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Abraham and Abimelech
20 Abraham traveled from there to the Negev[a] and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was living in Gerar as an outsider, 2 because Abraham kept saying about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister,” King Abimelech of Gerar summoned them and took Sarah into his household.[b]
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream during the night and spoke to him, “Pay attention! You’re about to die, because the woman you have taken is a man’s wife!”
4 Now Abimelech had not yet come near her, so he asked, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? 5 Didn’t he say to me, ‘She’s my sister’? And she also said, ‘He’s my brother.’ I did this with pure intentions and clean hands.”
6 Then God replied to him in the dream, “I know that you did this with pure intentions, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore, I didn’t allow you to touch her. 7 Now then, return the man’s wife. As a matter of fact, he’s a prophet and can intercede for you so you’ll live. But if you don’t return her, be aware that you and all who are yours will certainly die.”
8 So Abimelech got up early the next morning, summoned all his servants, and told them all these things. The men became terrified.
9 Then Abimelech called Abraham and asked him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such great sin against me and my kingdom? You’ve done things to me that ought not to have been done.”
10 Abimelech also asked Abraham, “What could you have been thinking when you did this?”
11 “I thought that there’s no fear of God in this place,” Abraham replied, “and that they would kill me because of my wife. 12 Besides, she really is my sister—she’s my father’s daughter, but not my mother’s daughter—so she could become my wife. 13 When God caused me to journey from my father’s house, I asked her to do me this favor and say,[c] ‘He’s my brother.’”
14 So Abimelech took some sheep and oxen, and some male and female servants, gave them to Abraham, returned his wife Sarah to him, 15 and said, “Look! My land is available to you, so settle wherever you please.”
16 Abimelech also told Sarah, “Look! I am giving your brother 1,000 pieces of silver to vindicate[d] you in the eyes of all who are with you. As a result, you will be completely vindicated.”
17 Then Abraham interceded with God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants so they could bear children, 18 since the Lord had made all the women barren[e] in Abimelech’s household on account of Abraham’s wife Sarah.
Isaac is Born
21 The Lord came to Sarah, just as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age, at the very time that God had told him.
3 Abraham named his son who was born to him Isaac—the very one whom Sarah bore for him! 4 On the eighth day after his son Isaac had been born,[f] Abraham circumcised him, just as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Now Sarah had said, “God has caused me to laugh,[g] and all who hear about it[h] will laugh with me.” 7 She also said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse sons? Yet I have given birth to a son in my husband’s[i] old age!”
Hagar and Ishmael Leave
8 The child grew and eventually was weaned, so Abraham threw a tremendous banquet on the very day Isaac was weaned. 9 Nevertheless, when Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian—whom Hagar had borne to Abraham—making fun of Isaac,[j] 10 she told Abraham, “Throw out this slave girl, along with her son, because this slave’s son will never be a co-heir with my son Isaac!”
11 Abraham was very troubled about what was being said about his son, 12 but God told Abraham, “Don’t be troubled about the youth and your slave girl. Pay attention to Sarah in everything she tells you, because your offspring are to be named through Isaac. 13 Nevertheless, I will make the slave girl’s son into a nation, since he, too, is your offspring.”
14 So early the next morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a leather bottle of water, gave them to Hagar, and placed them on her shoulder. He then sent her away, along with the child. She went off and roamed in the Beer-sheba wilderness. 15 Eventually, the water in the leather bottle ran out, so she placed the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat by herself about a distance of a bowshot away, because she kept saying to herself, “I can’t bear to watch the child die!” That’s why she sat a short distance away, crying aloud and weeping.
The Lord Rescues Hagar and Ishmael
17 God heard the boy’s voice, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven. He asked her, “What’s wrong with you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, because God has heard the voice of the youth where he is. 18 Get up! Pick up the youth and grab his hand, because I will make a great nation of his descendants.”[k] 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went, filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. 20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He settled in the wilderness and became an expert archer. 21 Later he settled in the desert area of Paran, and his mother chose a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
A Covenant with Abimelech
22 About that time, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, told Abraham, “God is with you in everything that you’re doing. 23 Therefore swear an oath here by God that you won’t deal falsely with me, my sons, or my descendants. Just as I’ve dealt graciously with you, won’t you do so with me and with the land in which you live as a foreigner?”
24 And Abraham replied, “I agree!” 25 But then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized.
26 “I don’t know who did this thing,” Abimelech replied. “You didn’t report this to me, and I didn’t hear about it until today.”
27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and presented them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. 28 Then Abraham set aside seven ewe lambs, 29 so Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set aside?”
30 He replied, “You are to accept from me these seven ewe lambs as a witness that I have dug this well.” 31 Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba, because the two of them swore an oath.[l] 32 So after they had made a covenant in Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to Philistine territory.
33 Abraham[m] planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord God Everlasting. 34 After this, Abraham resided as a foreigner in Philistine territory for a long period of time.
The Command to Offer Isaac
22 Sometime later, God tested Abraham. He called out to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am!” he answered.
2 God[n] said, “Please take your son, your unique son whom you love—Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him as a burnt offering there on one of the mountains that I will point out to you.”
3 So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his male servants[o] with him, along with his son Isaac. He cut the wood for the burnt offering and set out to go to the place about which God had spoken to him. 4 On the third day he looked ahead and saw the place from a distance.
5 Abraham ordered his two servants,[p] “Both of you are to stay here with the donkey. Now as for the youth and me, we’ll go up there, we’ll worship, and then we’ll return to you.” 6 Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac. Abraham[q] carried the fire and the knife. And so the two of them went on together.
Abraham Answers Isaac’s Question
7 Isaac addressed his father Abraham: “My father!”
“I’m here, my son,” Abraham replied.
Isaac asked, “The fire and the wood are here, but where’s the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God will provide[r] himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”
The two of them went on together 9 and came to the place about which God had spoken. Abraham built an altar there, arranged the wood, tied up his son Isaac, and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 Then he stretched out his hand and grabbed the knife to slaughter his son.
The Angel of the Lord Intervenes
11 Just then, an angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven and said, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he answered.
12 “Don’t lay your hand on the youth!” he said. “Don’t do anything to him, because I’ve just demonstrated[s] that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only unique one, from me.”
13 Then Abraham looked up and behind him to see a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So Abraham went over, grabbed the ram, and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 Abraham named that place, “The Lord Will Provide,”[t] as it is told this day, “On the Lord’s mountain, he will provide.”[u]
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “I have taken an oath to swear by myself,” declares the Lord, “that since you have carried this out and have not withheld your only unique[v] son, 17 I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in heaven and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the gates[w] of their enemies. 18 Furthermore, through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed,[x] because you have obeyed my command.”
19 After this, Abraham returned to his servants[y] and they set out together for Beer-sheba, where Abraham settled.
Nahor’s Children
20 Now after these things somebody told Abraham, “Look, Milcah has given birth to sons for your brother Nahor. 21 Uz is his firstborn, Buz is his brother, and Kemuel is the father of Aram, 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23 Bethuel fathered Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24 Also, his concubine Reumah gave birth to Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
A Tree is Known by Its Fruit(A)
15 “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are savage wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruit. Grapes aren’t gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles, are they? 17 In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a rotten tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a rotten tree cannot produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into a fire. 20 So by their fruit you will know them.”
I Never Knew You(B)
21 “Not everyone who keeps saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get into the kingdom from[a] heaven, but only the person who keeps doing the will of my Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, drove out demons in your name, and performed many miracles in your name, didn’t we?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who practice evil!’”[b]
The Two Foundations(C)
24 “Therefore, everyone who listens to these messages[c] of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock. 25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not collapse because its foundation was on the rock.
26 “Everyone who keeps on hearing these messages[d] of mine and never puts them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and battered that house, and it collapsed—and its collapse was total.”
28 When Jesus had finished saying all these things,[e] the crowds were utterly amazed at his teaching, 29 because he was teaching them like a person who had authority, and not like their scribes.
To the Director: Accompanied by female voices.[a] A Davidic Psalm.
A Cry for God’s Justice
9 [b]I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart,
I will declare all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praises to your name, Most High!
3 When my enemies turn back,
they will stumble and perish before you.
4 For you have brought about justice for me and my cause;
you sit on the throne judging righteously.
5 You rebuked the nations,
you destroyed the wicked,
you wiped out their name forever and ever.
6 The enemy has perished,
reduced to ruins forever.
You uprooted their cities,
the very memory of them vanished.
7 But the Lord sits on his throne[c] forever;
his throne is established for judgment.
8 He will judge the world righteously
and make just decisions for the people.
9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a refuge in times of distress.
10 Those who know your name will trust you,
for you have not forsaken those who seek you, Lord.
11 Sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion;
declare his mighty deeds among the peoples.
12 As an avenger of blood, he remembers them;
he has not forgotten the cry of the afflicted.
16 delivering you from the adulteress,
from the immoral[a] woman with her seductive words,
17 someone who abandoned the companion of her youth
and forgot the covenant of her God.
18 For her house leads down to death,
and her paths down to the realm of the dead.
19 None who go to her return,
nor do they reach the paths of life.
20 This is how you will walk in the way of good men
and will keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will live in the land,
and people of integrity will remain in it.
22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be uprooted from it.
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