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CHAPTER 21
1 Forsooth God visited Sarah, as he promised, and [ful] filled those things, that he spake.
2 And she conceived, and childed a son in her eld (age), in the time wherein God before-said to her. (And she conceived, and bare a son in her old age, at the time which God had spoken of before to her.)
3 And Abraham called the name of his son, whom Sarah childed to him, Isaac.
4 And Abraham circumcised him in the eighth day, as God commanded to him, (And Abraham circumcised him on the eighth day, as God had commanded to him,)
5 when he was of an hundred years; for Isaac was born in this age of the father. (when he was a hundred years old; for this was the age of his father when Isaac was born.)
6 And Sarah said, The Lord hath made laughing to me (or The Lord hath made me to laugh), and whoever shall hear (about this) shall laugh with me.
7 And again she said, Who should hear, and believe to Abraham, (or And she added, For who would have said to Abraham), that Sarah should give sucking to a son, whom she childed to him, (when he is) now an eld man?
8 Therefore the child increased, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast in the day of his weaning (or and Abraham made a great feast on the day of his weaning).
9 And when Sarah saw the son of Hagar (the) Egyptian, playing, or doing idolatry, with Isaac her son, (And when Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, mocking her son Isaac,)
10 she said to Abraham, Cast out this handmaid and her son; for the son of the handmaid shall not be heir with my son Isaac. (she said to Abraham, Send away this slave-girl and her son; for the slave-girl’s son shall not be heir with my son Isaac.)
11 Abraham took this heavily for his son; (And Abraham took this heavily, or was deeply troubled, for Ishmael was also his son;)
12 and God said to him, Be it not seen sharp to thee on the child, and on thine handmaid; all things which Sarah saith to thee, hear thou her voice, for in Isaac (the) seed shall be called to thee; (but God said to him, Do not thou fret over the boy and the slave-girl; hear thou all the things which Sarah saith to thee, for thy promised descendants shall come through Isaac;)
13 but also I shall make the son of the handmaid into a great folk, for he is thy seed. (but I shall also make the son of the slave-girl into a great nation, for he is also thy descendant.)
14 And so Abraham rose early, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and put it on Hagar’s shoulder, and he betook (to) her the child*Ishmael would be about 15 years old at this time., and let go her; and when she had gone, she went out of the way in the wilderness of Beersheba. (And so Abraham rose up early, and took some bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, and put it on her shoulder, and he gave the boy to her, and sent her away; and when she had gone out a ways, she went off the way into the wilderness of Beersheba.)
15 And when the water in the bottle was ended, she cast away the child under a tree that was there; (And when there was no more water in the bottle, she pushed the boy away under a tree that was there;)
16 and she went away, and she sat (down) even against (him), as far as a bow may cast; for she said, I shall not see the child dying (or I shall not watch my own child die!); and she sat (over) against (him), and raised [up] her voice, and wept.
17 Forsooth the Lord heard the voice of the child, and the angel of the Lord called Hagar from heaven, and said, What doest thou, Hagar? do not thou dread, for God hath heard the voice of the child, from the place wherein he is. (And the Lord heard the boy crying, and the angel of the Lord called to Hagar from heaven, and said, What doest thou, Hagar? do not thou fear, for God hath heard your boy crying from where he is.)
18 Rise thou, and take the child, and hold his hand; for I shall make him into a great folk. (Rise thou up, and have the boy stand up, and take his hand; for I shall make him into a great nation.)
19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went, and filled the bottle, and she gave drink to the child (or and she gave her boy a drink);
20 and (God) was with him, and he increased, and dwelled in wilderness (or and lived in the wilderness), and he was made a young man (who was) an archer,
21 and dwelled in the desert of Paran; and his mother took to him a wife of the land of Egypt. (and he lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother found him a wife from the land of Egypt.)
22 In the same time, Abimelech, and Phicol, prince of his host, (or Now at that time, Abimelech, with Phicol, the ruler of his army), said to Abraham, God is with thee in all things that thou doest;
23 therefore swear thou by God that thou harm not me, and mine heirs, and my kindred; but by the mercy which I did to thee, do thou to me, and to the land in which thou livedest (as) a comeling. (and so swear thou by God that thou shalt not harm me, nor my heirs, nor my family; but that thou shalt do the same mercy to me, and to the land in which thou livedest as a newcomer, which I have shown to thee.)
24 And Abraham said, I shall swear (or I swear).
25 And he blamed Abimelech for the well of water, which his servants took away by violence. (But then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water, which his servants had taken away from him by force.)
26 And Abimelech answered, I wist not who did this thing, but also thou showedest not to me, and I heard not (of it) except today. (And Abimelech answered, I do not know who did this thing, and thou hast not told me about it, and I have not heard about it until today.)
27 And so Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave to Abimelech, and both smote together a bond of peace. (And Abraham took some sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech, and they made a covenant together.)
28 And (then) Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock asides half.
29 And Abimelech said to him, What will these seven ewe lambs (mean) to themselves, which thou madest stand asides half? (And Abimelech said to him, What mean ye with these seven ewe lambs, which thou hast made to stand aside?)
30 And he said, Thou shalt take of mine hand seven ewe lambs, that those be into witnessing to me, for I digged this well. (And he said, Take thou these seven ewe lambs from me, and by accepting them, thou agreeth that I have dug this well.)
31 Therefore that place was called Beersheba, (that is, The Well of the Oath†Beersheba also means ‘the Well of the Seven’.), for ever either swore there;
32 and they made bond of peace for the well of an oath. Forsooth Abimelech rose, and Phicol, the prince of his chivalry, and they turned again into the land of Palestines. (and so they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech, and Phicol, the ruler of his cavalry, arose, and they returned to the land of the Philistines.)
33 Soothly Abraham planted a wood in Beersheba, and inwardly called there (on) the name of [the] everlasting God;
34 and he was an earth-tiller, or a comeling, of the land of Palestines in many days. (and as a newcomer, he worked the soil in the land of the Philistines, for many days.)

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*CHAPTER 21:14 Ishmael would be about 15 years old at this time.

†CHAPTER 21:31 Beersheba also means ‘the Well of the Seven’.

© 2001,2010,2011,2012,2013,2015 Terry Noble