The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Genesis 21
1 Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said,
and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken.
2 Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a
son in his old age, at the set time of which
God had spoken to him.
3 Abraham called his son who was born
to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.†
4 Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac,
when he was eight days old, as God had
commanded him.
5 Abraham was one hundred years old
when his son, Isaac, was born to him.
6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh.
Everyone who hears will laugh with me.”
7 She said, “Who would have said to
Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old
age.”
8 The child grew and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that
Isaac was weaned.
9 Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham,
mocking.
10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast
out this servant and her son! For the son
ofthis servant will not be heir with my son,
Isaac.”
11 The thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight on account of his son.
12 God said to Abraham, “Don’t let it
be grievous in your sight because of the
boy, and because of your servant. In all
that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice.
For your offspring will be named through
Isaac.
13 I will also make a nation of the son of
the servant, because he is your child.”
14 Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a
container of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her
shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent
her away. She departed, and wandered in
the wilderness of Beersheba.
15 The water in the container was spent,
and she put the child under one of the
shrubs.
16 She went and sat down opposite him,
a good way off, about a bow shot away. For
she said, “Don’t let me see the death of the
child.” She sat opposite him, and lifted up
her voice, and wept.
17 God heard the voice of the boy.
The angel of God called to Hagar out of
the sky, and said to her, “What troubles
you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. For God has
heard the voice of the boy where he is.
18 Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him
withyourhand. For I willmakehima great
nation.”
19 God opened her eyes, and she saw a
well of water. She went, filled the container with water, and gave the boy a
drink.
20 God was with the boy, and he grew. He
lived in the wilderness, and as he grew up,
he became an archer.
21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran.
His mother got a wife for him out of the
land of Egypt.
22 At that time, Abimelech and Phicol
the captain of his army spoke to Abraham,
saying, “God is with you in all that you do.
23 Now, therefore, swear to me here by
God that you will not deal falsely with
me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s
son. But according to the kindness that I
have done to you, you shall do to me, and
to the land in which you have lived as a
foreigner.”
24 Abraham said, “I will swear.”
25 Abraham complained to Abimelech
because of a water well, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away.
26 Abimelech said, “I don’t know who has
done this thing. You didn’t tell me, and I
didn’t hear of it until today.”
27 Abraham took sheep and cattle, and
gave them to Abimelech. Those two made
a covenant.
28 Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the
flock by themselves.
29 Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do
these seven ewe lambs, which you have set
by themselves, mean?”
30 He said, “You shall take these seven
ewe lambs from my hand, that it may be a
witness to me, that I have dug this well.”
31 Therefore he called that place Beersheba,‡ because they both swore an oath
there.
32 So theymade a covenant atBeersheba.
Abimelech rose up with Phicol, the captain
of his army, and they returned into the
land of the Philistines.
33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in
Beersheba, and there he called on the
name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God.
34 Abraham lived as a foreigner in the
land of the Philistines many days.
† 21:3 Isaac means “He laughs”. ‡ 21:31 Beersheba can mean “well of the oath” or “well of seven”.