The Promise Kept
21 1 Now our Father visited Sarah, just as he had said, and he did for her exactly what he had promised. 2 Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the appointed time our Father had promised him. 3 Abraham named the son Sarah had borne him Isaac. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, just as our Father had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 Sarah said, "our Father has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me." a a v6 Isaac means 'he laughs' in Hebrew — Sarah's laughter at the impossible promise becomes his very name. 7 And she added, "Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
The Feast for Isaac
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But Sarah saw the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, and he was mocking. 10 and she said to Abraham, "Get rid of this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman will never share the inheritance with my son Isaac."
11 This troubled Abraham deeply, because it concerned his son.
12 But our Father said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed about the boy and about your slave woman. Whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for it is through Isaac that your offspring will be named." 13 And I will also make the son of the slave woman into a nation, because he too is your offspring.
14 Early the next morning Abraham took bread and a waterskin and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders, along with the child, and sent her away. She left and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 When the water in the waterskin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down about a hundred yards away, for she said, "I cannot watch the boy die." And as she sat there, she broke down and wept. 17 Our Father heard the boy's voice, and his messenger called to Hagar from heaven, "What's wrong, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for our Father has heard the boy's voice from where he lies. 18 Get up, lift the boy and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation." 19 Then our Father opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the waterskin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 Our Father was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an archer. 21 He settled in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Abimelech's Oath
22 At that time Abimelech, with Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do." 23 Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me, and to the land where you have lived as a foreigner, the same kindness I have shown to you."
24 Abraham said, "I swear it." 25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized. 26 But Abimelech said, "I do not know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today."
27 So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. 28 Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, 29 and Abimelech asked Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart?"
30 He replied, "Accept these seven ewe lambs from me as proof that I dug this well." 31 So that place was called Beersheba, because there the two of them swore an oath. b b v31 Beersheba carries the double meaning of "well of seven" and "well of the oath" — both senses fit this scene where Abraham swore an oath beside the well. 32 After they had made the covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army got up and returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of our Father, El Olam — our everlasting Father. c c v33 El Olam means 'the Everlasting God.' Abraham gave our Father this name at Beersheba — the everlasting one whose covenant promises hold across every generation. 34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.