No longer will your name be Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham because I will make you the father of a multitude of nations.

Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep the covenantal requirement I am imposing on you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

Then God said to Abraham, "As for your wife, you must no longer call her Sarai; Sarah will be her name.

Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed as he said to himself, "Can a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"

Abraham said to God, "O that Ishmael might live before you!"

When he finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.

Abraham took his son Ishmael and every male in his household (whether born in his house or bought with money) and circumcised them on that very same day, just as God had told him to do.

Now Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised;

Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the very same day.

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest time of the day.

Abraham looked up and saw three men standing across from him. When he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, "Quick! Take three measures of fine flour, knead it, and make bread."

Then Abraham ran to the herd and chose a fine, tender calf, and gave it to a servant, who quickly prepared it.

Abraham then took some curds and milk, along with the calf that had been prepared, and placed the food before them. They ate while he was standing near them under a tree.

Abraham and Sarah were old and advancing in years; Sarah had long since passed menopause.)

The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child when I am old?'

When the men got up to leave, they looked out over Sodom. (Now Abraham was walking with them to see them on their way.)

Then the Lord said, "Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?

After all, Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations on the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using his name.

I have chosen him so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then the Lord will give to Abraham what he promised him."

The two men turned and headed toward Sodom, but Abraham was still standing before the Lord.

Abraham approached and said, "Will you sweep away the godly along with the wicked?

Then Abraham asked, "Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord (although I am but dust and ashes),

Abraham spoke to him again, "What if forty are found there?" He replied, "I will not do it for the sake of the forty."

Then Abraham said, "May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak! What if thirty are found there?" He replied, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."

Abraham said, "Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty are found there?" He replied, "I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty."

Finally Abraham said, "May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more. What if ten are found there?" He replied, "I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten."

The Lord went on his way when he had finished speaking to Abraham. Then Abraham returned home.

Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord.

So when God destroyed the cities of the region, God honored Abraham's request. He removed Lot from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed the cities Lot had lived in.

Abraham journeyed from there to the Negev region and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived as a temporary resident in Gerar,

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

Did Abraham not say to me, 'She is my sister'? And she herself said, 'He is my brother.' I have done this with a clear conscience and with innocent hands!"

Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? What sin did I commit against you that would cause you to bring such great guilt on me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done!"

Then Abimelech asked Abraham, "What prompted you to do this thing?"

Abraham replied, "Because I thought, 'Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.'

So Abimelech gave sheep, cattle, and male and female servants to Abraham. He also gave his wife Sarah back to him.

Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, as well as his wife and female slaves so that they were able to have children.

For the Lord had caused infertility to strike every woman in the household of Abimelech because he took Sarah, Abraham's wife.

So Sarah became pregnant and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the appointed time that God had told him.

Abraham named his son -- whom Sarah bore to him -- Isaac.

When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him just as God had commanded him to do.

(Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.)

She went on to say, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son for him in his old age!"

The child grew and was weaned. Abraham prepared a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

But Sarah noticed the son of Hagar the Egyptian -- the son whom Hagar had borne to Abraham -- mocking.

So she said to Abraham, "Banish that slave woman and her son, for the son of that slave woman will not be an heir along with my son Isaac!"

Sarah's demand displeased Abraham greatly because Ishmael was his son.

But God said to Abraham, "Do not be upset about the boy or your slave wife. Do all that Sarah is telling you because through Isaac your descendants will be counted.

Early in the morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He put them on her shoulders, gave her the child, and sent her away. So she went wandering aimlessly through the wilderness of Beer Sheba.

At that time Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, "God is with you in all that you do.

Abraham said, "I swear to do this."

But Abraham lodged a complaint against Abimelech concerning a well that Abimelech's servants had seized.

Abraham took some sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech. The two of them made a treaty.

Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs apart from the flock by themselves.

Abimelech asked Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?"

Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer Sheba. There he worshiped the Lord, the eternal God.

So Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for quite some time.

Some time after these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am!" Abraham replied.

Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out for the place God had spoken to him about.

On the third day Abraham caught sight of the place in the distance.

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. Then he took the fire and the knife in his hand, and the two of them walked on together.

Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father?" "What is it, my son?" he replied. "Here is the fire and the wood," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

"God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son," Abraham replied. The two of them continued on together.

When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.

Then Abraham reached out his hand, took the knife, and prepared to slaughter his son.

But the Lord's angel called to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am!" he answered.

Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. So he went over and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

And Abraham called the name of that place "The Lord provides." It is said to this day, "In the mountain of the Lord provision will be made."

The Lord's angel called to Abraham a second time from heaven

Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set out together for Beer Sheba where Abraham stayed.

After these things Abraham was told, "Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor --

(Now Bethuel became the father of Rebekah.) These were the eight sons Milcah bore to Abraham's brother Nahor.

Then she died in Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

Then Abraham got up from mourning his dead wife and said to the sons of Heth,

The sons of Heth answered Abraham,

Abraham got up and bowed down to the local people, the sons of Heth.

(Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth.) Ephron the Hethite replied to Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth -- before all who entered the gate of his city --

Abraham bowed before the local people

Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,

So Abraham agreed to Ephron's price and weighed out for him the price that Ephron had quoted in the hearing of the sons of Heth -- 400 pieces of silver, according to the standard measurement at the time.

So Abraham secured Ephron's field in Machpelah, next to Mamre, including the field, the cave that was in it, and all the trees that were in the field and all around its border,

After this Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah next to Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

So Abraham secured the field and the cave that was in it as a burial site from the sons of Heth.

Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed him in everything.

Abraham said to his servant, the senior one in his household who was in charge of everything he had, "Put your hand under my thigh

"Be careful never to take my son back there!" Abraham told him.

So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and gave his solemn promise he would carry out his wishes.

He prayed, "O Lord, God of my master Abraham, guide me today. Be faithful to my master Abraham.

Before he had finished praying, there came Rebekah with her water jug on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah (Milcah was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor).

Abraham's servant ran to meet her and said, "Please give me a sip of water from your jug."

saying "Praised be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his faithful love for my master! The Lord has led me to the house of my master's relatives!"

So Abraham's servant went to the house and unloaded the camels. Straw and feed were given to the camels, and water was provided so that he and the men who were with him could wash their feet.

"I am the servant of Abraham," he began.

When I came to the spring today, I prayed, 'O Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you have decided to make my journey successful, may events unfold as follows:

Then I bowed down and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right path to find the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son.

When Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord.

So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, accompanied by her female attendant, with Abraham's servant and his men.

Then Rebekah and her female servants mounted the camels and rode away with the man. So Abraham's servant took Rebekah and left.

and asked Abraham's servant, "Who is that man walking in the field toward us?" "That is my master," the servant replied. So she took her veil and covered herself.