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Genesis 21

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Part of Abraham📖 Genesis introduction

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1Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised. ✦ 2So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. ✦ 3Abraham named his son who was born to him, the son whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. ✦ 4Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ✦ 5Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ✦ 6Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” ✦ 7And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son in his old age.” ✦ 8And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ✦ 9Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking Isaac. ✦ 10Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac!” ✦ 11The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son Ishmael. ✦ 12But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and your slave woman; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named. ✦ 13And of the son of the slave woman I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.” ✦ 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 away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. ✦ 15When the water in the skin was used up, she left the boy under one of the bushes. ✦ 16Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “May I not see the boy die!” And she sat opposite him, and raised her voice and wept. ✦ 17God heard the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ✦ 18Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” ✦ 19Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. ✦ 20And God was with the boy, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer. ✦ 21He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt. ✦ 22Now it came about at that time that Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do; ✦ 23so now, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my descendants, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have resided.” ✦ 24Abraham said, “I swear it.” ✦ 25But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had seized. ✦ 26And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it until today.” ✦ 27So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. ✦ 28But Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. 29Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?” ✦ 30He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a witness for me, that I dug this well.” ✦ 31Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them took an oath. ✦ 32So they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, got up and returned to the land of the Philistines. ✦ 33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. ✦ 34And Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines for many days. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

In this chapter

Concept El Olam — the Everlasting God

Where this chapter connects

Gen 17 ·19Gen 26 ·16Gen 16 ·9Gal 4 ·9Luke 1 ·9Gen 21 ·9Heb 11 ·7Gen 31 ·6

Christ at the center

From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.

How Genesis 21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

  • ★ Start hereDocumentaryExpedition BibleJoel Kramer · Free · evangelical

    On-location biblical archaeology from a credentialed archaeologist (M.A., excavated in Israel) — the best free place to start on "did it really happen?"

  • ★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical

    A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

  • ★ Start hereVideoOverview: Genesis 1–11BibleProject · 9 min · Free

    The single best free starting point for Genesis 1–11 — clear, visual, and faithful to the literary design.

  • VideoSpoken GospelSpoken Gospel · Free · evangelical

    Short, gospel-centered videos and spoken-word poems showing how each passage points to Jesus — especially strong on the Old Testament.

  • ReferenceBook of Genesis — Visual GuideBibleProject · Free

    A free structured guide to the whole book — outline, themes, and links to each video.

  • DocumentaryIs Genesis History?Del Tackett · Free · evangelical

    A young-earth-creationist case for a literal Genesis, free on YouTube. (YEC is one view held by faithful Christians; others read Genesis differently — see the genre guide on how to read it.)

Pastoral

  • SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical

    Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Seminary

  • ★ Start hereCommentaryGenesis (Word Biblical Commentary)Gordon J. Wenham · Paid · evangelical

    For decades the gold-standard commentary on Genesis — technical but rich. (See the ranked list for alternatives like Hamilton, NICOT.)

  • BookThe Pentateuch as NarrativeJohn H. Sailhamer · ~560 pp · Library · evangelical

    A literary-theological reading that makes Genesis's design visible.

Commentaries & study tools

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