21
A Baby for Sarah
1The Lord cared for Sarah as he had said. He did for her what he had promised. 2Sarah became pregnant. And she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. Everything happened at the time God had said it would. 3Abraham named his son Isaac. Sarah gave birth to this son of Abraham. 4Abraham circumcised Isaac when he was eight days old as God had commanded.
5Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born. 6And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh.# The Hebrew words for “he laughed” and “Isaac” sound the same. Everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. 7No one thought that I would be able to have Abraham’s child. But I have given Abraham a son while he is old.”
Hagar and Ishmael
8Isaac grew and became old enough to eat food. At that time Abraham gave a great feast. 9But Sarah saw Ishmael making fun of Isaac. (Ishmael was the son of Abraham by Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian slave.) 10So Sarah said to Abraham, “Throw out this slave woman and her son. When we die, our son Isaac will inherit everything we have. I don’t want her son to inherit any of our things.”
11This troubled Abraham very much because Ishmael was also his son. 12But God said to Abraham, “Don’t be troubled about the boy and the slave woman. Do whatever Sarah tells you. The descendants I promised you will be from Isaac. 13I will also make the descendants of Ishmael into a great nation. I will do this because he is your son, too.”
14Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a leather bag full of water. He gave them to Hagar and sent her away. Hagar carried these things and her son. She went and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.
15Later, all the water was gone from the bag. So Hagar put her son under a bush. 16Then she went away a short distance and sat down. Hagar thought, “My son will die. I cannot watch this happen.” She sat there and began to cry.
17God heard the boy crying. And God’s angel called to Hagar from heaven. He said, “What is wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid! God has heard the boy crying there. 18Help the boy up. Take him by the hand. I will make his descendants into a great nation.”
19Then God showed Hagar a well of water. So she went to the well and filled her bag with water. Then she gave the boy a drink.
20God was with the boy as he grew up. Ishmael lived in the desert. He learned to shoot with a bow very well. 21He lived in the Desert of Paran. His mother found a wife for him in Egypt.
Abraham’s Bargain with Abimelech
22Then Abimelech came with Phicol, the commander of Abimelech’s army. They said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. 23So make a promise to me here before God. Promise that you will be fair with me and my children and my descendants. Be kind to me and to this land where you have lived as a stranger. Be as kind to me as I have been to you.”
24And Abraham said, “I promise.” 25Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about Abimelech’s servants. They had captured a well of water.
26But Abimelech said, “I don’t know who did this. You never told me about this before today.”
27Then Abraham gave Abimelech some sheep and cattle. And they made an agreement. 28Abraham also put seven female lambs in front of Abimelech.
29Abimelech asked Abraham, “Why did you put these seven female lambs by themselves?”
30Abraham answered, “Accept these lambs from me. That will prove that you believe I dug this well.”
31So that place was called Beersheba# This name means “well of the promise” or “well of seven.” because they made a promise to each other there.
32So Abraham and Abimelech made an agreement at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, went back to the land of the Philistines.
33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba. There Abraham prayed to the Lord, the God who lives forever. 34And Abraham lived as a stranger in the land of the Philistines for a long time.
Since the beginning of time, God communicates with us. For this, the Holy Bible is a very powerful vehicle, since it is the word of the Lord embodied in black on white. As you know, there are several versions of the Holy Scriptures, made in pursuit of a better understanding of the word of the Lord. In the version 'International Children's Bible ' we find that the chapter 21 of the Genesis is shown to us in the way that we can see below.
The book Genesis of the Bible has 50 chapters. And in the chapter 21 we can find 34 verses, in which God reveals his teachings to us and indicates to us through his immense wisdom, love and goodness, the way in which we should act and approach Him.
We have no doubt that reading the chapter 21 of the book Genesis of the version 'International Children's Bible ' of the Holy Bible it will be easy for you to understand how our beloved Father never leaves us alone, and that in the texts he left for us it is possible to find all the answers that need. Remember that you can always read the chapter 21 in one of the other versions of the Bible that we have for you, although it is a very interesting exercise that you have now chosen to read the chapter 21 of the version 'International Children's Bible ' of the Holy Bible.
Genesis 21:1