1
After this, Abram had a vision and heard the LORD say to him, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I will shield you from danger and give you a great reward."
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But Abram answered, "Sovereign LORD, what good will your reward do me, since I have no children? My only heir is Eliezer of Damascus.
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You have given me no children, and one of my slaves will inherit my property."
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Then he heard the LORD speaking to him again: "This slave Eliezer will not inherit your property; your own son will be your heir."
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The LORD took him outside and said, "Look at the sky and try to count the stars; you will have as many descendants as that."
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Abram put his trust in the LORD, and because of this the LORD was pleased with him and accepted him.
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Then the LORD said to him, "I am the LORD, who led you out of Ur in Babylonia, to give you this land as your own."
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But Abram asked, "Sovereign LORD, how can I know that it will be mine?"
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He answered, "Bring me a cow, a goat, and a ram, each of them three years old, and a dove and a pigeon."
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Abram brought the animals to God, cut them in half, and placed the halves opposite each other in two rows; but he did not cut up the birds.
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Vultures came down on the bodies, but Abram drove them off.
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When the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and fear and terror came over him.
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The LORD said to him, "Your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land; they will be slaves there and will be treated cruelly for four hundred years.
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But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and when they leave that foreign land, they will take great wealth with them.
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You yourself will live to a ripe old age, die in peace, and be buried.
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It will be four generations before your descendants come back here, because I will not drive out the Amorites until they become so wicked that they must be punished."
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When the sun had set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch suddenly appeared and passed between the pieces of the animals.
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Then and there the LORD made a covenant with Abram. He said, "I promise to give your descendants all this land from the border of Egypt to the Euphrates River,
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including the lands of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
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the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
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the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."
1
Abram's wife Sarai had not borne him any children. But she had an Egyptian slave woman named Hagar,
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and so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Why don't you sleep with my slave? Perhaps she can have a child for me." Abram agreed with what Sarai said.
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So she gave Hagar to him to be his concubine. (This happened after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years.)
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Abram had intercourse with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she found out that she was pregnant, she became proud and despised Sarai.
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Then Sarai said to Abram, "It's your fault that Hagar despises me. I myself gave her to you, and ever since she found out that she was pregnant, she has despised me. May the LORD judge which of us is right, you or me!"
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Abram answered, "Very well, she is your slave and under your control; do whatever you want with her." Then Sarai treated Hagar so cruelly that she ran away.
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The angel of the LORD met Hagar at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur
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and said, "Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She answered, "I am running away from my mistress."
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He said, "Go back to her and be her slave."
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Then he said, "I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them.
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You are going to have a son, and you will name him Ishmael, because the LORD has heard your cry of distress.
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But your son will live like a wild donkey; he will be against everyone, and everyone will be against him. He will live apart from all his relatives."
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Hagar asked herself, "Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?" So she called the LORD, who had spoken to her, "A God Who Sees."
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That is why people call the well between Kadesh and Bered "The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me."
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Hagar bore Abram a son, and he named him Ishmael.
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Abram was eighty-six years old at the time.
1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am the Almighty God. Obey me and always do what is right.
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I will make my covenant with you and give you many descendants."
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Abram bowed down with his face touching the ground, and God said,
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"I make this covenant with you: I promise that you will be the ancestor of many nations.
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Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham, because I am making you the ancestor of many nations.
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I will give you many descendants, and some of them will be kings. You will have so many descendants that they will become nations.
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"I will keep my promise to you and to your descendants in future generations as an everlasting covenant. I will be your God and the God of your descendants.
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I will give to you and to your descendants this land in which you are now a foreigner. The whole land of Canaan will belong to your descendants forever, and I will be their God."
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God said to Abraham, "You also must agree to keep the covenant with me, both you and your descendants in future generations.
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You and your descendants must all agree to circumcise every male among you.
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From now on you must circumcise every baby boy when he is eight days old, including slaves born in your homes and slaves bought from foreigners. This will show that there is a covenant between you and me.
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Each one must be circumcised, and this will be a physical sign to show that my covenant with you is everlasting.
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Any male who has not been circumcised will no longer be considered one of my people, because he has not kept the covenant with me."
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God said to Abraham, "You must no longer call your wife Sarai; from now on her name is Sarah.
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I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will become the mother of nations, and there will be kings among her descendants."
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Abraham bowed down with his face touching the ground, but he began to laugh when he thought, "Can a man have a child when he is a hundred years old? Can Sarah have a child at ninety?"
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He asked God, "Why not let Ishmael be my heir?"
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But God said, "No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son and you will name him Isaac. I will keep my covenant with him and with his descendants forever. It is an everlasting covenant.
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I have heard your request about Ishmael, so I will bless him and give him many children and many descendants. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make a great nation of his descendants.
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But I will keep my covenant with your son Isaac, who will be born to Sarah about this time next year."
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When God finished speaking to Abraham, he left him.
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On that same day Abraham obeyed God and circumcised his son Ishmael and all the other males in his household, including the slaves born in his home and those he had bought.
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Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised,
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and his son Ishmael was thirteen.
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They were both circumcised on the same day,
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together with all of Abraham's slaves.
1
Jesus was walking through some wheat fields on a Sabbath. His disciples began to pick the heads of wheat, rub them in their hands, and eat the grain.
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Some Pharisees asked, "Why are you doing what our Law says you cannot do on the Sabbath?"
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Jesus answered them, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his men were hungry?
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He went into the house of God, took the bread offered to God, ate it, and gave it also to his men. Yet it is against our Law for anyone except the priests to eat that bread."
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And Jesus concluded, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
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On another Sabbath Jesus went into a synagogue and taught. A man was there whose right hand was paralyzed.
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Some teachers of the Law and some Pharisees wanted a reason to accuse Jesus of doing wrong, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.
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But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to the man, "Stand up and come here to the front." The man got up and stood there.
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Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you: What does our Law allow us to do on the Sabbath? To help or to harm? To save someone's life or destroy it?"
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He looked around at them all; then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand became well again.
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They were filled with rage and began to discuss among themselves what they could do to Jesus.
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At that time Jesus went up a hill to pray and spent the whole night there praying to God.
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When day came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he named apostles:
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Simon (whom he named Peter) and his brother Andrew; James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,
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Matthew and Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon (who was called the Patriot),
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Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became the traitor.
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When Jesus had come down from the hill with the apostles, he stood on a level place with a large number of his disciples. A large crowd of people was there from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from the coast cities of Tyre and Sidon;
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they had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those who were troubled by evil spirits also came and were healed.
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All the people tried to touch him, for power was going out from him and healing them all.
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Jesus looked at his disciples and said, "Happy are you poor; the Kingdom of God is yours!
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"Happy are you who are hungry now; you will be filled! "Happy are you who weep now; you will laugh!
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"Happy are you when people hate you, reject you, insult you, and say that you are evil, all because of the Son of Man!
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Be glad when that happens and dance for joy, because a great reward is kept for you in heaven. For their ancestors did the very same things to the prophets.
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"But how terrible for you who are rich now; you have had your easy life!
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"How terrible for you who are full now; you will go hungry! "How terrible for you who laugh now; you will mourn and weep!
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"How terrible when all people speak well of you; their ancestors said the very same things about the false prophets.
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"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
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bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.
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If anyone hits you on one cheek, let him hit the other one too; if someone takes your coat, let him have your shirt as well.
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Give to everyone who asks you for something, and when someone takes what is yours, do not ask for it back.
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Do for others just what you want them to do for you.
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"If you love only the people who love you, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners love those who love them!
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And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners do that!
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And if you lend only to those from whom you hope to get it back, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount!
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No! Love your enemies and do good to them; lend and expect nothing back. You will then have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High God. For he is good to the ungrateful and the wicked.
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Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.
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"Do not judge others, and God will not judge you; do not condemn others, and God will not condemn you; forgive others, and God will forgive you.
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Give to others, and God will give to you. Indeed, you will receive a full measure, a generous helping, poured into your hands---all that you can hold. The measure you use for others is the one that God will use for you."
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And Jesus told them this parable: "One blind man cannot lead another one; if he does, both will fall into a ditch.
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No pupils are greater than their teacher; but all pupils, when they have completed their training, will be like their teacher.
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"Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but pay no attention to the log in your own eye?
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How can you say to your brother, 'Please, brother, let me take that speck out of your eye,' yet cannot even see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
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"A healthy tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a poor tree bear good fruit.
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Every tree is known by the fruit it bears; you do not pick figs from thorn bushes or gather grapes from bramble bushes.
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A good person brings good out of the treasure of good things in his heart; a bad person brings bad out of his treasure of bad things. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
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"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and yet don't do what I tell you?
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Anyone who comes to me and listens to my words and obeys them---I will show you what he is like.
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He is like a man who, in building his house, dug deep and laid the foundation on rock. The river flooded over and hit that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.
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But anyone who hears my words and does not obey them is like a man who built his house without laying a foundation; when the flood hit that house it fell at once---and what a terrible crash that was!"
