Genesis Chapter 1
The Creation.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.”
7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so.
8 God called the expanse Sky. And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry land appear.” And it was so.
10 God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so.
12 The land produced vegetation: plants yielding seed according to their own kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years,
15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth.” And it was so.
16 God made two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.
17 God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”
21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.
25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw everything that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Genesis Chapter 2
Greeting.
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
The man in the Garden of Eden
4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
5 and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew; for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground,
6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 Then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that was pleasant to the sight, and good for food: the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 And a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four headwaters.
11 The name of the first was Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
12 The gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx are also there.
13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush.
14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
18Y dijo Jehová Dios: No es bueno que el hombre esté solo; le haré ayuda idónea para él.
19Jehová Dios formó, pues, de la tierra toda bestia del campo, y toda ave de los cielos, y las trajo a Adán para que viese cómo las había de llamar; y todo lo que Adán llamó a los animales vivientes, ese es su nombre.
20Y puso Adán nombre a toda bestia y ave de los cielos y a todo ganado del campo; mas para Adán no se halló ayuda idónea para él.
21Entonces Jehová Dios hizo caer sueño profundo sobre Adán, y mientras éste dormía, tomó una de sus costillas, y cerró la carne en su lugar.
22Y de la costilla que Jehová Dios tomó del hombre, hizo una mujer, y la trajo al hombre.
23Dijo entonces Adán: Esto es ahora hueso de mis huesos y carne de mi carne; ésta será llamada Varona, porque del varón fue tomada.
24Por tanto, dejará el hombre a su padre y a su madre, y se unirá a su mujer, y serán una sola carne.
25Y estaban ambos desnudos, Adán y su mujer, y no se avergonzaban.
Genesis Chapter 3
Man's disobedience
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, “You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day; and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 Then God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you gave me to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 And the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
24 After he drove the man out, he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis Chapter 4
Cain and Abel
1 Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, saying, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.”
2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground.
3 In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the ground,
4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord regarded Abel and his offering with favor,
5 but he did not regard Cain and his offering with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen?
7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Yet his desire will be for you, and you will rule over him.
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He replied, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.
11 Now you are cursed from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you; you will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.
14 Today you are driving me from the face of the earth, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, And it will happen that whoever finds me will kill me.
15 The Lord said to him, “Not so; whoever kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest anyone who found him should kill him.
16 So Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
17 Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.
18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.
19 Lamech took two wives for himself; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.
20 And Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the father of those who dwell in tents and raise livestock.
21 And the name of his brother was Jubal, who was the father of all who play the harp and flute.
22 Zillah also bore Tubal-cain, the forger of all kinds of work in bronze and iron; and Tubal-cain’s sister was Naamah.
23 Then Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I will kill a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.
24 If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.”
25 Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, whom Cain killed.”
26 To Seth also a son was born, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.
Genesis Chapter 5
The descendants of Adam
1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him.
2 Male and female created he them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day that they were created.
3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth.
4 And the days of Adam after he begot Seth were eight hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.
6 And Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh.
7 And Seth lived after he begot Enosh eight hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.
8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.
9 And Enosh lived ninety years, and begot Kenan.
10 After he fathered Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters.
11 All the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.
12 Kenan lived 70 years and fathered Mahalaleel.
13 After he fathered Mahalaleel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters.
14 All the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.
15 Mahalaleel lived 65 years and fathered Jared.
16 After he fathered Jared, Mahalaleel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters.
17 All the days of Mahalaleel were 895 years, and he died.
18 Jared lived 162 years and fathered Enoch.
19 After he fathered Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.
20 So all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.
21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah.
22 After he fathered Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
23 So all the days of Enoch were 365 years.
24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.
25 Methuselah lived 187 years and fathered Lamech.
26 After he fathered Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters.
27 So all the days of Methuselah were 969 years; and he died.
28 Lamech lived 182 years, and begot a son;
29 and he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.”
30 And Lamech lived after he begot Noah 595 years, and begot sons and daughters.
31 So all the days of Lamech were 777 years; and he died.
32 And Noah was 500 years old, and begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Genesis Chapter 6
The wickedness of men
1 When humankind began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,
2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful, and they took wives for themselves from among all of them.
3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be 120 years.”
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and they bore children to them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil all the time.
6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.
7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground— and they will perish .” I regret having made them. 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Noah builds the ark
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.
10 And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God saw the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth.
13 So God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; behold, I will destroy both them and the earth.”
14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.
15 This is how you are to make it: The length of the ark will be 300 cubits, its width 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits.
16 Make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top. Put the door of the ark in its side, and make it with lower, second, and third decks.
17 I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth to destroy all flesh under heaven that has the breath of life in it; everything on earth will die.
18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
19 Bring two of every kind of living creature into the ark to keep them alive with you; they will be male and female.
20 Two of every kind of bird, two of every kind of animal, and two of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to keep them alive.
21 Take some of all kinds of food with you and store it up; it will be food for you and for them.
22 Noah did this. He did everything God commanded him.
Genesis Chapter 7
The Flood
1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have found you righteous before me in this generation.
2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate,
3 and seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their species alive on the face of the earth.
4 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”
5 Noah did everything the Lord had commanded him.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.
7 Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean animals, and of unclean animals, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth,
9 two by two they went into the ark with Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass on the seventh day that the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened,
12 and rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On that very day Noah, and Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s wife, and his three sons’ wives, entered the ark with him;
14 They, and all the wild animals according to their kinds, and all the domesticated animals according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, and every winged bird of every kind.
15 They went with Noah into the ark, two by two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life.
16 And those that went in, male and female of all flesh, came as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.
17 And the flood was on the earth forty days; and the waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose above the earth.
18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.
19 The waters rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heaven were covered.
20 The waters rose fifteen cubits higher after the mountains were covered.
21 All flesh died that moved on the earth: birds, livestock, animals, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and all mankind.
22 Everything on earth that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.
23 Thus every living thing on the face of the earth was destroyed—man and beast, reptiles and birds of the air—and they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah and those with him in the ark remained.
24 The waters prevailed on the earth for one hundred and fifty days.
Genesis Chapter 8
1 Then God remembered Noah and all the animals and all the livestock that were with him in the ark, and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters receded.
2 The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens were closed, and the rain from the heavens was restrained.
3 The waters receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of 150 days the waters had stopped.
4 In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains appeared.
6 After 40 days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made,
7 and sent out a raven, which kept flying back and forth until the waters had dried up from the earth.
8 He also sent out a dove from himself to see if the waters had receded from the face of the earth.
9 But the dove found nowhere to perch, and it returned to him in the ark, for the waters were still over the face of the whole earth. Then he reached out his hand and took it and brought it back into the ark with him.
10 After waiting another seven days, he sent the dove out again from the ark.
11 The dove returned to him in the evening, and in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.
12 After waiting another seven days, he sent out the dove, and it did not return to him again.
13 In the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters had dried up from the earth. So Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the face of the earth was dry.
14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying,
16 “Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you.
17 Bring out with you every living creature that is with you—birds, animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so that they may thrive and increase in number on the earth.”
18 So Noah and his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives went out.
19 All the animals, and every reptile and every bird, everything that moves on the earth according to their kinds, came out of the ark.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he offered burnt offerings on it.
21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, for the inclination of their hearts is evil from childhood. Never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.
22 As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
Genesis Chapter 9
God's covenant with Noah
1 God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds of the air, on everything that moves along the ground, and on all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands.
3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
4 But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.
5 For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning. From every animal I will require it, and from every human being; from each person’s brother I will require a reckoning for the life of another human being.
6 Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.
7 As for you, be fruitful and multiply; increase abundantly on the earth and increase in it.”
8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,
9 “ I now establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you,
10 and with every living creature with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals with you—from all those that came out of the ark to every living creature on earth.
11 I establish my covenant with you, and never again will the waters of a flood destroy all life; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:
13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,
15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. And there will never again be a flood of waters to destroy all flesh.
16 The rainbow will be in the clouds, and I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.
17 Then God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
Noah 's Drunkenness
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan.
19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.
20 Now Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard.
21 He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he lay uncovered inside his tent.
22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.
23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on their shoulders, and walked backward and covered their father’s nakedness. With their faces turned away, they did not see their father’s nakedness.
24 When Noah awoke from his drunkenness and realized what his youngest son had done to him,
25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan! He will be a servant of servants to his brothers.
26 He said further: Blessed be the Lord my God, and let Canaan be his servant.
27 May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.
28 So Noah lived after the flood 350 years.
29 So all the days of Noah were 950 years; and he died.
Genesis Chapter 10
The descendants of Noah
1 These are the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth, to whom sons were born after the flood.
2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
3 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
4 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
5 From these the coastlands were populated, each according to its language, according to their families in their nations.
6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
7 And the sons of Cush: Sheba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.
8 And Cush begat Nimrod, who became the first mighty man on the earth.
9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.”
10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
11 From that land he went to Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah,
12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah, which is a great city.
13 Mizraim fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,
14 Pathrusim, and Casluhim, from whom came the Philistines and Caphtorim.
15 And Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn, Heth,
16 the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgashite,
17 the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite,
18 the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed.
19 The territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon, toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; and toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
20 These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations.
21 Sons were also born to Shem, the father of all the sons of Eber, and the older brother of Japheth.
22 The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
23 The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
24 Arphaxad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber.
25 To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and the name of his brother was Joktan.
26 Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazar-maveth, Jerah,
27 Adoram, Uzal, Diklah,
28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba,
29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.
30 The land they inhabited extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar, to the eastern hill country.
31 These were the sons of Shem according to their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations.
32 These are the families of the sons of Noah according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.
Genesis Chapter 11
The Tower of Babel
1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.
2 As people migrated eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick for stone and bitumen for mortar.
4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people had built.
6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
The descendants of Shem
10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem, being one hundred years old, begot Arphaxad, two years after the flood.
11 And Shem lived after he begot Arphaxad five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
12 Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Shelah.
13 And Arphaxad lived after he begot Shelah four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.
14 Shelah lived thirty years, and begot Eber.
15 And Shelah lived after he begot Eber four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.
16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg.
17 And Eber lived after he begot Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.
18 Peleg lived thirty years and fathered Reu.
19 After he fathered Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years and had other sons and daughters.
20 Reu lived thirty-two years and fathered Serug.
21 After he fathered Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years and had other sons and daughters.
22 Serug lived thirty years and fathered Nahor.
23 After he fathered Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years and had other sons and daughters.
24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years and fathered Terah.
25 After he fathered Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years and had other sons and daughters.
26 Terah lived seventy years and fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
The descendants of Terah
27 These are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
28 Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
29 Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.
30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31 Terah took his son Abram, and Lot, the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Abram, and went with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and settled there.
32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
Genesis Chapter 12
God calls Abram
1 Now the Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2 I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
5 Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in the land of Canaan,
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the great tree of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8 From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
9 From there Abram journeyed toward the Negev.
Abram in Egypt
10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while, because the famine was severe in the land.
11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know that you are a beautiful woman.
12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife,’ and they will kill me but let you live.
13 Now say that you are my sister, so that I may be treated well for your sake and that I may live because of you.”
14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
15 Pharaoh’s officials also saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into Pharaoh’s palace.
16 Pharaoh treated Abram well for her sake, and he acquired sheep, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
18 Then Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?
19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her and go.”
20 Then Pharaoh gave orders to his people concerning Abram; And they accompanied him, along with his wife, with all that they had.
Genesis Chapter 13
Abram and Lot separate
1 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him.
2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.
3 And he went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
4 to the place of the altar which he had made there at first; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
5 Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents.
6 But the land was not enough for them to dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell in the same place.
7 And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land.
8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers.”
9 Is not the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; or if you go to the right, I will go to the left.
10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as far as Zoar, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
11 So Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan and set out eastward. Thus the two men separated.
12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents as far as Sodom.
13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.
14 And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, Lift up your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward, and eastward and westward.
15 For all the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.
16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring also can be counted.
17 Arise, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.
18 So Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.
Genesis Chapter 14
Abram frees Lot
1 In the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim,
2 these kings made war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
3 All these kings gathered together in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).
4 They had served Chedorlaomer for twelve years, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5 In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him came and defeated the Rephaim at Ashtaroth-karnaim, the Zuzims at Ham, the Emim at Shaveh-kiriathaim,
6 and the Horites in Mount Seir, as far as the plain of Paran, which is by the desert.
7 Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they devastated all the land of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who lived in Hazezon-tamar.
8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and drew up their battle lines against them in the Valley of Siddim.
9 This was against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five.
10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, while the rest fled to the mountains.
11 They took all the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and departed.
12 They also took Lot, Abram’s nephew, who was living in Sodom, and his possessions, and departed.
13 Now one of those who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, who were allies of Abram.
14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he armed his servants, born in his household, 318 of them, and pursued them as far as Dan.
15 He attacked them by night, he and his servants, and pursued them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.
16 He recovered all his possessions, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, as well as the women and the other people.
Melchizedek blesses Abram
17 When he returned from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh, which is the King’s Valley.
18 Then Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, brought out bread and wine;
19 and he blessed him, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth;
20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, and take the goods for yourself.”
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,
23 that I will take nothing of all that is yours, not even a thread or a sandal strap, lest you should say, ‘I made Abram rich’;
24 except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre—let them take their share.”
Genesis Chapter 15
God promises Abram a son.
1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, since I remain childless, and the one who will inherit my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 Abram also said, “You have given me no children, and so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”
5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
7 Then he said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
8 And he answered, “O Lord God, how shall I know that I shall inherit it?”
9 And he said, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
10 So he took all these, cut them in half, and placed each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in half.
11 And birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
12 But as the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and behold, a dreadful darkness fell upon him.
13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land not their own, and they will be enslaved there and oppressed for four hundred years.
14 But I will also judge the nation whom they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.”
15 And you will go to your fathers in peace, and you will be buried at a good old age.
16 And in the fourth generation they will return here; for the wickedness of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot and a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces of the animals.
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—
19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Admonites,
20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim,
21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
Genesis Chapter 16
Hagar and Ishmael
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.
2 Then Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
3 After Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, she despised her mistress.
5 So Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my maidservant to you as a wife, and when she saw that she had conceived, she despised me. May the Lord judge between you and me!”
6 Abram said to Sarai, “Your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” But Sarai mistreated her, and she fled from her.
7 The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.
8 He said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.”
9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her authority.”
10 The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your affliction.
12 He will be a wild man; His hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him, and he will dwell in opposition to all his brothers.
13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Have I not seen him who sees me also here?”
14 Therefore she called the well “Well of the Living One who sees me.” It is between Kadesh and Bered.
15 Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram named the son she bore him Ishmael.
16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael.
Genesis Chapter 17
Circumcision, a sign of the covenant
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
2 I will establish my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
3 Then Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,
4 “ As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.
8 The land where you are a foreigner now, all the land of Canaan, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.
9 God said to Abraham again, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
11 You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
12 Every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring.
13 He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and my covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.
14 Any uncircumcised male who has not been circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.
15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
16 I will bless her, and I will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become the mother of nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before you!”
19 God answered, “Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will surely bless him and make him fruitful and increase his numbers exceedingly. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.”
21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you about this time next year.”
22 When he had finished speaking with him, God went up from Abraham.
23 Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, all the servants born in his house, and all those bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised them the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had told him.
24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised.
25 His son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised.
26 On that very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised.
27 All the men of his household, both those born in his house and those bought from a foreigner with money, were circumcised with him.
Genesis Chapter 18
Promise of the birth of Isaac
1 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre as he sat at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.
2 He looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from his tent to meet them and bowed down to the ground.
3 He said, “My lord, if I have found favor in your eyes, do not pass by your servant.
4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree.
5 Let me get you something to eat so you can be refreshed, and after that you may go on your way; because you have come to your servant.” “Do as you have said,” they replied.
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly get three measures of fine flour, knead it, and bake some bread.”
7 So Abraham ran to the herd and took a choice, tender calf and gave it to the servant, who hurried to prepare it.
8 He also took butter and milk and the calf he had prepared and set it before them. He stood with them under the tree, and they ate.
9 Then they asked him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” He replied, “Here in the tent.”
10 Then he said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.
11 Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in years; Sarah was past the age of childbearing.
12 So Sarah laughed to herself and said, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really bear a child, now that I am old?’”
14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son.
15 Then Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. But he said, “No, you did laugh.”
Abraham intercedes for Sodom
16 So the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them, watching them.
17 Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,
18 since Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him?
19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
20 Then the Lord said to him, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous,
21 I will go down now and see whether they have finished what they have done, according to the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.
22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.
23 Abraham approached him and said, “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?”
24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really destroy it and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?
25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous like the wicked. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?
26 Then the Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
27 Abraham replied, “Now that I have begun to speak to the Lord, though I am but dust and ashes,
28 what if there are fewer than fifty righteous people? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” “If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”
29 Again the Lord said, “What if only forty can be found there?” “For the sake of forty,” he replied, “I will not do it.”
30 And he said, “May my Lord not be angry, but let me speak: perhaps thirty will be found there.” And he answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
31 And he said, “Now that I have set my mind to speak to my Lord, perhaps twenty will be found there. I will not destroy it,” he answered, “for the sake of the twenty.”
32 And he said again, “May my Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more: perhaps ten will be found there.” I will not destroy it,” he answered, “for the sake of the ten.”
33 And the Lord departed when he had finished speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
Genesis Chapter 19
Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
1 So the two angels arrived in Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.
2 He said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet. Early in the morning you may rise and go on your way.” “No,” they replied, “we will spend the night in the square.”
3 But he urged them strongly, and they went with him and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them, baking unleavened bread, and they ate.
4 Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house.
5 They called to Lot and said, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can know them.”
6 So Lot went out to them at the door and shut the door behind him.
7 He said, “Please, my brothers, do not do such a wicked thing.
8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”
9 They replied, “Get out of here!” And they added, “This foreigner came here to live among us, and now he wants to play judge! We will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against the man, Lot, and moved near to break down the door.
10 But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them and shut the door.
11 And they struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, from the least to the greatest, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the door.
12 The men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else you have in the city? Bring them out of this place,
13 because we are about to destroy this place, since the outcry against it has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, saying, “Get up! Leave this place, because the Lord is about to destroy this city.” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
15 At daybreak the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”
16 But he hesitated. So the men took hold of his hand, and of his wife’s hand, and of the hands of his two daughters, for the Lord was merciful to him. And they took him out and put him outside the city.
17And when they had brought them out, they said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, nor stop anywhere in the plain; escape to the mountains, lest you be swept away.”
18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, I beg you.
19 Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in sparing my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest evil overtake me and I die.”
20 Look, this town is close enough to flee to, and it is small. Let me escape there—is it not small?—and I will save my life.
21 And he answered, “Behold, I have granted your request concerning this matter also, and I will not destroy the town of which you have spoken.”
22 Hurry, escape there; for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. That is why the city was called Zoar.
23 The sun had risen over the earth when Lot arrived at Zoar.
24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens.
25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.
26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 Early the next morning Abraham went to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain, and he saw smoke rising from the land like the smoke from a furnace.
29 So when God had destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham and sent Lot away from the midst of the destruction, when he overthrew the cities where Lot was living.
30 But Lot went up from Zoar and lived in the mountains with his two daughters. because he was afraid to stay in Zoar, and he and his two daughters lived in a cave.
31 Then the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man on earth to come in to us according to the custom of all the earth.
32 Come, let’s make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.”
33 So they made their father drink wine that night, and the older daughter went in and lay with her father. But he was not aware of when she lay down or when she got up.
34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Look, I lay with my father last night. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight, and you go in and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.”
35 So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter got up and lay with him. But he was not aware of when she lay down or when she got up.
36 Both of Lot’s daughters conceived children by their father.
37 The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day.
38 The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites to this day.
Genesis Chapter 20
Abraham and Abimelech
1 From there Abraham journeyed to the land of the Negev, and camped between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.
2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a married woman.”
4 But Abimelech had not approached her, and he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent person even?
5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and she also said, ‘He is my brother’? In the sincerity of my heart and with the purity of my hands I have done this.”
6 And God said to him in the dream, “I also know that in the sincerity of your heart you have done this; and I also kept you from sinning against me, and so I did not let you touch her.
7 Now therefore, return the woman to her husband; For he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not return her, know for certain that you and all your household will die.”
8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and spoke all these words in their hearing, and the men were exceedingly afraid.
9 Then Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? What have I done against you, that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done to me what you ought not to do.”
10 Abimelech also said to Abraham, “What were you thinking, that you did this?”
11 Abraham answered, “Because I said to myself, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’
12 And indeed she is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and I took her to be my wife.”
13 And when God made me wander from my father’s house, I said to him: This is the mercy that you will do for me, that in all the places where we arrive, you will say of me: He is my brother.
14 So Abimelech took sheep and cattle, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored Sarah his wife to him.
15 Then Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; dwell wherever you please.”
16 And to Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; see, it is like a veil for you before the eyes of all who are with you, and before all others; thus she has been vindicated.”
17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants, and they bore children.
18 For the Lord had completely closed up all the wombs of Abimelech’s house because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
Genesis Chapter 21
Birth of Isaac
1 The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised.
2 Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the very time God had told him.
3 Abraham named his son Isaac, the son Sarah bore him.
4 When Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.
5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born.
6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”
7 She added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Hagar and Ishmael are expelled from Abraham
8 The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.
9 Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking her son Isaac.
10 So she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will not inherit with my son Isaac.”
11 This matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son.
12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.
13 I will also make a nation of the slave woman’s son, because he is your offspring.”
14 Early the next morning Abraham got up, took some bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, placing it on her shoulder. Then he gave her the boy and sent her away. So she went out and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.
16 Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I must not see the boy die.” As she sat opposite him, the boy began to cry.
17 God heard the boy crying, 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 boy crying where he is.
18 Get up, lift the boy up, and hold him in your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an expert archer.
21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took him a wife from the land of Egypt.
Covenant between Abraham and Abimelech
22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in everything you do.
23 Now therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal treacherously with me, with my son, or with my grandson, but that you will treat me and the land where you have lived as kindly as I have shown you.”
24 Abraham answered, “I will swear.”
25 Then Abraham rebuked Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had taken from him.
26 Abimelech replied, “I do not know who did this, nor did you tell me, nor have I heard of it until today.”
27 Abraham took some sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.
28 Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock.
29 Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?”
30 And he answered, “Take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, and they will bear witness to me that I dug this well.”
31 Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them swore an oath.
32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba; then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines.
33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God.
34 And Abraham lived in the land of the Philistines for many days.
Genesis Chapter 22
God orders Abraham to sacrifice Isaac
1 After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
2 Then he said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.”
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his servants with him, and his son Isaac. He cut wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place in the distance.
5 Then Abraham said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey, while I and the boy go over there and worship, and we will come back to you.”
6 So Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. And the two of them went on together.
7 Then Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he answered, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God will provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them went on together.
9 When they arrived at the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
12 Then he said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven
16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set out together for Beersheba. So Abraham lived in Beersheba.
20 After this, Abraham was told, “Milcah has also borne sons to your brother Nahor:
21 Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram,
22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.”
23 Bethuel was the father of Rebekah. These were the eight sons Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
24 And his concubine, whose name was Reuma, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahas, and Maacah.
Genesis Chapter 23
Death and burial of Sara
1 Sarah lived 127 years; so were the years of Sarah’s life.
2 Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and weep for her.
3 Then Abraham rose from before his dead woman and spoke to the Hittites, saying,
4 “I am a sojourner and a stranger among you. Give me a burial site among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”
5 The Hittites answered Abraham, “
Listen to us, our lord; you are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold his tomb from you or prevent you from burying your dead.”
7 Then Abraham arose and bowed down to the people of the land, the Hittites,
8 and spoke to them, saying, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and intercede for me with Ephron the son of Zohar,
9 that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns at the edge of his inheritance; let him give it to me for its full price, so that I may have a burial place among you.”
10 Now Ephron was among the Hittites. And Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the Hittites, all who entered the gate of his city, saying,
11 “ No, my lord, hear me: I give you the inheritance, and I also give you the cave that is in it; in the presence of my people I give it to you; bury your dead.”
12 Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land,
13 and answered Ephron in the presence of the people of the land, saying, “If it pleases you, please listen to me. I will give you the price of the field; take it from me, and I will bury my dead in it.”
14 Ephron answered Abraham, saying,
15 “My lord, listen to me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? Bury your dead, then.”
16 Then Abraham agreed with Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the money he had said, in the presence of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, the standard weight among the merchants.
17 So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it, and all the trees that were in the field and in all its surrounding area,
18 remained Abraham’s possession in the presence of the sons of Heth and all who entered the gate of the city.
19 After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
20 So the field and the cave that was in it remained Abraham’s as a burial possession, which he received from the sons of Heth.
Genesis Chapter 24
Abraham seeks a wife for Isaac
1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed him in all things.
2 Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all his possessions, “Put your hand under my thigh,
3 and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell,
4 but you will go to my country and to my relatives and take a wife for my son Isaac.”
5 The servant replied, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to come back with me to this land. Should I then take your son back to the land from which you came?”
6 Abraham said to him, “Be careful not to take my son back there.
7 The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my relatives, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ He will send his angel before you, and you will bring back a wife for my son from there.
8 But if the woman refuses to go with you, you will be released from this oath of mine; only do not take my son back there.
9 Then the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.
10 The servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, taking all kinds of choice gifts from his master. He set out and arrived in Mesopotamia, at the city of Nahor.
11 He made the camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at the time of evening, the time when the young women go out to draw water.
12 He said, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
13 Here I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of this city are coming out to draw water.”
14 Let it be that the young woman to whom I say, “Please let down your pitcher so that I may drink,” and who answers, “Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink,” let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.
15 Before he had finished speaking, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her pitcher on her shoulder.
16 The young woman was very beautiful, a virgin, whom no man had known. She went down to the spring, filled her pitcher, and was returning.
17 Then the servant ran to her and said, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink.”
18 She answered, “Drink, my lord; And she quickly lowered her pitcher onto her hand and gave him a drink.
19 When she had finished giving them a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.”
20 So she hurried and emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw water, and drew enough for all his camels.
21 The man was amazed at her and remained silent, wondering whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not.
22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man gave her a gold nose ring weighing half a shekel and two bracelets weighing ten shekels.
23 He asked, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me: Is there room in your father’s house for us to stay?”
24 She answered, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.”
25 She added, “We also have plenty of straw and fodder at home, and a place to stay.”
26 Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord,
27 and said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his kindness and faithfulness from my master, but has led me on the way to the house of my master’s relatives.”
28 The young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things.
29 Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he ran outside to the man at the spring.
30 When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s hands, and that she knew, “This is what the man told me,” he went to him. There he was with the camels by the spring.
31 He said to him, “Come in, you who are blessed by the Lord. Why are you standing outside? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”
32 So the man went into the house, and Laban untied the camels and gave them straw and fodder, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
33 And they set food before him; but he said, “I will not eat until I have spoken my message.” And he said to him, “Speak.”
34 Then he said, “I am Abraham’s servant.
35 The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become wealthy. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants, camels and donkeys.
36 Sarah, my master’s wife, bore him a son in her old age, and my master has given him everything he owns.
37 My master made me swear an oath, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live.
38 But you shall go to my father’s house and to my relatives and take a wife for my son.’”
39 And I said, “Perhaps the woman will not want to follow me.”
40 Then he answered me, “The Lord, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and prosper your way; and you shall take for my son a wife from my family and from my father’s house.”
41 Then you will be released from my oath when you come into my family; and if they do not give it to you, you will be released from my oath.
42 So I came today to the spring and said, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you will now prosper the way I am going,
43 behold, I am standing by the spring of water. Let the young woman who comes out to draw water, to whom I say, ‘Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,’
44 and she answers me, ‘Drink, and I will also draw water for your camels,’ let her be the wife the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.”
45 Before I had finished speaking in my heart, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder; she went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, “Please give me a drink.”
46 She quickly lowered her pitcher from her and said, “Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink.” So I drank, and she also gave my camels a drink.
47 Then I asked her, “Whose daughter are you?” She answered, “The daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.” So I put a ring in her nose and bracelets on her arms.
48 Then I bowed down and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son.
49 Now therefore, if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, and I will turn to the right or to the left.
50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “This is from the Lord; we cannot say anything good or bad to you.
51 Here is Rebekah before you; Take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has said.”
52 When Abraham’s servant heard his words, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord.
53 Then the servant brought out articles of silver and gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious gifts to her brother and to her mother.
54 So he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and then they lay down. Early the next morning he got up and said, “Send me away to my master.”
55 His brother and his mother replied, “Let the young woman stay with us at least ten days, and then she may go.”
56 He said to them, “Do not delay me, since the Lord has made my journey prosperous; send me away so that I may go to my master.”
57 So they said, “Let us call the young woman and ask her.”
58 So they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She answered, “I will.”
59 Then they let Rebekah their sister go, along with her nurse, Abraham’s servant, and his men.
60And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands upon thousands, and may your descendants possess the gate of their enemies.”
61 Then Rebekah and her maids arose and mounted the camels and followed the man; and the servant took Rebekah and departed.
62 Now Isaac was coming from the well of the Living One who sees me, for he lived in the Negev.
63 Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening, and lifting up his eyes he looked, and behold, the camels were coming.
64 Rebekah also lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel,
65 for she had asked the servant, “Who is this man coming across the field toward us?” And the servant had answered, “This is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself.
66 Then the servant told Isaac all that he had done.
67 And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and took Rebekah as his wife, and loved her; and Isaac was comforted after the death of his mother.
Genesis Chapter 25
The descendants of Abraham and Keturah
1 Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah,
2 and she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.
3 Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan; the sons of Dedan were Ashurim, Letushim, and Leummim.
4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Elda. All these were the sons of Keturah.
5 Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.
6 But to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts and sent them away from his son Isaac, while he was still alive, eastward to the land of the east.
Death and burial of Abraham
7 These were the days that Abraham lived: 175 years.
8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.
9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, which is opposite Mamre,
10 the field that Abraham had bought from the sons of Heth. There Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife.
11 After Abraham died, God blessed his son Isaac, and Isaac lived by the well of the Living One who sees me.
The descendants of Ishmael
12 These are the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to him.
13 These are the names of Ishmael’s sons, listed in the order of their birth: Ishmael’s firstborn, Nebaioth; then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa,
15 Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.
16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, according to their towns and their encampments: twelve princes according to their families.
17 These were the years of Ishmael’s life: 137 years. Then Ishmael breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.
18 They lived from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt, as you go toward Assyria. He died in the presence of all his brothers.
Birth of Jacob and Esau
19 These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac,
20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife.
21 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why am I alive?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.
23 And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be separated; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.”
24 When the time came for her to give birth, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.
26 Afterward his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
Esau sells his birthright
27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents.
28 Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed hunting, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Now Jacob was cooking stew. When Esau came in from the open country, he was tired.
30 He said to Jacob, “Please give me some of that red stew to eat, for I am very tired.” (That is why he was also called Edom.)
31 Jacob replied, “Sell me your birthright this day.”
32 Esau said, “Look, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?”
33 Jacob said, “Swear to me this day.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.