Study Desk

Then God led Abram outside and said, "Look at the sky. See the many stars. There are so many you cannot count them. Your family will be like that."

But Abram said, "Lord God , how can I be sure that I will get this land?"

God said to Abram, "We will make an agreement. Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old ram, a dove, and a young pigeon."

Abram brought all these to God. Abram killed these animals and cut each of them into two pieces. Then he laid each half across from the other half. He did not cut the birds into two pieces.

The Lord talked to Hagar. She began to use a new name for God. She said to him, "You are ‘God Who Sees Me.'" She said this because she thought, "I see that even in this place God sees me and cares for me!"

When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him. He said, "I am God All-Powerful. Obey me and live the right way.

Then Abram bowed down before God. God said to him,

And I will prepare an agreement between me and you. This agreement will also be for all your descendants. It will continue forever. I will be your God and the God of all your descendants.

And I will give this land to you and to all your descendants. I will give you the land you are traveling through—the land of Canaan. I will give you this land forever, and I will be your God."

Then God said to Abraham, "Now, this is your part of the agreement: You and all your descendants will obey my agreement.

God said to Abraham, "I will give Sarai, your wife, a new name. Her new name will be Sarah.

Abraham bowed his face to the ground to show he respected God. But he laughed and said to himself, "I am 100 years old. I cannot have a son, and Sarah is 90 years old. She cannot have a child."

Then Abraham said to God, "I hope Ishmael will live and serve you."

God said, "No, I said that your wife Sarah will have a son. You will name him Isaac. I will make my agreement with him that will continue forever with all his descendants.

After God finished talking with Abraham, God went up into heaven.

Then Abraham gathered together Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house. He also gathered all the slaves he had bought. Every man and boy in Abraham's house was gathered together, and they were all circumcised. Abraham circumcised them that day, just as God had told him to do.

God destroyed the cities in the valley, but he remembered what Abraham had said. So God sent Lot away from those cities before destroying them.

But one night God spoke to Abimelech in a dream and said, "You will die. The woman you took is married."

Then God said to Abimelech in a dream, "Yes, I know that you are innocent and that you did not know what you were doing. I saved you. I did not allow you to sin against me. I was the one who did not allow you to sleep with her.

Then Abraham said, "I thought no one in this place respected God. I thought someone would kill me to get Sarah.