1-3 The Lord was kind to Sarah and she found out that she was going to have a baby. Then, at the right time, the baby that the Lord promised to Sarah was born.[a] And so Sarah gave that old man Abraham a son. And Abraham named the baby Isaac which means Laughing. 4 Abraham remembered his side of the promise he made with God. And so when Isaac was 8 days old, Abraham did the young men's[b] operation on Isaac to show that Isaac belonged to God.[c]

5 Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. 6 Sarah said, “God has given me a chance to laugh now, and everyone who hears my story will laugh and be happy with me.” 7 Then she said, “We are so old that no one thought that Abraham and I could ever have a baby. But now we have a son.”

8 Isaac grew and on the day he stopped just having milk and started to eat food, Abraham gave a big party.

9-10 One day Sarah saw Ishmael and Isaac playing together. And she started to worry that Hagar's son Ishmael would get a share of everything after Abraham died. So she said to Abraham, “When you die, my son Isaac must get everything you own. Hagar's son must not get anything. Send him and his mother away from here.”[d]

11 Abraham was really upset by Sarah's words, you see, Ishmael was his son too. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not worry about Ishmael. It is ok. I will look after him and his mother.[e] You should listen to Sarah and do what she says. Remember that I promised you a family. That family will come from Isaac, not Ishmael. 13 I will give Ishmael a family too. His family will grow into a nation. He is your son and that is why I will do good things for him.”

14 The next morning, Abraham got some food and a water bag. He put them on Hagar's shoulder and sent her and Ishmael out of the camp. Together they walked into the dry country called Beersheba. 15-16 They walked until there was no water left in the water bag. They stopped and Hagar left Ishmael under a tree, and then she went and sat by herself a long way off. She said to herself, “I cannot watch him die”, and she started to cry.

17-18 God heard the boy crying too and so he sent an angel from heaven to talk to Hagar. He said to her, “Why are you upset? God has heard Ishmael crying under that tree. Go and get your son, and do not be frightened. I promise you, a great nation will come from your son.” 19 Then God showed her where to find a waterhole. She filled the water bag and gave Ishmael a drink.

20-21 God kept Ishmael safe as he grew up in the dry country called Paran. He learned how to be a great hunter and later on Hagar got a wife for him from Egypt.

22 One day, Abimelek and the leader of his army called Fycol, came to talk to Abraham. It was Abimelek who had nearly married Sarah.[f]

Abimelek said to Abraham, “We know that God is very good to you and helps you with everything you do. 23 But, Abraham, you are not one of my people. You are a stranger living here in my country and I have been kind to you and to all your people. And so, I want you to be kind to me and to all my people. And I want you to promise me that you will never try to trick me, or the family that comes after me. And I want you to say, ‘God, punish me if I break this promise.’ ” 24 Abraham said, “Abimelek, I promise to do the right thing to you and to your family. And I say, ‘God, I want you to punish me if I break my promise to Abimelek’.”

25 Then Abraham said to Abimelek, “We have just promised to be good friends, but I have a problem. Some of your people grabbed one of our waterholes, and then stopped us from getting any water from it.”

26 Abimelek said, “I do not know who did this. Why didn't you tell me before now?”

27 Abraham went to his camp and picked some sheep and cows and took them back to the meeting. He gave the animals to Abimelek and the 2 men made strong promises to each other again.

28 Abraham picked 7 girl lambs and put them to one side. 29 Abimelek asked, “Why did you put these 7 girl lambs to one side. What does it mean?”

30 Abraham answered, “I want to give you these lambs as a present. When people see you take these sheep from me they will know that you and I agree that I dug this waterhole.” 31 From that time on, that place was called Beersheba. You see in that language it means Promise Waterhole, and it was where Abraham and Abimelek made strong promises to each other.

32 Then Abimelek and Fycol, the leader of his army, went back home to the country where the Philistines lived. 33 Abraham planted a Tamarisk tree in Beersheba. He did this to mark the place where he prayed and showed respect to the one true God who lives forever. 34 Abraham and all his people lived in the land that belonged to the Philistines for a very long time. But they were always strangers in that country.

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