The Daily Audio Bible
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Abraham and Abimelech
20 Abraham left Hebron and traveled to southern Canaan. He stayed awhile between Kadesh and Shur. Then he moved to Gerar. 2 Abraham told people that his wife Sarah was his sister. Abimelech king of Gerar heard this. So he sent some servants to take her. 3 But one night God spoke to Abimelech in a dream. God said, “You will die. That woman you took is married.”
4 But Abimelech had not slept with Sarah. So he said, “Lord, would you destroy an innocent nation? 5 Abraham himself told me, ‘This woman is my sister.’ And she also said, ‘He is my brother.’ I am innocent. I did not know I was doing anything wrong.”
6 Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did not realize what you were doing. So I did not allow you to sin against me. I did not allow you to sleep with her. 7 Give Abraham his wife back. He is a prophet. He will pray for you, and you will not die. But if you do not give Sarah back, you will die. And all your family will surely die.”
8 So early the next morning, Abimelech called all his officers. He told them everything that had happened in the dream. They were very much afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham to him. Abimelech said, “What have you done to us? What wrong did I do against you? Why did you bring this trouble to my kingdom? You should not have done these things to me. 10 What were you thinking that caused you to do this?”
11 Then Abraham answered, “I thought no one in this place respected God. I thought someone would kill me to get Sarah. 12 And it is true that she is my sister. She is the daughter of my father. But she is not the daughter of my mother. 13 God told me to leave my father’s house and wander in many different places. When that happened, I told Sarah, ‘You must do a special favor for me. Everywhere we go tell people I am your brother.’”
14 Then Abimelech gave Abraham some sheep, cattle and male and female slaves. Abimelech also gave Sarah, his wife, back to him. 15 And Abimelech said, “Look around you at my land. You may live anywhere you want.”
16 Abimelech said to Sarah, “I gave your brother Abraham 25 pounds of silver. I did this to make up for any wrong that people may think about you. I want everyone to know that you are innocent.”
17 Then Abraham prayed to God. And God healed Abimelech, his wife and his servant girls. Now they could have children. 18 The Lord had kept all the women in Abimelech’s house from having children. This was God’s punishment on Abimelech for taking Abraham’s wife Sarah.
A Baby for Sarah
21 The Lord cared for Sarah as he had said. He did for her what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant. And she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. Everything happened at the time God had said it would. 3 Abraham named his son Isaac. Sarah gave birth to this son of Abraham. 4 Abraham circumcised Isaac when he was eight days old as God had commanded.
5 Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh.[a] Everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. 7 No one thought that I would be able to have Abraham’s child. But I have given Abraham a son while he is old.”
Hagar and Ishmael
8 Isaac grew and became old enough to eat food. At that time Abraham gave a great feast. 9 But Sarah saw Ishmael making fun of Isaac. (Ishmael was the son of Abraham by Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian slave.) 10 So Sarah said to Abraham, “Throw out this slave woman and her son. When we die, our son Isaac will inherit everything we have. I don’t want her son to inherit any of our things.”
11 This troubled Abraham very much because Ishmael was also his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Don’t be troubled about the boy and the slave woman. Do whatever Sarah tells you. The descendants I promised you will be from Isaac. 13 I will also make the descendants of Ishmael into a great nation. I will do this because he is your son, too.”
14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a leather bag full of water. He gave them to Hagar and sent her away. Hagar carried these things and her son. She went and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.
15 Later, all the water was gone from the bag. So Hagar put her son under a bush. 16 Then she went away a short distance and sat down. Hagar thought, “My son will die. I cannot watch this happen.” She sat there and began to cry.
17 God heard the boy crying. And God’s angel called to Hagar from heaven. He said, “What is wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid! God has heard the boy crying there. 18 Help the boy up. Take him by the hand. I will make his descendants into a great nation.”
19 Then God showed Hagar a well of water. So she went to the well and filled her bag with water. Then she gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy as he grew up. Ishmael lived in the desert. He learned to shoot with a bow very well. 21 He lived in the Desert of Paran. His mother found a wife for him in Egypt.
Abraham’s Bargain with Abimelech
22 Then Abimelech came with Phicol, the commander of Abimelech’s army. They said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. 23 So make a promise to me here before God. Promise that you will be fair with me and my children and my descendants. Be kind to me and to this land where you have lived as a stranger. Be as kind to me as I have been to you.”
24 And Abraham said, “I promise.” 25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about Abimelech’s servants. They had captured a well of water.
26 But Abimelech said, “I don’t know who did this. You never told me about this before today.”
27 Then Abraham gave Abimelech some sheep and cattle. And they made an agreement. 28 Abraham also put seven female lambs in front of Abimelech.
29 Abimelech asked Abraham, “Why did you put these seven female lambs by themselves?”
30 Abraham answered, “Accept these lambs from me. That will prove that you believe I dug this well.”
31 So that place was called Beersheba[b] because they made a promise to each other there.
32 So Abraham and Abimelech made an agreement at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, went back to the land of the Philistines.
33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba. There Abraham prayed to the Lord, the God who lives forever. 34 And Abraham lived as a stranger in the land of the Philistines for a long time.
God Tests Abraham
22 After these things God tested Abraham’s faith. God said to him, “Abraham!”
And he answered, “Here I am.”
2 Then God said, “Take your only son, Isaac, the son you love. Go to the land of Moriah. There kill him and offer him as a whole burnt offering. Do this on one of the mountains there. I will tell you which one.”
3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took Isaac and two servants with him. He cut the wood for the sacrifice. Then they went to the place God had told them to go. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. My son and I will go over there and worship. Then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the sacrifice and gave it to his son to carry. Abraham took the knife and the fire. So Abraham and his son went on together.
7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!”
Abraham answered, “Yes, my son.”
Isaac said, “We have the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb we will burn as a sacrifice?”
8 Abraham answered, “God will give us the lamb for the sacrifice, my son.”
So Abraham and his son went on together. 9 They came to the place God had told him about. There, Abraham built an altar. He laid the wood on it. Then he tied up his son Isaac. And he laid Isaac on the wood on the altar. 10 Then Abraham took his knife and was about to kill his son.
11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven. The angel said, “Abraham! Abraham!”
Abraham answered, “Yes.”
12 The angel said, “Don’t kill your son or hurt him in any way. Now I can see that you respect God. I see that you have not kept your son, your only son, from me.”
13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a male sheep. Its horns were caught in a bush. So Abraham went and took the sheep and killed it. He offered it as a whole burnt offering to God. Abraham’s son was saved. 14 So Abraham named that place The Lord Gives. Even today people say, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be given.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time. 16 The angel said, “The Lord says, ‘You did not keep back your son, your only son, from me. Because you did this, I make you this promise by my own name: 17 I will surely bless you and give you many descendants. They will be as many as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. And they will capture the cities of their enemies. 18 Through your descendants all the nations on the earth will be blessed. This is because you obeyed me.’”
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants. They all traveled back to Beersheba, and Abraham stayed there.
20 After these things happened, someone told Abraham: “Your brother Nahor and his wife Milcah have children now. 21 The first son is Uz. The second son is Buz. The third son is Kemuel (the father of Aram). 22 Then there are Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel.” 23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah was the mother of these eight sons, and Nahor was the father. Nahor was Abraham’s brother. 24 Also Nahor had four other sons by his slave woman Reumah. Their names were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maacah.
People Know You by Your Actions
15 “Be careful of false prophets. They come to you and look gentle like sheep. But they are really dangerous like wolves. 16 You will know these people because of the things they do. Good things don’t come from bad people, just as grapes don’t come from thornbushes. And figs don’t come from thorny weeds. 17 In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit. And bad trees produce bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit. And a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 You will know these false prophets by what they produce.
21 “Not everyone who says ‘You are my Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. The only people who will enter the kingdom of heaven are those who do the things that my Father in heaven wants. 22 On the last day many people will say to me, ‘You are our Lord! We spoke for you. And through you we forced out demons and did many miracles.’ 23 Then I will tell them clearly, ‘Get away from me, you who do evil. I never knew you.’
Two Kinds of People
24 “Everyone who hears these things I say and obeys them is like a wise man. The wise man built his house on rock. 25 It rained hard and the water rose. The winds blew and hit that house. But the house did not fall, because the house was built on rock. 26 But the person who hears the things I teach and does not obey them is like a foolish man. The foolish man built his house on sand. 27 It rained hard, the water rose, and the winds blew and hit that house. And the house fell with a big crash.”
28 When Jesus finished saying these things, the people were amazed at his teaching. 29 Jesus did not teach like their teachers of the law. He taught like a person who had authority.
Thanksgiving for Victory
For the director of music. To the tune of “The Death of the Son.” A song of David.
9 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart.
I will tell all the miracles you have done.
2 I will be happy because of you.
God Most High, I will sing praises to your name.
3 My enemies turn back.
They are overwhelmed and die because of you.
4 You have heard what I complained to you about.
You sat on your throne and judged by what was right.
5 You spoke strongly against the foreign nations
and destroyed the wicked people.
You wiped out their names forever and ever.
6 The enemy is gone forever.
You destroyed their cities.
No one even remembers them.
7 But the Lord rules forever.
He sits on his throne to judge.
8 The Lord will judge the world by what is right.
He will decide what is fair for the nations.
9 The Lord defends those who suffer.
He protects them in times of trouble.
10 Those who know the Lord trust him.
He will not leave those who come to him.
11 Sing praises to the Lord who is king on Mount Zion.
Tell the nations what he has done.
12 He remembers who the murderers are.
He will not forget the cries of those who suffer.
16 It will save you from the unfaithful wife
who tries to lead you into adultery with pleasing words.
17 Such women leave the husbands they married when they were young.
They forget the promise they made before God.
18 If you go to her house, you are on your way to death.
What she does leads to death.
19 No one who goes to her comes back.
He will not continue to live.
20 But wisdom will help you be a good person.
It will help you do what is right.
21 Those who are honest will stay in the land.
Those who are innocent will remain in it.
22 But evil people will be removed from the land.
The unfaithful will be thrown out of it.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.