Chronological Plan

¹Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him a child, but she had an Egyptian slave woman whose name was Hagar.

²So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please have relations with my slave woman; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

³And so after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.

⁴Then he had relations with Hagar, and she conceived; and when Hagar became aware that she had conceived, her mistress was insignificant in her sight.

⁵So Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I put my slave woman into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was insignificant in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

⁶But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your slave woman is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.

⁷Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.

⁸He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s slave woman, from where have you come, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

⁹So the angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.”

¹⁰The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.”

¹¹The angel of the LORD said to her further, “Behold, you are pregnant, And you will give birth to a son; And you shall name him Ishmael, Because the LORD has heard your affliction.

¹²But he will be a wild donkey of a man; His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live in defiance of all his brothers.”

¹³Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees me”; for she said, “Have I even seen Him here and lived after He saw me?”

¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵So Hagar bore a son to Abram; and Abram named his son, to whom Hagar gave birth, Ishmael.

¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

¹Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.

²I will make My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.”

³Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,

⁴“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.

⁵No longer shall you be named Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.

⁷I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.

⁸And I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land where you live as a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

⁹God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

¹⁰This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.

¹¹And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.

¹²And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, including a slave who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants.

¹³A slave who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall certainly be circumcised; so My covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.

¹⁴But as for an uncircumcised male, one who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her by the name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.

¹⁶I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth to a child?”

¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!”

¹⁹But God said, “No, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

²⁰As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.

²¹But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.”

²²When He finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.

²³Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, and all the slaves who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on this very same day, as God had said to him.

²⁴Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

²⁵And his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

²⁶On this very same day Abraham was circumcised, as well as his son Ishmael.

²⁷And all the men of his household, those who were born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

¹Now the LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.

²When he raised his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed down to the ground,

³and said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by.

⁴Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and make yourselves comfortable under the tree;

⁵and I will bring a piece of bread, so that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.” And they said, “So do as you have said.”

⁶So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it, and make bread cakes.”

⁷Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it.

⁸He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate.

⁹Then they said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.”

¹⁰He said, “I will certainly return to you at this time next year; and behold, your wife Sarah will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.

¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing.

¹²So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, am I to have pleasure, my lord being old also?”

¹³But the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I actually give birth to a child, when I am so old?’

¹⁴Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵Sarah denied it, however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

¹⁶Then the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off.

¹⁷The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,

¹⁸since Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?

¹⁹For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.”

²⁰And the LORD said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.

²¹I will go down now and see whether they have done entirely as the outcry, which has come to Me indicates; and if not, I will know.”

²²Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the LORD.

²³Abraham approached and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

²⁴Suppose there are fifty righteous people within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?

²⁵Far be it from You to do such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?”

²⁶So the LORD said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the entire place on their account.”

²⁷And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am only dust and ashes.

²⁸Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the entire city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

²⁹And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.”

³⁰Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹And he said, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.”

³²Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once: suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.”

³³As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the LORD departed, and Abraham returned to his place.