Study Desk

And the angel also said, "You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears'), for the Lord has heard your cry of distress.

She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would.

But God told Abraham, "Do not be upset over the boy and your servant. Do whatever Sarah tells you, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.

The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about.

"God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son," Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.

When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.

"Don't lay a hand on the boy!" the angel said. "Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son."

Swear by the Lord , the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women.

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 descendants. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son.

After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac, who settled near Beer-lahai-roi in the Negev.

Isaac asked, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" "The Lord your God put it in my path!" Jacob replied.

Then Joseph looked at his brother Benjamin, the son of his own mother. "Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?" Joseph asked. "May God be gracious to you, my son."

"Now hurry back to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me master over all the land of Egypt. So come down to me immediately!

His second son was named Eliezer, for Moses had said, "The God of my ancestors was my helper; he rescued me from the sword of Pharaoh.")

Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the Lord , the God of Israel, by telling the truth. Make your confession and tell me what you have done. Don't hide it from me."

A delegation from the tribe of Judah, led by Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb said to Joshua, "Remember what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, about you and me when we were at Kadesh-barnea.

Hebron still belongs to the descendants of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite because he wholeheartedly followed the Lord , the God of Israel.

One day she sent for Barak son of Abinoam, who lived in Kedesh in the land of Naphtali. She said to him, "This is what the Lord , the God of Israel, commands you: Call out 10,000 warriors from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun at Mount Tabor.

His companion answered, "Your dream can mean only one thing—God has given Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite, victory over Midian and all its allies!"

God also punished the men of Shechem for all their evil. So the curse of Jotham son of Gideon was fulfilled.