Tanakh & Talmud. Various Authors

the king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, at the vale of Shaveh—the same is the King's Vale. ¹⁸And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine; and he was priest of God the Most High. ¹⁹And he blessed him, and said: 'Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth; ²⁰and blessed be God the Most High, who hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.' And he gave him a tenth of all. ²¹And the king of Sodom said unto Abram: 'Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.' ²²And Abram said to the king of Sodom: 'I have lifted up my hand unto the Lord, God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth, ²³that I will not take a thread nor a shoe-latchet nor aught that is thine, lest thou shouldest say: I have made Abram rich; ²⁴save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, let them take their portion.'

      15After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying: 'Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, thy reward shall be exceeding great.' ²And Abram said: 'O Lord God, what wilt Thou give me, seeing I go hence childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?' ³And Abram said: 'Behold, to me Thou hast given no seed, and, lo, one born in my house is to be mine heir.' ⁴And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying: 'This man shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.' ⁵And He brought him forth abroad, and said: 'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars, if thou be able to count them'; and He said unto him: 'So shall thy seed be.' ⁶And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness. ⁷And He said unto him: 'I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.' ⁸And he said: 'O Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?' ⁹And He said unto him: 'Take Me a heifer of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.' ¹⁰And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other; but the birds divided he not. ¹¹And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. ¹²And it came to pass, that, when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a dread, even a great darkness, fell upon him. ¹³And He said unto Abram: 'Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; ¹⁴and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with great substance. ¹⁵But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶And in the fourth generation they shall come back hither; for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.' ¹⁷And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and there was thick darkness, behold a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces. ¹⁸In that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: 'Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates; ¹⁹the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite, ²⁰and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim, ²¹and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.'

16Now Sarai Abram's wife bore him no children; and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. ²And Sarai said unto Abram: 'Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing; go in, I pray thee, unto my handmaid; it may be that I shall be builded up through her.' And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. ³And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife. ⁴And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. ⁵And Sarai said unto Abram: 'My wrong be upon thee: I gave my handmaid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee.' ⁶But Abram said unto Sarai: 'Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her that which is good in thine eyes.' And Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face. ⁷And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. ⁸And he said: 'Hagar, Sarai's handmaid, whence camest thou? and whither goest thou?' And she said: 'I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.' ⁹And the angel of the Lord said unto her: 'Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.' ¹⁰And the angel of the Lord said unto her: 'I will greatly multiply thy seed, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. ¹¹And the angel of the Lord said unto her: 'Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son; and thou shalt call his name ¹⁴Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. ¹²And he shall be a wild ass of a man: his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the face of all his brethren.' ¹³And she called the name of the Lord that spoke unto her, Thou art ¹⁵a God of seeing; for she said: 'Have I even here seen Him that seeth Me?' ¹⁴Wherefore the well was called ¹⁶Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. ¹⁵And Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. ¹⁶And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

17And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him: 'I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be thou whole-hearted. ²And I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.' ³And Abram fell on his face; and God talked with him, saying: ⁴'As for Me, behold, My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be ¹⁷the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations have I made thee. ⁶And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. ⁷And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. ⁸And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.' ⁹And God said unto Abraham: 'And as for thee, thou shalt keep My covenant, thou, and thy seed after thee throughout their generations. ¹⁰This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt Me and you. ¹²And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner, that is not of thy seed. ¹³He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised; and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant.'

¹⁵And God said unto Abraham: 'As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but ¹⁸Sarah shall her name be. ¹⁶And I will bless her, and moreover I will give thee a son of her; yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be of her.' ¹⁷Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart: 'Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?' ¹⁸And Abraham said unto God: 'Oh that Ishmael might live before Thee! ' ¹⁹And God said: 'Nay, but Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son; and thou shalt call his name ¹⁹Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. ²⁰And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee; behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹But My covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.' ²²And He left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. ²³And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto