Genesis 21 :: Amplified Bible (AMP)

Isaac Is Born

(Heb 11:11 )

The LORD graciously remembered and visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for her as He had promised.

Gen 21:2So Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.

Gen 21:3

Gen 21:3Abraham named his son Isaac (laughter), the son to whom Sarah gave birth.

Gen 21:4

Gen 21:4So Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, just as God had commanded him.

Gen 21:5

Gen 21:5Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born.

Gen 21:6

Gen 21:6Sarah said, “God has made me laugh; all who hear [about our good news] will laugh with me.”

Gen 21:7

Gen 21:7And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have given birth to a son by him in his old age.”

(Gal 4:21–30 )

Gen 21:8

The child [Isaac] grew and was [fn]weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah Turns against Hagar

Gen 21:9

Gen 21:9Now [as time went on] Sarah saw [Ishmael] the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, [fn]mocking [Isaac].

Gen 21:10

Gen 21:10Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.”

Gen 21:11

Gen 21:11The situation [fn]distressed Abraham greatly because of his son [Ishmael].

Gen 21:12

Gen 21:12God said to Abraham, “Do not let it distress you because of Ishmael and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her and do what she asks, for your descendants will be named through Isaac.

Gen 21:13

Gen 21:13“And I will also make a nation of [Ishmael] the son of the maid, because he is your descendant.”

Gen 21:14

Gen 21:14So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her [fn]away. And she left [but lost her way] and wandered [aimlessly] in the Wilderness of Beersheba.

Gen 21:15

When the water in the skin was all gone, Hagar abandoned the boy under one of the bushes.

Gen 21:16

Gen 21:16Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me see the boy die.” And as she sat down opposite him, she raised her voice and wept.

Gen 21:17

Gen 21:17God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy from where he is [resting].

Gen 21:18

Gen 21:18“Get up, help the boy up, and hold him by the hand, for I will make him a great nation.”

Gen 21:19

Gen 21:19Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the [empty] skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

Gen 21:20

God was with Ishmael, and he grew and developed; and he lived in the wilderness and became an [expert] archer.

Gen 21:21

Gen 21:21He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Covenant with Abimelech

Gen 21:22

Now at that time Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do;

Gen 21:23

Gen 21:23so now, swear to me here by God that you will not deal unfairly with me [by breaking any agreements we have] or with my son or with my descendants, but as I have treated you with kindness, you shall do the same to me and to the land in which you have sojourned (temporarily lived).”

Gen 21:24

Gen 21:24And Abraham said, “I will swear.”

Gen 21:25

Gen 21:25Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water which the servants of Abimelech had [violently] seized [from him],

Gen 21:26

Gen 21:26Abimelech said, “I do not know who did this thing. Indeed, you did not tell me, and I did not hear of it until today.”

Gen 21:27

So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant (binding agreement).

Gen 21:28

Gen 21:28Then Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock,

Gen 21:29

Gen 21:29and Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set apart?”

Gen 21:30

Gen 21:30Abraham said, “You are to accept these seven ewe lambs from me as a witness for me, that I dug this well.”

Gen 21:31

Gen 21:31Therefore that place was called Beersheba (Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), because there the two of them swore an oath.

Gen 21:32

Gen 21:32So they made a covenant at Beersheba; then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, got up and returned to the land of the Philistines.

Gen 21:33

Gen 21:33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD [in prayer], [fn]the Eternal God.

Gen 21:34

Gen 21:34And Abraham lived [as a resident alien] in the land of the Philistines for [fn]many days.

See the AMP Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

AMP Footnotes

(21:8)

This was probably when the child was about three years of age. Samuel served in the sanctuary from the time that he was weaned (1 Sam 1:22-28), and a Hebrew mother is quoted in 2 Maccabees 7:27 as saying to her son that she nursed him for three years.

(21:9)

Ishmael was old enough to know better than to ridicule or tease his much younger brother, and his behavior was inappropriate and thoughtless.

(21:11)

Lit was very displeasing in the eyes of Abraham.

(21:14)

Ishmael was born when Abraham was eighty-six years old (Gen 16:16), so Ishmael was about fourteen when Isaac was born, and about sixteen or seventeen years old when Isaac was weaned (Gen 21:8; 2 Chr 31:16).

(21:33)

Heb El Olam.

(21:34)

I.e. an extended period of time.

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