Genesis 16 Cross References - NSB

¹ Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. ² She said to Abram: »Jehovah has kept me from having children. Go sleep with my maidservant. Perhaps I can build a family through her.« Abram agreed to what Sarai said. ³ After Abram lived in Canaan ten years, Sarai, his wife, gave her Egyptian maidservant Hagar to her husband to be his wife. ⁴ Abram had intercourse with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram: »You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms; she knows she is pregnant and she despises me. May Jehovah judge between you and me.« ⁶ »Your servant is in your hands,« Abram said. »Do with her whatever you think best.« Then Sarai mistreated Hagar. So she ran away from her. ⁷ The angel of Jehovah found Hagar near a spring in the desert. It was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. ⁸ He said: »Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?« »I am running away from my mistress Sarai,« she answered. ⁹ Then the angel of Jehovah told her: »Go back to your mistress and submit to her. ¹⁰ »I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.« ¹¹ Jehovah’s angel also said: »You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael (means: God hears). Jehovah has heard of your misery. ¹² »He (Ishmael) will be a wild donkey of a man. His hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him. He will live in hostility toward all his brothers.« ¹³ She called the name of Jehovah, who spoke to her: »You are the God who sees me, for she said, ‘I have not seen the one who sees me.’« ¹⁴ That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi (Well of the Living One Who Sees Me). It is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. ¹⁵ Hagar bore Abram a son. Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

³⁰ Now Sarai was barren. She had no children.

¹⁶ He treated Abram well for her sake. Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.

² Abram said: »O Jehovah God, what will you give me? I continue childless! The heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.« ³ Abram also said: »You have given me no offspring. So a slave born in my house is to be my heir.«

⁹ Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was laughing in mockery. ¹⁰ She said to Abraham: »Get rid of that slave woman and her son.«

¹² God said to Abraham: »Do not be upset about the boy and your slave. Listen to what Sarah says, because through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name.

²¹ He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

²¹ Isaac prayed to Jehovah for his wife because she was childless. Jehovah answered his prayer. His wife Rebekah became pregnant.

² There was a man named Manoah from the town of Zorah. He was a member of the tribe of Dan. His wife was not able to have children.

⁷ They had no child for Elizabeth was barren and they both were well advanced in years.

³⁶ »Your relative Elisabeth has also conceived a son even in her old age. This so-called barren woman is in her sixth month.

²⁴ This contains an allegory (symbolic drama). These women symbolize two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar.

¹ Now the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals Jehovah God had made. He said to the woman: »Did God really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden?« ² The woman said to the serpent: »We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. ³ ‘»However, God did say: ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not touch it, or you will die.’« ⁴ »You will not die,« the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ »God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened. Then you will be like God, knowing good and evil.« ⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

¹² Adam said: »The woman you put here with me gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.«

¹⁷ He said to Adam: »Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

¹⁶ »I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.«

¹⁰ He said: »Next year I will give you and Sarah a son.« (Sarah was listening in the tent door behind him.)

¹⁸ Jehovah had made it impossible for any woman in Abimelech’s household to have children because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.

² Jacob became angry with Rachel. He said: »I cannot take the place of God. He is the one who keeps you from having children.« ³ She said: »Here is my maid Bilhah. Sleep with her, so that she can have a child for me. This way I can become a mother through her.« ⁴ Then Rachel let Jacob marry Bilhah. Jacob slept with Bilhah.

⁶ Rachel named him Dan, because she said: »God has answered my prayers. He has vindicated me and given me a son.«

⁹ When Leah realized she could not have any more children, she let Jacob marry her servant Zilpah. ¹⁰ They had a son.

²² Then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb.

⁴ »If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children will belong to her master. He shall go out alone.

¹¹ The leaders and the others said: »Yes, we are witnesses. May Jehovah make your wife become like Rachel and Leah, who bore many children to Jacob. May you become rich in the clan of Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem.

³ Children are an inheritance from Jehovah. They are a blessing from him.

⁴ So Abram left, just as Jehovah told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. ⁵ He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran. They set out for the land of Canaan and soon arrived there.

⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram: »You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms; she knows she is pregnant and she despises me. May Jehovah judge between you and me.«

⁶ While Abraham was still alive, he gave gifts to the sons of Hagar and Keturah. He also sent their sons to live in the east far from his son Isaac.

⁹ So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

⁴ Then Rachel let Jacob marry Bilhah. Jacob slept with Bilhah.

⁹ When Leah realized she could not have any more children, she let Jacob marry her servant Zilpah.

²² That same night Jacob got up, took his two wives, his two concubines, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok River.

²² While Israel lived in that region, Reuben went to bed with his father’s concubine Bilhah. Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons.

¹ There was still no king in Israel. There was a Levite who lived in the remote area of Mount Ephraim. He took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. ² She was unfaithful to him and went to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah. She was there four whole months. ³ The man went after her to persuade her to return. He took his servant and two donkeys with him. The woman invited the Levite into the house, and when her father saw him, he gave him a friendly greeting. ⁴ The young woman’s father insisted that he stay. So he stayed for three days. The couple had their meals and spent the nights there.

¹³ David left Hebron and moved to Jerusalem. He married many women from Jerusalem, and he had a lot of children.

³ He had seven hundred wives, daughters of kings, and three hundred other wives. His wives influenced his heart to turn away.

²⁵ Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She corresponds to the Jerusalem that now is. She is in bondage with her children.

⁶ The other wife did everything possible to make her unhappy. This is because Jehovah had not given her children. ⁷ Year after year when Peninnah went to the Temple of Jehovah, she kept on provoking Hannah. It bothered Hannah so much she wept and did not eat. ⁸ Her husband Elkanah said to her: »Hannah, why are you weeping? Why are you not eating? Why is your heart troubled? Am I not more to you than ten sons?«

¹⁶ When the Ark of Jehovah came to the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked out of a window and saw King David leaping and dancing in Jehovah’s presence. She despised him in her heart.

²⁰ Such is the way of an adulterous woman. She eats and wipes her mouth, and says: »I have done no wickedness.« ²¹ Under three things the earth is disquieted, and for four it cannot bear:

²³ For a detestable woman when she is married; and a handmaid who is heir to her mistress.

⁶ Brothers I have applied these things to myself and to Apollos for your sakes. That way you might learn the value of the saying: Do not go beyond the things written. None of you should be arrogant (self-important) against one another.

⁴ Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not arrogant (proud). ⁵ Love does not act indecently. It is not selfish. It is not provoked and does not take into account a wrong suffered.

⁵³ »May the God of Abraham and Nahor the God of their father judge between us.« So Jacob swore this oath out of respect for his father Isaac.

²¹ They said: »May Jehovah see what you have done and judge you! You have made Pharaoh and his officials hate us. You have given them an excuse to kill us.«

¹² »I will let Jehovah decide which one of us has done right. I pray that Jehovah will punish you for what you are doing to me. However, I will not do anything to you. ¹³ »An old proverb says: ‘Only evil people do evil things.’ So I will not harm you. ¹⁴ »Why should the king of Israel be out chasing me, anyway? I am as worthless as a dead dog or a flea. ¹⁵ »I pray that Jehovah will help me escape and show that I am in the right.«

²² King Joash forgot that Zechariah’s father had always been a loyal friend. So when the people of Judah plotted to kill Zechariah, Joash joined them and gave orders for them to stone him to death in the courtyard of the Temple. As Zechariah was dying, he said: »I pray that Jehovah will see this and punish all of you.«

⁸ Jehovah judges the peoples. Judge me Jehovah according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.

²³ Wake up, and rise to my defense. Plead my case, O my God Jehovah.

¹ Judge me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation. Deliver me from deceitful and unjust people!

⁴⁰ Martha was worried about the housework. She approached Jesus and said: »Lord do you not care that my sister does not help me? Tell her to help me.« ⁴¹ The Lord answered: »Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things.

⁸ Abram said to Lot: »Let us not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. ⁹ »Is not the whole land before you? Let us part company. If you go to the left, I will go to the right. If you go to the right, I will go to the left.«

¹⁰ The servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and then set out with a variety of good things of his master’s in his hand. He arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.

¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian by a well.

⁶ Jehovah told Satan: »He is in your power, but you must spare his life!«

⁴¹ He handed them over to other nations, and those who hated them ruled them. ⁴² Their enemies oppressed them and made them subject to their power.

²⁹ He who is slow to anger has great understanding. He who is short tempered exalts foolishness.

¹ A mild answer turns away anger. Harsh words stir up anger.

¹⁷ Better is a bowel of soup where there is love, than a steak with someone you hate. ¹⁸ An angry man stirs up strife. The slow to anger calms disputes.

⁸ As a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his place.

¹⁹ A servant will not be corrected by words alone. Even though he understands he will not respond.

⁴ If the temper of the ruler rises up against you do not withdraw from him for gentleness can put a stop to great offenses.

⁵ King Zedekiah answered: »Very well, then, do what you want to with him. I cannot stop you.«

⁷ In the same way, you husbands live with your wives in an understanding way. Honor the woman as the weaker vessel. For you are joint-heirs of the grace of life. May your prayers not be hindered (cut-off) (blocked).

¹ Abraham moved from Mamre to the southern part of Canaan and lived between Kadesh and Shur. Later, while he was living in Gerar,

¹⁷ God heard the lad crying. The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her: »What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear! God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.

¹¹ Jehovah’s angel shouted from heaven: »Abraham! Abraham!« »Here I am!« he answered.

¹⁵ The angel of Jehovah called to Abraham from heaven a second time.

¹⁸ His descendants lived as nomads from the region of Havilah to Shur. This is near Egypt, in the direction of Assyria. He died in the presence of all his brothers.

¹¹ »Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ I said, here I am.

²² Moses led Israel away from the Red Sea into the desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.

⁷ Saul defeated the Amalekites. He fought all the way from Havilah to Shur, east of Egypt.

³ The eyes of Jehovah are in everywhere watching the evil and the good.

⁹ But Jehovah God called to the man: »Where are you?«

¹⁰ Jehovah said: »What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood (life) cries out to me from the ground.

¹ Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.

⁴ Abram had intercourse with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

¹⁹ »Please let my lord the king listen to the words of his servant. If Jehovah has stirred you up against me, let Him accept an offering. If it is men, cursed are they before Jehovah. They have driven me out today so that I would have no attachment with the inheritance of Jehovah, saying: ‘Go serve other gods.’«

¹⁷ »You have done this to yourself by abandoning Jehovah your God when he led you on his way. ¹⁸ »Why are you going to Egypt to drink water from the Nile (Shihor) River? You will not gain anything by going to Assyria to drink water from the Euphrates River.

⁵ Servants, be obedient to those who according to the flesh are your masters, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of your heart, as to Christ. ⁶ This should not be in the way of eye service, as men-pleasers; but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from a complete heart; ⁷ with goodwill doing service, as to God, and not to men. ⁸ You know that whatever good thing each person does, the same shall he receive again from God, whether he be slave or free.

¹ Let as many as are servants under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and the teachings will not be blasphemed. ² Do not despise your believing masters, because they are brothers. Serve them, because they who partake of the benefit are believing and beloved. Teach and exhort these things.

²¹ Be subject (obedient) (subordinate) to one another in reverence of Christ.

⁵ Servants, be obedient to those who according to the flesh are your masters, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of your heart, as to Christ. ⁶ This should not be in the way of eye service, as men-pleasers; but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from a complete heart;

⁹ Servants should to be in subjection to their masters (overseers) (employers). They should please them in all things and not talk back.

¹⁸ Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle master but also to the hard to please. ¹⁹ For this is to your credit to suffer wrongfully and endure grief because of your conscience toward God. ²⁰ What value is there when you sin, and are buffeted for it, you take it patiently? But if, when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. ²¹ For this you were called because Christ also suffered for you. He left you an example (a copy for imitation) (a model) that you should follow in his steps. ²² He committed no sin and deception was not found in him. ²³ When he was reviled (insulted), he did not revile in return. When he suffered he did not threaten, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. ²⁴ He bore our sins in his body upon the stake, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed because of his wounds (stripes). ²⁵ For you were straying like sheep. But now you have returned to your shepherd and overseer.

⁵ Likewise, you younger men, be subject to the older men. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility and serve one another. God resists the proud, but gives loving kindness to the humble. ⁶ Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time.

²⁰ »Concerning Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him. I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.

¹³ »I will make the slave’s son into a nation also, because he is your child.«

¹⁶ She sat across from him at a distance. She thought: »I cannot watch the boy die.« She sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice and wept.

¹⁸ »Arise, lift up the lad. Hold him by the hand. I will make him a great nation.«

¹⁵ The angel of Jehovah called to Abraham from heaven a second time. ¹⁶ He said: »I am taking an oath on my own name, declares Jehovah, that because you have done this and have not refused to give me your son, your only son, ¹⁷ ‘»I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of their enemies’ cities. ¹⁸ ‘»All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants. This is because you obeyed my command.’«

¹² This is the genealogy of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham. ¹³ These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam ¹⁴ and Mishma and Dumah and Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad and Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. ¹⁶ These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages, and by their camps: twelve leaders according to their tribes. ¹⁷ Ishmael lived one hundred and thirty-seven years. Then he died and was gathered to his ancestors. ¹⁸ His descendants lived as nomads from the region of Havilah to Shur. This is near Egypt, in the direction of Assyria. He died in the presence of all his brothers.

¹¹ »Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ I said, here I am. ¹² »He said, ‘Look up and see, now (please), that all the male goats that are mating are striped, speckled, or spotted, because I have seen everything that Laban is doing to you. ¹³ »‘I am the God of Bethel. That is where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Arise and leave this land. Return to the land of your birth.’«

²⁴ Then Jacob was by himself. A man was fighting with him till dawn. ²⁵ The man saw that he was not able to overcome Jacob. He gave him a blow in the hollow part of his thigh, so that his leg was damaged. ²⁶ He said to him: »Let me go now, for the dawn is near.« But Jacob said: »I will not let you go till you have given me your blessing.« ²⁷ Then he asked: »What is your name?« And he said, »Jacob.« ²⁸ The man said: »Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel (He Struggles With God), because you have struggled with God and with men and you have won.« ²⁹ Jacob said: »Please tell me your name.« The man answered: »Why do you ask for my name?« Then he blessed Jacob there. ³⁰ Jacob named that place Peniel (Face of God), because he said: »I have seen God face to face, yet my life was saved.«

¹⁵ Jacob blessed Joseph. He said: »May God, in whose presence my grandfather Abraham and my father Isaac walked, may this God who has been my shepherd all my life to this very day, ¹⁶ »May the being who rescued me from all evil bless these boys! May they be called by my name and by the names of my grandfather Abraham and my father Isaac. May they have many children on the earth.«

² There the angel of Jehovah appeared to him in a flame of fire coming from the middle of a bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire but that it was not burning up. ³ »This is strange,« he thought. »Why is the bush not burning up? I will go closer and see.« ⁴ Jehovah saw that Moses came closer. He called to him from the middle of the bush: »Moses! Moses!« Moses answered: »Yes, here I am.« ⁵ God said: »Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground. ⁶ »I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.« Moses covered his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

¹ An angel of Jehovah came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: »I led you out of Egypt and brought you to the land about which I swore to your fathers that I would never break my covenant with you. ² »You will make no covenant with people of this land. You will throw down their altars. You have not obeyed my voice. Why have you done this?« ³ »I also said: ‘I will not drive them out from before you. They will be thorns in your sides. Their gods will snare (trap) you.’«

¹¹ The angel of Jehovah came to the village of Ophrah. He sat under the oak tree that belonged to Joash, a man of the clan of Abiezer. His son Gideon was secretly threshing wheat in a wine press, so that the Midianites would not see him.

¹⁶ Jehovah answered: »You can do it. I will help you. You will crush the Midianites as easily as if they were only one man.«

²¹ Jehovah’s angel reached out and touched the meat and the bread with the end of the stick he was holding. Fire came out of the rock and burned up the meat and the bread. Then the angel disappeared. ²² With that Gideon realized that it was Jehovah’s angel he saw. He said in terror: »Sovereign Lord Jehovah! I have seen your angel face-to-face!« ²³ Jehovah told him: »Peace. Do not be afraid. You will not die.« ²⁴ Gideon built an altar to Jehovah there and named it: »Jehovah is Peace.« (Jehovah-shalom) It is still standing at Ophrah and belongs to the clan of Abiezer.

¹⁶ The angel replied: »If I stay I will not eat your food. But if you want to prepare it, burn it as an offering to Jehovah.« ¹⁷ Manoah replied: »Tell us your name. We want to honor you when your words come true.« ¹⁸ The angel asked: »Why do you want to know my name? It is ‘Wonderful.’« (Isaiah 9:6) ¹⁹ So Manoah took a young goat and some grain, and offered them on the rock altar to Jehovah the God who works wonders. ²⁰ While the flames were going up from the altar, Manoah and his wife saw Jehovah’s angel go up toward heaven in the flames. They did not see the angel again. ²¹ Manoah knew then that the man was Jehovah’s angel. He and his wife fell on their faces to the ground. ²² Manoah told his wife: »We will die, for we have seen God (a God-like being)!«

⁶ The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the Hagrites; ⁷ Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;

⁹ In all their difficulty he was concerned, and he was the messenger who saved them. In his love and compassion he reclaimed (redeemed) them. He always held them and carried them in the past.

³ »Their ancestor Jacob held on to his brother's heel while the two of them were in their mother's womb. When Jacob became a man, he struggled with God. ⁴ He struggled with the angel and won. Jacob cried and pleaded with him. Jacob found him at Bethel, and he talked with him there. ⁵ »Jehovah is the God of Hosts. Jehovah is the name by which he is remembered.

⁸ »Jehovah of Hosts proclaims: ‘He sent me after glory! He sent me to the nations that plundered you. For he that touches you touches the pupil of his eye.’ ⁹ »Behold! I will shake my hand (power) over them, and they will be a spoil to those who served them.« Then you will know that Jehovah of Hosts has sent me.

¹ »Behold, I send my messenger! He will prepare the way before me. Seek Jehovah! He will suddenly come to his Temple along with the messenger of the covenant. He is one you desire, behold, he comes,« said Jehovah of Hosts.

¹⁸ No man has ever seen God. The only begotten God-like one who is closest to the Father (in the bosom of the Father) tells us about him. (Psalm 8:5)

³⁰ »At the end of forty years, Jehovah’s angel appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai in a flame of fire in a bush. (Exodus 3:3) ³¹ When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. He drew near to look at it and the voice of Jehovah came to him. ³² »He said: I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled and did not dare to look further. ³³ »Jehovah said: Take the sandals from your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground. (Exodus 3:5) ³⁴ »I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come to deliver them. Come, I will send you into Egypt. ³⁵ »This Moses whom they refused, saying: Who made you ruler and judge? God sent him to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶ »He brought them out. He showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. ³⁷ »This is the Moses that said to the children of Israel, your God will raise up a prophet like me from your brothers. ³⁸ »This one was with our father in the congregation in the wilderness. The angel spoke to him on Mount Sinai. He received the living oracles to give to us.

¹⁶ Only God has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light. No man has seen him, nor can see him. To him be honor and power forever. Amen.

¹⁹ God replied: »Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son! You will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as a long lasting covenant for his descendants after him.

³² Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, because she said: »Certainly, Jehovah has seen my misery. Now my husband will love me!« ³³ She became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said: »Certainly, Jehovah has heard that I am unloved. He has also given me this son.« She named him Simeon. ³⁴ She became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said: »Now at last my husband will become attached to me because I have given him three sons.« She named him Levi. ³⁵ Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said: »This time I will praise Jehovah.« So she named him Judah (Praise). Then she stopped having children.

⁵¹ Joseph named his firstborn son Manasseh, because God helped him forget all his troubles and all about his father’s family. ⁵² He named the second son Ephraim, because God made him fruitful in the land where he had suffered.

²³ Time went by and the king of Egypt died. The Israelites still groaned because they were slaves. So they cried out, and their cries for help went up to God. ²⁴ God heard their groaning. He remembered his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

⁷ Jehovah said: »I have seen how my people are suffering as slaves in Egypt. I have heard them beg for my help because of the way they are being mistreated. I feel sorry for them.

⁹ »My people have begged for my help. I have seen how cruel the Egyptians are to them.

²⁰ So it was that she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel. She explained: »I asked Jehovah for him.«

⁴¹ »Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

²⁴ Jehovah has not despised or been disgusted with the plight of the oppressed one. He has not hidden his face from that person. Jehovah heard when that oppressed person cried out to him for help.

¹⁴ Therefore Jehovah will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel (God with us).

²¹ »She will give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus (»Jehovah (YHWH) is salvation«), because he will save his people from their sins.« ²² All this happened so that what God spoke through the prophet came true: ²³ »The virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel,« which means: »God (God-like one) is with us.« (John 1:18)

¹³ »Have no fear Zechariah,« said the angel, »for God has heard your prayer. Your wife Elisabeth will have a son and his name will be John.

³¹ »You will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son. You will call his name Jesus.

⁶³ He asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, »His name is John.« They were all amazed.

²⁰ God was with the lad, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness and became an archer.

⁴⁰ »You will live by your sword. You will serve your brother. Soon you will become restless and break his yoke from your neck.«

¹² »An empty headed man can no more become wise than a wild donkey’s colt can be born a man.

⁵ »Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey? ⁶ »Whose home I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwelling? ⁷ »He scorns the tumult of the city. He does not heed the shouts of the driver. ⁸ »The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.

⁷ The angel of Jehovah found Hagar near a spring in the desert. It was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.

⁹ Then the angel of Jehovah told her: »Go back to your mistress and submit to her. ¹⁰ »I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.«

¹⁴ Abraham named that place »Jehovah Will Provide.« It is still said today: »It will be provided on the mountain of Jehovah.«

¹⁷ He was filled with reverence. He said: »This is an awesome place! Certainly, this is the house of God and the gateway to the heavens!«

⁴² »If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, out of respect for Isaac, had not been with me, you would have sent me away empty-handed by now. God has seen my misery and hard work. Last night he made it right!«

³⁰ Jacob named that place Peniel (Face of God), because he said: »I have seen God face to face, yet my life was saved.«

¹⁸ Then Moses said: Please show me your glory!« ¹⁹ Jehovah said: »I will make all my goodness pass in front of you. I will call out my name, JEHOVAH. I will be kind to anyone I want to. I will be merciful to anyone I want to.« ²⁰ But he said: »You cannot see my face, because no one may see me and live.« ²¹ Then Jehovah said: »Look, there is a place near me. Stand by this rocky cliff. ²² »When my glory passes by, I will put you in a crevice in the cliff and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ »Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back, but my face must not be seen.«

⁵ Jehovah came down in a cloud and stood with him as Moses called upon the name of Jehovah! ⁶ Jehovah then passed in front of him and called out: »I, Jehovah, am a God who is full of compassion and pity. I am not easily angered and show great love and faithfulness. ⁷ »I keep my promise for thousands of generations and forgive evil and sin. But I will not fail to punish children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their fathers.«

²⁴ Gideon built an altar to Jehovah there and named it: »Jehovah is Peace.« (Jehovah-shalom) It is still standing at Ophrah and belongs to the clan of Abiezer.

¹ ([Psalm of David]) O Jehovah, you have searched me and you know me. ² You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You understand my thought from afar. ³ You inspect my path and my lying down. You are intimately acquainted with my ways. ⁴ Even before I speak words from my tongue, behold, O Jehovah, You know it all. ⁵ You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid your hand upon me. ⁶ Knowing this is too wonderful for me! It is too high, I cannot attain to it. ⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? ⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in the grave, behold, you are there. ⁹ If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, ¹⁰ Even there your hand will lead me. Your right hand will lay hold of me. ¹¹ If I say: »Certainly the darkness will overwhelm me!« Then the light around me will be night. ¹² Even the darkness is not dark to you. And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to you.

²¹ The ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah. He ponders all his paths.

⁷ They turned back and came to En-mishpat (Kadesh), and subdued all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.

³¹ Therefore he called that place Beer-sheba, because there the two of them took an oath.

⁶² Isaac had come into the wilderness of »The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.« He was staying in the southern part of Canaan.

¹¹ After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac. Isaac lived by Beer-lahai-roi. (The Well of the Living One, My Beholder).

²⁶ They returned to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of Israel at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. They gave their report and showed them the fruit from the land.

¹¹ Jehovah’s angel also said: »You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael (means: God hears). Jehovah has heard of your misery.

¹⁸ Abraham said to God: »If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!«

²⁵ His son Ishmael was thirteen. ²⁶ Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day.

⁹ Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was laughing in mockery. ¹⁰ She said to Abraham: »Get rid of that slave woman and her son.« ¹¹ This upset Abraham because of his son Ishmael. ¹² God said to Abraham: »Do not be upset about the boy and your slave. Listen to what Sarah says, because through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name. ¹³ »I will make the slave’s son into a nation also, because he is your child.« ¹⁴ Early the next morning Abraham took bread and a container of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder. He also gave her the boy and sent her on her way. So she left and wandered around in the desert near Beer-sheba. ¹⁵ When the water in the skin was used up, she left the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ She sat across from him at a distance. She thought: »I cannot watch the boy die.« She sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷ God heard the lad crying. The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her: »What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear! God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. ¹⁸ »Arise, lift up the lad. Hold him by the hand. I will make him a great nation.« ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes. She saw a well of water. She filled the skin with water and gave the lad a drink. ²⁰ God was with the lad, and he grew. 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.

⁹ His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre.

¹² This is the genealogy of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham.

²⁷ »Let us sell him to the Ishmaelites. Let us not hurt him, because he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.« His brothers agreed.

²⁸ The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael.

²² It is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman, and one by the freewoman. ²³ How is it that the son by the slave woman is born after the flesh; but the son by the freewoman is born through promise?