The Birth of Isaac

1 The Lord ^kvisited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah ^las he had promised. 2 And Sarah ^mconceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age ⁿat the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, ^oIsaac.¹ 4 And Abraham ^pcircumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, ^qas God had commanded him. 5 ^rAbraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, ^s“God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? ^tYet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

God Protects Hagar and Ishmael

8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah ^usaw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^vlaughing.² 10 So she said to Abraham, ^w“Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” 11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for ^xthrough Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13 And I will make ^ya nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of ^zBeersheba.

15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then ^aGod opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness ^band became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

A Treaty with Abimelech

22 At that time ^cAbimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, ^d“God is with you in all that you do. 23 Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but ^eas I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.” 24 And Abraham said, “I will swear.”

25 When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants ^fhad seized, 26 Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.” 27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men ^gmade a covenant. 28 Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?” 30 He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this³ may be a witness for me that I dug this well.” 31 Therefore ^hthat place was called Beersheba,⁴ because there both of them swore an oath. 32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and ⁱcalled there on the name of the Lord, ^jthe Everlasting God. 34 And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.

The Sacrifice of Isaac

1 After these things ^kGod tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to ^lthe land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy⁵ will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and ^mlaid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, ⁿ“God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and ^olaid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, ^p“Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for ^qnow I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, ^r“The Lord will provide”;⁶ as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”⁷

15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, ^s“By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring ^tas the stars of heaven and ^uas the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess ^vthe gate of his⁸ enemies, 18 and ^win your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, ^xbecause you have obeyed my voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to ^yBeersheba. And Abraham lived at ^yBeersheba.

20 Now after these things it was told to Abraham, “Behold, ^zMilcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: 21 ^aUz his firstborn, ^bBuz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23 (^cBethuel fathered Rebekah.) These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24 Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Sarah’s Death and Burial

1 Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 And Sarah died at ^dKiriath-arba (that is, ^eHebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3 And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites,⁹ 4 ^f“I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; ^ggive me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” 5 The Hittites answered Abraham, 6 “Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God¹⁰ among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.” 7 Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. 8 And he said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, 9 that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.”

10 Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who ^hwent in at the gate of his city, 11 “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.” 12 Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. 13 And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.” 14 Ephron answered Abraham, 15 “My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred ⁱshekels¹¹ of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” 16 Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham ^jweighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.

17 So ^kthe field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over 18 to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city. 19 After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 The field and the cave that is in it ^lwere made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.

The Temptation of Jesus

1 ^sThen Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness ^tto be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting ^uforty days and forty nights, he ^vwas hungry. 3 And ^wthe tempter came and said to him, “If you are ^xthe Son of God, command ^ythese stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, ^z“It is written,

5 ^bThen the devil took him to ^cthe holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

and

7 Jesus said to him, “Again ^eit is written, ^f‘You shall not ^gput the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 ^hAgain, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, ⁱSatan! For ^jit is written,

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, ^mangels came and were ministering to him.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

12 Now when he heard that ⁿJohn had been arrested, ^ohe withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving ^pNazareth he went and lived in ^qCapernaum by ^rthe sea, in the territory of ^sZebulun and Naphtali, 14 ^tso that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

17 ^xFrom that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ^z“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”¹

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

18 ^aWhile walking by ^bthe Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you ^cfishers of men.”² 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds

23 ^dAnd he went throughout all Galilee, ^eteaching in their synagogues and ^fproclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and ^ghealing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all ^hSyria, and ^gthey brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and ⁱpains, ^jthose oppressed by demons, ^kthose having seizures, and ^lparalytics, and he healed them. 25 ^mAnd great crowds followed him from Galilee and the ⁿDecapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.