Abraham - God’s Call and Covenant

Title ideas:God [tells Abraham to obey him and] makes a covenant to him.Abraham.God called Abraham to obey him.

[Before Abraham lived, God caused a flood/big water to kill all the rebellious people in the world.] [Then] God caused people to scatter [all over the world] by giving them many different languages. [About five generations] After that, a man named Abram traveled with his father and his family and their many animals [away] from their home in [near] Babylon.

Abram’s family travelled to a place called Haran. Abram's father died in Haran [after living for 205 years]. And it was in Haran that God spoke to Abram.

God told Abram, “Leave this country and go to a land that I will show you. I will give you many descendants there and I will cause your descendants [offspring] to become a large nation.

“I will bless you and cause you to become famous [highly honored]. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who do evil to you. And I will cause people groups [tribes / nations] all over the earth to receive blessing by [through / because of] you.”

So Abram did what God told him to do. He was 75 years old and he left his home in Haran and travelled far away to the land of Canaan.

Abram took his wife Sarai with him.Sarai was barren; she had never given children to Abram.

Abram also took his nephew [named] Lot when he travelled away from Haran.

And he took his many animals [belongings / possessions] and all his servants with him. They travelled for many months.

When Abram and his family arrived at the place [area / country] called Canaan, they camped [set up their tents to stay for a longer time].

Then the LORD God appeared to Abram, and said, “This is the land I am giving to you and your descendants [offspring].” (At that time other people were living in that land.)

So Abram piled stones together [to make an altar] and he sacrificed [killed and burned] an animal [a sheep or goat or cow] on the stones to say thank you to God. He worshipped the Lord God who had appeared to him.

Then Abram and his family travelled further south through Canaan.

At that time there was a bad famine [hunger] in Canaan. So Abram decided to go farther south to the land [country] called Egypt until the famine was finished.

In Egypt Abram was worried [afraid]. Abram’s wife Sarai was very beautiful, so Abram was worried that the King in Egypt might kill him so he could take her [for sex or to marry]. So Abram told his wife to say that she was his sister.

When they arrived in Egypt, the king’s officials brought Sarai to his big house [palace] so the king could have her like a wife.

The king gave Abram many animals [sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys, camels], and slaves to pay for Sarai.

But the Lord was not pleased that the king had taken another man's wife.

So the Lord caused terrible diseases to make sick the king and the other people living in his big house.

Then the king called Abram and rebuked him saying, “What you have done has caused me and my people to be very sick! You should not have lied to me about your wife! Now go! Take your wife and all you have and leave Egypt!”

The king gave Sarai back to Abram. Then the king [the king’s people] made Abram leave Egypt.

So Abram and Sarai (and Lot) travelled back to Canaan with all their servants and their possessions. Abram was very rich with many animals, and much money [silver and gold].

After a while Abram’s servants and Lot's servants [herders / those who took care of the animals] began to quarrel [argue; fight] because both of their masters [bosses/big men] had many animals [sheep and goats]. The land and grass was too little to support [feed] all the animals.

Abram said to Lot, “Our herdsmen [servants] should not be quarreling and fighting, because we are relatives. Instead, we should separate. You choose where you want to live, and I will go in another direction.”

Lot agreed. He chose to locate his family and animals in a beautiful valley where there was plenty of water. This was near the city called Sodom where many wicked people lived. Abram stayed up in the land of Canaan.

After Abram separated himself from Lot, then the Lord God spoke to Abram again. He said, “Look as far as you can in every direction. I will give all this land to you and your descendants forever. Walk through the land, because I am will give it to you.”

Sometime later, Abram had a vision in which the Lord God spoke to him, saying, “Abram, do not be afraid about anything [your enemies]. I will protect you. I will be your great reward.”

But Abram said, “O Sovereign [all powerful] Lord God, how can you give me what I truly want when [if] I do not have a son who will be my heir? Because you have given me no children, my servant will inherit all that I own.”

But God said to Abram, “No, your servant will not be your heir! You will have a son of your own to inherit everything I am giving you.”

Then the Lord took Abram outside the tent and said, “Abram, look up at the sky and count the stars if you can.

“That is how many descendants [offspring] you will have. I will give you so many descendants that you won't be able to count them just like you cannot count the stars.”

Abram believed that what God said would indeed happen. Because Abram believed him, the Lord God [Creator] declared [considered / caused] that Abram was a righteous man [and therefore able to have a close relationship with him].

Then the Lord God said, “I am the Lord, who brought you from Babylon to give you this land so you will possess it.”

But Abram said, “O Sovereign [all powerful] Lord God [Creator], how can I know for sure that this land will belong to me?”

So the Lord made a covenant with Abram promising the land to him and his descendants. God said to Abram, “Bring me a heifer [female cow who has never born a calf/baby], a female goat, a male sheep, a dove [bird] and a pigeon [bird].”

Then Abram brought the animals and cut each one into two pieces except for the birds. He arranged the halved animal bodies [carcasses] opposite each other [side by side] on the ground.

Abram waited. Vultures came down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.

As the sun was going down, Abram fell strongly asleep and suddenly everything around him became dark and frightening.

Then God told Abram, “You will die peacefully as a very old man.

“But, your descendants [offspring] will become oppressed slaves living in a foreign country [a land/country that belonged to others] for 400 years.

”But, after 400 years, I will punish the [people from the] nation that made them to be their slaves.

“Then, Abram, your descendants [offspring] will leave that country carrying great wealth [many possessions] with them. They will then return to Kanan and take control of this land.”

After the sun had set and it was very dark, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass [go/move/cut] [as if it was being carried] between the halves of the animal carcasses.

In this way the Lord confirmed his covenant and assured Abram that He would certainly give this land to his descendants [offspring][—all the land from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River.]

God had promised Abram very many descendants. But Abram was now 85 years old, and still he (and Sarai) had no children.

Then Abram and Sarai agreed on a plan to solve their problem [their barrenness]. Sarai gave her servant [maid] from Egypt to Abram to be to him like a second wife. She was called Hagar.

Abram was 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to a baby boy. Abram named him Ishmael. Abram thought that perhaps Ishmael was the child God had promised him.

But when Abram was 99 years old, God appeared to him again. He said, “I am the most [all] powerful God! Serve me faithfully and live blamelessly [rightly all the time]. From now on you will be called Abraham which means ‘exalted [highly honored] father’, because you will be the father to many nations [people of many nations will descend from you].

“You and your descendants must circumcise every male living among you as the mark [signal] that you have accepted the eternal covenant I have made with you. For all generations to come, every baby boy must be circumcised when he is eight days old.”

“I will also bless your wife Sarai. She will now be called Sarah, which means ‘princess’. [People of many nations will come from her.] I will give you a son through [by] her, and I will confirm my covenant with him [Sarah’s son].”

Abraham bowed down in respect before God. But he laughed to himself, thinking in his heart, “How can a son be born to a man a hundred years old, and to Sarah who is ninety [years old]?”

Then Abraham said to God, “Perhaps you will let Ishmael [Hagar’s son] receive your blessing and be my heir!”

God replied. “No! I will bless Ishmael; I will cause his descendants [offspring] to become a large nation. But, your wife, Sarah, will bear a son for you at this time next year and you will call him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him.”

So on that day because of the Lord’s command and covenant, someone circumcised Abraham and his son Ishmael, and all of his male servants.

A short time later, the Lord again appeared to Abraham as he was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hot part of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing nearby. Abraham invited them to stay [rest] and eat with him.

He told his servants to quickly prepare food for them to eat. And he told Sarah to quickly bake some bread for them.

When the food was ready, Abraham himself gave it to the three men [visitors] outside under a tree.

Then one of the men asked Abraham, “Where is your wife, Sarah?” And Abraham replied, “She is in the tent.”

Then that man [actually/really the Lord] said, “I will come back about this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a baby [infant] son.”

Sarah was listening from inside the tent, and when she heard what the man said she laughed to herself. She thought, “I cannot possibly have a baby in my old age!”

But the man, the Lord, said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? [Sarah should not laugh!] Why is she thinking that she is too old to have a child? [She should not think that she is too old to have a child.] I am the Lord God! Nothing is impossible [or too difficult] for me. I will return next year, and as I said, Sarah will have a baby boy [son].”

Then Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”

But the Lord [Big Boss] said, “Don’t deny it! You did laugh.”

When the men finished eating and giving their messages [to Abraham and Sarah], they got up to leave. Abraham went with them a short distance to send them on their way.