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¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² When he began to create the earth, it was shapeless and completely desolate. Darkness covered the surface of the deep water. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the water. ³ God said, "I command there to be light," and there was light. ⁴ God was pleased with the light. Then he made the light shine in some places at certain times, while in other places there was still darkness. ⁵ He named the light "day," and he named the darkness "night." This was an evening and morning, the first day.

¹ That is the way God created the heavens and the earth and the living things that filled them. ² By the time it was the seventh day, God had finished the work of creating everything, so he did not work anymore on that day. ³ God declared that each seventh day would have his favor. He set those days apart to be special days because on the seventh day God did not work anymore after finishing all his work of creating everything. ⁴ What follows is how God created the heavens and the earth.

God, whose name is Yahweh, made the heavens and the earth.

¹ Now the snake was more cunning than all the other wild animals that Yahweh God had made. The snake said to her, "Did God really say to you, 'Do not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the park'?" ² The woman replied, "What God said was, 'Do not eat the fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the park or touch it. If you do that, you will die. ³ But you can eat fruit from any of the other trees.'" ⁴ The snake said to the woman, "No, you will certainly not die. God said that ⁵ only because he knows that when you eat fruit from that tree, you will understand new things. It will be as though your eyes were opened, and you will know what is good to do and what is evil to do, just as God does." ⁶ The woman saw that the fruit on that tree was good to eat, and it was very beautiful. She desired it because she thought it would make her wise. So she picked some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, and he ate it. ⁷ Immediately it was as though their eyes were opened, and they realized that they were naked, so they were ashamed. So they picked some fig leaves and fastened them together to make clothes for themselves.

¹ Adam slept with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son whom she named Cain, which means "produce," because, she said, "By Yahweh's help I have produced a son."

¹ This is a list of those who descended from Adam. When God created humans, he made them to be like him in many ways. ² He created one man and one woman. He blessed them, and on the day that he created them, he called them 'human beings.' ³ When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of a son who was just like him. That was the son he named Seth. ⁴ After Seth was born, Adam lived eight hundred more years, and during those years he became the father of other sons and daughters. ⁵ Adam lived 930 years altogether, and then he died. ⁶ When Seth was 105 years old, he became the father of Enosh. ⁷ After Enosh was born, Seth lived 807 more years, and became the father of other sons and daughters. ⁸ Seth lived 912 years altogether, and then he died. ⁹ When Enosh was ninety years old, he became the father of Kenan. ¹⁰ After Kenan was born, Enosh lived 815 more years and became the father of other sons and daughters. ¹¹ Enosh lived 905 years altogether, and then he died. ¹² When Kenan was seventy years old, he became the father of Mahalalel. ¹³ After Mahalalel was born, Kenan lived 840 more years and became the father of other sons and daughters. ¹⁴ Kenan lived 910 years altogether, and then he died. ¹⁵ When Mahalalel was sixty-five years old, he became the father of Jared. ¹⁶ After Jared was born, Mahalalel lived 830 more years and became the father of other sons and daughters. ¹⁷ Mahalalel lived 895 years altogether, and then he died. ¹⁸ When Jared was 162 years old, he became the father of Enoch. ¹⁹ Jared lived eight hundred years after Enoch was born, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. ²⁰ Jared lived 962 years altogether, and then he died. ²¹ When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he became the father of Methuselah. ²² Enoch lived in close fellowship with God for three hundred years after Methuselah was born, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. ²³ Enoch lived 365 years. ²⁴ He was in close fellowship with God, and one day he disappeared because God took him away to be with him. ²⁵ When Methuselah was 187 years old, he became the father of Lamech. ²⁶ Methuselah lived 782 years after Lamech was born, and became the father of other sons and daughters. ²⁷ Methuselah lived 969 years altogether, and then he died. ²⁸ When Lamech was 182 years old, he became the father of a son, ²⁹ whom he named Noah because, as he said, "He will bring us relief from all the hard work we have been doing to produce food from the ground that Yahweh cursed." ³⁰ Lamech lived 595 years after Noah was born and became the father of other sons and daughters. ³¹ Lamech lived 777 years altogether, and then he died. ³² When Noah was five hundred years old, he became the father of sons whom he named Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹ When people began to become very numerous all over the earth, and many daughters were born to them, ² some of the heavenly beings saw that the human women were very beautiful. So they took whichever ones they chose to become their wives. ³ Then Yahweh said, "My breath will not remain in people forever, to keep them alive. They are made of weak flesh. They will live not more than 120 years before they die."

¹ Then Yahweh said to Noah, "I have seen that from all the people who are now living, you alone always act righteously. So I want you and all your family to go into the boat. ² Take with you seven pairs of every kind of animal that I have said I will accept for sacrifices. Take seven males and seven females. Also take one male and one female from every kind of animal that I have said that I will not accept for sacrifices. ³ Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird to keep their descendants alive all over the earth. ⁴ Do this because seven days from now I will cause rain to fall on the earth. It will rain constantly for forty days and nights. In this way, I will destroy everything that I have made that is on the earth."

¹ But God did not forget about Noah, or about all the wild animals and all the kinds of domestic animals that were with him in the boat. So one day God sent a wind to blow across the earth, and the wind caused the water to begin to recede. ² God caused the water that was under the earth to stop bursting out, and he caused the floodgates of water from the sky to close so that it stopped raining. ³ The water on the earth gradually receded. By one hundred fifty days after the flood began, much of the water was gone. ⁴ On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the boat came to rest on one of the mountains in the region of Ararat. ⁵ The water continued to recede until, on the first day of the tenth month of that year, the tops of other mountains became visible. ⁶ Forty days later, Noah opened the window that he had made in the side of the boat, and sent out a raven. ⁷ The raven flew back and forth to and from the boat until the water dried up from the surface of the ground. ⁸ Then Noah sent out a dove to find out if the water had all receded from the surface of the ground. ⁹ But the dove did not find any place to perch, so it flew back to Noah in the boat because there was still water all over the surface of the earth. So Noah reached out his hand and took the dove back inside the boat. ¹⁰ Noah waited seven more days. Then he sent the dove out of the boat again. ¹¹ This time the dove returned to him in the evening and, surprisingly, there was a leaf from an olive tree that the dove had just plucked in its beak. Then Noah knew that the water had truly receded from the surface of the ground. ¹² Noah waited again seven more days. Then he sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

¹ Then God blessed Noah and his sons. He said to them, "I want you to have many children who will live all over the earth. ² All the larger animals on the earth, all the birds, all the creatures that move close to the ground, and all the fish, will be very afraid of you. I place them under your authority. ³ Previously I allowed you to eat green plants for food, but now you may eat everything that lives and moves. ⁴ But you must not eat meat that still has the blood in it because the life is in its blood. ⁵ I punish any creature who kills a human being—that they answer to Yahweh—whether it be an animal or from a human being. I demand that murderers must suffer for their crimes and pay with their own lives. Even when an animal kills a person, that animal must also have their life taken because they have taken the life of a human being. ⁶ For I made people to be like myself. So I insist that if someone murders another human being, another person must kill him. Anyone who pours another's blood out must himself lose his own blood.

¹ These are the descendants of Noah's sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They became the fathers of many children after the flood. ² The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ³ The sons of Gomer were Askenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴ The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. ⁵ The sons and their families who were descended from Javan lived in the islands and in the lands close to the ocean. Their descendants became peoples, each with its own language, clans, and territory. ⁶ The sons of Ham were Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.

¹ At this time, all the people in the world spoke the same language. ² As people moved around in the east, they arrived at a plain in the region of Babylon and began to live there. ³ Then they said to each other, "Let us make bricks and bake them to make them hard, for building!" So they used bricks instead of stones, and used tar instead of mortar to hold them together. ⁴ They said, "Let us build a city for ourselves! We also ought to build a very high tower that reaches up to the sky! In that way people will know who we are! If we do not do this, we will be scattered all over the earth!"

¹ Then Yahweh said to Abram, "Leave this country where you are now living. Leave your father's clan and his family, and go to a land that I will show you. ² I will cause your descendants to become a large nation. I will bless you and cause you to become famous. What I do for you will be a blessing to others. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who do evil things to you. I will bless all the clans on earth through you."

¹ So Abram and Sarai left Egypt and went back to the southern Judean wilderness. They took along all their possessions, and Lot went with them. ² Abram was very rich. He owned a lot of livestock, silver, and gold. ³ They continued traveling from place to place from the southern Judean wilderness toward Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where they had previously set up their tents. ⁴ This is also where Abram had built an altar; there he worshiped Yahweh again. ⁵ Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks of sheep and goats and herds of cattle and tents. ⁶ The two of them had so many animals that they could not all stay in the same area. There was not enough land to provide water and food for all their animals. ⁷ Furthermore, the men who took care of Abram's livestock started quarreling with the men who took care of Lot's livestock. The descendants of Canaan and Perez were also living in that area. ⁸ Then Abram said to Lot, "Since we are close relatives, it is not good for us to quarrel, or for the men who take care of your animals to quarrel with the men who take care of my animals. ⁹ There is plenty of land for both of us. So we should separate. You can choose whatever part you want. If you want the area over there, I will stay here. If you want the area here, I will go over there." ¹⁰ Lot looked toward Zoar and saw that there was plenty of water all over the plain near the Jordan River. This was before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah which were on that plain. In those days, it was like the garden of Yahweh, like the land in Egypt near the Nile River. ¹¹ So Lot chose for himself the land in the plain of the Jordan River. He left his uncle, Abram, and moved east. ¹² Abram stayed in the land of Canaan, and Lot went to live near the cities in the plain of the Jordan River, and he set up his tents near Sodom. ¹³ Now the people who lived in Sodom were extremely wicked and sinned terribly against Yahweh.

¹ There were four kings who were allies. They were King Amraphel of Shinar, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Kedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goyim. ² They prepared to attack a group of five kings: King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela, the city that is now called Zoar. ³ Those five kings and their armies gathered together in the Valley of Siddim, which is also called the Valley of the Dead Sea, to fight against the four kings and their armies. ⁴ For twelve years King Kedorlaomer had ruled them. But in the thirteenth year they rebelled against King Kedorlaomer and refused to give him any more tribute money. ⁵ The next year, King Kedorlaomer and the other kings that were with him gathered their armies and started coming toward the area of the five kings. They defeated the Rephaite people in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzite people in Ham, and the Emite people in Shaveh Kiriathaim. ⁶ They also defeated the Horite people in their hill area of Seir as far as El Paran near the desert. ⁷ Then they turned around and went to En Mishpat, which is now called Kadesh. They conquered all the land belonging to the Amalekite people and the Amorite people who were living in Hazezon Tamar.

¹ Some time later, Abram had a vision in which Yahweh spoke to him and said, "Do not be afraid of anything, I will protect you and I will give a great reward." ² But Abram replied, "Lord Yahweh, how can you give me what I truly want, because I have no children, and the one who will inherit all my possessions is my servant Eliezer from Damascus!" ³ Abram also said, "You have not given me any children, so a servant in my household will inherit everything that I own!" ⁴ Yahweh replied, "No! He will not be the one who will inherit it. Instead, you yourself will be the father of the one who will inherit everything you own." ⁵ Then Yahweh took Abram outside of his tent and said, "Look up at the sky! Can you count the stars? No, you cannot count them because there are so many of them, and your descendants will be as numerous as the stars." ⁶ Abram believed that what Yahweh said would happen. Because of that, Yahweh considered him as good. ⁷ Yahweh also said to him, "I am Yahweh. I am the one who brought you from Ur in the land of Chaldea. I brought you here to give you this land to possess." ⁸ But Abram replied, "Lord Yahweh, how can I know for sure that this land will belong to me?" ⁹ God said to him, "Bring a three year old heifer and a three year old goat to me, and a dove and a pigeon." ¹⁰ So Abram brought all of them. He killed them and cut each of the animals in half. He arranged the halves of each one, side by side. But he did not cut the pigeon and dove in half. ¹¹ Birds that eat dead animals came down to eat the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. ¹² As the sun was going down, Abram fell sound asleep, and suddenly everything around him became dark and frightening. ¹³ Then Yahweh said to Abram, "I want you to know that your descendants will become foreigners living in a land that does not belong to them. They will become slaves of the owners of that land. The owners of the land will mistreat them for four hundred years. ¹⁴ But then I will punish the people of that country where they are slaves. Then your descendants will leave that country, taking many possessions with them. ¹⁵ But as for you, you will die peacefully and be buried when you are very old. ¹⁶ After your descendants have been slaves for four hundred years, they will come back here. They will take control of this land and defeat the Amor people. This will not happen before that time, because the Amor people have not yet sinned to the degree that I would punish them like that for it." ¹⁷ When the sun had set and it was dark, unexpectedly a blazing torch and a clay pot containing burning coals from which smoke was rising appeared and went between the halves of the animals. ¹⁸ On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram. Yahweh told him, "I will give to your descendants all the land between the river that is on the eastern border of Egypt to the south, and north to the Euphrates River. ¹⁹ That is the land where the Ken, the Keniz, the Kidmon, ²⁰ the Heth, the Perez, the Repha, ²¹ the Amor, the Canaan, the Girgash, and the Jebus peoples live."

¹ Up to that time, Abram's wife Sarai had not given birth to any children for Abram. But she had a female slave from Egypt, whose name was Hagar. ² Sarai said to Abram, "Listen to me! Yahweh has not allowed me to become pregnant. So sleep with my slave Hagar. Perhaps she will bear children whom I can consider to be mine." Abram agreed to do what Sarai said. ³ This happened ten years after Abram and Sarai went to live in the land of Canaan. In this way Abram took Hagar, Sarai's slave from Egypt, to be his second wife. ⁴ So he slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress Sarai. ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, "It is your fault! I put my servant into your arms so that you could sleep with her. Now she is pregnant, and she despises me because I have no children. May Yahweh find you guilty for doing this to me!" ⁶ So Abram said to Sarai, "Listen to me! She is your servant, so act toward her in the way you consider best." Then Sarai started to mistreat her, so Hagar ran away. ⁷ The angel of Yahweh went to her as she was near a spring of water in the desert. It was the spring that was alongside the road to Shur. ⁸ He said to her, "Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" She replied, "I have run away from Sarai, my mistress." ⁹ The angel of Yahweh said, "Go back to your mistress and continue to obey her." ¹⁰ The angel of Yahweh also said to her, "I will enable you to bear so many descendants that no one will be able to count them!" ¹¹ The angel of Yahweh also said to her, "Listen to this! You are pregnant. You will give birth to a son. You must name him Ishmael, which means 'God listens,' because Yahweh has heard you crying because you feel so miserable. ¹² But your son will be as uncontrollable as a wild donkey. He will oppose everyone, and everyone will oppose him. He will live far away from all his relatives." ¹³ Hagar said to herself, "I continue to live, even though Yahweh has seen me!" So she called Yahweh, "God, the one who sees me." ¹⁴ That is why people call the well there "Beer Lahai Roi," which means, "the well of the living one who sees me!" It is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram again and said to him, "I am God Almighty. I want you to live your life in the way that I want. I want you to not do anything wrong. ² I will confirm my covenant between us, and I will cause you to have a very great number of descendants." ³ Abram bowed down with his face on the ground. Then God said to him, ⁴ "Listen to this! This is the covenant I am making with you: You will be the father of many groups of people. ⁵ Your name will be Abram no longer. Instead, your name will be Abraham because I will make you the father of many groups of people. ⁶ I will cause you to have very, very many descendants, and I will cause nations and kings to be among them. ⁷ I will make this covenant between me and you and the generations of your descendants after you forever. Because of this covenant, you will worship and follow me as God, and so will your descendants. ⁸ I will give to you and to your descendants the land of Canaan, the whole land of Canaan, where you are now living. It will be an everlasting possession for them, and I will be their God."

¹ One day during that year, at the time of day when it was hot, Yahweh appeared to Abraham again near the big trees that belonged to Mamre. Abraham was sitting in the entrance to his tent. ² Abraham looked up and was surprised to see three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them. He prostrated himself with his face on the ground in respect. ³ He said to one of them, "Lord, if you are pleased with me, your servant, then stay here for a little while. ⁴ Allow my servants to bring a little water and wash your feet, and then rest under this tree. ⁵ Since you have come here to me, your servant, allow me to bring you some food so that you can gain strength before you leave." The men replied, "All right, do as you have said." ⁶ Then Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, "Quick, get twenty kilograms of our best flour and make some bread!" ⁷ Then he ran to the herd of cattle and selected a calf whose meat would be tender and tasty. He gave it to one of his servants, who hurried to kill and cook it. ⁸ When the meat was cooked, Abraham brought some curds, milk, and the meat that the servant had prepared. He placed them in front of them. Then he stood near them under a tree while they ate. ⁹ After they ate, they asked him, "Where is Sarah, your wife?" He replied, "She is in the tent." ¹⁰ Then the leader of the group said, "I will return to you in the springtime next year, and listen, your wife Sarah will have an infant son." It happened that Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, which was behind the man who was speaking. ¹¹ Now Abraham and Sarah were very old, and Sarah was far past the time of childbearing. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, "My body is worn out, and my husband is old. So how can I have the pleasure of having a baby?" ¹³ Yahweh said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh? Why was she thinking, 'I am too old, so how can I bear a child'? ¹⁴ Is there anything too difficult for me? I will return about this time next year in the springtime, the time I have fixed, and Sarah will have an infant son." ¹⁵ Then Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh." But Yahweh said, "Do not deny it! You did laugh."

¹ That evening, the two angels arrived in Sodom. Lot was sitting at the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to greet them and prostrated himself with his face on the ground. ² He said to them, "Gentlemen, please stay in my house tonight. You can wash your feet, and early tomorrow you can continue your journey." But they said, "No, we will just sleep in the city square." ³ But Lot kept insisting strongly that they sleep in his house. So they entered his house with him, and he prepared a meal for them. He baked some bread without yeast, and they ate it. ⁴ After they finished eating, before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom, all of them, from the young ones to the old ones, surrounded the house. ⁵ They called out to Lot, saying, "Where are the men who came to your house this evening? Bring them out, so that we can sleep with them!" ⁶ Lot went outside the house and shut the door behind him, so that they could not go inside. ⁷ He said to them, "My friends, do not do such an evil thing! ⁸ Listen to me. I have two daughters who have never slept with any man. Let me bring them out to you now, and you can do with them whatever pleases you. But do not do anything to these men, because they are guests in my house, so I must protect them!" ⁹ But they replied, "Get out of our way! You are a foreigner; so you have no right to tell us what is right! We will do worse things to you than we will do to them!" Then they lunged toward Lot, and tried forcefully to break down the door. ¹⁰ But the two angels opened the door carefully, reached out their hands, and pulled Lot inside the house. Then they quickly shut the door. ¹¹ Then they caused all the men who were outside the door of the house, young and old, to become blind, so that they could not find the door. ¹² Then the two angels said to Lot, "Who else is with you here? If you have sons or sons-in-law or daughters or anyone else in the city who is related to you, take them out of the city ¹³ because we are going to destroy this place. Yahweh has heard many terrible things that some people have said about this city, and he has sent us to destroy it." ¹⁴ So Lot went and spoke to the men who had pledged to marry his daughters. He said to them, "Hurry! Get out of this city because Yahweh is about to destroy it!" But his future sons-in-law thought he was joking. ¹⁵ As it was about to dawn the next morning, the two angels urged Lot, saying, "Get up quickly! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here with you and leave! If you do not, you will be swept away when we destroy the city!" ¹⁶ When Lot hesitated, the angels grasped his hand and his wife's hand and the hands of his two daughters. They led them outside the city safely. The angels did that because Yahweh was acting mercifully toward them. ¹⁷ When they were outside the city, one of the angels said, "If you want to stay alive, run away quickly! Do not look back! And do not stop anywhere in the valley! Flee to the hills! If you do not, you will die!" ¹⁸ But Lot said to one of them, "No, sir, do not make me do that! ¹⁹ Please, listen. You have been pleased with me, your servant, and have been very kind to me and spared my life. But I cannot flee to the mountain. If I try to do that, I will die in this disaster. ²⁰ Listen to me. There is a town nearby. Let me run there now. It is only a small town, and if you do not destroy it, our lives will be saved if we go there." ²¹ One of the angels said to Lot, "I will allow you to do what you have requested. And I will not destroy the town you are talking about. ²² But hurry! Run there because I cannot destroy anything until you arrive." People later called the name of the town Zoar, which means 'not-important,' because Lot said that it was a small village.

¹ Abraham left Mamre and moved southwest to the Negev desert. There he lived between Kadesh and Shur. He lived as a foreigner in the town of Gerar. ² While he was there, he told people that Sarah was his sister, not his wife. Then King Abimelech of Gerar sent some of his men to get Sarah, and they brought her to him to be his wife. ³ But God appeared to Abimelech in a dream during the night and said to him, "Listen to me! You are going to die because the woman you took is another man's wife." ⁴ But Abimelech had not slept with her, so he said, "Lord, since the people of my nation and I are innocent, will you kill us? ⁵ Abraham told me, 'She is my sister,' and she also said, 'He is my brother.' I did not intend to do anything wrong; neither have I done anything wrong." ⁶ God said to him, "Yes, I know that you did not want to do anything wrong. That is why I prevented you from sinning against me. I did not allow you to touch her. ⁷ Therefore, return this man's wife to her husband because he is a prophet. He will pray for you so that you may live. But if you do not return her to him, you will certainly die, and all the members of your household will also certainly die." ⁸ Early the next morning, Abimelech summoned all his officials and told them everything that had happened. When they heard that, his men were very afraid that God would punish them. ⁹ Abimelech then summoned Abraham, and said to him, "You should not have done that to us! Did I do something wrong to you? Did I make you want me and my people to become guilty of a great sin? You have done things to me that you should not have done! ¹⁰ Why did you do this?" ¹¹ Abraham replied, "I said that she was my sister because I thought, 'The people in this place certainly do not respect God. Certainly they do whatever wrong things they wish. So they will kill me to get my wife.' ¹² Besides, Sarah really can be considered my sister because she is the daughter of my father although she is not the daughter of my mother. She is the daughter of another woman, and I married her. ¹³ Later, when God told me to move away from my father's household, I said to her, 'This is the way you can show that you are faithful to me: Everywhere we go, say about me, "This is my brother."'" ¹⁴ So Abimelech brought some sheep and cattle and gave them to Abraham. He also gave him some male and female slaves. Then he returned Abraham's wife Sarah to him. ¹⁵ And Abimelech said to him, "Look! My land is in front of you. Live in whatever place you wish!" ¹⁶ And he said to Sarah, "Look! I am giving a thousand pieces of silver to your brother. This is to ensure that no one will bring up this matter again and say that you have done anything wrong." ¹⁷ Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech's wife and his slave girls so that they could have children. ¹⁸ This was because Yahweh had caused it to be impossible for any of the women in Abimelech's household to bear children because Abimelech had taken Abraham's wife Sarah.

¹ Yahweh acted very kindly toward Sarah, just as he said he would do. He did for Sarah exactly what he promised to do, ² for she became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Abraham when he was very old, at the time God promised it would happen. ³ Abraham gave the name "Isaac" to the son Sarah delivered. ⁴ He also circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, just as God had commanded him to do. ⁵ Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born. ⁶ Sarah said, "Although I was sad before because I did not have any children, God has now enabled me to laugh with joy, and everyone who hears about what God has done for me will laugh with me." ⁷ She also said, "No one would have said to Abraham that one day I would nurse a child, but I have given birth to a son when Abraham is very old."

¹ Several years later, God tested Abraham to find out whether Abraham would obey him. He called out to Abraham, and Abraham replied, "I am here." ² God said, "Your son, Isaac, whom you love very much, is the only son I promised to give you. Take him with you and go together to the land of Moriah, and go up a mountain I will show you, and offer him as a burnt offering." ³ So Abraham got up early the next morning, put a saddle on his donkey, and took with him two of his servants along with his son, Isaac. He also chopped some wood for a fire for a burnt offering. Then they started traveling to the place God told him about. ⁴ On the third day that they were traveling, Abraham looked up and saw in the distance the place where God wanted him to go. ⁵ Abraham said to his servants, "You two stay here with the donkey while the boy and I go over there. We will worship God there, and then we will come back to you." ⁶ Then Abraham took the wood to start a fire for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac for him to carry. Abraham carried in his hand something for starting a fire. He also carried a knife, and the two of them walked along together. ⁷ Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham, saying, "My father." Abraham replied, "Yes, my son, I am here!" Isaac said, "Look, we have wood and coals to light a fire, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" ⁸ Abraham replied, "My son, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering." So the two of them continued walking along together. ⁹ They arrived at the place God had told him about. There, Abraham built a stone altar and arranged the wood on top of it. Then he tied his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham took the knife and reached out to kill his son. ¹¹ But the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham! Abraham!" Abraham replied, "I am here!" ¹² The angel said, "Do not harm the boy, because now I know that you respect and obey God. I know this because you have not refused to sacrifice your only son."

¹ When Sarah was 127 years old, ² she died at the city of Kiriath Arba, which is now called Hebron, in the land of Canaan. Then Abraham mourned over her. ³ He left the body of his wife and spoke to some of the descendants of Heth. He said, ⁴ "I am a temporary settler living among you, so I do not own any land here. Sell me some land here so that I can bury my wife's body." ⁵ They replied to him, ⁶ "Sir, you are a powerful man among us. Choose one of our finest tombs and bury your wife's body in it. None of us will refuse to sell land to you for a tomb for your wife's body." ⁷ Then Abraham stood up and bowed in respect in front of the people who owned the land, the descendants of Heth. ⁸ He said to them, "If you say that you are willing for me to bury my wife's body here, listen to me, and ask Ephron son of Zohar ⁹ to sell me the cave in the Machpelah area, which is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price he wants, and to sell it to me in front of you all. In this way I can have a burial ground." ¹⁰ Now Ephron was sitting among the people at the city gate where many descendants of Heth had gathered. He had heard what Abraham said to them. ¹¹ Ephron said, "No, sir, listen to me. I will give to you the field and the cave in it, without charge, with the people here as witnesses. Please bury your wife there." ¹² Abraham again bowed before the people who lived in the land, ¹³ and said to Ephron, as all the others were listening, "No, listen to me. If you are willing, I will pay for the field. You tell me what the price is, and I will give it to you. If you accept it, the field will become mine, and I can bury my wife's body there." ¹⁴ Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, ¹⁵ "Sir, listen to me. The land is worth four hundred pieces of silver. But the price is not important to you and me. Bury your wife's body there." ¹⁶ Abraham agreed with Ephron about the price, and weighed for Ephron the four hundred pieces of silver he had suggested, as everyone was listening. He used the standard weights for silver used by people who sold things.

¹ Abraham was now a very old man. Yahweh had blessed Abraham in many ways. ² One day Abraham said to the chief servant of his household, the man who was in charge of all Abraham owned, "Put your hand between my thighs to solemnly promise you will do what I tell you. ³ Knowing that Yahweh, God who created the heavens and the earth, is listening, promise that you will not get a wife for my son, Isaac, from the daughters of the Canaanite people among whom I am now living. ⁴ Instead, go to my country and to my relatives. Get a wife for my son Isaac from among them." ⁵ The servant asked him, "If I find a woman among your relatives, what should I do if she is not willing to come back with me to this land? Should I take your son back there to the country you came from, so he can find a wife and live there?" ⁶ Abraham replied to him, "No! Be certain that you do not take my son there! ⁷ Yahweh, the God who created the heavens, brought me here. He brought me from my father's household and from the land where my relatives lived. He spoke to me and made a solemn promise to me. He said, 'I will give this land of Canaan to your descendants.' He will send an angel who will go there ahead of you and enable you to get a wife for my son and bring her to live here. ⁸ But if the woman you find will not come back with you, you are free to disregard the promise you are making. The only thing that you must not do is to take my son to live there." ⁹ So the servant put his hand between Abraham's thighs and made a solemn promise about the matter.

¹ Some time after Sarah died, Abraham married another woman, whose name was Keturah. ² She later gave birth to six sons: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³ Jokshan became the father of two sons, Sheba and Dedan. The descendants of Dedan were the peoples of the Assyrians, the Letush, and the Leum. ⁴ The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida, and Eldaah. They were all descendants of Keturah.

¹ Some time later there was a severe famine in the land. That was different from the famine that occurred when Abraham was alive. So Isaac went southeast to the city of Gerar to talk to Abimelech, the king of the Philistine people. ² But Yahweh appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt! Live in the land that I tell you! ³ Stay in this land, and I will help you and bless you because it is to you and your descendants that I will give all these lands, and I will do what I solemnly promised to your father. ⁴ I will cause your descendants to be as numerous as the stars in the sky. I will give to your descendants all these lands, and I will cause your descendants to be a blessing to all the peoples on the earth. ⁵ I will do that because Abraham obeyed me. He obeyed all that I told him to do, all that I commanded him to do, all that I declared and all the laws that I gave him."

¹ When Isaac was old, he became almost blind. One day he summoned Esau, his firstborn son, and said to him, "My son?" He replied, "Here I am!" ² Isaac said, "Listen to me. I am very old, and I do not know when I will die. ³ So take now your bow and quiver full of arrows and go out into the countryside, and hunt for a wild animal for me. ⁴ Kill one and prepare the kind of tasty meat that I like. Then bring it to me so that, after I eat it, I can give you a blessing before I die." ⁵ Rebekah was listening as Isaac said that to his son Esau. So when Esau left the tent to go hunting, ⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Listen to me. I heard your father talking to your brother Esau, saying, ⁷ 'Go and kill some wild animal and bring it here, and prepare the meat in a tasty way, so that I may eat it. Then before I die I will give you my blessing while Yahweh is listening.' ⁸ So now, my son, do what I am telling you. ⁹ Go out to the flock and kill two nice young goats and bring the meat to me. Then I will prepare some tasty food for your father, the way he likes it. ¹⁰ Then you can take it to your father, in order that he can eat it, and then he will give you his blessing before he dies."

¹ Then Isaac summoned Jacob and gave him a blessing. He told him this: "Do not marry a woman from the women of the Canaanite people. ² Instead, go right away to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother's father Bethuel. Ask one of the daughters of your mother's brother Laban to marry you. ³ I will pray that God Almighty bless you, and enable you to have many descendants, in order that they will become many different peoples. ⁴ I also will pray that he bless you and your descendants by enabling you to possess the land in which you are now living as a foreigner, the land that God promised to give to Abraham and his descendants." ⁵ So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan Aram to live with Rebekah's brother Laban son of Bethuel, who belonged to the people of the Arameans. (It was this Rebekah who would later give birth to Jacob and Esau.)

¹ Jacob continued on the road, and he reached the land that was east of the land of Canaan. ² There he saw a well in a field, and three flocks of sheep were lying near the well. It was the well from which shepherds normally got water for their sheep. There was a large stone covering the top of the well. ³ When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would work together to roll the stone away from the top of the well and get water for the sheep. When they finished doing that, they would put the stone back in its place over the top of the well.

¹ Rachel realized that she was not becoming pregnant at all. So she became jealous of her older sister Leah, because Leah had given birth to four sons. She said to Jacob, "Make me pregnant so I can have children. If you do not do that, I will die!" ² Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, "I am not God! He is the one who has prevented you from becoming pregnant!" ³ Then she said, "Look, here is my slave Bilhah. Sleep with her so that she will have children in my place. In that way I will have legal children." ⁴ So she gave him her slave Bilhah to be another wife for him, and Jacob slept with her. ⁵ She became pregnant and bore Jacob a son. ⁶ Rachel said, "God gave me justice. He has heard me when I prayed to him, and his justice was to give me a son." She named him Dan, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means "he gives me justice." ⁷ Later, Rachel's slave Bilhah became pregnant again and gave birth to another son for Jacob. ⁸ Then Rachel said, "I have had a great struggle to have children like my older sister, but truly I have a son." So she named him Naphtali, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means "struggle."

¹ One day, someone told Jacob that Laban's sons were complaining and saying, "Jacob has become very rich by taking everything that belonged to our father." ² Jacob noticed that Laban was not acting friendly toward him as he had done before. ³ Then Yahweh said to Jacob, "Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will help you there."

¹ As Jacob and his family continued traveling, some angels came from God and met him. ² When Jacob saw them, he said, "This is God's army camp!" So he named that place Mahanaim.

¹ Then Jacob joined the rest of his family. Later that day Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, and there were four hundred men with him. Jacob was worried because of that, so he separated the children. He put Leah's children with Leah, Rachel's children with Rachel, and the two female slaves' children with their mothers. ² He put the two female slaves and their children in front. He put Leah and her children next. He put Rachel and Joseph at the rear. ³ He himself went ahead of them all, and as he continued to approach his older brother, he prostrated himself with his face on the ground seven times. ⁴ But Esau ran to Jacob. He hugged him, put his arms around his neck, and kissed him on the cheek. And they both cried. ⁵ Then Esau looked up and saw the women and the children. He asked, "Who are these people who are with you?" Jacob replied, "These are the wives and children that God has graciously given to your servant." ⁶ Then the female slaves and their children came near and bowed in front of Esau. ⁷ Then Leah and her children came and bowed down. Finally Joseph and Rachel came near and bowed down.

¹ One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the women in that area. ² Shechem was one of the sons of Hamor, and he was descended from the people of the Hivites. When he saw her, he took her and forced her to have sex with him. ³ He was very much attracted to her, and he became attached to her. He loved her and he spoke very tenderly to the girl. ⁴ So Shechem said to his father Hamor, "Please get this girl for me. I want her to become my wife!"

¹ Some time later, God said to Jacob, "Go up to the city of Bethel and live there. Build an altar to worship me, God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your older brother Esau." ² So Jacob said to his household and to all the others who were with him, "Get rid of the idols you brought from the land of Mesopotamia. Also, bathe yourselves and put on clean clothes. ³ Then we will get ready and go up to Bethel. There I will build an altar to worship God. He is the one who helped me at the time when I was greatly distressed and afraid, and he has been with me wherever I have gone." ⁴ So they gave to Jacob all the idols that they had brought, and all their earrings. Jacob buried them in the ground under the big oak tree that was near the city of Shechem.

¹ These are those who descended from Esau, whose other name was Edom, and what happened concerning them. ² Esau married three women from the land of Canaan: Adah, who was the daughter of Elon the Hittite; Oholibamah, who was the daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hittite; ³ and Basemath, who was the daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. ⁴ Esau's wife Adah gave birth to Eliphaz. Basemath gave birth to Reuel. ⁵ Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. All these sons of Esau were born while he was living in the land of Canaan.

¹ Jacob continued to live in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived previously. ² This is what happened to Jacob's family.

When his son Joseph was seventeen years old, he was taking care of the flocks of sheep and goats with some of his older brothers. They were sons of his father's concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah. Joseph told his father about bad things that his brothers were doing.

¹ At that time, Judah left his older and younger brothers and went down from the hill country and stayed with a man who lived in Adullam. His name was Hiram. ² There he met a woman who was the daughter of a man from the land of Canaan named Shua. He married her and slept with her. ³ She became pregnant and later gave birth to a son. His father named him Er. ⁴ Later she became pregnant again and gave birth to another son, whom she named Onan. ⁵ Many years later, when Judah and his family went to live in Kezib, Judah's wife gave birth to another son, and she named him Shelah.

¹ Meanwhile, the descendants of Ishmael took Joseph down to Egypt. There Potiphar bought Joseph from them. Potiphar was an Egyptian who was one of the king's officials and the captain of the king's palace guards. ² Because Yahweh helped Joseph, he was able to do his work very well. He worked in the house of his Egyptian master. ³ His master saw that Yahweh was helping Joseph and enabling him to succeed in everything that he did. ⁴ Joseph's master was pleased with him, so he appointed him to be his personal servant. Then he appointed him to be the one who would take care of everything in his household and all of his possessions. ⁵ From the time Potiphar appointed Joseph to take care of everything in his household and all that he owned, Yahweh blessed the people who lived in Potiphar's house because of Joseph. He also caused Potiphar's crops to grow well. ⁶ Potiphar allowed Joseph to take care of everything that he owned. Potiphar needed to decide only about the food he ate. He did not worry about anything else in his house.

Now Joseph was well built and handsome.

¹ Some time later, two of the king of Egypt's officials did things that displeased him. One was his chief drink server and the other was his chief baker. ² The king became angry with both of them. ³ So he had them put in prison, in the house of the captain of the palace guards. That was the place where Joseph was being kept. ⁴ The two men were in prison for a long time. During that time, the captain of the palace guards appointed Joseph to bring them the things they needed.

¹ Two complete years later, the king of Egypt had a dream. In the dream, he was standing alongside the Nile River. ² Suddenly seven healthy fat cows appeared. They started eating the grass that was on the riverbank. ³ Soon seven other cows, unhealthy-looking and thin, came up behind them from the Nile River. They stood alongside the fat cows that were on the riverbank. ⁴ Then the unhealthy thin cows ate the seven healthy fat cows. And then the king woke up.

¹ When someone told Jacob that there was grain in Egypt that people could buy, he said to his sons, "Why do you just sit there looking at each other? We need some grain!" ² He said to them, "Someone told me that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, in order that we can stay alive!"

¹ The famine in Canaan got worse. ² Finally, when Jacob and his family had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, Jacob said to them, "Go back to Egypt and buy some more grain for us!" ³ But Judah said to him, "The man who sold us the grain warned us sternly, 'I will not let you see me again if you come and your younger brother is not with you.' ⁴ So if you will send our younger brother with us, we will go down to Egypt and buy some grain for you. ⁵ But if you will not send him, we will not go down there, because that man said to us, 'I will not let you see me again if your younger brother is not with you.'" ⁶ Jacob asked, "Why did you cause me to have this trouble by telling the man that you had a younger brother?" ⁷ One of them replied, "The man asked about us and about our family. He said, 'Is your father still living? Do you have another brother?' We had to answer his questions. We could not know that he would say, 'The next time that you come down here, bring your brother with you!'"

¹ When his brothers were ready to return home, Joseph said to the man who was in charge of things in his house, "Fill the sacks of those men with as much grain as they can carry on their donkeys. And put in the top of each man's sack the silver that he paid for the grain. ² Then put my silver cup in the top of the youngest brother's sack, along with the silver that he paid for the grain." So the servant did what Joseph told him to do.

¹ Joseph was not able to control his feelings any longer. He did not want to cry in front of his servants, so he said to them loudly, "All of you go outside!" After they went outside, there were no Egyptians there with Joseph when he told his brothers who he was. ² He cried so loudly that even the people outside heard it, and even the people in the king's palace heard it. ³ Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is our father still alive?" But his brothers were not able to reply, because they were frightened because of what he said. ⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me!" When they came closer to him, he said, "I am your brother Joseph! I am the one you sold to traders who brought me here to Egypt! ⁵ But now, do not be distressed, and do not be angry with yourselves for having sold me as a slave. It was God who sent me here ahead of you in order to keep you from dying in the famine. ⁶ There has been a famine in this country for two years, and it will continue for five more years. During this time, no one will plow the ground, and there will be no crops to harvest. ⁷ God sent me here ahead of you to keep you from starving, and to make sure that your descendants would survive. ⁸ Therefore, it was not you who sent me here; it was God who sent me here! He has caused me to become like a father to the king. I am in charge of everything in his palace and the governor of everyone in Egypt! ⁹ Now return to my father quickly and say to him, 'This is what your son Joseph says: "God has caused me to become the governor over the whole land of Egypt. Come down to me immediately! ¹⁰ You can live in the region of Goshen. You and your children and your grandchildren, your sheep and goats and cattle, and everything that you own, will be near me. ¹¹ Since there will be five more years of famine, I will make sure that you have food. If you do not come here, you and your family and all of your servants will starve."'

¹ So Jacob left, taking with him all his family and possessions. When they arrived at Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to God, the one whom his father Isaac worshiped. ² That night, God called to Jacob in a vision, saying, "Jacob! Jacob!" He replied, "I am here!" ³ God said, "I am God, the one your father worshiped. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, because I will give you many descendants, and they will become a great nation there. ⁴ I will go down to Egypt with you, and later I will bring your descendants back to Canaan again. And Joseph will be with you when you die."

^1-2 Joseph chose five of his brothers to go with him to talk to the king. He introduced them to the king, and then he said, "My father and my brothers have come from the land of Canaan. They have brought all their sheep, goats, cattle, and everything else that they own, and they are living now in the region of Goshen." ³ The king asked the brothers, "What work do you do?" They replied to the king, "Your servants are shepherds, just as our ancestors were." ⁴ They also said to him, "We have come here to live for a while in this land because the famine is very severe in Canaan, and our animals have no pasture there. So now, please let your servants live in the region of Goshen."

¹ Some time after this, someone told Joseph, "Your father is ill." When Joseph heard that, he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to see his father. ² When someone told Jacob, "Look, your son Joseph has come to see you!" Jacob, also called Israel, made an effort and sat up on the bed, even though it was difficult for him to do that. ³ He said to Joseph, "When I was at Luz in the land of Canaan, God Almighty appeared to me. He blessed me ⁴ and said to me, 'I am going to enable you to become the father of many children. You will have many descendants, and they will become many peoples. And I will give this land to your descendants to possess forever.'

¹ Jacob summoned all his sons and said to them, ² "Gather around close to me in order that I can tell you what will happen in the future. My sons, come and listen to me. I am your father, Jacob.

¹ Joseph fell on his father's face and he cried over him and kissed him. ² Joseph commanded his servants who prepared the dead for burial to embalm his father's body. ³ It took forty days to embalm Jacob's body because that is the amount of time that was always required for them to embalm a body. The people of Egypt cried for seventy days because of Jacob's death. ⁴ When the time of mourning was finished, Joseph said to the king's officials, "If you are pleased with me, please take this message to the king: ⁵ 'When my father was about to die, he told me to solemnly promise that I would bury his body in the land of Canaan, in the tomb that he himself had prepared. So please let me go up to Canaan and bury my father's body. Then I will return.'"