Study Desk

When God heard the boy crying, the angel of God called out to Hagar from heaven and said, "Hagar, why are you worried? Don't be afraid. I have heard your son crying.

Then God let her see a well. So she went to the well and filled the skin with water, then gave some to her son.

God blessed Ishmael, and as the boy grew older, he became an expert with his bow and arrows. He lived in the Paran Desert, and his mother chose an Egyptian woman for him to marry.

About this time Abimelech and his army commander Phicol said to Abraham, "God blesses everything you do!

Now I want you to promise in the name of God that you will always be loyal to me and my descendants, just as I have always been loyal to you in this land where you have lived as a foreigner."

Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and worshiped the eternal Lord God.

Some years later God decided to test Abraham, so he spoke to him. Abraham answered, "Here I am, Lord ."

So Abraham got up early the next morning and chopped wood for the fire. He put a saddle on his donkey and left with Isaac and two servants for the place where God had told him to go.

Isaac said, "Father, we have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?" "My son," Abraham answered, "God will provide the lamb." The two of them walked on, and

when they reached the place that God had told him about, Abraham built an altar and placed the wood on it. Next, he tied up his son and put him on the wood.

"Don't hurt the boy or harm him in any way!" the angel said. "Now I know that you truly obey God, because you were willing to offer him your only son."

The servant prayed: You, Lord , are the God my master Abraham worships. Please keep your promise to him and let me find a wife for Isaac today.

"I thank you, Lord God of my master Abraham! You have led me to his relatives and kept your promise to him."

When I came to the well today, I silently prayed, "You, Lord , are the God my master Abraham worships, so please lead me to a wife for his son

Then I bowed my head and gave thanks to the God my master Abraham worships. The Lord had led me straight to my master's relatives, and I had found a wife for his son.

They gave Rebekah their blessing and said, "We pray that God will give you many children and grandchildren and that he will help them defeat their enemies."

God blessed Isaac after this, and Isaac moved to a place called "The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me."

where the Lord appeared to him that night and told him, "Don't be afraid! I am the God who was worshiped by your father Abraham, my servant. I will be with you and bless you, and because of Abraham I will give you many descendants."

Isaac asked, "My son, how did you find an animal so quickly?" "The Lord your God was kind to me," Jacob answered.

God will bless you, my son, with dew from heaven and with fertile fields, rich with grain and grapes.