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Genesis 21

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1 And Jehovah hath looked after Sarah as He hath said, and Jehovah doth to Sarah as He hath spoken;

2 and Sarah conceiveth, and beareth a son to Abraham, to his old age, at the appointed time that God hath spoken of with him;

3 and Abraham calleth the name of his son who is born to him, whom Sarah hath born to him -- Isaac;

4 and Abraham circumciseth Isaac his son, [being] a son of eight days, as God hath commanded him.

5 And Abraham [is] a son of a hundred years in Isaac his son being born to him,

6 and Sarah saith, `God hath made laughter for me; every one who is hearing laugheth for me.'

7 She saith also, `Who hath said to Abraham, Sarah hath suckled sons, that I have born a son for his old age?'

8 And the lad groweth, and is weaned, and Abraham maketh a great banquet in the day of Isaac's being weaned;

9 and Sarah seeth the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she hath borne to Abraham, mocking,

10 and she saith to Abraham, `Cast out this handmaid and her son; for the son of this handmaid hath no possession with my son -- with Isaac.'

11 And the thing is very wrong in the eyes of Abraham, for his son's sake;

12 and God saith unto Abraham, `Let it not be wrong in thine eyes because of the youth, and because of thy handmaid: all that Sarah saith unto thee -- hearken to her voice, for in Isaac is a seed called to thee.

13 As to the son of the handmaid also, for a nation I set him, because he [is] thy seed.'

14 And Abraham riseth early in the morning, and taketh bread, and a bottle of water, and giveth unto Hagar (placing [it] on her shoulder), also the lad, and sendeth her out; and she goeth on, and goeth astray in the wilderness of Beer-Sheba;

15 and the water is consumed from the bottle, and she placeth the lad under one of the shrubs.

16 And she goeth and sitteth by herself over-against, afar off, about a bow-shot, for she said, `Let me not look on the death of the lad;' and she sitteth over-against, and lifteth up her voice, and weepeth.

17 And God heareth the voice of the youth; and the messenger of God calleth unto Hagar from the heavens, and saith to her, `What to thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath hearkened unto the voice of the youth where he [is];

18 rise, lift up the youth, and lay hold on him with thy hand, for for a great nation I set him.'

19 And God openeth her eyes, and she seeth a well of water, and she goeth and filleth the bottle [with] water, and causeth the youth to drink;

20 and God is with the youth, and he groweth, and dwelleth in the wilderness, and is an archer;

21 and he dwelleth in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother taketh for him a wife from the land of Egypt.

22 And it cometh to pass at that time that Abimelech speaketh -- Phichol also, head of his host -- unto Abraham, saying, `God [is] with thee in all that thou art doing;

23 and now, swear to me by God here: thou dost not lie to me, or to my continuator, or to my successor; according to the kindness which I have done with thee thou dost with me, and with the land in which thou hast sojourned.'

24 And Abraham saith, `I -- I do swear.'

25 And Abraham reasoned with Abimelech concerning the matter of a well of water which Abimelech's servants have taken violently away,

26 and Abimelech saith, `I have not known who hath done this thing, and even thou didst not declare to me, and I also, I have not heard save to-day.'

27 And Abraham taketh sheep and oxen, and giveth to Abimelech, and they make, both of them, a covenant;

28 and Abraham setteth seven Lambs of the flock by themselves.

29 And Abimelech saith unto Abraham, `What [are] they -- these seven lambs which thou hast set by themselves?'

30 And he saith, `For -- the seven lambs thou dost accept from my hand, so that it becometh a witness for me that I have digged this well;'

31 therefore hath he called that place `Beer-Sheba,' for there have both of them sworn.

32 And they make a covenant in Beer-Sheba, and Abimelech riseth -- Phichol also, head of his host -- and they turn back unto the land of the Philistines;

33 and [Abraham] planteth a tamarask in Beer-Sheba, and preacheth there in the name of Jehovah, God age-during;

34 and Abraham sojourneth in the land of the Philistines many days.

   

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1 Samuel 2:21

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21 When Jehovah hath looked after Hannah, then she conceiveth and beareth three sons and two daughters; and the youth Samuel groweth up with Jehovah.

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Two

  

The number "two" has two different meanings in the Bible. In most cases "two" indicates a joining together or unification. This is easy to see if we consider the conflicts we tend to have between our "hearts" and our "heads" -- between what we want and what we know. Our "hearts" tell us that we want pie with ice cream for dinner; our "heads" tell us we should have grilled chicken and salad. If we can bring those two together and actually want what's good for us, we'll be pretty happy. We're built that way -- with our emotions balanced against our intellect -- because the Lord is built that way. His essence is love itself, or Divine Love, the source of all caring, emotion and energy. It is expressed as Divine Wisdom, which gives form to that love and puts it to work, and is the source of all knowledge and reasoning. In His case the two aspects are always in conjunction, always in harmony. It's easy also to see how that duality is reflected throughout creation: plants and animals, food and drink, silver and gold. Most importantly, it's reflected in the two genders, with women representing love and men representing wisdom. That's the underlying reason why conjunction in marriage is such a holy thing. So when "two" is used in the Bible to indicate some sort of pairing or unity, it means a joining together. In rare cases, however, "two" is used more purely as a number. In these cases it stands for a profane or unholy state that comes before a holy one. This is because "three" represents a state of holiness and completion (Jesus, for instance, rose from the tomb on the third day), and "two" represents the state just before it.