Category: Genesis

[18:16] Then the men left and went to a place where they could look down at Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on their way.

[18:17] And the Lord said to himself, “I will not hide from Abraham what I am going to do.

[18:18] His descendants will become a great and mighty nation, and through him I will bless all the nations.

[18:19] I have chosen him in order that he may command his sons and his descendants to obey me and to do what is right and just. If they do, I will do everything for him that I have promised.”

[18:20] Then the Lord said to Abraham, “There are terrible accusations against Sodom and Gomorrah, and their sin is very great.

[18:21] I must go down to find out whether or not the accusations which I have heard are true.”

[18:22] Then the two men left and went on toward Sodom, but the Lord remained with Abraham.

[18:23] Abraham approached the Lord and asked, “Are you really going to destroy the innocent with the guilty?

[18:24] If there are fifty innocent people in the city, will you destroy the whole city? Won't you spare it in order to save the fifty?

[18:25] Surely you won't kill the innocent with the guilty. That's impossible! You can't do that. If you did, the innocent would be punished along with the guilty. That is impossible. The judge of all the earth has to act justly.”

[18:26] The Lord answered, “If I find fifty innocent people in Sodom, I will spare the whole city for their sake.”

[18:27] Abraham spoke again: “Please forgive my boldness in continuing to speak to you, Lord. I am only a man and have no right to say anything.

[18:28] But perhaps there will be only forty-five innocent people instead of fifty. Will you destroy the whole city because there are five too few?” The Lord answered, “I will not destroy the city if I find forty-five innocent people.”

[18:29] Abraham spoke again: “Perhaps there will be only forty.” He replied, “I will not destroy it if there are forty.”

[18:30] Abraham said, “Please don't be angry, Lord, but I must speak again. What if there are only thirty?” He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty.”

[18:31] Abraham said, “Please forgive my boldness in continuing to speak to you, Lord. Suppose that only twenty are found?” He said, “I will not destroy the city if I find twenty.”

[18:32] Abraham said, “Please don't be angry, Lord, and I will speak only once more. What if only ten are found?” He said, “I will not destroy it if there are ten.”

[18:33] After he had finished speaking with Abraham, the Lord went away, and Abraham returned home.

[19:1] When the two angels came to Sodom that evening, Lot was sitting at the city gate. As soon as he saw them, he got up and went to meet them. He bowed down before them

[19:2] and said, “Sirs, I am here to serve you. Please come to my house. You can wash your feet and spend the night. In the morning you can get up early and go on your way.” But they answered, “No, we will spend the night here in the city square.”

[19:3] He kept on urging them, and finally they went with him to his house. Lot ordered his servants to bake some bread and prepare a fine meal for the guests. When it was ready, they ate it.

[19:4] Before the guests went to bed, the men of Sodom surrounded the house. All the men of the city, both young and old, were there.

[19:5] They called out to Lot and asked, “Where are the men who came to stay with you tonight? Bring them out to us!” The men of Sodom wanted to have sex with them.

[19:6] Lot went outside and closed the door behind him.

[19:7] He said to them, “Friends, I beg you, don't do such a wicked thing!

[19:8] Look, I have two daughters who are still virgins. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do whatever you want with them. But don't do anything to these men; they are guests in my house, and I must protect them.”

[19:9] But they said, “Get out of our way, you foreigner! Who are you to tell us what to do? Out of our way, or we will treat you worse than them.” They pushed Lot back and moved up to break down the door.

[19:10] But the two men inside reached out, pulled Lot back into the house, and shut the door.

[19:11] Then they struck all the men outside with blindness, so that they couldn't find the door.

[19:12] The two men said to Lot, “If you have anyone else here—sons, daughters, sons-in-law, or any other relatives living in the city—get them out of here,

[19:13] because we are going to destroy this place. The Lord has heard the terrible accusations against these people and has sent us to destroy Sodom.”

[19:14] Then Lot went to the men that his daughters were going to marry, and said, “Hurry up and get out of here; the Lord is going to destroy this place.” But they thought he was joking.

[19:15] At dawn the angels tried to make Lot hurry. “Quick!” they said. “Take your wife and your two daughters and get out, so that you will not lose your lives when the city is destroyed.”

[19:16] Lot hesitated. The Lord, however, had pity on him; so the men took him, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand and led them out of the city.

[19:17] Then one of the angels said, “Run for your lives! Don't look back and don't stop in the valley. Run to the hills, so that you won't be killed.”

[19:18] But Lot answered, “No, please don't make us do that, sir.

[19:19] You have done me a great favor and saved my life. But the hills are too far away; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die before I get there.

[19:20] Do you see that little town? It is near enough. Let me go over there—you can see it is just a small place—and I will be safe.”

[19:21] He answered, “All right, I agree. I won't destroy that town.

[19:22] Hurry! Run! I can't do anything until you get there.” Because Lot called it small, the town was named Zoar.

[19:23] The sun was rising when Lot reached Zoar.

[19:24] Suddenly the Lord rained burning sulfur on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah

[19:25] and destroyed them and the whole valley, along with all the people there and everything that grew on the land.

[19:26] But Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt.

[19:27] Early the next morning Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood in the presence of the Lord.

[19:28] He looked down at Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole valley and saw smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a huge furnace.

[19:29] But when God destroyed the cities of the valley where Lot was living, he kept Abraham in mind and allowed Lot to escape to safety.

[19:30] Because Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, he and his two daughters moved up into the hills and lived in a cave.

[19:31] The older daughter said to her sister, “Our father is getting old, and there are no men in the whole world to marry us so that we can have children.

[19:32] Come on, let's get our father drunk, so that we can sleep with him and have children by him.”

[19:33] That night they gave him wine to drink, and the older daughter had intercourse with him. But he was so drunk that he didn't know it.

[19:34] The next day the older daughter said to her sister, “I slept with him last night; now let's get him drunk again tonight, and you sleep with him. Then each of us will have a child by our father.”

[19:35] So that night they got him drunk, and the younger daughter had intercourse with him. Again he was so drunk that he didn't know it.

[19:36] In this way both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their own father.

[19:37] The older daughter had a son, whom she named Moab. He was the ancestor of the present-day Moabites.

[19:38] The younger daughter also had a son, whom she named Benammi. He was the ancestor of the present-day Ammonites.

[20:1] Abraham moved from Mamre to the southern part of Canaan and lived between Kadesh and Shur. Later, while he was living in Gerar,

[20:2] he said that his wife Sarah was his sister. So King Abimelech of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.

[20:3] One night God appeared to him in a dream and said, “You are going to die, because you have taken this woman; she is already married.”

[20:4] But Abimelech had not come near her, and he said, “Lord, I am innocent! Would you destroy me and my people?

[20:5] Abraham himself said that she was his sister, and she said the same thing. I did this with a clear conscience, and I have done no wrong.”

[20:6] God replied in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did it with a clear conscience; so I kept you from sinning against me and did not let you touch her.

[20:7] But now, give the woman back to her husband. He is a prophet, and he will pray for you, so that you will not die. But if you do not give her back, I warn you that you are going to die, you and all your people.”

[20:8] Early the next morning Abimelech called all his officials and told them what had happened, and they were terrified.

[20:9] Then Abimelech called Abraham and asked, “What have you done to us? What wrong have I done to you to make you bring this disaster on me and my kingdom? No one should ever do what you have done to me.

[20:10] Why did you do it?”

[20:11] Abraham answered, “I thought that there would be no one here who has reverence for God and that they would kill me to get my wife.

[20:12] She really is my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not of my mother, and I married her.

[20:13] So when God sent me from my father's house into foreign lands, I said to her, ‘You can show how loyal you are to me by telling everyone that I am your brother.’”

[20:14] Then Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham, and at the same time he gave him sheep, cattle, and slaves.

[20:15] He said to Abraham, “Here is my whole land; live anywhere you like.”

[20:16] He said to Sarah, “I am giving your brother a thousand pieces of silver as proof to all who are with you that you are innocent; everyone will know that you have done no wrong.”

[21:1] The Lord blessed Sarah, as he had promised,

[21:2] and she became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham when he was old. The boy was born at the time God had said he would be born.

[21:3] Abraham named him Isaac,

[21:4] and when Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded.

[21:5] Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born.

[21:6] Sarah said, “God has brought me joy and laughter. Everyone who hears about it will laugh with me.”

[21:7] Then she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

[21:8] The child grew, and on the day that he was weaned, Abraham gave a great feast.

[21:9] One day Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, was playing with Sarah's son Isaac.

[21:10] Sarah saw them and said to Abraham, “Send this slave and her son away. The son of this woman must not get any part of your wealth, which my son Isaac should inherit.”

[21:11] This troubled Abraham very much, because Ishmael also was his son.

[21:12] But God said to Abraham, “Don't be worried about the boy and your slave Hagar. Do whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that you will have the descendants I have promised.

[21:13] I will also give many children to the son of the slave woman, so that they will become a nation. He too is your son.”

[21:14] Early the next morning Abraham gave Hagar some food and a leather bag full of water. He put the child on her back and sent her away. She left and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.

[21:15] When the water was all gone, she left the child under a bush

[21:16] and sat down about a hundred yards away. She said to herself, “I can't bear to see my child die.” While she was sitting there, she began to cry.

[21:17] God heard the boy crying, and from heaven the angel of God spoke to Hagar, “What are you troubled about, Hagar? Don't be afraid. God has heard the boy crying.

[21:18] Get up, go and pick him up, and comfort him. I will make a great nation out of his descendants.”

[21:19] Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. She went and filled the leather bag with water and gave some to the boy.

[21:20] God was with the boy as he grew up; he lived in the wilderness of Paran and became a skillful hunter.

[21:21] His mother got an Egyptian wife for him.

[21:22] At that time Abimelech went with Phicol, the commander of his army, and said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.

[21:23] So make a vow here in the presence of God that you will not deceive me, my children, or my descendants. I have been loyal to you, so promise that you will also be loyal to me and to this country in which you are living.”

[21:24] Abraham said, “I promise.”

[21:25] Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well which the servants of Abimelech had seized.

[21:26] Abimelech said, “I don't know who did this. You didn't tell me about it, and this is the first I have heard of it.”

[21:27] Then Abraham gave some sheep and cattle to Abimelech, and the two of them made an agreement.

[21:28] Abraham separated seven lambs from his flock,

[21:29] and Abimelech asked him, “Why did you do that?”

[21:30] Abraham answered, “Accept these seven lambs. By doing this, you admit that I am the one who dug this well.”

[21:31] And so the place was called Beersheba, because it was there that the two of them made a vow.

[21:32] After they had made this agreement at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol went back to Philistia.

[21:33] Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and worshiped the Lord, the Everlasting God.

[21:34] Abraham lived in Philistia for a long time.

[22:1] Some time later God tested Abraham; he called to him, “Abraham!” And Abraham answered, “Yes, here I am!”

[22:2] “Take your son,” God said, “your only son, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah. There on a mountain that I will show you, offer him as a sacrifice to me.”

[22:3] Early the next morning Abraham cut some wood for the sacrifice, loaded his donkey, and took Isaac and two servants with him. They started out for the place that God had told him about.

[22:4] On the third day Abraham saw the place in the distance.

[22:5] Then he said to the servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there and worship, and then we will come back to you.”

[22:6] Abraham made Isaac carry the wood for the sacrifice, and he himself carried a knife and live coals for starting the fire. As they walked along together,

[22:7] Isaac spoke up, “Father!” He answered, “Yes, my son?” Isaac asked, “I see that you have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?”

[22:8] Abraham answered, “God himself will provide one.” And the two of them walked on together.

[22:9] When they came to the place which God had told him about, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. He tied up his son and placed him on the altar, on top of the wood.

[22:10] Then he picked up the knife to kill him.

[22:11] But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” He answered, “Yes, here I am.”

[22:12] “Don't hurt the boy or do anything to him,” he said. “Now I know that you honor and obey God, because you have not kept back your only son from him.”

[22:13] Abraham looked around and saw a ram caught in a bush by its horns. He went and got it and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

[22:14] Abraham named that place “The Lord Provides.” And even today people say, “On the Lord's mountain he provides.”

[22:15] The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time,

[22:16] “I make a vow by my own name—the Lord is speaking—that I will richly bless you. Because you did this and did not keep back your only son from me,

[22:17] I promise that I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand along the seashore. Your descendants will conquer their enemies.

[22:18] All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants—all because you obeyed my command.”

[22:19] Abraham went back to his servants, and they went together to Beersheba, where Abraham settled.