Genesis 21:23–32

¹²Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house, and give me a true token:

¹⁴And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.

¹³The Lord do so and much more to Jonathan: but if it please my father to do thee evil, then I will shew it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace: and the Lord be with thee, as he hath been with my father.

¹⁷And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

⁴²And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.

²¹Swear now therefore unto me by the Lord, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father’s house.

²²And David sware unto Saul. And Saul went home; but David and his men gat them up unto the hold.

¹⁵And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company.

²³Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.

¹³Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.

²²And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,

²³That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:

³And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:

²⁸And they said, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;

⁴⁴Now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee.

⁵³The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac.

¹⁶For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.

²And thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.

¹³¶ And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram.

¹⁶For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.

¹⁸If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

¹⁵For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.

¹⁶And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.

¹⁷¶ And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

¹⁸And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

¹⁹And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

²⁰And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac’s herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.

²¹And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.

²²And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

¹⁵Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.

¹⁷And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

⁷And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.

⁸And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and till they roll the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep.

¹⁵And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.

¹⁵¶ Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

¹⁰A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.

⁹Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself; and discover not a secret to another:

⁵Open rebuke is better than secret love.

²⁰¶ But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.

²¹So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well?

²²And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.

²³And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him.

²⁴And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed.

⁷And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.

³Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.

¹³And hath taken of the king’s seed, and made a covenant with him, and hath taken an oath of him: he hath also taken the mighty of the land:

¹⁵Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.

²²And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,

²³That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:

²⁸And they said, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;

²⁹That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the Lord.

³⁰And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.

³¹And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

⁴⁴Now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee.

⁸But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.

⁸A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.

¹⁶A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.

²⁴A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

¹⁴A gift in secret pacifieth anger: and a reward in the bosom strong wrath.

³¹Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

²⁶And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?

⁸And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord.

¹⁴And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?

⁵²This heap be witness, and this pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm.

⁴⁴Now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee.

⁴⁵And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.

⁴⁶And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made an heap: and they did eat there upon the heap.

⁴⁷And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha: but Jacob called it Galeed.

⁴⁸And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed;

²⁷But that it may be a witness between us, and you, and our generations after us, that we might do the service of the Lord before him with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings; that your children may not say to our children in time to come, Ye have no part in the Lord.

²⁸Therefore said we, that it shall be, when they should so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we may say again, Behold the pattern of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifices; but it is a witness between us and you.

²⁷And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.

³³And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba unto this day.

¹⁴And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

²⁵And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.

¹¹Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person.

²³And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba.

²⁸And Hazar-shual, and Beer-sheba, and Bizjothjah,

¹THEN all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the Lord in Mizpeh.

³Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.

¹⁷¶ And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:

¹⁴And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.

¹³¶ And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram.

²⁷And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.

¹⁴For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.

⁸And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.

⁵³The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac.

¹AND the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.