וירא

In the heat of the day by the terebinths of Mamre, Abraham sat at his tent entrance. He looked up and saw three visitors standing nearby. He ran to greet them, bowed low, and said, “Please don’t pass by. Let water be brought to wash your feet, and rest under the tree. I’ll bring a bit of bread.” They agreed.

Abraham hurried to Sarah: “Quick, three seahs of choice flour! Make cakes!” He chose a tender calf, and soon he served curds, milk, and meat, standing nearby as they ate. The visitors asked, “Where is Sarah?” “In the tent,” Abraham said. One promised, “Next year Sarah will have a son.” Sarah, old and listening, laughed to herself. God said, “Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too wondrous for God?”

Then the visitors looked toward Sodom. God spoke of the city’s great outcry, and Abraham pleaded: “What if there are fifty innocent? Forty-five? Forty… thirty… twenty… ten?” God said He would spare the city for ten.

That evening, two angels reached Sodom. Lot welcomed them into his home. When the city crowd pressed in, the angels struck them with blinding light and warned Lot to flee. At sunrise, God rained sulfurous fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot escaped to Zoar, but his wife looked back and became a pillar of salt. Abraham saw smoke rising like a kiln, and God remembered Abraham and rescued Lot.

Abraham traveled to the Negeb and stayed in Gerar. He said of Sarah, “She is my sister,” and King Abimelech had her brought to him. But God came to Abimelech in a dream: “You are to die because the woman is married.” Abimelech protested that he had acted with a clean heart, and God told him to return Sarah and ask Abraham to pray. Early in the morning Abimelech returned her, gave Abraham gifts, and said, “Settle wherever you please.” Abraham prayed, and God healed Abimelech’s household.

God then kept His promise: Sarah had a son, and Abraham named him Isaac. When Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him as God commanded. When Isaac was weaned, Abraham made a great feast. Sarah saw Hagar’s son, Ishmael, playing, and she told Abraham to send Hagar and the boy away so Isaac would be the heir. Abraham was distressed, but God told him to listen and promised to make a nation from Ishmael too.

So Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael into the wilderness with bread and a skin of water. When the water ran out, Hagar wept. God heard the boy’s cry, an angel called to Hagar, and God opened her eyes to a well. Ishmael lived in the wilderness and became skilled with a bow.

Some time later, God tested Abraham: “Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on a height I will show you.” Abraham rose early, saddled his donkey, took two servants and Isaac, and split wood for the offering.

On the third day Abraham saw the place from far off. He told the servants, “Stay here. The boy and I will go up; we will worship and we will return.” Abraham placed the wood on Isaac and carried the firestone and the knife. As they walked, Isaac asked, “Father… where is the sheep?” Abraham answered, “God will see to the sheep.”

At the top, Abraham built an altar, arranged the wood, and bound Isaac. He lifted the knife, then an angel of God called, “Abraham! Abraham!” and said not to harm the boy. Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in a thicket by its horns, and he offered the ram instead.

Abraham named that place “Adonai-yireh,” meaning “God will see,” because God provided what was needed there.