Tanakh - The Holy Scriptures . Various Authors

in a cave, he and his two daughters. ³¹And the first-born said unto the younger: 'Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth. ³²Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.' ³³And they made their father drink wine that night. And the first-born went in, and lay with her father; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose. ³⁴And it came to pass on the morrow, that the first-born said unto the younger: 'Behold, I lay yesternight with my father. Let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.' ³⁵And they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose, and lay with him; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose. ³⁶Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. ³⁷And the first-born bore a son, and called his name Moab—the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. ³⁸And the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Benammi—the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

      20And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the land of the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar. ²And Abraham said of Sarah his wife: 'She is my sister.' And Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. ³But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him: 'Behold, thou shalt die, because of the woman whom thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.' ⁴Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said: 'Lord, wilt Thou slay even a righteous nation? ⁵Said he not himself unto me: She is my sister? and she, even she herself said: He is my brother. In the simplicity of my heart and the innocency of my hands have I done this.' ⁶And God said unto him in the dream: 'Yea, I know that in the simplicity of thy heart thou hast done this, and I also withheld thee from sinning against Me. Therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. ⁷Now therefore restore the man's wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live; and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.' ⁸And Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears; and the men were sore afraid. ⁹Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him: 'What hast thou done unto us? and wherein have I sinned against thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.' ¹⁰And Abimelech said unto Abraham: 'What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?' ¹¹And Abraham said: 'Because I thought: Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake. ¹²And moreover she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and so she became my wife. ¹³And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her: This is thy kindness which thou shalt show unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me: He is my brother.' ¹⁴And Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and men-servants and women-servants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. ¹⁵And Abimelech said: 'Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.' ¹⁶And unto Sarah he said: 'Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is for thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee; and before all men thou art righted.' ¹⁷And Abraham prayed unto God; and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maid-servants; and they bore children. ¹⁸For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.

      21And the Lord remembered Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoken. ²And Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. ³And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. ⁴And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵And Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. ⁶And Sarah said: 'God hath made laughter for me; every one that heareth will laugh on account of me.' ⁷And she said: 'Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should give children suck? for I have borne him a son in his old age.'

      ⁸And the child grew, and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne unto Abraham, making sport. ¹⁰Wherefore she said unto Abraham: 'Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.' ¹¹And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight on account of his son. ¹²And God said unto Abraham: 'Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall seed be called to thee. ¹³And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.' ¹⁴And Abraham arose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away; and she departed, and strayed in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. ¹⁵And the water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. ¹⁶And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot; for she said: 'Let me not look upon the death of the child.' And she sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. ¹⁷And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her: 'What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. ¹⁸Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him fast by thy hand; for I will make him a great nation.' ¹⁹And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. ²⁰And God was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. ²¹And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

      ²²And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his host spoke unto Abraham, saying: 'God is with thee in all that thou doest. ²³Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son; but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.' ²⁴And Abraham said: 'I will swear.' ²⁵And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of the well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. ²⁶And Abimelech said: 'I know not who hath done this thing; neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but to-day.' ²⁷And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and they two made a covenant. ²⁸And Abraham set seven ewe-lambs of the flock by themselves. ²⁹And Abimelech said unto Abraham: 'What mean these seven ewe-lambs which thou hast set by themselves?' ³⁰And he said: 'Verily, these seven ewe-lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that it may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well.' ³¹Wherefore that place was called Beer-sheba; because there they swore both of them. ³²So they made a covenant at Beer-sheba; and Abimelech rose up, and Phicol the captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. ³³And Abraham planted a tamarisk-tree in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. ³⁴And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.

22And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him: 'Abraham'; and he said: 'Here am I.' ²And He said: 'Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.' ³And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he cleaved the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. ⁴On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. ⁵And Abraham said unto his young men: 'Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come back to you.' ⁶And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife; and they went both of them together. ⁷And Isaac spoke unto Abraham his father, and said: 'My father.' And he said: 'Here am I, my son.' And he said: 'Behold the fire and the wood; but where is