Genesis 17:15-Genesis 18:21 - Isaac's Birth Promised
15 God continued: Do not call your wife Sarai any longer. Her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.
17 Abraham fell to his face. He laughed and said to himself: Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety? 18 Abraham said to God: If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!
19 God replied: Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son! You will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as a long lasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 Concerning Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him. I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac. Sarah will bear him to you by this time next year. 22 When he finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
23 On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised. 25 His son Ishmael was thirteen. 26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day. 27 Every male in Abraham's household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.
1 Jehovah appeared again to Abraham by the oak grove of Mamre. He was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 He looked up and noticed three men coming toward him. He ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed to the ground. 3 Abraham said: My Lord, if I have now found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. 4 Please. Let a little water be brought. Wash your feet and rest under the tree. 5 I will bring a bite to eat to refresh you. Stay a while before you continue your journey. They responded: Very well, do as you have said.
6 Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said: Quick! Make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes. 7 Then Abraham ran to the herd. He selected a fat calf and told a servant to butcher it and prepare it. 8 He took butter and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree as they ate.
9 Then they said to him: Where is Sarah your wife? He responded: Here, in the tent.
10 He said: Next year I will give you and Sarah a son. (Sarah was listening in the tent door behind him.)
11 Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself. She said to herself: After I have grown old, shall I have a baby? My lord is old also.
13 Jehovah said to Abraham: Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?' 14 Is anything too hard for Jehovah? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life. Sarah shall have a son!
15 Sarah denied saying: I did not laugh! She was afraid. He said: But you did laugh!
16 Then the men stood up from their meal and started in the direction of Sodom. Abraham went with them to send them on the way. 17 Jehovah said: Shall I hide what I am doing from Abraham? 18 Abraham will definitely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him. 19 I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household; and that they may remain in the righteous and just way of Jehovah. Jehovah will bring to Abraham what he told him. 20 Jehovah said: Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down now and see whether they have done the bad things I have been told. Then I will know.