If the first portion ¹  of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches. ² 

By faith, even though Sarah herself was barren and he was too old, ¹  he received the ability to procreate, ²  because he regarded the one who had given the promise to be trustworthy.

Abraham ¹  said, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

Now an intermediary is not for one party alone, but God is one. ¹ 

For he was looking forward to the city with firm foundations, ¹  whose architect and builder is God.

(as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). ¹  He is our father ²  in the presence of God whom he believed – the God who ³  makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. ⁴ 

Then Abraham ¹  said, “May the Lord not be angry ²  so that I may speak! ³  What if thirty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all kinds of gifts from his master at his disposal. ¹  He journeyed ²  to the region of Aram Naharaim ³  and the city of Nahor.

He replied, “You must take these seven ewe lambs from my hand as legal proof ¹  that I dug this well.” ² 

Then Rebekah and her female servants mounted the camels and rode away with ¹  the man. So Abraham’s servant ²  took Rebekah and left.

He ¹  replied to him, ‘If they do not respond to ²  Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” ³ 

These were their descendants:Ishmael’s firstborn son was Nebaioth; the others were ¹  Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

O children ¹  of Israel, God’s ²  servant, you descendants of Jacob, God’s ³  chosen ones!

He has helped his servant Israel, remembering ¹  his mercy, ² 

Abraham ¹  looked up ²  and saw ³  three men standing across ⁴  from him. When he saw them ⁵  he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed low ⁶  to the ground. ⁷ 

Abraham ¹  then took some curds and milk, along with the calf that had been prepared, and placed the food ²  before them. They ate while ³  he was standing near them under a tree.

Finally Abraham ¹  said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

Did Abraham ¹  not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ²  ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a clear conscience ³  and with innocent hands!”

Without being weak in faith, he considered ¹  his own body as dead ²  (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in ¹  the richness of the olive root,