(Genesis) - Chapter 12

God’s Covenant with Abram

1And the Lord said to Abram, "Go forth from your land and from your
birthplace and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you.

2And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will
aggrandize your name, and [you shall] be a blessing.

3And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will
curse, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you."

4And Abram went, as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him,
and Abram was seventy five years old when he left Haran.

5And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their
possessions that they had acquired, and the souls they had acquired in
Haran, and they went to go to the land of Canaan, and they came to the
land of Canaan…

Genesis – Chapter 15

1After these incidents, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision,
saying, "Fear not, Abram; I am your Shield; your reward is exceedingly
great."

2And Abram said, "O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am going
childless, and the steward of my household is Eliezer of Damascus?"

3And Abram said, "Behold, You have given me no seed, and behold, one of
my household will inherit me."

4And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "This one will not
inherit you, but the one who will spring from your innards-he will inherit
you."

5And He took him outside, and He said, "Please look heavenward and count
the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So will be
your seed."

6And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him as righteousness.

7And He said to him, "I am the Lord, Who brought you forth from Ur of the
Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it."

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8And he said, "O Lord God, how will I know that I will inherit it?"

9And He said to him, "Take for Me three heifers and three goats and three
rams, and a turtle dove and a young bird."

10And he took for Him all these, and he divided them in the middle, and he
placed each part opposite its mate, but he did not divide the birds.

11And the birds of prey descended upon the carcasses, and Abram drove
them away.

12Now the sun was ready to set, and a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and
behold, a fright, a great darkness was falling upon him.

17Now it came to pass that the sun had set, and it was dark, and behold, a
smoking furnace and a fire brand, which passed between these parts.

18On that day, the Lord formed a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your
seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt until the great river, the
Euphrates river.

19The Kenites, the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

20And the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Rephaim,

21And the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Girgashites and the
Jebusites."

Genesis – Chapter 16
The Birth of Ishmael

1Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had not borne to him, and she had an Egyptian
handmaid named Hagar.

2And Sarai said to Abram, "Behold now, the Lord has restrained me from
bearing; please come to my handmaid; perhaps I will be built up from her."
And Abram hearkened to Sarai's voice.

3So Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, at the end
of ten years of Abram's dwelling in the land of Canaan, and she gave her to
Abram her husband for a wife.

4And he came to Hagar, and she conceived, and she saw that she was
pregnant, and her mistress became unimportant in her eyes.

5And Sarai said to Abram, "May my injustice be upon you! I gave my

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handmaid into your bosom, and she saw that she had become pregnant, and
I became unimportant in her eyes. May the Lord judge between me and
you!"

6And Abram said to Sarai, "Here is your handmaid in your hand; do to her
that which is proper in your eyes." And Sarai afflicted her, and she fled from
before her.

7And an angel of the Lord found her by a water fountain in the desert, by
the fountain on the road to Shur.

8And he said, "Hagar, Sarai's servant, where are you coming from, and
where are you going to?" And she said, "From before Sarai my mistress, I
am fleeing."

9And the angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress, and allow
yourself to be afflicted under her hands."

10And the angel of the Lord said to her, "I will greatly multiply your seed,
and it will not be counted for abundance."

11And the angel of the Lord said to her, "Behold, you will conceive and bear
a son, and you shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your
affliction.

12And he will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be upon all, and
everyone's hand upon him, and before all his brothers he will dwell."

13And she called the name of the Lord, Who had spoken to her, "You are
the God of seeing," because she said, "Have I seen [him] here also after I
have seen?"

14Therefore the well was called Be'er Lachai Ro'i; behold it is between
Kadesh and between Bered.

15And Hagar bore a son to Abram, and Abram named his son, whom Hagar
had borne, Ishmael.

Genesis – Chapter 18
The Birth of Isaac

1Now the Lord appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, and he was sitting
at the entrance of the tent when the day was hot.

2And he lifted his eyes and saw, and behold, three men were standing

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beside him, and he saw and he ran toward them from the entrance of the
tent, and he prostrated himself to the ground.

3And he said, "My lords, if only I have found favor in your eyes, please do
not pass on from beside your servant.

4Please let a little water be taken, and bathe your feet, and recline under
the tree.

5And I will take a morsel of bread, and sustain your hearts; after[wards]
you shall pass on, because you have passed by your servant." And they said,
"So shall you do, as you have spoken."

6And Abraham hastened to the tent to Sarah, and he said, "Hasten three
seah of meal [and] fine flour; knead and make cakes."

7And to the cattle did Abraham run, and he took a calf, tender and good,
and he gave it to the youth, and he hastened to prepare it.

8And he took cream and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and he
placed [them] before them, and he was standing over them under the tree,
and they ate.

9And they said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" And he said, "Behold in
the tent."

10And he said, "I will surely return to you at this time next year, and
behold, your wife Sarah will have a son." And Sarah heard from the
entrance of the tent, and it was behind him.

11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, coming on in years; Sarah had ceased
to have the way of the women.

12And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have become worn out,
will I have smooth flesh? And also, my master is old."

13And the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Is it really
true that I will give birth, although I am old?'

14Is anything hidden from the Lord? At the appointed time, I will return to
you, at this time next year and Sarah will have a son."

15And Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh," because she was afraid. And
He said, "No, but you laughed."…

Genesis – Chapter 21

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1And the Lord remembered Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did to Sarah
as He had spoken.

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

3And Abraham named his son who had been born to him, whom Sarah had
borne to him, Isaac.

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

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

6And Sarah said, "God has made joy for me; whoever hears will rejoice over
me."

7And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse
children, for I have borne a son to his old age!"

8And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on
the day that Isaac was weaned.

The Expulsion of Ishmael

9And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to
Abraham, making merry.

10And Sarah said to Abraham, "Drive out this handmaid and her son, for the
son of this handmaid shall not inherit with my son, with Isaac."

11But the matter greatly displeased Abraham, concerning his son.

12And God said to Abraham, "Be not displeased concerning the lad and
concerning your handmaid; whatever Sarah tells you, hearken to her voice,
for in Isaac will be called your seed.

13But also the son of the handmaid I will make into a nation, because he is
your seed."

14And Abraham arose early in the morning, and he took bread and a leather
pouch of water, and he gave [them] to Hagar, he placed [them] on her
shoulder, and the child, and he sent her away; and she went and wandered
in the desert of Beer sheba.

15And the water was depleted from the leather pouch, and she cast the

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child under one of the bushes.

16And she went and sat down from afar, at about the distance of two
bowshots, for she said, "Let me not see the child's death." And she sat from
afar, and she raised her voice and wept.

17And God heard the lad's voice, and an angel of God called to Hagar from
heaven, and said to her, "What is troubling you, Hagar? Fear not, for God
has heard the lad's voice in the place where he is.

18Rise, pick up the lad and grasp your hand upon him, for I shall make him
into a great nation."

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

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

21And he dwelt in the desert of Paran, and his mother took for him a wife
from the land of Egypt.

Genesis – Chapter 22
The Test

1And it came to pass after these things, that God tested Abraham, and He
said to him, "Abraham," and he said, "Here I am."

2And He said, "Please take your son, your only one, whom you love, yea,
Isaac, and go away to the land of Moriah and bring him up there for a burnt
offering on one of the mountains, of which I will tell you."

3And Abraham arose early in the morning, and he saddled his donkey, and
he took his two young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for
a burnt offering, and he arose and went to the place of which God had told
him.

4On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.

5And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and
the lad will go yonder, and we will prostrate ourselves and return to you."

6And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, and he placed [it] upon
his son Isaac, and he took into his hand the fire and the knife, and they both
went together.

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7And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and he said, "My father!" And he
said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Here are the fire and the wood, but
where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

8And Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt
offering, my son." And they both went together.

9And they came to the place of which God had spoken to him, and Abraham
built the altar there and arranged the wood, and he bound Isaac his son and
placed him on the altar upon the wood.

10And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife, to slaughter
his son.

11And an angel of God called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham!
Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."

12And he said, "Do not stretch forth your hand to the lad, nor do the
slightest thing to him, for now I know that you are a God fearing man, and
you did not withhold your son, your only one, from Me."

13And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he saw, and lo! there was a ram,
[and] after [that] it was caught in a tree by its horns. And Abraham went
and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

14And Abraham named that place, The Lord will see, as it is said to this
day: On the mountain, the Lord will be seen.