dark, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch moved between the split carcasses.18 That's when God made a covenant with Abram: "I'm giving this land to your children, from the Nile River in Egypt to the River Euphrates in Assyria -19 the country of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim,21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."

Genesis 16

1 Sarai, Abram's wife, hadn't yet produced a child.2 Sarai said to Abram, "God has not seen fit to let me have a child. Sleep with my maid. Maybe I can get a family from her." Abram agreed to do what Sarai said.

3 So Sarai, Abram's wife, took her Egyptian maid Hagar and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. Abram had been living ten years in Canaan when this took place.4 He slept with Hagar and she got pregnant. When she learned she was pregnant, she looked down on her mistress.

5 Sarai told Abram, "It's all your fault that I'm suffering this abuse. I put my maid in bed with you and the minute she knows she's pregnant, she treats me like I'm nothing. May God decide which of us is right."

6 "You decide," said Abram. "Your maid is your business." Sarai was abusive to Hagar and she ran away.

7 An angel of God found her beside a spring in the desert; it was the spring on the road to Shur.8 He said, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, what are you doing here?" She said, "I'm running away from Sarai my mistress."

9 The angel of God said, "Go back to your mistress. Put up with her abuse."10 He continued, "I'm going to give you a big family, children past counting.11 From this pregnancy, you'll get a son: Name him Ishmael; for God heard you, God answered you.12 He'll be a bucking bronco of a man, a real fighter, fighting and being fought, Always stirring up trouble, always at odds with his family."

13 She answered God by name, praying to the God who spoke to her, "You're the God who sees me!" "Yes! He saw me; and then I saw him!"

14 That's how that desert spring got named "God-Alive-Sees-Me Spring." That spring is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

15 Hagar gave Abram a son. Abram named him Ishmael.16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave him his son, Ishmael.

Genesis 17

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, God showed up and said to him, "I am The Strong God, live entirely before me, live to the hilt!2 I'll make a covenant between us and I'll give you a huge family."

3 Overwhelmed, Abram fell flat on his face.4 "This is my covenant with you: You'll be the father of many nations.5 Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham, meaning that 'I'm making you the father of many nations.'6 I'll make you a father of fathers-I'll make nations from you, kings will issue from you.7 I'm establishing my covenant between me and you, a covenant that includes your descendants, a covenant that goes on and on and on, a covenant that commits me to be your God and the God of your descendants.8 And I'm giving you and your descendants this land where you're now just camping, this whole country of Canaan, to own forever. And I'll be their God."

9 God continued to Abraham, "And you: You will honor my covenant, you and your descendants, generation after generation.10 This is the covenant that you are to honor, the covenant that pulls in all your descendants: Circumcise every male.11 Circumcise by cutting off the foreskin of the penis; it will be the sign of the covenant between us.12 Every male baby will be circumcised when he is eight days old, generation after generation-this includes house-born slaves and slaves bought from outsiders who are not blood kin.13 Make sure you circumcise both your own children and anyone brought in from the outside. That way my covenant will be cut into your body, a permanent mark of my permanent covenant.14 An uncircumcised male, one who has not had the foreskin of his penis cut off, will be cut off from his people-he has broken my covenant."

15 God continued speaking to Abraham, "And Sarai your wife: Don't call her Sarai any longer; call her Sarah.16 I'll bless her-yes! I'll give you a son by her! Oh, how I'll bless her! Nations will come from her; kings of nations will come from her."

17 Abraham fell flat on his face. And then he laughed, thinking, "Can a hundred-year-old man father a son? And can Sarah, at ninety years, have a baby?"

18 Recovering, Abraham said to God, "Oh, keep Ishmael alive and well before you!"

19 But God said, "That's not what I mean. Your wife, Sarah, will have a baby, a son. Name him Isaac (Laughter). I'll establish my covenant with him and his descendants, a covenant that lasts forever.

20 "And Ishmael? Yes, I heard your prayer for him. I'll also bless him; I'll make sure he has plenty of children-a huge family. He'll father twelve princes; I'll make him a great nation.21 But I'll establish my covenant with Isaac whom Sarah will give you about this time next year."

22 God finished speaking with Abraham and left.

23 Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all his servants, whether houseborn or purchased-every male in his household-and circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins that very day, just as God had told him.

24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised.25 His son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised.26 Abraham and Ishmael were circumcised the same day27 together with all the servants of his household, those born there and those purchased from outsiders-all were circumcised with him.