Abraham

No longer will you be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.

God also said to Abraham, “You must keep My covenant—you and your descendants in the generations after you.

Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai, for her name is to be Sarah.

Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?”

And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live under Your blessing!”

When He had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.

On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised them, just as God had told him.

So Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised,

Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the same day.

Then the LORD appeared to Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre in the heat of the day, while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent.

And Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

“My lord,” said Abraham, “if I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by.

So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Prepare three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and bake some bread.”

Meanwhile, Abraham ran to the herd, selected a tender and choice calf, and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.

Then Abraham brought curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and he set them before the men and stood by them under the tree as they ate.

And Abraham and Sarah were already old and well along in years; Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.

And the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really bear a child when I am old?’

When the men got up to leave, they looked out over Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them off.

And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?

Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has promised.”

And the two men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.

Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord—though I am but dust and ashes—

Once again Abraham spoke to the LORD, “Suppose forty are found there?” He answered, “On account of the forty, I will not do it.”

Then Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak further. Suppose thirty are found there?” He replied, “If I find thirty there, I will not do it.”

And Abraham said, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord, suppose twenty are found there?” He answered, “On account of the twenty, I will not destroy it.”

Finally, Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak once more. Suppose ten are found there?” And He answered, “On account of the ten, I will not destroy it.”

When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, He departed, and Abraham returned home.

When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, He departed, and Abraham returned home.

Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.

So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that destroyed the cities where he had lived.

Now Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar,

Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.

Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.”

Then Abimelech called Abraham and asked, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such tremendous guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done.”

Abimelech also asked Abraham, “What prompted you to do such a thing?”

Abraham replied, “I thought to myself, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place. They will kill me on account of my wife.’

So Abimelech brought sheep and cattle, menservants and maidservants, and he gave them to Abraham and restored his wife Sarah to him.

Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, so that they could again bear children—

So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised.

And Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore to him.

When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.

Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

So the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.

But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son,

…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!”

Now this matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son Ishmael.

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.

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.

At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.

And Abraham replied, “I swear it.”

But when Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized,

So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant.

Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock,

And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.

And Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.

Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.

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.

On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

“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.”

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.

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?”

Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two walked on together.

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.

Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

Just then the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.

Just then the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.

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.

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.”

And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time,

Abraham went back to his servants, and they got up and set out together for Beersheba. And Abraham settled in Beersheba.

Abraham went back to his servants, and they got up and set out together for Beersheba. And Abraham settled in Beersheba.

Some time later, Abraham was told, “Milcah has also borne sons to your brother Nahor:

She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went out to mourn and to weep for her.

Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and said to the Hittites,

The Hittites replied to Abraham,

Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites.

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,

Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land

Ephron answered Abraham,

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.

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.

So the field and its cave were deeded by the Hittites to Abraham as a burial site.

By now Abraham was old and well along in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.

So Abraham instructed the chief servant of his household, who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh,

Abraham replied, “Make sure that you do not take my son back there.

So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

“O LORD, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “please grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

“O LORD, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “please grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

…saying, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld His kindness and faithfulness from my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”

So when I came to the spring today, I prayed: O LORD, God of my master Abraham, if only You would make my journey a success!

Then I bowed down and worshiped the LORD; and I blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who led me on the right road to take the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son.

Now Abraham had taken another wife, named Keturah,

Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac.

But while he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.

Abraham lived a total of 175 years.

This was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah.