He said, "I will certainly return to you when the season comes round. Behold, Sarah your wife will have a son." Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.

Yahweh said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Will I really bear a child, yet I am old?'

Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son."

Then Sarah denied, saying, "I didn't laugh," for she was afraid. He said, "No, but you did laugh."

Yahweh said, "Will I hide from Abraham what I do,

Yahweh said, "Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous,

Abraham drew near, and said, "Will you consume the righteous with the wicked?

Yahweh said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake."

What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?" He said, "I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there."

He spoke to him yet again, and said, "What if there are forty found there?" He said, "I will not do it for the forty's sake."

He said, "Oh don't let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?" He said, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there."

He said, "See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake."

He said, "Oh don't let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the ten's sake."

The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth,

and he said, "See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way." They said, "No, but we will stay in the street all night."

They called to Lot, and said to him, "Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them."

He said, "Please, my brothers, don't act so wickedly.

They said, "Stand back!" Then they said, "This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now will we deal worse with you, than with them!" They pressed hard on the man Lot, and drew near to break the door.

The men said to Lot, "Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring them out of the place:

Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, "Get up! Get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking.

But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife's hand, and his two daughters' hands, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city.

It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, "Escape for your life! Don't look behind you, and don't stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!"

Lot said to them, "Oh, not so, my lord.

See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can't escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die.

He said to him, "Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.

The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us in the way of all the earth.

Come, let's make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed."

It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine again, tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed."

Abraham said about Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Behold, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken. For she is a man's wife."

Now Abimelech had not come near her. He said, "Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation?

Didn't he tell me, 'She is my sister?' She, even she herself, said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands have I done this."

God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I didn't allow you to touch her.

Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, "What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done!"

Abimelech said to Abraham, "What did you see, that you have done this thing?"

Abraham said, "Because I thought, 'Surely the fear of God is not in this place. They will kill me for my wife's sake.'

It happened, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, 'This is your kindness which you shall show to me. Everywhere that we go, say of me, "He is my brother."'"

Abimelech said, "Behold, my land is before you. Dwell where it pleases you."

To Sarah he said, "Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, it is for you a covering of the eyes to all that are with you. In front of all you are vindicated."

Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken.

Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

Sarah said, "God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me."

She said, "Who would have said to Abraham, that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age."

Therefore she said to Abraham, "Cast out this handmaid and her son! For the son of this handmaid will not be heir with my son, Isaac."

The thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight on account of his son.

God said to Abraham, "Don't let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your handmaid. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For from Isaac will your seed be called.

I will also make a nation of the son of the handmaid, because he is your seed."

She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, "Don't let me see the death of the child." She sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept.

God heard the voice of the boy. The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Don't be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.

Abraham said, "I will swear."

Abimelech said, "I don't know who has done this thing. Neither did you tell me, neither did I hear of it, until today."

Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

Abimelech said to Abraham, "What do these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves mean?"

He said, "You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well."

It happened after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" He said, "Here I am."

He said, "Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of."

Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go yonder. We will worship, and come back to you."

Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, "My father?" He said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

Abraham said, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they both went together.

The angel of Yahweh called to him out of the sky, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" He said, "Here I am."

He said, "Don't lay your hand on the boy, neither do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."

Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide. As it is said to this day, "On Yahweh's mountain, it will be provided."

and said, "I have sworn by myself, says Yahweh, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son,

that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your seed greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your seed will possess the gate of his enemies.

In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice."

"I am a stranger and a foreigner living with you. Give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight."

He talked with them, saying, "If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,

Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that he had, "Please put your hand under my thigh.

The servant said to him, "What if the woman isn't willing to follow me to this land? Must I bring your son again to the land you came from?"

Abraham said to him, "Beware that you don't bring my son there again.

Yahweh, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house, and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, 'I will give this land to your seed.' He will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.

He said, "Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

The servant ran to meet her, and said, "Please give me a drink, a little water from your pitcher."

She said, "Drink, my lord." She hurried, and let down her pitcher on her hand, and gave him drink.

When she had done giving him drink, she said, "I will also draw for your camels, until they have done drinking."

and said, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room in your father's house for us to lodge in?"

She said to him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor."

She said moreover to him, "We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in."

He said, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, Yahweh has led me in the way to the house of my master's relatives."

It happened, when he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, "This is what the man said to me," that he came to the man. Behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.

He said, "Come in, you blessed of Yahweh. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels."

Food was set before him to eat, but he said, "I will not eat until I have told my message." He said, "Speak on."

He said, "I am Abraham's servant.

He said to me, 'Yahweh, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you, and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son of my relatives, and of my father's house.

I came this day to the spring, and said, 'Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, if now you do prosper my way which I go --

Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder. She went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, 'Please let me drink.'

She hurried and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, 'Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink.' So I drank, and she also gave the camels a drink.

I asked her, and said, 'Whose daughter are you?' She said, 'The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bore to him.' I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her hands.

They ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, and stayed all night. They rose up in the morning, and he said, "Send me away to my master."

Her brother and her mother said, "Let the young lady stay with us a few days, at least ten. After that she will go."

He said to them, "Don't hinder me, since Yahweh has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master."

They said, "We will call the young lady, and ask her."

They called Rebekah, and said to her, "Will you go with this man?" She said, "I will go."

They blessed Rebekah, and said to her, "Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your seed possess the gate of those who hate them."

She said to the servant, "Who is the man who is walking in the field to meet us?" The servant said, "It is my master." She took her veil, and covered herself.

The children struggled together within her. She said, "If it be so, why do I live?" She went to inquire of Yahweh.

Yahweh said to her, "Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples will be separated from your body. The one people will be stronger than the other people. The elder will serve the younger."

Jacob boiled stew. Esau came in from the field, and he was famished.

Esau said to Jacob, "Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am famished." Therefore his name was called Edom.

Jacob said, "First, sell me your birthright."