Peace of Our Savior Lutheran Church and Preschool - WELS

Genesis 20:1 – 21:21

Abraham and Abimelek

Genesis 20

¹ Abraham traveled from there toward the Negev, and he lived between Kadesh and Shur. He lived as a resident alien in Gerar. ² About his wife Sarah Abraham said, “She is my sister.” Abimelek king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. ³ But God came to Abimelek in a dream during the night and said to him, “Listen to me! You are a dead man because of the woman you have taken, because she has a husband.”

⁴ Now Abimelek had not come near her. He said, “Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation? ⁵ Didn’t he tell me, ‘She is my sister’? Even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a sincere heart and innocent hands.”

⁶ God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a sincere heart, so I also prevented you from sinning against me. That is why I did not allow you to touch her. ⁷ Now therefore, return the man’s wife. He is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you do not return her, know for sure that you will die, you along with all who are yours.”

⁸ Abimelek rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told them all these things. The men were terrified. ⁹ Then Abimelek summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought this great sin on me and on my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done!” ¹⁰ Abimelek said to Abraham, “What did you see in us that made you do this?”

¹¹ Abraham said, “I did it because I said to myself, ‘Surely they do not fear God in this place. They will kill me to get my wife.’ ¹² Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. ¹³ When God had me migrate from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness that you shall show to me: Everywhere that we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”

¹⁴ Abimelek took sheep and cattle, male servants and female servants, and he gave them to Abraham. He also returned Sarah, his wife, to him. ¹⁵ Abimelek said, “Look, my land is in front of you. Dwell wherever it pleases you.” ¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given your brother a thousand pieces ^[1] of silver. You see, it covers any offense in the eyes of everyone who is with you. In front of all of them you are vindicated.”

¹⁷ Abraham prayed to God. God healed Abimelek and his wife and his female servants, so that they were able to bear children. ¹⁸ For the Lord had closed up tight all the wombs of the household of Abimelek over the matter of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

The Birth of Isaac

Genesis 21

¹ The Lord visited ^[2] Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. ² Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age, at the set time which God had announced to him. ³ Abraham named the son who was born to him—the son whom Sarah had borne to him— ^[3] Isaac. ^{[4] 4} Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵ Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

⁶ Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.” ⁷ She said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him in his old age.”

⁸ The child grew and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹ Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, the son whom Hagar had borne to Abraham, laughing at Isaac. ¹⁰ Therefore, she said to Abraham, “Throw out this slave girl ^[5] and her son! For the son of this slave will not be heir with my son Isaac.”

¹¹ Abraham was very distressed because of his son. ¹² God said to Abraham, “Do not be so distressed because of the boy and because of your maid. ^[6] Listen to everything that Sarah says to you, because the family line of your descendants ^[7] will be traced through Isaac. ¹³ I will also make the son of the maid into a nation because he too is your offspring.”

¹⁴ Abraham got up early in the morning. He took bread and a waterskin, which he gave to Hagar, putting it over her shoulder. He sent her away with her child. She set out and wandered in the wilderness near Beersheba. ¹⁵ The water in the skin was used up, and she dragged the child under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ She went and sat down by herself, across from him, at a distance, about a bow shot away, because she said, “Do not let me see the death of the child.” She sat across from him and wept loudly.

¹⁷ God heard the boy’s voice, and the Angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said to her, “What is wrong, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the boy’s voice right where he is. ¹⁸ Get up. Help the boy up, and take him by the hand, because I will make him into a great nation.”

¹⁹ God opened her eyes, and she saw a well with water in it. She went, filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. ²⁰ God was with the boy, and as he grew up, he lived in the wilderness and became an archer. ²¹ He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Genesis 19

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

¹ The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot, who was sitting in the gatehouse of Sodom, saw them and got up to meet them. He bowed down with his face to the ground, ² and he said, “See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house and spend the night. Wash your feet, and you can get up early and go on your way.”

They said, “No, we will spend the night in the street.”

³ But he kept urging them, so they came with him and entered his house. He made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴ But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from all parts of town. ⁵ They called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may be intimate with them.” ^[1]

⁶ Lot went out to them and shut the door behind him. ⁷ He said, “Please, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. ⁸ See now, I have two daughters who have not had relations with a man. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them whatever seems good to you. Only do not do anything to these men, because they have come under the protection ^[2] of my roof.”

⁹ They said, “Get out of our way!” They also said, “This fellow came to live here as an alien, and now he appoints himself as a judge. Now we will treat you worse than them!” They kept pushing Lot back and were ready to break down the door. ¹⁰ But the men inside reached out and grabbed Lot and pulled him into the house with them and shut the door. ¹¹ They struck the men who were pressing against the door of the house, both young and old, with blindness so that they wore themselves out trying to find the door.

¹² The men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, whoever you have in the city, get them out of this place, ¹³ for we are going to destroy this place, because the outcry against it has grown great before the Lord, so the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to his daughters in marriage. He said, “Get up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is going to destroy the city.” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.

¹⁵ When the dawn came, the angels urged Lot, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, so that you will not be swept away by the guilt of the city.” ¹⁶ But Lot was taking too much time, so the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, because of the Lord’s compassion for him. They led him out and placed him outside of the city. ¹⁷ Then when they had taken them out, one of them said, “Run for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, so that you are not swept away!”

¹⁸ Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lord. ^{[3] 19} See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great mercy by saving my life. I cannot flee to the mountains, or this disaster will stick with me, and I will die. ²⁰ Look, this city is close enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Please let me flee there—isn’t it just a little one?—so that my life will be saved.”

²¹ The man said to him, “Very well, I have granted your request concerning this thing, so I will not overthrow the city that you have spoken about. ²² Hurry, flee there, because I cannot do anything until you get there.” So the city was named Zoar. ^[4]

²³ The sun had risen over the land when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire out of the sky from the Lord. ²⁵ He overthrew those cities, as well as all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew in the soil.

²⁶ But Lot’s wife, who was behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸ He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain. As he looked, he saw that the smoke from the land was going up like the smoke from a kiln.

²⁹ And so when God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham and brought Lot out through the middle of the devastation, when he overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰ Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the mountains, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. His two daughters were with him. He lived in a cave with his two daughters. ³¹ The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man in the land to come to us as normally takes place everywhere on earth. ³² Come on, let’s get our father to drink wine, and we will lie down with him, that we may preserve our father’s seed.” ^{[5] 33} They got their father to drink wine that night, and the firstborn went and lay down with her father. He did not know it when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁴ Then the next day the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, last night I lay down with my father. Let us get him to drink wine again tonight. You go and lie down with him, so that we may preserve our father’s seed.” ³⁵ They got their father to drink wine that night also. Then the younger went and lay with him. He did not know it when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁶ In this way both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.

³⁷ The firstborn gave birth to a son and named him Moab. ^[6] He is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ The younger also gave birth to a son and called his name Ben Ammi. ^[7] He is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.

Genesis 18

Three Men Meet Abraham

¹ The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he was sitting by the door to his tent during the heat of the day. ² Abraham looked up, and he saw three men standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and he bowed down to the ground. ³ He said, “My lord, ^[1] if I have now found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by. ⁴ Now let me get a little water so that all of you can wash your feet and rest under the tree. ⁵ Let me get some bread so that you can refresh yourselves. After that you may go your way. That is why you have come to your servant.”

They said, “Yes, do as you have said.”

⁶ Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly prepare twenty quarts ^[2] of fine flour, knead it, and make some loaves of bread.” ⁷ Abraham ran to the herd, brought a good, tender calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to prepare it. ⁸ He took cheese curds, milk, and the calf that he had prepared and set it before them. He stood beside them under the tree while they ate.

⁹ They asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?”

He said, “She is over there in the tent.”

¹⁰ One of the men said, “I will certainly return to you when this season comes around next year. Then Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Sarah was listening to this from the tent door, which was behind him. ¹¹ Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well into old age. Sarah was past the age for childbearing. ^{[3] 12} Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, will I have pleasure, since my lord is also old?”

¹³ The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really give birth to a child though I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything impossible for the Lord? At the set time next year I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵ Then Sarah denied it and said, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid.

The Lord said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

¹⁶ The men got up from there and looked down toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way. ¹⁷ The Lord said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, ¹⁸ since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? ¹⁹ For I have chosen him, ^[4] so that he may command his children and his household who follow after him to keep the way of the Lord by carrying out righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may deliver to Abraham what he has promised him.”

²⁰ So the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very flagrant, ²¹ I will go down now and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has come to me. If not, I will know.”

²² The two men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. ²³ Abraham approached him and said, “Will you really sweep away the righteous along with the wicked? ²⁴ What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep them away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ You would never do such a thing, killing the righteous along with the wicked, treating the righteous the same as the wicked. You would never do such a thing. The Judge of all the earth should do right, shouldn’t he?”

²⁶ The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people within the city of Sodom, then I will spare the entire place for their sake.”

²⁷ Abraham answered, “See now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it on myself to speak to my Lord. ²⁸ What if there are five fewer than fifty righteous? Will you destroy the entire city if the number is five short?”

He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

²⁹ He spoke to him yet again and said, “What if only forty are found there?”

He said, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”

³⁰ He said, “Please, do not be angry, my Lord, but I will speak again. What if thirty are found there?”

He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹ He said, “See now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to my Lord. What if there are twenty found there?”

He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

³² He said, “Please, do not be angry, my Lord, but I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?”

He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

³³ As soon as he had finished speaking with Abraham, the Lord went on his way, and Abraham returned to his place.

Genesis 16 – 17

Hagar and Ishmael

Genesis 16

¹ Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore no children for him. She had a servant girl, ^[1] an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. ² Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my servant girl. It may be that I can build up a family through her.” Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

³ After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took her servant girl, Hagar the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. ⁴ He went to Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, she looked down on her mistress. ⁵ Sarai said to Abram, “This wrong that I am suffering is on account of you. I gave my servant girl into your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked down on me. May the Lord judge between me and you.”

⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your servant girl is in your hands. Do to her whatever seems good to you.” Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her presence.

⁷ The Angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a flowing spring in the wilderness, beside the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸ He said, “Hagar, servant girl of Sarai, where did you come from? Where are you going?”

She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

⁹ The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.” ¹⁰ The Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants, so that they will be too many to count.” ¹¹ The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Listen, you are expecting a child and will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, ^[2] because the Lord has heard your affliction. ¹² He will be a wild donkey of a man. His hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. He will dwell in hostility toward ^[3] all of his brothers.”

¹³ She called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Here have I really seen him who sees me?” ^{[4] 14} Therefore the well was called Be’er Lahai Roi. ^[5] It is right there between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ Hagar gave birth to a son for Abram. Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael for him.

The Covenant of Circumcision

Genesis 17

¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless. ² I will make my covenant between me and you, and I will make your descendants very numerous.”

³ Abram fell on his face. God spoke with him. He said, ⁴ “As for me, this is my covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations. ⁵ Your name will not be Abram anymore, but your name will be Abraham, ^[6] for I have made you the father of a large group of nations. ⁶ I will make you extremely fruitful, and I will produce nations from you. Kings will come out of you. ⁷ I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you as an everlasting covenant throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁸ I will give the land where you are living as an alien, all the land of Canaan, to you and to your descendants after you as a permanent possession. I will be their God.”

⁹ God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰ This is my covenant, which you shall keep, a covenant between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ You shall be circumcised by cutting the foreskin off your flesh. It will be a sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² Every boy among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised, every male throughout your generations, whether he is born in your house or purchased with money ^[7] from any foreigner who is not descended from you. ¹³ Every male who is born in your house or one who is purchased with your money must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked on your flesh as an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised by removing the foreskin from his flesh, that person must be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”

¹⁵ God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai anymore, but her name will be Sarah. ^{[8] 16} I will bless her and even give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of many peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to someone who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?” ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “Oh, let Ishmael live in your presence!”

¹⁹ But God said, “No, Sarah, your wife, will bear a son for you. You shall name him Isaac. ^[9] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

²⁰ “As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Yes, I have blessed him. I will make him fruitful and will multiply him very greatly. He will become the father of twelve chiefs, and I will make him into a great nation. ²¹ But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear for you at this set time next year.”

²² When he finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. ²³ Abraham took his son Ishmael, along with every male in Abraham’s house, all those who were born in his house, and all those who were purchased with his money, and he circumcised them by cutting off the foreskin from their flesh. He did this on that very day, just as God had said to him. ²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the foreskin of his flesh was circumcised. ²⁵ Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when the foreskin of his flesh was circumcised. ²⁶ On the same day both Abraham and Ishmael, his son, were circumcised. ²⁷ All the men of his house, those born in the house as well as those purchased with money from a foreigner, were circumcised along with him.

Genesis 15

The Promise of an Heir

¹ After these events the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. He said, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

² Abram said, “Lord God ^[1] what can you give me, since I remain childless, and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ Abram also said, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a servant born in my house will be my heir.”

⁴ Just then, the word of the Lord came to him. God said, “This man will not be your heir, but instead one who will come out of your own body will be your heir.” ⁵ The Lord then brought him outside and said, “Now look toward the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “This is what your descendants will be like.” ⁶ Abram believed in ^[2] the Lord, and the Lord credited it to him as righteousness. ⁷ He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.”

⁸ He said, “Lord God, how will I know that I will possess it?”

⁹ The Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ Abram gathered all of these, divided them in half, and laid the two halves across from each other, but he did not divide the birds in two. ¹¹ Birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

¹² When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Then terrifying, deep darkness fell on him. ¹³ The Lord said to Abram, “Know this! Your descendants will live as aliens in a land that is not theirs, and they will serve its people, who will afflict them for four hundred years. ¹⁴ But I will surely judge the nation that they will serve. Afterward your descendants will come out with great wealth, ¹⁵ but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ In the fourth generation your descendants will come here again, because the guilt of the Amorites is not yet full.” ¹⁷ Then when the sun had gone down and it was dark, suddenly a smoking oven and a flaming torch passed between the pieces. ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made ^[3] a covenant with Abram. He said, “To your descendants I have given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates. ¹⁹ I will give you the territory of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaites, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”