And G-d revealed Himself to Avraam in Aloney-Mamra; he sat at the entrance to his tent and the day was sweltering. And he raised his eyes and saw three men, and he cooked, and they ate. And the latter said: “I shall come back to you in exactly one year, and your wife Sarah will have a child.” And Sarah laughed to herself. Avraam went to show them the way out.

And G-d said: “Great is the sin of Sodom and Gomorra.” And Avraam said: “Will You destroy the righteous along with the wicked? Perhaps you can forgive them for the sake of the fifty righteous that are there?” And G-d said: “If I find fifty righteous inside the city, then I shall forgive the entire place for their sake.” And Avraam said: “Perhaps there will be forty there.” And He said: “I will spare them for these forty as well.” “And what if there will be ten?” “I shall not destroy them for the sake of these ten.” And G-d left, and Avraam returned to his place.

And two angels came to Sodom, and Lot saw them and said: “Sirs, spend the night here.” They hadn’t yet laid down when the people of Sodom surrounded the house and said, “Where are the people who came to your house this night?” And Lot came out to them to the entrance and said, “Do not commit evil, my brothers!” But they began breaking down the door. And these people reached forth their hands and brought Lot into the house, and locked the door. And they struck the people at the entrance with blindness.

And these people told Lot: “Bring out everything that you have in the city, for we will destroy this place.” But he hesitated, and the Angels took him by the hand and brought him out of the city. And they said: “Save yourself, and do not look back!” And G-d poured sulfur and fire from the heavens onto Sodom and Gomorra. But his wife looked back and became a pillar of salt.

And Lot settled in a cave in the mountains, together with his two daughters. And the elder daughter said to the younger daughter, “Let’s go and make our father drunk with wine, and lie with him, and bear posterity from our father.” And they conceived from their father. And the elder one bore a son, and called him Moab. And the younger one bore Amon.

And Avraam moved from there to the south of the country, and about Sarah he said, “She is my sister,” and Avimelech took Sarah. And G-d came to Avimelech in a dream and said to him, “You are dying because of a woman, for she is married.” And Avimelech summoned Avraam, “What have you done to me!?” And Avraam said, “It’s because I thought that there is no fear of G-d here, and I shall be killed for my wife. But she really is my sister – from my father, but not from my mother, and she became my wife.” And Avimelech gave Avraam sheep, cattle, and servants, and gave Sarah back to him.

And Sarah conceived and bore Avraam a son. And Avraam called his son Yitzhak. And he circumcised his son on the eighth day, as G-d commanded him. And Avraam was one hundred years old. And Sarah saw that the son of Agar the Egyptian, whom she bore for Avraam, is full of scorn, and said to Avraam: “Send away the servant and her son.” And this seemed sad to Avraam. But G-d said to Avraam: “Listen to all that Sarah tells you, for your kin will be named through Yitzhak. But I will also bring forth a nation from the son of your servant.” And in the morning Avraam sent them away, and the youth grew up, and settled in the desert, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

And G-d decided to test Avraam, and said: “Avraam! Take your only son, Yitzhak, and go to the land of Moriah, and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall tell you about.” And Avraam rose and went to that place. And he built an altar, bound Yitzhak, and placed him on the altar. And he picked up a knife in order to kill his son. But an Angel of G-d from the heavens said: “Avraam! Do not lift your hand at the boy, for now I know that you fear G-d.”

And the Angel said: “For what you have done, I shall multiply your descendants, they shall take over their enemies, and through them all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you listened to Me!”

Filed under: Spirituality | 2 Comments →