The Birth of Isaac

1Then the Lord visited Sarah, just as he had promised; and he fulfilled what he had spoken. 2And she conceived and gave birth to a son in her old age, at the time that God had foretold to her. 3And Abraham called the name of his son, whom Sarah bore for him, Isaac. 4And he circumcised him on the eighth day, just as God had instructed him, 5when he was one hundred years old. Indeed, at this stage of his father’s life, Isaac was born. 6And Sarah said: “God has brought laughter to me. Whoever will hear of it will laugh with me.” 7And again, she said: “Hearing this, who would believe Abraham, that Sarah breast-fed a son, to whom she gave birth, despite being elderly?”

8And the boy grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day of his weaning.

Sarah Turns against Hagar
(Galatians 4:21–30)

9And when Sarah had seen the son of Hagar the Egyptian playing with her son Isaac, she said to Abraham: 10“Cast out this woman servant and her son. For the son of a woman servant will not be heir with my son Isaac.” 11Abraham took this grievously, for the sake of his son. 12And God said to him: “Let it not seem harsh to you concerning the boy and your woman servant. In all that Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice. For your offspring will be invoked in Isaac. 13Yet I will also make the son of the woman servant into a great nation, for he is your offspring.” 14And so Abraham arose in the morning, and taking bread and a skin of water, he placed it upon her shoulder, and he handed over the boy, and he released her. And when she had departed, she wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

15And when the water in the skin had been consumed, she set aside the boy, under one of the trees that were there. 16And she moved away and sat in a distant area, as far as a bow can reach. For she said, “I shall not see the boy die.” And so, sitting opposite her, he lifted up his voice and wept. 17But God heard the voice of the boy. And an Angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, saying: “What are you doing, Hagar? Do not be afraid. For God has heeded the voice of the boy, from the place where he is. 18Rise up. Take the boy and hold him by the hand. For I will make of him a great nation.” 19And God opened her eyes. And seeing a well of water, she went and filled the skin, and she gave the boy to drink.

20And God was with him. And he grew, and he stayed in the wilderness, and he became a young man, an archer. 21And he lived in the desert of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

The Covenant at Beersheba

22At the same time, Abimelech and Phicol, the leader of his army, said to Abraham: “God is with you in everything that you do. 23Therefore, swear by God that you will do no harm to me, and to my posterity, and to my stock. But according to the mercy that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land, to which you have turned as a newcomer.” 24And Abraham said, “I will swear.” 25And he reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which his servants had taken away by force. 26And Abimelech responded, “I do not know who did this thing, but you also did not reveal it to me, nor have I heard of it, before today.”

27And so Abraham took sheep and oxen, and he gave them to Abimelech. And both of them struck a pact. 28And Abraham set aside seven female lambs from the flock. 29Abimelech said to him, “What purpose have these seven female lambs, which you have caused to stand separately?” 30But he said, “You will receive seven female lambs from my hand, so that they may be a testimony for me, that I dug this well.” 31For this reason, that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them did swear. 32And they initiated a pact on behalf of the well of oath. 33Then Abimelech and Phicol, the leader of his army, rose up, and they returned to the land of the Palestinians. In truth, Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the Lord God Eternal. 34And he was a settler in the land of the Palestinians for many days.