Daily Bible Reading, Day 5(Genesis 16-19)

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian servant -woman whose name was

Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, Now behold, Yahweh has shut my womb from bearing children.

Please go into my servant -woman, perhaps I will obtain children through her. And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

And after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram's wife Sarai took Hagar the

Egyptian, her servant -woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. So he went into Hagar, and she conceived.

Then she saw that she had conceived, so her mistress became contemptible in her sight. And Sarai said to Abram, May the violence done to me be upon you.

I gave my servant -woman into your embrace, but she saw that she had conceived, so I became contemptible in her sight.

May Yahweh judge between you and me. But Abram said to Sarai, Behold, your servant -woman is in your hand, do to her what is good in your sight.

So Sarai afflicted her, and she fled from her presence. Now the angel of Yahweh found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur, and he said,

Hagar, Sarai's servant -woman, where have you come from and where are you going? And she said,

I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai. Then the angel of Yahweh said to her,

Return to your mistress and humble yourself under her hands. Moreover the angel of Yahweh said to her,

I will greatly multiply your seed, so that they will be too many to be counted. And the angel of Yahweh said to her further,

Behold, you are with child, and you will bear a son, and you shall call his name

Ishmael, because Yahweh has heard your affliction. And he will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him, and he will dwell in the face of all his brothers.

Then she called the name of Yahweh, who spoke to her, You are a God who sees.

For she said, Have I even remained alive here after seeing him? Therefore the well was called

Beer -lehi -roi, behold it is between Kadesh and Bered. So Hagar bore

Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.

Now Abram was eighty -six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him. Genesis chapter 17

Now it happened that when Abram was ninety -nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him,

I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless, so that I may confirm my covenant between me and you, and that I may multiply you exceedingly.

Then Abram fell on his face, and God spoke with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations.

And no longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will go forth from you.

And I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your seed after you, throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be

God to you, and to your seed after you. And I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their

God. God said further to Abraham, Now as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your seed after you, throughout their generations.

This is my covenant which you shall keep, between me and you, and your seed after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised, and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between me and you.

And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, one who is born in the house, or one who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your seed.

A servant who is born in your house, or who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised.

Thus shall my covenant be in your flesh, for an everlasting covenant. But an uncircumcised male, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people.

He has broken my covenant. Then God said to Abraham, As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name

Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her, and indeed

I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations, kings of peoples will come from her.

Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Will a son be born to a man one hundred years old?

And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a son? And Abraham said to God, O that Ishmael might live before you.

But God said, No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name

Isaac. And I will establish my covenant with him, for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him.

As for Ishmael, I have heard you, behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly.

He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.

But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.

So he finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. Then Abraham took

Ishmael his son, and all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day as God had spoken with him.

Now Abraham was ninety -nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, and Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

In the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son. Now all the men of his household, who were born in the house, or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Genesis chapter 18 Then Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.

And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing nearby. He saw, and he ran from the tent door to meet them, and he bowed himself to the earth.

And he said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by.

Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And let me bring a piece of bread, so that you may refresh your hearts.

After that you may pass on, since in such a manner you have passed by your servant. And they said,

So you shall do as you have said. So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said,

Hurry, prepare three sails of flour, knead it, and make bread cakes. Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf, and gave it to his young man, and he hurried to prepare it.

Then he took curds and milk, and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them, and he was standing by them under the tree, and they ate.

Then they said to him, Where is Sarah your wife? And he said, There in the tent.

And he said, I will surely return to you at this time next year. And behold,

Sarah your wife will have a son. And Sarah was listening at the tent door which was behind him.

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age, Sarah was past childbearing. And Sarah laughed to herself, saying,

After I am worn out, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? And Yahweh said to Abraham, Why did

Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I indeed bear a son when I am so old? Is anything too difficult for Yahweh?

At the appointed time I will return to you at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.

Then Sarah denied it, however, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid.

And he said, No, but you did laugh. Then the men rose up from there and looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to send them off.

Now Yahweh said, Shall I conceal from Abraham what I am about to do? Since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

For I have known him, so that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of Yahweh to do righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him.

So Yahweh said, The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.

I will go down now and see whether they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to me, and if not,

I will know. Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before Yahweh.

Then Abraham came near and said, Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city, will you indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?

Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike.

Far be it from you! Shall not the judge of all the earth do justice?

So Yahweh said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then

I will spare the whole place on their account. And Abraham answered and said,

Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will you destroy the whole city because of five?

And he said, I will not destroy it if I find forty -five there. Then he spoke to him yet again and said,

Suppose forty are found there, and he said, I will not do it on account of the forty.

Then he said, O may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak, suppose thirty are found there.

And he said, I will not do it if I find thirty there. And he said,

Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, suppose twenty are found there.

And he said, I will not destroy it on account of the twenty. Then he said,

O may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once, suppose ten are found there.

And he said, I will not destroy it on account of the ten. And as soon as he had finished speaking to Abraham, Yahweh departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

Genesis, chapter 19. Then the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom.

Lot saw them, and rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. And he said,

Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servants' house and spend the night, and wash your feet, then you may rise early and go on your way.

They said, however, No, but we shall spend the night in the square. Yet he pressed them strongly.

So they turned aside to him and entered his house, and he made a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from young to old, all the people from every quarter, and 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 know them.

But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, and said, Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.

Now behold, I have two daughters who have not known a man. Please let me bring them out to you, and do to them what is good in your eyes.

Only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof. But they said,

Step aside. Furthermore, they said, This one came to sojourn, and already he is persistently acting like a judge.

Now we will treat you more wickedly than them. So they pressed hard against Lot, and stepped up to break the door.

But the men reached out their hands, and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door, and they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from small to great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.

Then the two men said to Lot, Whom else have you here? A son -in -law, and your sons, and your daughters, and everyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place, for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become great before Yahweh, so Yahweh has sent us to destroy it.

And Lot went out and spoke to his sons -in -law who were to marry his daughters, and said, Get up, get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city.

But he appeared to his sons -in -law to be jesting. Now at the breaking of dawn the angels urged

Lot, saying, Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.

But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand, and the hand of his wife, and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of Yahweh was upon him, and they brought him out, and put him outside the city.

Now what happened as they brought them outside, one said, Escape for your life. Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley.

Escape to the mountains, lest you be swept away. But Lot said to them, O no, my lords!

Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown me by preserving my life.

But I cannot escape to the mountains, lest calamity overtake me and I die. Now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small.

Please let me escape there, is it not small, that my life may be preserved? And he said to him,

Behold, I grant you this request also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.

Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Therefore the name of the city was called

Zoar. The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar, and Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven.

And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

Then his wife from behind him looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before Yahweh, and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

Thus it happened, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered

Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which

Lot lived. And Lot went up from Zoar and stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar, and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters.

Then the firstborn said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come into us after the manner of the earth.

Come let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve our seed through our father.

So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

Now it happened on the following day that the firstborn said to the younger, Behold, I lay last night with my father, let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve our seed through our father.

So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

Thus both the daughters of Lot, conceived by their father, and the firstborn bore a son and called his name

Moab, he is the father of the Moabites to this day. As for the younger, she also bore a son and called his name