Chapter 4

18:31. Seeing, saith he, I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord: What if twenty be found there? He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.

18:32. I beseech thee, saith he, be not angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more: What if ten shall be found there? And he said: I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.

18:33. And the Lord departed, after he had left speaking to Abraham: and Abraham returned to his place.

Genesis Chapter 19

Lot, entertaining Angels in his house, is delivered from Sodom, which is destroyed: his wife for looking back is turned into a statue of salt.

19:1. And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city. And seeing them, he rose up and went to meet them: and worshipped prostrate to the ground.

19:2. And said: I beseech you, my lords, turn in to the house of your servant, and lodge there: wash your feet, and in the morning you shall go on your way. And they said: No, but we will abide in the street.

19:3. He pressed them very much to turn in unto him: and when they were come into his house, he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate:

19:4. But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house, both young and old, all the people together.

19:5. And they called Lot, and said to him: Where are the men that came in to thee at night? bring them out hither, that we may know them:

19:6. Lot went out to them, and shut the door after him, and said:

19:7. Do not so, I beseech you, my brethren, do not commit this evil.

19:8. I have two daughters who, as yet, have not known man; I will bring them out to you, and abuse you them as it shall please you, so that you do no evil to these men, because they are come in under the shadow of my roof.

19:9. But they said: Get thee back thither. And again: Thou camest in, said they, as a stranger, was it to be a judge? therefore we will afflict thee more than them. And they pressed very violently upon Lot: and they were even at the point of breaking open the doors.

19:10. And behold the men put out their hand, and drew in Lot unto them, and shut the door.

19:11. And them, that were without, they struck with blindness from the least to the greatest, so that they could not find the door.

19:12. And they said to Lot: Hast thou here any of thine? son in law, or sons, or daughters, all that are thine bring them out of this city:

19:13. For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them.

19:14. So Lot went out, and spoke to his sons in law that were to have his daughters, and said: Arise: get you out of this place, because the Lord will destroy this city. And he seemed to them to speak as it were in jest.

19:15. And when it was morning, the angels pressed him, saying: Arise, take thy wife, and the two daughters that thou hast: lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city.

19:16. And as he lingered, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters, because the Lord spared him.

19:17. And they brought him forth, and set him without the city: and there they spoke to him, saying: Save thy life: look not back, neither stay thou in all the country about: but save thy self in the mountain, lest thou be also consumed.

19:18. And Lot said to them: I beseech thee, my Lord,

19:19. Because thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewn to me, in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil seize me, and I die.

19:20. There is this city here at hand, to which I may flee, it is a little one, and I shall be saved in it: is it not a little one, and my soul shall live?

19:21. And he said to him: Behold also in this, I have heard thy prayers, not to destroy the city for which thou hast spoken.

19:22. Make haste, and be saved there: because I cannot do any thing till thou go in thither. Therefore the name of that city was called Segor.

Segor.... That is, a little one.

19:23. The sun was risen upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor.

19:24. And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

19:25. And he destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth.

19:26. And his wife looking behind her, was turned into a statue of salt.

And his wife.... As a standing memorial to the servants of God to proceed in virtue, and not to look back to vice or its allurements.

19:27. And Abraham got up early in the morning, and in the place where he had stood before with the Lord:

19:28. He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country: and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace.

19:29. Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, he delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt.

19:30. And Lot went up out of Segor, and abode in the mountain, and his two daughters with him (for he was afraid to stay in Segor) and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him.

19:31. And the elder said to the younger: Our father is old, and there is no man left on the earth, to come in unto us after the manner of the whole earth.

19:32. Come, let us make him drunk with wine, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

19:33. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the elder went in, and lay with her father: but he perceived not, neither when his daughter lay down, nor when she rose up.

19:34. And the next day the elder said to the younger: Behold I lay last night with my father, let us make him drink wine also to night, and thou shalt lie with him, that we may save seed of our father.

19:35. They made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in, and lay with him: and neither then did he perceive when she lay down, nor when she rose up.

19:36. So the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father.

19:37. And the elder bore a son, and she called his name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

19:38. The younger also bore a son, and she called his name Ammon; that is, the son of my people: he is the father of the Ammonites unto this day.

Genesis Chapter 20

Abraham sojourned in Gerara: Sara is taken into king Abimelech’s house, but by God’s commandment is restored untouched.

20:1. Abraham removed from thence to the south country, and dwelt between Cades and Sur, and sojourned in Gerara.

20:2. And he said of Sara his wife: She is my sister. So Abimelech the king of Gerara sent, and took her.

20:3. And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and he said to him: Lo thou shalt die for the woman that thou hast taken: for she hath a husband.

20:4. Now Abimelech had not touched her, and he said: Lord, wilt thou slay a nation that is ignorant and just?

20:5. Did not he say to me: She is my sister: and she say, He is my brother? in the simplicity of my heart, and cleanness of my hands have I done this.

20:6. And God said to him: And I know that thou didst it with a sincere heart: and therefore I withheld thee from sinning against me, and I suffered thee not to touch her.

20:7. Now therefore restore the man his wife, for he is a prophet: and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: but if thou wilt not restore her, know that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine.

20:8. And Abimelech forthwith rising up in the night, called all his servants: and spoke all these words in their hearing, and all the men were exceedingly afraid.

20:9. And Abimelech called also for Abraham, and said to him: What hast thou done to us? what have we offended thee in, that thou hast brought upon me and upon my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done to us what thou oughtest not to do.

20:10. And again he expostulated with him, and said: What sawest thou, that thou hast done this?

20:11. Abraham answered: I thought with myself, saying: Perhaps there is not the fear of God in this place: and they will kill me for the sake of my wife:

20:12. Howbeit, otherwise also she is truly my sister, the daughter of my father, and not the daughter of my mother, and I took her to wife.

20:13. And after God brought me out of my father’s house, I said to her: Thou shalt do me this kindness: In every place, to which we shall come, thou shalt say that I am thy brother.

20:14. And Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and servants and handmaids, and gave to Abraham: and restored to him Sara his wife,

20:15. And said: The land is before you, dwell wheresoever it shall please thee.

20:16. And to Sara he said: Behold I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver, this shall serve thee for a covering of thy eyes to all that are with thee, and whithersoever thou shalt go: and remember thou wast taken.

20:17. And when Abraham prayed, God healed Abimelech and his wife, and his handmaids, and they bore children:

20:18. For the Lord had closed up every womb of the house of Abimelech, on account of Sara, Abraham’s wife.

Genesis Chapter 21

Isaac is born. Agar and Ismael are cast forth.

21:1. And the Lord visited Sara, as he had promised: and fulfilled what he had spoken.

21:2. And she conceived and bore a son in her old age, at the time that God had foretold her.

21:3. And Abraham called the name of his son, whom Sara bore him, Isaac.

Isaac.... This word signifies laughter.

21:4. And he circumcised him the eighth day, as God had commanded him,

21:5. When he was a hundred years old: for at this age of his father, was Isaac born.

21:6. And Sara said: God hath made a laughter for me: whosoever shall hear of it will laugh with me.

21:7. And again she said: Who would believe that Abraham should hear that Sara gave suck to a son, whom she bore to him in his old age?

21:8. And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast on the day of his weaning.

21:9. And when Sara had seen the son of Agar, the Egyptian, playing with Isaac, her son, she said to Abraham:

21:10. Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.

21:11. Abraham took this grievously for his son.

21:12. And God said to him: Let it not seem grievous to thee for the boy, and for thy bondwoman: in all that Sara hath said to thee, hearken to her voice: for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

21:13. But I will make the son also of the bondwoman a great nation, because he is thy seed.

21:14. So Abraham rose up in the morning, and taking bread and a bottle of water, put it upon her shoulder, and delivered the boy, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Bersabee.

21:15. And when the water in the bottle was spent, she cast the boy under one of the trees that were there.

21:16. And she went her way, and sat over against him a great way off, as far as a bow can carry, for she said: I will not see the boy die: and sitting over against, she lifted up her voice and wept.

21:17. And God heard the voice of the boy: and an angel of God called to Agar from heaven, saying: What art thou doing, Agar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the boy, from the place wherein he is.

21:18. Arise, take up the boy, and hold him by the hand, for I will make him a great nation.

21:19. And God opened her eyes: and she saw a well of water, and went and filled the bottle, and gave the boy to drink.

21:20. And God was with him: and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became a young man, an archer.

21:21. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Pharan, and his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.

21:22. At the same time Abimelech, and Phicol the general of his army, said to Abraham: God is with thee in all that thou dost.

21:23. Swear therefore by God, that thou wilt not hurt me, nor my posterity, nor my stock: but according to the kindness that I have done to thee, thou shalt do to me, and to the land wherein thou hast lived a stranger.

21:24. And Abraham said: I will swear.

21:25. And he reproved Abimelech for a well of water, which his servants had taken away by force.

21:26. And Abimelech answered: I knew not who did this thing: and thou didst not tell me, and I heard not of it till today.

21:27. Then Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech: and both of them made a league.

21:28. And Abraham set apart seven ewelambs of the flock.

21:29. And Abimelech said to him: What mean these seven ewelambs which thou hast set apart?

21:30. But he said: Thou shalt take seven ewelambs at my hand: that they may be a testimony for me, that I dug this well.

21:31. Therefore that place was called Bersabee; because there both of them did swear.

Bersabee.... That is, the well of oath.

21:32. And they made a league for the well of oath.

21:33. And Abimelech and Phicol, the general of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Palestines. But Abraham planted a grove in Bersabee, and there called upon the name of the Lord God eternal.

21:34. And he was a sojourner in the land of the Palestines many days.

Genesis Chapter 22

The faith and obedience of Abraham is proved in his readiness to sacrifice his son Isaac. He is stayed from the act by an angel. Former promises are renewed to him. His brother Nachor’s issue.

22:1. After these things, God tempted Abraham, and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am.

God tempted, etc.... God tempteth no man to evil, James 1.13; but by trial and experiment maketh known to the world, and to ourselves, what we are, as here by this trial the singular faith and obedience of Abraham was made manifest.

22:2. He said to him: Take thy only begotten son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of vision; and there thou shalt offer him for an holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will shew thee.

22:3. So Abraham rising up in the night, saddled his ass, and took with him two young men, and Isaac his son: and when he had cut wood for the holocaust, he went his way to the place which God had commanded him.

22:4. And on the third day, lifting up his eyes, he saw the place afar off.

22:5. And he said to his young men: Stay you here with the ass; I and the boy will go with speed as far as yonder, and after we have worshipped, will return to you.

22:6. And he took the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he himself carried in his hands fire and a sword. And as they two went on together,

22:7. Isaac said to his father: My father. And he answered: What wilt thou, son? Behold, saith he, fire and wood: where is the victim for the holocaust?

22:8. And Abraham said: God will provide himself a victim for an holocaust, my son. So they went on together.

22:9. And they came to the place which God had shewn him, where he built an altar, and laid the wood in order upon it; and when he had bound Isaac his son, he laid him on the altar upon the pile of wood.

22:10. And he put forth his hand, and took the sword, to sacrifice his son.

22:11. And behold, an angel of the Lord from heaven called to him, saying: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am.

22:12. And he said to him: Lay not thy hand upon the boy, neither do thou any thing to him: now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake.

22:13. Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind his back a ram, amongst the briers, sticking fast by the horns, which he took and offered for a holocaust instead of his son.

22:14. And he called the name of that place, The Lord seeth. Whereupon, even to this day, it is said: In the mountain the Lord will see.

22:15. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, saying:

22:16. By my own self have I sworn, saith the Lord: because thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake:

22:17. I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea shore; thy seed shall possess the gates of their enemies.

22:18. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.

22:19. Abraham returned to his young men, and they went to Bersabee together, and he dwelt there.

22:20. After these things, it was told Abraham, that Melcha also had borne children to Nachor his brother.

22:21. Hus, the firstborn, and Buz, his brother, and Camuel the father of the Syrians,

22:22. And Cased, and Azau, and Pheldas, and Jedlaph,

22:23. And Bathuel, of whom was born Rebecca: these eight did Melcha bear to Nachor, Abraham’s brother.

22:24. And his concubine, named Roma, bore Tabee, and Gaham, and Tahas, and Maacha.

Genesis Chapter 23

Sara’s death and burial in the field bought of Ephron.

23:1. And Sara lived a hundred and twenty-seven years.

23:2. And she died in the city of Arbee which is Hebron, in the land of Chanaan: and Abraham came to mourn and weep for her.

23:3. And after he rose up from the funeral obsequies, he spoke to the children of Heth, saying:

23:4. I am a stranger and sojourner among you: give me the right of a burying place with you, that I may bury my dead.

23:5. The children of Heth answered, saying:

23:6. My lord, hear us, thou art a prince of God among us: bury thy dead in our principal sepulchres: and no man shall have power to hinder thee from burying thy dead in his sepulchre.

23:7. Abraham rose up, and bowed down to the people of the land, to wit, the children of Heth:

Bowed down to the people.... Adoravit, literally adored. But this word here, as well as in many other places in the Latin scriptures, is used to signify only an inferior honour and reverence paid to men, expressed by a bowing down of the body.

23:8. And said to them: If it please your soul that I should bury my dead, hear me, and intercede for me to Ephron the son of Seor.

23:9. That he may give me the double cave, which he hath in the end of his field: For as much money as it is worth he shall give it me before you, for a possession of a burying place.

23:10. Now Ephron dwelt in the midst of the children of Heth. And Ephron made answer to Abraham in the hearing of all that went in at the gate of the city, saying:

23:11. Let it not be so, my lord, but do thou rather hearken to what I say: The field I deliver to thee, and the cave that is therein; in the presence of the children of my people, bury thy dead.

23:12. Abraham bowed down before the people of the land.

23:13. And he spoke to Ephron, in the presence of the people: I beseech thee to hear me: I will give money for the field; take it, and so will I bury my dead in it.

23:14. And Ephron answered:

23:15. My lord, hear me. The ground which thou desirest, is worth four hundred sicles of silver: this is the price between me and thee: but what is this? bury thy dead.

23:16. And when Abraham had heard this, he weighed out the money that Ephron had asked, in the hearing of the children of Heth, four hundred sicles of silver, of common current money.

23:17. And the field that before was Ephron’s, wherein was the double cave, looking towards Mambre, both it and the cave, and all the trees thereof, in all its limits round about,

23:18. Was made sure to Abraham for a possession, in the sight of the children of Heth, and of all that went in at the gate of his city.

23:19. And so Abraham buried Sara, his wife, in the double cave of the field, that looked towards Mambre, this is Hebron in the land of Chanaan.

23:20. And the field was made sure to Abraham, and the cave that was in it, for a possession to bury in, by the children of Heth.

Genesis Chapter 24

Abraham’s servant, sent by him into Mesopotamia, bringeth from thence Rebecca, who is married to Isaac.

24:1. Now Abraham was old, and advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed him in all things.

24:2. And he said to the elder servant of his house, who was ruler over all he had: Put thy hand under my thigh,

24:3. That I may make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that thou take not a wife for my son, of the daughters of the Chanaanites, among whom I dwell:

24:4. But that thou go to my own country and kindred, and take a wife from thence for my son Isaac.

24:5. The servant answered: If the woman will not come with me into this land, must I bring thy son back again to the place from whence thou camest out?

24:6. And Abraham said: Beware thou never bring my son back again thither.

24:7. The Lord God of heaven, who took me out of my father’s house, and out of my native country, who spoke to me, and swore to me, saying: To thy seed will I give this land: he will send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take from thence a wife for my son.

He will send his angel before thee.... This shows that the Hebrews believed that God gave them guardian angels for their protection.

24:8. But if the woman will not follow thee, thou shalt not be bound by the oath: only bring not my son back thither again.

24:9. The servant, therefore, put his hand under the thigh of Abraham, his lord, and swore to him upon his word.

24:10. And he took ten camels of his master’s herd, and departed, carrying something of all his goods with him, and he set forward and went on to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nachor.

24:11. And when he had made the camels lie down without the town, near a well of water, in the evening, at the time when women are wont to come out to draw water, he said:

24:12. O Lord, the God of my master, Abraham, meet me today, I beseech thee, and shew kindness to my master, Abraham.

24:13. Behold, I stand nigh the spring of water, and the daughters of the inhabitants of this city will come out to draw water:

24:14. Now, therefore, the maid to whom I shall say: Let down thy pitcher that I may drink: and she shall answer, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let it be the same whom thou hast provided for thy servant Isaac: and by this, I shall understand that thou hast shewn kindness to my master.

24:15. He had not yet ended these words within himself, and behold Rebecca came out, the daughter of Bathuel, son of Melcha, wife to Nachor the brother of Abraham, having a pitcher on her shoulder:

24:16. An exceeding comely maid, and a most beautiful virgin, and not known to man: and she went down to the spring, and filled her pitcher, and was coming back.

24:17. And the servant ran to meet her, and said: Give me a little water to drink of thy pitcher.

24:18. And she answered: Drink, my lord. And quickly she let down the pitcher upon her arm, and gave him drink.

24:19. And when he had drunk, she said: I will draw water for thy camels also, till they all drink.

24:20. And pouring out the pitcher into the troughs, she ran back to the well to draw water; and having drawn, she gave to all the camels.

24:21. But he musing, beheld her with silence, desirous to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.

24:22. And after that the camels had drunk, the man took out golden earrings, weighing two sicles; and as many bracelets, of ten sicles weight.

24:23. And he said to her: Whose daughter art thou? tell me: is there any place in thy father’s house to lodge?

24:24. And she answered: I am the daughter of Bathuel, the son of Melcha, whom she bore to Nachor.

24:25. And she said, moreover, to him: We have good store of both straw and hay, and a large place to lodge in.

24:26. The man bowed himself down, and adored the Lord,

24:27. Saying: Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not taken away his mercy and truth from my master, and hath brought me the straight way into the house of my master’s brother.

24:28. Then the maid ran, and told in her mother’s house all that she had heard.

24:29. And Rebecca had a brother, named Laban, who went out in haste to the man, to the well.