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Genesis

Genesis means “beginning” or “origin.” Its Hebrew name, Bereshit (בְּרֵאשִׁית), comes from the opening words, “In the beginning.” Genesis tells the story of creation, humanity’s fall, God’s covenant promises, and His work through Abraham and his family. It introduces the foundational truth that God is the Creator who faithfully pursues, guides, and keeps His promises to His people.

Genesis 21

Genesis 21Barry Hays
00:00 / 04:22

The Birth of Isaac


1 Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.


2 So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised.


3 And Abraham gave the name Isaaca  to the son Sarah bore to him.


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


5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.


6 Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”


7 She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”


8 So the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.



Sarah Turns against Hagar
(Galatians 4:21–30)


9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son,


10 and  she said to Abraham, “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave  woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!”


11 Now this matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son Ishmael.


12 But  God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and your  maidservant. Listen to everything that Sarah tells you, for through  Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.d  


13 But I will also make a nation of the slave woman’s son, because he is your offspring.”


14 Early  in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put  them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and  wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.


15 When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes.


16 Then  she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she said,  “I cannot bear to watch the boy die!” And as she sat nearby, she lifted  up her voice and wept.


17 Then  God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar  from heaven, “What is wrong, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard  the voice of the boy where he lies.


18 Get up, lift up the boy, and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”


19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.


20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up and settled in the wilderness and became a great archer.


21 And while he was dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.



The Covenant at Beersheba


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


23 Now,  therefore, swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely  with me or my children or descendants. Show to me and to the country in  which you reside the same kindness that I have shown to you.”


24 And Abraham replied, “I swear it.”


25 But when Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized,


26 Abimelech replied, “I do not know who has done this. You did not tell me, so I have not heard about it until today.”


27 So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant.


28 Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock,


29 and Abimelech asked him, “Why have you set apart these seven ewe lambs?”


30 He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand as my witness that I dug this well.”


31 So that place was called Beersheba,because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.


32 After  they had made the covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol the  commander of his army got up and returned to the land of the  Philistines.


33 And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.


34 And Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

Berean Standard Bible (BSB) printed 2016, 2020, 2022, 2025 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible. Produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, unfoldingWord, Bible Aquifer, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain. Free downloads and unlimited usage available. See also the Berean Literal Bible and Berean Interlinear Bible.Berean Standard Bible (BSB) • Audio narration by Barry Hays • Dedicated to the public domain (CC0)

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