The Birth of Isaac

1 The Lord ^svisited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah ^tas he had promised. 2 ^uAnd ^vSarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age ^wat the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham ^xcalled the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.¹ 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, ^yas God had commanded him. 5 ^zAbraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made ^alaughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet 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 saw ^bthe son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^claughing.² 10 So she said to Abraham, ^d“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, ^edo as she tells you, for ^fthrough Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13 ^gAnd I will make a 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 Beersheba.

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 ^hthe 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 ⁱI will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God ^jopened 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 ^kwith the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him ^lfrom the land of Egypt.

A Treaty with Abimelech

22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, ^m“God is with you in all that you do. 23 Now therefore ⁿswear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but ^oas 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 ^pabout a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had 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 ^qSo Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made 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 ^rwitness for me that I dug this well.” 31 ^sTherefore that 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 ^tcalled there on the name of the Lord, the ^uEverlasting God. 34 And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.

The Sacrifice of Isaac

1 After these things ^vGod ^wtested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, ^x“Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your ^yonly son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the 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 boy¹ will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and ^zlaid 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, “God will provide for himself the ^alamb 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 ^bbuilt the altar there and laid the wood in order and ^cbound Isaac his son and laid 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 ^dangel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ^e“Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you ^fhave 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, “The Lord will provide”;² as it is said to this day, “On ^gthe mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”³

15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, ^h“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 ⁱbless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring ^jas the stars of heaven and as the ^ksand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his⁴ enemies, 18 ^land in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.

20 Now after these things it was told to Abraham, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23 ^m(Bethuel 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.

The Two Witnesses

1 Then I was given a ^hmeasuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2 but do not measure ⁱthe court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will ^jtrample the holy city for ^kforty-two months. 3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for ^l1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

4 These are ^mthe two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if anyone would harm them, ⁿfire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. 6 They have ^othe power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to ^pturn them into blood and ^qto strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. 7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that ^rrises from the bottomless pit^{1 s}will make war on them and ^tconquer them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of ^uthe great city that symbolically² is called ^vSodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from the ^wpeoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, 10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days ^xa breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ^y“Come up here!” And they ^zwent up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 And at that hour there was a ^agreat earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

14 The second ^bwoe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

The Seventh Trumpet

15 Then the seventh angel blew his ^ctrumpet, and there were ^dloud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord ^eand of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the ^ftwenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God ^gfell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying,

19 Then God’s temple in heaven ^lwas opened, and the ^mark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were ⁿflashes of lightning, rumblings,³ peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy ^ohail.

The Lord Is in His Holy Temple

To the choirmaster. Of David.