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GENESIS: CHAPTER
15-17
GENESIS: CHAPTER
15
Abram Promised
a Son
1 After these things the word of the LORD
came to Abram in a vision, saying,
"Do not fear, Abram,
I am a shield to you;
Your reward shall be very great."
2 Abram said, "O Lord GOD,
what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house
is Eliezer of Damascus?"
3 And Abram said, "Since You have given no offspring
to me, one born in my house is my heir."
4 Then behold, the word of the LORD
came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir; but one who will
come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir."
5 And He took him outside and said, "Now look
toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them."
And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be."
6 Then he believed in the LORD;
and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
7 And He said to him, "I am the LORD
who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to
possess it."
8 He said, "O Lord GOD,
how may I know that I will possess it?"
9 So He said to him, "Bring Me a three year old
heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram,
and a turtledove, and a young pigeon."
10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them
in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the
birds.
11 The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses,
and Abram drove them away.
12 Now when the sun was going down, a
deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness
fell upon him.
13 God said to Abram, "Know for certain
that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs,
where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.
14 "But I will also judge the nation whom they
will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.
15 "As for you, you shall go to your fathers
in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.
16 "Then in the fourth generation they will return
here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete."
17 It came about when the sun had set,
that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven
and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.
18 On that day the LORD
made a covenant with Abram, saying,
"To your descendants I have given this land,
From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:
19 the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite
20 and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the
Rephaim
21 and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the
Girgashite and the Jebusite."
GENESIS: CHAPTER
16
Sarai and
Hagar
1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife had borne him no children,
and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.
2 So Sarai said to Abram, "Now behold, the LORD
has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid;
perhaps I will obtain children through her." And Abram listened to the
voice of Sarai.
3 After Abram had lived ten years in the land
of Canaan, Abram's wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and
gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.
4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and
when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her
sight.
5 And Sarai said to Abram, "May the wrong done
me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that
she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the LORD
judge between you and me."
6 But Abram said to Sarai, "Behold, your maid
is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight." So Sarai treated
her harshly, and she fled from her presence.
7 Now the angel of the LORD
found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the
way to Shur.
8 He said, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you
come from and where are you going?" And she said, "I am fleeing from
the presence of my mistress Sarai."
9 Then the angel of the LORD
said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority."
10 Moreover, the angel of the LORD
said to her, "I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they
will be too many to count."
11 The angel of the LORD
said to her further,
"Behold, you are with child,
And you will bear a son;
And you shall call his name Ishmael,
Because the LORD has given heed to your affliction.
12 "He will be a wild donkey of a man,
His hand will be against everyone,
And everyone's hand will be against him;
And he will live to the east of all his brothers."
13 Then she called the name of the LORD
who spoke to her, "You are a God who sees"; for she said, "Have I even
remained alive here after seeing Him?"
14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi;
behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram
called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar
bore Ishmael to him.
GENESIS: CHAPTER
17
Abraham and
the Covenant of Circumcision
1 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the
LORD appeared to Abram and said to him,
"I am God Almighty;
Walk before Me, and be blameless.
2 "I will establish My covenant between Me and
you,
And I will multiply you exceedingly."
3 Abram fell on his face, and God talked with
him, saying,
4 "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,
And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.
5 "No longer shall your name be called Abram,
But your name shall be Abraham;
For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
6 "I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and
I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you.
7 "I will establish My covenant between Me and
you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for
an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after
you.
8 "I will give to you and to your descendants
after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for
an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."
9 God said further to Abraham, "Now as
for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after
you throughout their generations.
10 "This is My covenant, which you shall keep,
between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among
you shall be circumcised.
11 "And you shall be circumcised in the flesh
of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me
and you.
12 "And every male among you who is eight days
old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant
who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner,
who is not of your descendants.
13 "A servant who is born in your house
or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall
My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14 "But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised
in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his
people; he has broken My covenant."
15 Then God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai
your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be
her name.
16 "I will bless her, and indeed I will give
you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother
of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."
17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed,
and said in his heart, "Will a child be born to a man one hundred years
old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?"
18 And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael
might live before You!"
19 But God said, "No, but Sarah your wife will
bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish
My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants
after him.
20 "As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold,
I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly.
He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a
great nation.
21 "But My covenant I will establish with Isaac,
whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year."
22 When He finished talking with him, God went
up from Abraham.
23 Then Abraham took Ishmael his son,
and all the servants who were born in his house and all who were
bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's household,
and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, as
God had said to him.
24 Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when
he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old
when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26 In the very same day Abraham was circumcised,
and Ishmael his son.
27 All the men of his household, who were born
in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised
with him. |
