Genesis, 21

1. Yahweh treated Sarah as he had said, and did what he had promised her.

1. And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.

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

2. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

3. Abraham named the son born to him Isaac, the son to whom Sarah had given birth.

3. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.

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

4. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him.

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

5. And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.

6. Sarah said: God has given me cause to laugh! All who hear about this will laugh with me!

6. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, [so that] all that hear will laugh with me.

7. She added: Whoever would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children! Yet I have borne a son in his old age.

7. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born [him] a son in his old age.

8. The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham gave a great banquet on the day Isaac was weaned.

8. And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the [same] day that Isaac was weaned.

9. Now Sarah watched the son that Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac.

9. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.

10. 'Drive away that slave-girl and her son,' she said to Abraham, 'this slave-girl's son is not to share the inheritance with my son Isaac.'

10. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, [even] with Isaac.

11. This greatly distressed Abraham, because the slave-girl's child too was his son,

11. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son.

12. but God said to him, 'Do not distress yourself on account of the boy and your slave-girl. Do whatever Sarah says, for Isaac is the one through whom your name will be carried on.

12. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

13. But the slave-girl's son I shall also make into a great nation, for he too is your child.'

13. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he [is] thy seed.

14. Early next morning, Abraham took some bread and a skin of water and, giving them to Hagar, put the child on her shoulder and sent her away. She wandered off into the desert of Beersheba.

14. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave [it] unto Hagar, putting [it] on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

15. When the skin of water was finished she abandoned the child under a bush.

15. And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

16. Then she went and sat down at a distance, about a bowshot away, thinking, 'I cannot bear to see the child die.' Sitting at a distance, she began to sob.

16. And she went, and sat her down over against [him] a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against [him], and lift up her voice, and wept.

17. God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven. 'What is wrong, Hagar?' he asked. 'Do not be afraid, for God has heard the boy's cry in his plight.

17. And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he [is].

18. Go and pick the boy up and hold him safe, for I shall make him into a great nation.'

18. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.

19. Then God opened Hagar's eyes and she saw a well, so she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

19. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

20. God was with the boy. He grew up and made his home in the desert, and he became an archer.

20. And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.

21. He made his home in the desert of Paran, and his mother got him a wife from Egypt.

21. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

22. About then, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, 'Since God is with you in everything you do,

22. And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God [is] with thee in all that thou doest:

23. swear to me by God, here and now, that you will not act treacherously towards me or my kith and kin, but behave with the same faithful love to me and the land of which you are a guest as I have behaved to you.'

23. Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: [but] according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.

24. 'Yes,' Abraham replied, 'I swear it.'

24. And Abraham said, I will swear.

25. Abraham then reproached Abimelech about a well that Abimelech's servants had seized.

25. And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.

26. 'I do not know who has done this,' Abimelech said. 'You yourself have never mentioned it to me and, for myself, I heard nothing of it till today.'

26. And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing: neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I [of it], but to day.

27. Abraham then took sheep and cattle and presented them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.

27. And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.

28. Abraham put seven lambs of the flock on one side.

28. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

29. 'Why have you put these seven lambs on one side?' Abimelech asked Abraham.

29. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What [mean] these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves?

30. He replied, 'You must accept these seven lambs from me as evidence that I have dug this well.'

30. And he said, For [these] seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well.

31. This was why the place was called Beersheba: because there the two of them swore an oath.

31. Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them.

32. After they had made a covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and went back to Philistine territory.

32. Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.

33. And Abraham planted a tamarisk at Beersheba and there he invoked the name of Yahweh.

33. And [Abraham] planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.

34. Abraham stayed for a long while in Philistine territory.

34. And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.