The victorious invaders then plundered Sodom and Gomorrah and began their long journey home, taking all the wealth and food with them. They also captured Lot--Abram's nephew who lived in Sodom--and took everything he owned.
One of the men who escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was camped at the oak grove belonging to Mamre the Amorite. Mamre and his relatives, Eshcol and Aner, were Abram's allies. When Abram learned that Lot had been captured, he called together the men born into his household, of them in all.
He chased after Kedorlaomer's army until he caught up with them in Dan. There he divided his men and attacked during the night from several directions. Kedorlaomer's army fled, but Abram chased them to Hobah, north of Damascus. Abram and his allies recovered everything--the goods that had been taken, Abram's nephew Lot with his possessions, and all the women and other captives.
As Abram returned from his victory over Kedorlaomer and his allies, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the valley of Shaveh that is, the King's Valley.
And blessed be God Most High, who has helped you conquer your enemies. The king of Sodom told him, "Give back my people who were captured. But you may keep for yourself all the goods you have recovered. Otherwise you might say, 'I am the one who made Abram rich! But give a share of the goods to my allies--Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Your descendants will be like that--too many to count! He cut each one down the middle and laid the halves side by side.
He did not, however, divide the birds in half. Some vultures came down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away. That evening, as the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep. He saw a terrifying vision of darkness and horror. Then the LORD told Abram, "You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, and they will 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5.
Since I don't have a son, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. You have given me no children, so one of my servants will have to be my heir. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. But you will die in peace, at a ripe old age. After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, when the sin of the Amorites has run its course.
So the LORD made a covenant with Abram that day and said, "I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River-the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 19 18 17 16 15 Perhaps I can have children through her.
This happened ten years after Abram first arrived in the land of Canaan. So Abram slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress Sarai with contempt. Then Sarai said to Abram, "It's all your fault! Now this servant of mine is pregnant, and she despises me, though I myself gave her the privilege of sleeping with you. The LORD will make you pay for doing this to me!
The angel said to her, "Hagar, Sarai's servant, where have you come from, and where are you going? And the angel also said, "You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son.
This son of yours will be a wild one-free and untamed as a wild donkey! He will be against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live at odds with the rest of his brothers.
So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old at that time. What's more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram; now you will be known as Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. I will give you millions of descendants who will represent many nations. Kings will be among them! It will continue between me and your offspring forever.
And I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. Yes, I will give all this land of Canaan to you and to your offspring forever. And I will be their God. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised; the flesh of his foreskin must be cut off.
This will be a sign that you and they have accepted this covenant. Every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family, but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased.
All must be circumcised. Your bodies will thus bear the mark of my everlasting covenant. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to make you into a mighty nation. Then God said to him, "This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of not just one nation, but a multitude of nations! Anyone who refuses to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for violating the covenant. And I will bless her and give you a son from her!
Yes, I will bless her richly, and she will become the mother of many nations. Kings will be among her descendants! You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my everlasting covenant with him and his descendants.
As for Ishmael, I will bless him also, just as you have asked. I will cause him to multiply and become a great nation. Twelve princes will be among his descendants.
But my covenant is with Isaac, who will be born to you and Sarah about this time next year. On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and every other male in his household and circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins, exactly as God had told him.
Abraham was ninety-nine years old at that time, 25 One day about noon, as Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent, he suddenly noticed three men standing nearby. He got up and ran to meet them, welcoming them by bowing low to the ground. Rest in the shade of this tree while my servants get some water to wash your feet. Let me prepare some food to refresh you. Please stay awhile before continuing on your journey. So Abraham ran back to the tent and said to Sarah, "Quick!
Get three measures of your best flour, and bake some bread. When the food was ready, he took some cheese curds and milk and the roasted meat, and he served it to the men. As they ate, Abraham waited on them there beneath the trees. Then one of them said, "About this time next year I will return, and your wife Sarah will have a son.
And since Abraham and Sarah were both very old, and Sarah was long past the age of having children, she laughed silently to herself. Why did she say, 'Can an old woman like me have a baby? About a year from now, just as I told you, I will return, and Sarah will have a son.
Sarah was afraid, so she denied that she had laughed. But he said, "That is not true. You did laugh. Abraham went with them part of the way. I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the LORD and do what is right and just. Then I will do for him all that I have promised. I am going down to see whether or not these reports are true.
Then I will know. Abraham approached him and said, "Will you destroy both innocent and guilty alike? Suppose you find fifty innocent people there within the city--will you still destroy it, and not spare it for their sakes? Surely you wouldn't do such a thing, destroying the innocent with the guilty. Why, you would be treating the innocent and the guilty exactly the same!
Surely you wouldn't do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right? Suppose there are only forty-five? Will you destroy the city for lack of five? Suppose only ten are found there? That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom, and Lot was sitting there as they arrived. When he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed low to the ground. You may then get up in the morning as early as you like and be on your way again.
He set a great feast before them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast. After the meal, as they were preparing to retire for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house.
They shouted to Lot, "Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out so we can have sex with them. Look--I have two virgin daughters. Do with them as you wish, but leave these men alone, for they are under my protection. We let you settle among us, and now you are trying to tell us what to do! We'll treat you far worse than those other men! But the two angels reached out and pulled Lot in and bolted the door. Then they blinded the men of Sodom so they couldn't find the doorway.
For we will destroy the city completely. The stench of the place has reached the LORD, and he has sent us to destroy it. The LORD is going to destroy it.
At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. Get out of here right now, or you will be caught in the destruction of the city. And don't look back! Escape to the mountains, or you will die.
But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die. See, there is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead; don't you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved. I will not destroy that little village.
But hurry! For I can do nothing until you are there. The sun was rising as Lot reached the village. He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, eliminating all life--people, plants, and animals alike. But Lot's wife looked back as she was following along behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
The next morning Abraham was up early and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the LORD's presence. He looked out across the plain to Sodom and Gomorrah and saw columns of smoke and fumes, as from a furnace, rising from the cities there. But God had listened to Abraham's request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain. Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters.
One day the older daughter said to her sister, "There isn't a man anywhere in this entire area for us to marry. And our father will soon be too old to have children. Come, let's get him drunk with wine, and then we will sleep with him.
That way we will preserve our family line through our father. He was unaware of her lying down or getting up again. The next morning the older daughter said to her younger sister, "I slept with our father last night.
Let's get him drunk with wine again tonight, and you go in 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 That way our family line will be preserved. As before, he was unaware of her lying down or getting up again. So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.
When the older daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moab. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Moabites. When the younger daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Ben-ammi. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Ammonites.
Negev and settled for a while between Kadesh and Shur at a place called Gerar. Abraham told people there that his wife, Sarah, was his sister. So King Abimelech sent for her and had her brought to him at his palace.
But one night God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, "You are a dead man, for that woman you took is married. Abraham told me, 'She is my sister,' and she herself said, 'Yes, he is my brother.
Now return her to her husband, and he will pray for you, for he is a prophet. Then you will live. But if you don't return her to him, you can be sure that you and your entire household will die. When he told them what had happened, great fear swept through the crowd. Then Abimelech called for Abraham. This kind of thing should not be done!
Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen and servants--both men and women-and gave them to Abraham, and he returned his wife, Sarah, to him. Then he turned to Sarah. This will settle any claim against me in this matter. Then the LORD did exactly what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant, and she gave a son to Abraham in his old age.
It all happened at the time God had said it would. I thought, 'They will want my wife and will kill me to get her. When God sent me to travel far from my father's home, I told her, 'Wherever we go, have the kindness to say that you are my sister. Eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded. Abraham was one hundred years old at the time. And Sarah declared, "God has brought me laughter! All who hear about this will laugh with me. For who would have dreamed that I would ever have a baby?
Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age! So she turned to Abraham and demanded, "Get rid of that servant and her son. He is not going to share the family inheritance with my son, Isaac. I won't have it!
When the water was gone, she left the boy in the shade of a bush. Then she went and sat down by herself about a hundred yards away. Then God heard the boy's cries, and the angel of God called to Hagar from the sky, "Hagar, what's wrong?
Do not be afraid! God has heard the boy's cries from the place where you laid him. Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants. She immediately filled her water container and gave the boy a drink. And God was with the boy as he grew up in the wilderness of Paran.
He became an expert archer, and his mother arranged a marriage for him with a young woman from Egypt. About this time, Abimelech came with Phicol, his army commander, to visit Abraham. I have been loyal to you, so now swear that you will be loyal to me and to this country in which you are living. But God told Abraham, "Do not be upset over the boy and your servant wife. Do just as Sarah says, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted. But I will make a nation of the descendants of Hagar's son because he also is your son.
He sent her away with their son, and she walked out into the wilderness of Beersheba, wandering aimlessly. Abraham replied, "All right, I swear to it! Why didn't you say something about this before? But when Abraham took seven additional ewe lambs and set them off by themselves, Abimelech asked, "Why are you doing that? After making their covenant, Abimelech left with Phicol, the commander of his army, and they returned home to the land of the Philistines. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will point out to you.
He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son Isaac. Then he chopped wood to build a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place where God had told him to go. On the third day of the journey, Abraham saw the place in the distance.
We will worship there, and then we will come right back. As the two of them went on together, Isaac said, "Father? And they both went on together. When they arrived at the place where God had told Abraham to go, he built an altar and placed the wood on it. Then he tied Isaac up and laid him on the altar over the wood. You have not withheld even your beloved son from me.
So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering on the altar in place of his son. I will multiply your descendants into countless millions, like the stars of the sky and the sand on 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 They will conquer their enemies, and through your descendants, all the nations of the earth will be blessed--all because you have obeyed me.
Soon after this, Abraham heard that Milcah, his brother Nahor's wife, had borne Nahor eight sons. In addition to his eight sons from Milcah, Nahor had four other children from his concubine Reumah.
Their names were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah. There Abraham mourned and wept for her. Then, leaving her body, he went to the Hittite elders and said, 3 2. Please let me have a piece of land for a burial plot. Go ahead and bury your dead. He bought the plot of land belonging to Ephron at Machpelah, near Mamre. This included the field, the cave that was in it, and all the trees nearby. They became Abraham's permanent possession by the agreement made in the presence of the Hittite elders at the city gate.
The field and the cave were sold to Abraham by the Hittites as a permanent burial place. It will be a privilege to have you choose the finest of our tombs so you can bury her there. I want to pay the full price, of course, whatever is publicly agreed upon, so I may have a permanent burial place for my family. I will give you the cave and the field.
Here in the presence of my people, I give it to you. Go and bury your dead. Let me pay the full price for the field so I can bury my dead there. Abraham was now a very old man, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. One day Abraham said to the man in charge of his household, who was his oldest servant, "Swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not let my son marry one of these local Canaanite women.
Go instead to my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son Isaac. May I then take Isaac there to live among your relatives?
For the LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my offspring. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a young woman there to be my son's wife. If she is unwilling to come back with you, then you are free from this oath. But under no circumstances are you to take my son there. He loaded ten of Abraham's camels with gifts and set out, taking with him the best of everything his master owned.
He traveled to Aram-naharaim and went to the village where Abraham's brother Nahor had settled. There the servant made the camels kneel down beside a well just outside the village. It was evening, and the women were coming out to draw water.
See, here I am, standing beside this spring, and the young women of the village are coming out to draw water. This is my request. I will ask one of them for a drink. If she says, 'Yes, certainly, and I will water your camels, too! By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master. Her father was Bethuel, who was the son of Abraham's brother Nahor and his wife, Milcah.
Now Rebekah was very beautiful, and she was a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up again. Running over to her, the servant asked, "Please give me a drink. When he had finished, she said, "I'll draw water for your camels, too, until they have had enough! She kept carrying water to the camels until they had finished drinking.
The servant watched her in silence, wondering whether or not she was the one the LORD intended him to meet. Then at last, when the camels had finished drinking, he gave her a gold ring for her nose and two large gold bracelets for her wrists. Yes, we have plenty of straw and food for the camels, and we have a room for guests.
Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban. When he saw the nose-ring and the bracelets on his sister's wrists, and when he heard her story, he rushed out to the spring, where the man was still standing beside his camels.
Laban said to him, 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 Why do you stand here outside the village when we have a room all ready for you and a place prepared for the camels! Then supper was served. But Abraham's servant said, "I don't want to eat until I have told you why I have come. The LORD has given him flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, a fortune in silver and gold, and many servants and camels and donkeys. When Sarah, my master's wife, was very old, she gave birth to my master's son, and my master has given him everything he owns.
And my master made me swear that I would not let Isaac marry one of the local Canaanite women. Instead, I was to come to his relatives here in this far-off land, to his father's home. I was told to bring back a young woman from here to marry his son. Yes, you must get a wife for my son from among my relatives, from my father's family. But if you go to my relatives and they refuse to let her come, you will be free from your oath.
Here I am, standing beside this spring. I will say to some young woman who comes to draw water, "Please give me a drink of water! And I'll water your camels, too! She went down to the spring and drew water and filled the jug. So I said to her, 'Please give me a drink. When I asked her whose daughter she was, she told me, 'My father is Bethuel, the son of Nahor and his wife, Milcah.
I praised the LORD, the God of my master, Abraham, because he had led me along the right path to find a wife from the family of my master's relatives. So tell me--will you or won't you show true kindness to my master? When you tell me, then I'll know what my next step should be, whether to move this way or that. Here is Rebekah; take her and go. Yes, let her be the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has directed.
Then he brought out silver and gold jewelry and lovely clothing for Rebekah. He also gave valuable presents to her mother and brother. Then they had supper, and the servant and the men with him stayed there overnight.
But early the next morning, he said, "Send me back to my master. But he said, "Don't hinder my return. And she replied, "Yes, I will go. The woman who had been Rebekah's childhood nurse went along with her. They blessed her with this blessing as she parted: "Our sister, may you become the mother of many millions!
May your descendants overcome all their enemies. Meanwhile, Isaac, whose home was in the Negev, had returned from Beerlahairoi. One evening as he was taking a walk out in the fields, meditating, he looked up and saw the camels coming. When Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, she quickly dismounted. And he replied, "It is my 65 64 63 62 61 60 59 58 Then the servant told Isaac the whole story. And Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother's tent, and she became his wife. He loved her very much, and she was a special comfort to him after the death of his mother.
Jokshan's two sons were Sheba and Dedan. Dedan's descendants were the Asshurites, Letushites, and Leummites. These were all descendants of Abraham through Keturah. Abraham left everything he owned to his son Isaac. But before he died, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them off to the east, away from Isaac.
His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre, 9. This was the field Abraham had purchased from the Hittites, where he had buried his wife Sarah. After Abraham's death, God poured out rich blessings on Isaac, who settled near Beer-lahairoi in the Negev.
This is the history of the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham through Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian servant. Here is a list, by their names and clans, of Ishmael's descendants: The oldest was Nebaioth, followed by Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 13 12 11 When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddanaram and the sister of Laban. But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the LORD about it. One nation will be stronger than the other; the descendants of your older son will serve the descendants of your younger son.
The first was very red at birth. He was covered with so much hair that one would think he was wearing a piece of clothing. So they called him Esau. Then the other twin was born with his hand grasping Esau's heel. So they called him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born. As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open fields, while Jacob was the kind of person who liked to stay at home.
Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These twelve sons of Ishmael became the founders of twelve tribes that bore their names, listed according to the places they settled and camped.
Ishmael finally died at the age of and joined his ancestors in death. Ishmael's descendants were scattered across the country from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt in the direction of Asshur. The clans descended from Ishmael camped close to one another. This is the history of the family of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Isaac loved Esau in particular because of the wild game he brought home, but Rebekah favored Jacob.
One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home exhausted and hungry from a hunt. Esau said to Jacob, "I'm starved! Give me some of that red stew you've made. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate and drank and went on about his business, indifferent to the fact that he had given up his birthright. Do as I say, and stay here in this land. If you do, I will be with you and bless you.
I will give all this land to you and your descendants, just as I solemnly promised Abraham, your father. I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars, and I will give them all these lands. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed. I will do this because Abraham listened to me and obeyed all my requirements, commands, regulations, and laws. And when the men there asked him about Rebekah, he said, "She is my sister. Please help and thank-you very much.
In my opinion, the Bible is distorted and Jesus is never the Son of God and will not be. The distortions of the Old Testament and the New Testament are certain.
I am from China. I downloaded the Chinese version. I tryed to open the pdf using Adobe Acrobat DC. But all I see is white spaces, no Chinese Characters. Can anyone help me with this problem?
Thanks a lot. My email: [email protected]. I thank God for you and your team. Making the Word free will add value to so many lives. My Sunday School teaching is now very easy. I will no longer depend on the Audio version or the voice others reading for me as I am visually impaired.
May God richly Bless you and the fruit of your labour. I am old and lonely. I get depressed. The book has been awarded with , and many others. Please note that the tricks or techniques listed in this pdf are either fictional or claimed to work by its creator. We do not guarantee that these techniques will work for you. Some of the techniques listed in Holy Bible: New Living Translation may require a sound knowledge of Hypnosis, users are advised to either leave those sections or must have a basic understanding of the subject before practicing them.
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