Genesis 21:15-33

15When the water in the skin was all gone, Hagar abandoned the boy under one of the bushes.

16Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me see the boy die.” And as she sat down opposite him, she raised her voice and wept.

17God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy from where he is [resting].

18Get up, help the boy up, and hold him by the hand, for I will make him a great nation.”

19Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the [empty] skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

20God was with Ishmael, and he grew and developed; and he lived in the wilderness and became an [expert] archer.

21He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

22Now at that time Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do;

23so now, swear to me here by God that you will not deal unfairly with me [by breaking any agreements we have] or with my son or with my descendants, but as I have treated you with kindness, you shall do the same to me and to the land in which you have sojourned (temporarily lived).”

24And Abraham said, “I will swear.”

25Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water which the servants of Abimelech had [violently] seized [from him],

26Abimelech said, “I do not know who did this thing. Indeed, you did not tell me, and I did not hear of it until today.”

27So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant (binding agreement).

28Then Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock,

29and Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set apart?”

30Abraham said, “You are to accept these seven ewe lambs from me as a witness for me, that I dug this well.”

31Therefore that place was called Beersheba (Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), because there the two of them swore an oath.

32So they made a covenant at Beersheba; then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, got up and returned to the land of the Philistines.

33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord [in prayer], the Eternal God.