Day 7: Genesis 21 - 24
Bible in a year reading for day 7.
Genesis 21
- 3 And Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore to him.
- 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.
- 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
- 6 Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”
- 7 She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
- 8 So the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.
- 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son,
- 10 and she said to Abraham, “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!”
- 11 Now this matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son Ishmael.
- 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to everything that Sarah tells you, for through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.
- 13 But I will also make a nation of the slave woman’s son, because he is your offspring.”
- 14 Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.
- 15 When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes.
- 16 Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I cannot bear to watch the boy die!” And as she sat nearby, she lifted up her voice and wept.
- 17 Then God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “What is wrong, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he lies.
- 18 Get up, lift up the boy, and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
- 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
- 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up and settled in the wilderness and became a great archer.
- 21 And while he was dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
- 22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.
- 23 Now, therefore, swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or descendants. Show to me and to the country in which you reside the same kindness that I have shown to you.”
- 24 And Abraham replied, “I swear it.”
- 25 But when Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized,
- 26 Abimelech replied, “I do not know who has done this. You did not tell me, so I have not heard about it until today.”
- 27 So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant.
- 28 Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock,
- 29 and Abimelech asked him, “Why have you set apart these seven ewe lambs?”
- 30 He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand as my witness that I dug this well.”
- 31 So that place was called Beersheba, because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.
- 32 After they had made the covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army got up and returned to the land of the Philistines.
- 33 And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.
- 34 And Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines for a long time.
Genesis 22
- 1 Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.
- 2 “Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
- 3 So Abraham got up early the next morning, saddled his donkey, and took along two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had designated.
- 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
- 5 “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told his servants. “The boy and I will go over there to worship, and then we will return to you.”
- 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac. He himself carried the fire and the sacrificial knife, and the two of them walked on together.
- 7 Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” “Here I am, my son,” he replied. “The fire and the wood are here,” said Isaac, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
- 8 Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two walked on together.
- 9 When they arrived at the place God had designated, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar, atop the wood.
- 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
- 11 Just then the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.
- 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”
- 13 Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
- 14 And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
- 15 And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time,
- 16 saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son,
- 17 I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
- 18 And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
- 19 Abraham went back to his servants, and they got up and set out together for Beersheba. And Abraham settled in Beersheba.
- 20 Some time later, Abraham was told, “Milcah has also borne sons to your brother Nahor:
- 21 Uz the firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel (the father of Aram),
- 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.”
- 23 And Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor.
- 24 Moreover, Nahor’s concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
Genesis 23
- 1 Now Sarah lived to be 127 years old.
- 2 She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went out to mourn and to weep for her.
- 3 Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and said to the Hittites,
- 4 “I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.”
- 5 The Hittites replied to Abraham,
- 6 “Listen to us, sir. You are God’s chosen one among us. Bury your dead in the finest of our tombs. None of us will withhold his tomb for burying your dead.”
- 7 Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites.
- 8 “If you are willing for me to bury my dead,” he said to them, “listen to me, and approach Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf
- 9 to sell me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him sell it to me in your presence for full price, so that I may have a burial site.”
- 10 Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth. So in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham,
- 11 “No, my lord. Listen to me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”
- 12 Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land
- 13 and said to Ephron in their presence, “If you will please listen to me, I will pay you the price of the field. Accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.”
- 14 Ephron answered Abraham,
- 15 “Listen to me, my lord. The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”
- 16 Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants.
- 17 So Ephron’s field at Machpelah near Mamre, the cave that was in it, and all the trees within the boundaries of the field were deeded over
- 18 to Abraham’s possession in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city.
- 19 After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
- 20 So the field and its cave were deeded by the Hittites to Abraham as a burial site.
Genesis 24
- 1 By now Abraham was old and well along in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.
- 2 So Abraham instructed the chief servant of his household, who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh,
- 3 and I will have you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am dwelling,
- 4 but will go to my country and my kindred to take a wife for my son Isaac.”
- 5 The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the land from which you came?”
- 6 Abraham replied, “Make sure that you do not take my son back there.
- 7 The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me from my father’s house and my native land, who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—He will send His angel before you so that you can take a wife for my son from there.
- 8 And if the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.”
- 9 So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.
- 10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all manner of good things from his master in hand. And he set out for Nahor’s hometown in Aram-naharaim.