Young Folks' Bible in Words of Easy Reading. Josephine Pollard

a voice spoke to Ha-gar out of the sky, and said, What ails thee, Ha-gar? Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Rise, lift up the lad and hold him in thine arms.

      And the voice told her that her son should be the head of a great tribe. And as she raised her eyes she saw a well of wa-ter, and she ran to it and gave her son a drink and he was soon strong and well once more.

      And God was kind to Ish-ma-el, and he grew, and made his home in the woods, and came to have great skill with the bow.

      Now it was God's wish to try the faith of A-bra-ham to him.

      And he told him to take his son, I-saac, and go to the land of Mo-ri-ah, and lay him on the al-tar he was to build on one of the mounts there. It was not a hard task to kill a lamb, and to burn it so that the smoke of it should rise up to God, like praise from the hearts of men. But how could A-bra-ham take his own dear son, I-saac, and lay him on the wood, and let him be burnt up like a lamb?

      Yet God told him to do it, and A-bra-ham knew that it was safe for him to do as God said.

      So he rose the next day and took two of his young men with him, and I-saac his son, and cut the wood the right length, and set out for the mount of which God had told him.

       HA-GAR AND ISH-MA-EL.

      And as they drew near the place he took the wood from the ass and laid it on I-saac's back, and took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the two went up the mount.

      Now I-saac did not know what the Lord had told A-bra-ham to do, nor why his fa-ther took him up to the mount. And he said, Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb?

      And A-bra-ham said, My son, God will give us the lamb we need.

      And when they came to the place, A-bra-ham piled up the stones and put the wood on them, and bound I-saac and laid him on the wood.

      Then he drew forth the knife to kill his son. And just then a voice from the sky cried out, A-bra-ham! A-bra-ham! And A-bra-ham said, Here am I.

      And the Lord told him to do no harm to I-saac, for now he knew that A-bra-ham loved him, since he would not spare his own dear son if it was God's wish that he should give him up.

      And as A-bra-ham turned his head he saw a ram that was caught in a bush, and he took the ram and laid it on the wood, and burnt it in-stead of his son.

      At the end of a few years A-bra-ham went to live at Heb-ron. And Sa-rah died there.

      When I-saac grew up to be a man, A-bra-ham did not wish him to take a wife from the land of Ca-naan where they served strange gods.

      So he sent one of his men to the land where he used to live to bring back a wife for I-saac.

      And as he drew near to a large town in that land he made his cam-els kneel down by a well. And it was the time of day when the wo-men of the place went out to draw wa-ter from the well.

      And the man whom A-bra-ham had sent, asked God to help him, and to let him know which one of them was to be I-saac's wife. And he said he would ask one of them for a drink, and if she was kind and gave him a drink, and let his cam-els quench their thirst, then he should know that she was the one God chose to be the wife of A-bra-ham's son.

       RE-BEK-AH AT THE WELL.

      And he raised his heart to God and said, O Lord God of A-bra-ham, give me good speed this day.

      And while he yet spoke a fair young maid named Re-bek-ah went down to the well and came up with the jar she had filled. And the man ran to meet her, and said to her, Let me drink, I pray thee.

      And she said, Drink, my Lord, and held the jar in her hand so that he could drink with ease.

      Then she said, I will give thy cam-els a drink; and she went down to the well and drew for all the cam-els. And the man stood still, and was yet in doubt if this was the maid whom God chose to be I-saac's wife.

      And as soon as the cam-els had drunk their fill, the man took a gold ear-ring, and two bands of gold for the wrists, and gave them to Re-bek-ah. And he said, Whose child art thou? tell me, I pray thee. And is there room in thy sire's house for us to lodge in?

      The maid said that her sire's name was Beth-u-el, and that there was no lack of straw and food, and there was room in the house where he and his men might lodge.

      The man was glad when he heard this, for he knew the Lord had led him, and had brought him to the house to which he was sent. And he bowed his head and gave thanks.

       RE-BEK-AH JOUR-NEY-ING TO I-SAAC.

      The next day Re-bek-ah and her maids went with A-bra-ham's head man. And they came to the land of Ca-naan.

      At the close of the day I-saac went to walk in the fields, and as he raised his eyes he saw the cam-els on their way home, and he went out to meet them.

      Re-bek-ah said to the man with whom she rode, What man is this that comes through the field to meet us?

      And the man told her that it was A-bra-ham's son, I-saac.

      Then the maid drew her veil round her so as to hide her face, and came down from the cam-el. And I-saac took her to his house and made her his wife. And A-bra-ham gave, all that he had to I-saac; and when he died he was laid by the side of Sa-rah, his wife, in the tomb he had bought at Mach-pe-lah.

       THE MEET-ING OF I-SAAC AND RE-BEK-AH.

      And to this day no one has had such faith or trust in God as did A-bra-ham.

CHAPTER IV.

       Table of Contents

      JACOB AND ESAU.

      I-saac and Re-bek-ah had two sons. Their names were Ja-cob and E-sau. E-sau was the first-born, and in those days the first-born son had what was called the birth-right. This made him chief of all the rest, and heir to the most of his sire's wealth.

      When the boys grew up to be men, E-sau took to the fields and to out-door sports, while Ja-cob was a plain man and dwelt in tents. And I-saac was fond of E-sau, who killed the deer, and brought him the meat to eat. But Re-bek-ah was more fond of Ja-cob.

      One day Ja-cob had made some food called pot-tage, and E-sau came in from the field and said, Feed me, I pray thee, with that pot-tage, for I am faint.

      And Ja-cob said, Sell me thy birth-right.

      And E-sau said, I am at the point of death, so what good will a birth-right do me?

      So he sold his birth-right to Ja-cob—which was a wrong thing for him to do—and took the bread and meat, and ate and drank, and then went on his way.

      Now there came a time when I-saac was an old man, and his eyes were dim, for he had not long to live. And he called E-sau to his bed-side and told him to go out with his bow and shoot a deer and bring him some of the meat he was so fond of, that he might eat it and bless E-sau ere he died.

      And Re-bek-ah heard what I-saac had said to E-sau, and she told it to Ja-cob. And she said to him, Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids, and I will make such a dish as thy fa-ther loves. And thou shalt bring it to him that he may eat, and that he may bless thee ere his death.

      So Ja-cob did as he was told, and brought the kids to his mo-ther that she might cook them in a way that would please the good man of the house.

      Then Re-bek-ah put some of E-sau's clothes on Ja-cob, and put the skins