Bible Glide

Genesis 21

Genesis 21 Summary, Context, and Full Chapter

Genesis 21 shows God keeping his promise to Sarah and Abraham with the birth of Isaac. It also follows the painful sending away of Hagar and Ishmael, where God still hears, provides, and protects. The chapter closes with Abraham making peace with Abimelech and calling on the name of the Eternal God.

Read in ReaderShare Passage

What happens in Genesis 21?

God fulfills his word to Sarah, and Isaac is born to Abraham in old age, just as promised. Sarah rejoices over the child, and Abraham marks the boy's place in the covenant through circumcision and a feast. Tension grows when Hagar and Ishmael are sent away, but God hears their distress, opens Hagar's eyes to water, and promises Ishmael a future. The chapter ends with Abraham and Abimelech making peace over a disputed well at Beersheba, where Abraham worships the Eternal God.

Genesis 21 continues the covenant story that began with God's promises to Abraham and Sarah. It follows earlier struggles with waiting, fear, and human attempts to manage the promise. This chapter shows the birth of the promised son, the sorting out of inheritance within Abraham's family, and Abraham's growing public standing among the people around him.

Themes to notice

  • Promise KeptGod does what he said and gives Sarah and Abraham the son they had waited for.
  • God Hears the AfflictedEven in exile and loss, God hears, provides, and gives hope to Hagar and Ishmael.
  • Peace and WorshipAbraham seeks fairness with Abimelech, makes a covenant, and calls on the LORD in Beersheba.

Questions for Genesis 21

  • What does Isaac's birth show about God's faithfulness to his promises?
  • How does God care for Hagar and Ishmael after they are sent away?
  • What do the covenant and the well at Beersheba reveal about Abraham's trust in God?

Read the full text of Genesis 21 below, then open it in the reader to highlight, take notes, or ask follow-up Bible questions. No account is required to read.

Genesis 21

The Birth of Isaac

1Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.2So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised.3And Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore to him.4When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.5Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.6Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”7She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

8So the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.

Sarah Turns against Hagar

9But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son,10and she said to Abraham, “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!”

11Now this matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son Ishmael.12But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to everything that Sarah tells you, for through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.13But I will also make a nation of the slave woman’s son, because he is your offspring.”14Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.15When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes.16Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I cannot bear to watch the boy die!” And as she sat nearby, she lifted up her voice and wept.17Then God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “What is wrong, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he lies.18Get up, lift up the boy, and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

19Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

20And God was with the boy, and he grew up and settled in the wilderness and became a great archer.21And while he was dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

The Covenant at Beersheba

22At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.23Now, therefore, swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or descendants. Show to me and to the country in which you reside the same kindness that I have shown to you.”

24And Abraham replied, “I swear it.”25But when Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized,26Abimelech replied, “I do not know who has done this. You did not tell me, so I have not heard about it until today.”

27So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant.28Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock,29and Abimelech asked him, “Why have you set apart these seven ewe lambs?”

30He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand as my witness that I dug this well.”31So that place was called Beersheba, because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.32After they had made the covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army got up and returned to the land of the Philistines.33And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.34And Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

Keep studying

Save notes and ask about Genesis 21

Create a free account to keep highlights and notes across devices, or open Bible Glide Chat with this passage already attached.

Create Free AccountAsk About This Passage