Genesis 20; Genesis 21; Genesis 22; Matthew 6:19-34

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Genesis 20

1 Abraham left Hebron and traveled to south- ern Canaan where he stayed awhile between Kadesh and Shur. When he moved to Gerar,

2 he told people that his wife Sarah was his sister. Abimelech king of Gerar heard this, so he sent some servants to take her.

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

4 But Abimelech had not gone near Sarah, so he said, "Lord, would you destroy an innocent nation?

5 Abraham himself told me, 'This woman is my sister,' and she also said, 'He is my brother.' I am innocent. I did not know I was doing anything wrong."

6 Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, "Yes, I know you did not realize what you were doing. So I did not allow you to sin against me and touch her.

7 Give Abraham his wife back. He is a prophet. He will pray for you, and you will not die. But if you do not give Sarah back, you and all your family will surely die."

8 So early the next morning, Abimelech called all his officers and told them everything that had happened in the dream. They were very afraid.

9 Then Abimelech called Abraham to him and said, "What have you done to us? What wrong did I do against you? Why did you bring this trouble to my kingdom? You should not have done these things to me.

10 What were you thinking that caused you to do this?"

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

12 And it is true that she is my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but she is not the daughter of my mother.

13 When God told me to leave my father's house and wander in many different places, I told Sarah, 'You must do a special favor for me. Everywhere we go tell people I am your brother.'"

14 Then Abimelech gave Abraham some sheep, cattle, and male and female slaves. He also gave Sarah, Abraham's wife, back to him

15 and said, "Look around you at my land. You may live anywhere you want."

16 Abimelech said to Sarah, "I gave your brother Abraham twenty-five pounds of silver to make up for any wrong that people may think about you. I want everyone to know that you are innocent."

17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his servant girls so they could have children.

18 The Lord had kept all the women in Abimelech's house from having children as a punishment on Abimelech for taking Abraham's wife Sarah.

Genesis 21

1 The Lord cared for Sarah as he had said and did for her what he had promised.

2 Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. Everything happened at the time God had said it would.

3 Abraham named his son Isaac, the son Sarah gave birth to.

4 He circumcised Isaac when he was eight days old as God had commanded.

5 Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born.

6 And Sarah said, "God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.

7 No one thought that I would be able to have Abraham's child, but even though Abraham is old I have given him a son."

8 Isaac grew, and when he became old enough to eat food, Abraham gave a great feast.

9 But Sarah saw Ishmael making fun of Isaac. (Ishmael was the son of Abraham by Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian slave.)

10 So Sarah said to Abraham, "Throw out this slave woman and her son. Her son should not inherit anything; my son Isaac should receive it all."

11 This troubled Abraham very much because Ishmael was also his son.

12 But God said to Abraham, "Don't be troubled about the boy and the slave woman. Do whatever Sarah tells you. The descendants I promised you will be from Isaac.

13 I will also make the descendants of Ishmael into a great nation because he is your son, too."

14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a leather bag full of water. He gave them to Hagar and sent her away. Carrying these things and her son, Hagar went and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.

15 Later, when all the water was gone from the bag, Hagar put her son under a bush.

16 Then she went away a short distance and sat down. She thought, "My son will die, and I cannot watch this happen." She sat there and began to cry.

17 God heard the boy crying, and God's angel called to Hagar from heaven. He said, "What is wrong, Hagar? Don't be afraid! God has heard the boy crying there.

18 Help him up and take him by the hand. I will make his descendants into a great nation."

19 Then God showed Hagar a well of water. So she went to the well and filled her bag with water and gave the boy a drink.

20 God was with the boy as he grew up. Ishmael lived in the desert and became an archer.

21 He lived in the Desert of Paran, and his mother found a wife for him in Egypt.

22 Then Abimelech came with Phicol, the commander of his army, and said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do.

23 So make a promise to me here before God that you will be fair with me and my children and my descendants. Be kind to me and to this land where you have lived as a stranger -- as kind as I have been to you."

24 And Abraham said, "I promise."

25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about Abimelech's servants who had seized a well of water.

26 But Abimelech said, "I don't know who did this. You never told me about this before today."

27 Then Abraham gave Abimelech some sheep and cattle, and they made an agreement.

28 Abraham also put seven female lambs in front of Abimelech.

29 Abimelech asked Abraham, "Why did you put these seven female lambs by themselves?"

30 Abraham answered, "Accept these lambs from me to prove that you believe I dug this well."

31 So that place was called Beersheban because they made a promise to each other there.

32 After Abraham and Abimelech made the agreement at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, went back to the land of the Philistines.

33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba and prayed to the Lord, the God who lives forever.

34 And Abraham lived as a stranger in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

Genesis 22

1 After these things God tested Abraham's faith. God said to him, "Abraham!" And he answered, "Here I am."

2 Then God said, "Take your only son, Isaac, the son you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Kill him there and offer him as a whole burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

3 Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. He took Isaac and two servants with him. After he cut the wood for the sacrifice, they went to the place God had told them to go.

4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

5 He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey. My son and I will go over there and worship, and then we will come back to you."

6 Abraham took the wood for the sacrifice and gave it to his son to carry, but he himself took the knife and the fire. So he and his son went on together.

7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!" Abraham answered, "Yes, my son." Isaac said, "We have the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb we will burn as a sacrifice?"

8 Abraham answered, "God will give us the lamb for the sacrifice, my son." So Abraham and his son went on together

9 and came to the place God had told him about. Abraham built an altar there. He laid the wood on it and then tied up his son Isaac and laid him on the wood on the altar.

10 Then Abraham took his knife and was about to kill his son.

11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham! Abraham!" Abraham answered, "Yes."

12 The angel said, "Don't kill your son or hurt him in any way. Now I can see that you trust God and that you have not kept your son, your only son, from me."

13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a male sheep caught in a bush by its horns. So Abraham went and took the sheep and killed it. He offered it as a whole burnt offering to God, and his son was saved.

14 So Abraham named that place The Lord Provides. Even today people say, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided."

15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time

16 and said, "The Lord says, 'Because you did not keep back your son, your only son, from me, I make you this promise by my own name:

17 I will surely bless you and give you many descendants. They will be as many as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, and they will capture the cities of their enemies.

18 Through your descendants all the nations on the earth will be blessed, because you obeyed me.'"

19 Then Abraham returned to his servants. They all traveled back to Beersheba, and Abraham stayed there.

20 After these things happened, someone told Abraham: "Your brother Nahor and his wife Milcah have children now.

21 The first son is Uz, and the second is Buz. The third son is Kemuel (the father of Aram).

22 Then there are Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel."

23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah was the mother of these eight sons, and Nahor, Abraham's brother, was the father.

24 Also Nahor had four other sons by his slave woman Reumah. Their names were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Matthew 6:19-34

19 "Don't store treasures for yourselves here on earth where moths and rust will destroy them and thieves can break in and steal them.

20 But store your treasures in heaven where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them.

21 Your heart will be where your treasure is.

22 "The eye is a light for the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.

23 But if your eyes are evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. And if the only light you have is really darkness, then you have the worst darkness.

24 "No one can serve two masters. The person will hate one master and love the other, or will follow one master and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and worldly riches.

25 "So I tell you, don't worry about the food or drink you need to live, or about the clothes you need for your body. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes.

26 Look at the birds in the air. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. And you know that you are worth much more than the birds.

27 You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.

28 "And why do you worry about clothes? Look at how the lilies in the field grow. They don't work or make clothes for themselves.

29 But I tell you that even Solomon with his riches was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers.

30 God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today but tomorrow is thrown into the fire. So you can be even more sure that God will clothe you. Don't have so little faith!

31 Don't worry and say, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?'

32 The people who don't know God keep trying to get these things, and your Father in heaven knows you need them.

33 The thing you should want most is God's kingdom and doing what God wants. Then all these other things you need will be given to you.

34 So don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own.