rsv Genesis:16-18 SEEK
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Now Sar '
ai ,
Abram '
s wife ,
bore him no children .
She had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar ;
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and Sar '
ai said to Abram , "
Behold now ,
the LORD has prevented me from bearing children ;
go in to my maid ;
it may be that I shall obtain children by her ."
And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sar '
ai .
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So ,
after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan ,
Sar '
ai ,
Abram '
s wife ,
took Hagar the Egyptian ,
her maid ,
and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife .
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And he went in to Hagar ,
and she conceived ;
and when she saw that she had conceived ,
she looked with contempt on her mistress .
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And Sar '
ai said to Abram , "
May the wrong done to me be on you !
I gave my maid to your embrace ,
and when she saw that she had conceived ,
she looked on me with contempt .
May the LORD judge between you and me !"
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But Abram said to Sar '
ai , "
Behold ,
your maid is in your power ;
do to her as you please ."
Then Sar '
ai dealt harshly with her ,
and she fled from her .
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The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness ,
the spring on the way to Shur .
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And he said , "
Hagar ,
maid of Sar '
ai ,
where have you come from and where are you going ?"
She said , "
I am fleeing from my mistress Sar '
ai ."
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The angel of the LORD said to her , "
Return to your mistress ,
and submit to her ."
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The angel of the LORD also said to her , "
I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude ."
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And the angel of the LORD said to her , "
Behold ,
you are with child ,
and shall bear a son ;
you shall call his name Ish '
mael ;
because the LORD has given heed to your affliction .
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He shall be a wild ass of a man ,
his hand against every man and every man '
s hand against him ;
and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen ."
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So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her , "
Thou art a God of seeing ";
for she said , "
Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him ?"
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Therefore the well was called Beer-la '
hai-roi ;
it lies between Kadesh and Bered .
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And Hagar bore Abram a son ;
and Abram called the name of his son ,
whom Hagar bore ,
Ish '
mael .
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Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ish '
mael to Abram .
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When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram ,
and said to him , "
I am God Almighty ;
walk before me ,
and be blameless .
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And I will make my covenant between me and you ,
and will multiply you exceedingly ."
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Then Abram fell on his face ;
and God said to him ,
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Behold ,
my covenant is with you ,
and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations .
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No longer shall your name be Abram ,
but your name shall be Abraham ;
for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations .
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I will make you exceedingly fruitful ;
and I will make nations of you ,
and kings shall come forth from you .
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And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant ,
to be God to you and to your descendants after you .
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And I will give to you ,
and to your descendants after you ,
the land of your sojournings ,
all the land of Canaan ,
for an everlasting possession ;
and I will be their God ."
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And God said to Abraham , "
As for you ,
you shall keep my covenant ,
you and your descendants after you throughout their generations .
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This is my covenant ,
which you shall keep ,
between me and you and your descendants after you :
Every male among you shall be circumcised .
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You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins ,
and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you .
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He that is eight days old among you shall be circumcised ;
every male throughout your generations ,
whether born in your house ,
or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring ,
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both he that is born in your house and he that is bought with your money ,
shall be circumcised .
So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant .
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Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people ;
he has broken my covenant ."
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And God said to Abraham , "
As for Sar '
ai your wife ,
you shall not call her name Sar '
ai ,
but Sarah shall be her name .
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I will bless her ,
and moreover I will give you a son by her ;
I will bless her ,
and she shall be a mother of nations ;
kings of peoples shall come from her ."
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Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed ,
and said to himself , "
Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old ?
Shall Sarah ,
who is ninety years old ,
bear a child ?"
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And Abraham said to God , "
O that Ish '
mael might live in thy sight !"
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God said , "
No ,
but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son ,
and you shall call his name Isaac .
I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him .
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As for Ish '
mael ,
I have heard you ;
behold ,
I will bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly ;
he shall be the father of twelve princes ,
and I will make him a great nation .
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But I will establish my covenant with Isaac ,
whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year ."
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When he had finished talking with him ,
God went up from Abraham .
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Then Abraham took Ish '
mael his son and all the slaves born in his house or bought with his money ,
every male among the men of Abraham '
s house ,
and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day ,
as God had said to him .
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Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin .
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And Ish '
mael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin .
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That very day Abraham and his son Ish '
mael were circumcised ;
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and all the men of his house ,
those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner ,
were circumcised with him .
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And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre ,
as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day .
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He lifted up his eyes and looked ,
and behold ,
three men stood in front of him .
When he saw them ,
he ran from the tent door to meet them ,
and bowed himself to the earth ,
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and said , "
My lord ,
if I have found favor in your sight ,
do not pass by your servant .
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Let a little water be brought ,
and wash your feet ,
and rest yourselves under the tree ,
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while I fetch a morsel of bread ,
that you may refresh yourselves ,
and after that you may pass on--since you have come to your servant ."
So they said , "
Do as you have said ."
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And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah ,
and said , "
Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal ,
knead it ,
and make cakes ."
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And Abraham ran to the herd ,
and took a calf ,
tender and good ,
and gave it to the servant ,
who hastened to prepare it .
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Then he took curds ,
and milk ,
and the calf which he had prepared ,
and set it before them ;
and he stood by them under the tree while they ate .
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They said to him , "
Where is Sarah your wife ?"
And he said , "
She is in the tent ."
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The LORD said , "
I will surely return to you in the spring ,
and Sarah your wife shall have a son ."
And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him .
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Now Abraham and Sarah were old ,
advanced in age ;
it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women .
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So Sarah laughed to herself ,
saying , "
After I have grown old ,
and my husband is old ,
shall I have pleasure ?"
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The LORD said to Abraham , "
Why did Sarah laugh ,
and say , `
Shall I indeed bear a child ,
now that I am old ?'
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Is anything too hard for the LORD ?
At the appointed time I will return to you ,
in the spring ,
and Sarah shall have a son ."
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But Sarah denied ,
saying , "
I did not laugh ";
for she was afraid .
He said , "
No ,
but you did laugh ."
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Then the men set out from there ,
and they looked toward Sodom ;
and Abraham went with them to set them on their way .
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The LORD said , "
Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do ,
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seeing that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation ,
and all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by him ?
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No ,
for I have chosen him ,
that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice ;
so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him ."
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Then the LORD said , "
Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomor '
rah is great and their sin is very grave ,
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I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry which has come to me ;
and if not ,
I will know ."
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So the men turned from there ,
and went toward Sodom ;
but Abraham still stood before the LORD .
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Then Abraham drew near ,
and said , "
Wilt thou indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked ?
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Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city ;
wilt thou then destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it ?
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Far be it from thee to do such a thing ,
to slay the righteous with the wicked ,
so that the righteous fare as the wicked !
Far be that from thee !
Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?"
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And the LORD said , "
If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city ,
I will spare the whole place for their sake ."
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Abraham answered , "
Behold ,
I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord ,
I who am but dust and ashes .
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Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking ?
Wilt thou destroy the whole city for lack of five ?"
And he said , "
I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there ."
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Again he spoke to him ,
and said , "
Suppose forty are found there ."
He answered , "
For the sake of forty I will not do it ."
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Then he said , "
Oh let not the Lord be angry ,
and I will speak .
Suppose thirty are found there ."
He answered , "
I will not do it ,
if I find thirty there ."
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He said , "
Behold ,
I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord .
Suppose twenty are found there ."
He answered , "
For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it ."
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Then he said , "
Oh let not the Lord be angry ,
and I will speak again but this once .
Suppose ten are found there ."
He answered , "
For the sake of ten I will not destroy it ."
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And the LORD went his way ,
when he had finished speaking to Abraham ;
and Abraham returned to his place .
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The two angels came to Sodom in the evening ;
and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom .
When Lot saw them ,
he rose to meet them ,
and bowed himself with his face to the earth ,