Sarah gives birth to Isaac
1 The Lord was kind to Sarah. He did what he had promised to do for her. 2 Sarah became pregnant. She gave birth to a son for Abraham when he was very old. This happened at the time that God promised Abraham it would happen.
3 Abraham called his son ‘Isaac’. This was the son that Sarah gave birth to. 4 When Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had told him to do. 5 Abraham was 100 years old when his son, Isaac, was born.
6 Sarah said, ‘Now God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears about what has happened will be happy with me.’ 7 She also said, ‘Nobody would ever have said to Abraham that I would feed a child at my breasts. But I have given birth to a son for him, even when he is old.’
8 The child grew stronger, and he began to eat food. On that day, Abraham prepared a big party meal. 9 But Sarah saw that Ishmael was laughing at Isaac. (Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Hagar, the Egyptian servant.) 10 So Sarah said to Abraham, ‘Send that slave woman and her son away from here. Ishmael must never receive any of our family's things. Everything must belong to my own son, Isaac.’ 11 This made Abraham very sad, because Ishmael was his own son.
12 God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be upset about Ishmael or about Hagar. Do whatever Sarah tells you. Your family's descendants will come through Isaac, not Ishmael. 13 But because Ishmael is also your son, I will make his descendants become a great nation of people too.’
14 Abraham woke up early the next morning. He took some food and some water in a bottle that was made from animal skin. He gave them to Hagar and he put them on her shoulders. Then he sent Hagar away, with their son, Ishmael. She went and she travelled through the desert near Beersheba. 15 After they had drunk all the water, Hagar put her son in the shade under a bush. 16 Then she went and sat down about 100 metres away from him. She thought, ‘I cannot watch the boy die.’ As she sat there, she began to cry.
17 Ishmael was crying and God heard him. The angel of God spoke to Hagar from heaven. He said, ‘What is the trouble, Hagar? Do not be afraid. God has heard the boy while he is crying there. 18 Go over to him and lift him up. Take hold of his hand and help him to stand. I will make him become a great nation of people.’
21:18God had already told this to Hagar, when she ran away from Sarah. See Genesis 16:10. 19 Then God helped Hagar to see clearly. She saw a well with water in it. She went to the well and she filled the bottle with water. She gave the boy some water to drink.
20 God took care of Ishmael while he grew. The boy lived in the wilderness. He became a hunter of wild animals. 21 He lived in the Paran wilderness. Hagar, his mother, found an Egyptian woman for him to marry.
