Table of Contents
1 Abraham went from there towards the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.
2 Abraham said of Sarah:
3 Enki came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him:
You are a dead man because the woman which you have taken is another man’s wife.
4 But Abimelech had not come near her. He said:
Enki, will you slay also a righteous nation?
5 Said he not unto me, She [is] my sister? and she, even she herself said, He [is] my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.
6 Enki said to him in a dream:
I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against me: therefore suffered I you not to touch her.
7 So restore the man his wife; for he [is] a prophet, and he shall pray for you, and you shalt live. If you restore [her] not, know you that you shalt surely die, thou, and all that [are] thine.
8 Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.
9 Then Abimelech called Abraham:
What have you done to us? What have I offended you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done things to me that should not be done.
10 What did you see that made you do this?
11 I thought that:
- the fear of Enki is not in this place
- they will slay me for my wife’s sake.
12 She is my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. She became my wife.
13 Enki caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her:
This is your kindness which you shall show to me. Everywhere we go, tell people that I am your brother.
14 Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.
15 My land is before you. Live wherever you want.
16 Sarah, I have given your brother 1,000 pieces of silver. He is to you a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with you, and with all others.
Thus she was reproved.
17 So Abraham prayed to Enki.
Enki healed Abimelech, his wife, and his maidservants. They bare children.
18 Enki had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.
Chapter 21
1 Enki visited Sarah as he had said, and did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
2 Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time when Enki had spoken to him.
3 Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
4 Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as Enki had commanded him.
5 Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born unto him.
9 Sarah saw Ishmael [the son of Hagar the Egyptian] mocking.
{21:10} So she said to Abraham:
Cast out Hagar and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, [even] with Isaac. {21:11}
The thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.
6 Enki has brought me laughter. Everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.
7 Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.
9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking.
10 So she said to Abraham:
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.
12 Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman.
Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.
13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.
14 Early the next morning, Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar.
He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.
16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought:
“I cannot watch the boy die.”
As she sat there, she began to sob.
17 Enki heard the boy crying. The agent of Enki called to Hagar from heaven and said to her:
“What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid. Enki has heard the boy crying as he lies there.
18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
19 Then Enki opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 Enki was with the boy as he grew up.
He lived in the desert and became an archer.
21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
The Treaty at Beersheba
22 At that time Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham:
“Enki is with you in everything you do. 23 Now swear to me here before Enki that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.”
24 Abraham said, “I swear it.”
25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelek about a well of water that Abimelek’s servants had seized. 26 But Abimelek said, “I don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today.”
27 So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek, and the two men made a treaty. 28 Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, 29 and Abimelek asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?”
30 He replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well.”
31 So that place was called Beersheba,[d] because the two men swore an oath there.
32 After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Eternal Enki. 34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.
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