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Genesis 1

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Genesis 1:3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

Genesis 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

Genesis 1:5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

Genesis 1:6 Then God said, "Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters from the waters."

Genesis 1:7 So God made the space and separated the waters below from the waters above. And it was so.

Genesis 1:8 God called the space "Sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

Genesis 1:9 Then God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let dry land appear." And it was so.

Genesis 1:10 God called the dry ground "Land," and the gathered waters He called "Seas." And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:11 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 kinds." And it was so.

Genesis 1:12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

Genesis 1:14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years,

Genesis 1:15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so.

Genesis 1:16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.

Genesis 1:17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth,

Genesis 1:18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

Genesis 1:20 Then God said, "Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky."

Genesis 1:21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the waters teem and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth."

Genesis 1:23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

Genesis 1:24 Then God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so.

Genesis 1:25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.

Genesis 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Genesis 1:29 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."

Genesis 1:30 "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.

Genesis 1:31 God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Genesis 2

Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.

Genesis 2:2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

Genesis 2:3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Genesis 2:4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.

Genesis 2:5 Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.

Genesis 2:6 But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.

Genesis 2:7 Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Genesis 2:8 The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.

Genesis 2:9 Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing 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.

Genesis 2:10 Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers.

Genesis 2:11 The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

Genesis 2:12 The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there.

Genesis 2:13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush.

Genesis 2:14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Genesis 2:15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.

Genesis 2:16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;

Genesis 2:17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."

Genesis 2:18 Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."

Genesis 2:19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

Genesis 2:20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.

Genesis 2:21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.

Genesis 2:22 The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

Genesis 2:23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man."

Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

Genesis 2:25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Genesis 3

Genesis 3:1 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'?"

Genesis 3:2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,

Genesis 3:3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"

Genesis 3:4 "You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman.

Genesis 3:5 "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Genesis 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Genesis 3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Genesis 3:9 But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?"

Genesis 3:10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."

Genesis 3:11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

Genesis 3:12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."

Genesis 3:13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

Genesis 3:14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life."

Genesis 3:15 "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel."

Genesis 3:16 To the woman He said, "I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

Genesis 3:17 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."

Genesis 3:18 "It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field."

Genesis 3:19 "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."

Genesis 3:20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

Genesis 3:21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

Genesis 3:22 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."

Genesis 3:23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

Genesis 3:24 After He drove the man out, He placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 4

Genesis 4:1 Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the Lord, I have brought forth a man."

Genesis 4:2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.

Genesis 4:3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord.

Genesis 4:4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering,

Genesis 4:5 but on Cain and his offering He did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Genesis 4:6 Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?

Genesis 4:7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it."

Genesis 4:8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let’s go out to the field." While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Genesis 4:9 Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don’t know," he replied. "Am I my brother’s keeper?"

Genesis 4:10 The Lord said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.

Genesis 4:11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

Genesis 4:12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."

Genesis 4:13 Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is more than I can bear.

Genesis 4:14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from Your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."

Genesis 4:15 But the Lord said to him, "Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.

Genesis 4:16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Genesis 4:17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch.

Genesis 4:18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

Genesis 4:19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah.

Genesis 4:20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock.

Genesis 4:21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes.

Genesis 4:22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

Genesis 4:23 Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me.

Genesis 4:24 If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times."

Genesis 4:25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, "God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him."

Genesis 4:26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.

Genesis 5

Genesis 5:1 This is the written account of Adam’s family line. When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God.

Genesis 5:2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them "Mankind" when they were created.

Genesis 5:3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.

Genesis 5:4 After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:5 Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.

Genesis 5:6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh.

Genesis 5:7 After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:8 Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.

Genesis 5:9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan.

Genesis 5:10 After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:11 Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.

Genesis 5:12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel.

Genesis 5:13 After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:14 Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.

Genesis 5:15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared.

Genesis 5:16 After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:17 Altogether, Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.

Genesis 5:18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch.

Genesis 5:19 After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:20 Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.

Genesis 5:21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah.

Genesis 5:22 After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:23 Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years.

Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

Genesis 5:25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech.

Genesis 5:26 After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:27 Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.

Genesis 5:28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son.

Genesis 5:29 He named him Noah and said, "He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed."

Genesis 5:30 After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:31 Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.

Genesis 5:32 After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Genesis 6

Genesis 6:1 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them,

Genesis 6:2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.

Genesis 6:3 Then the Lord said, "My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years."

Genesis 6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

Genesis 6:5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

Genesis 6:6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.

Genesis 6:7 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—for I regret that I have made them."

Genesis 6:8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Genesis 6:9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.

Genesis 6:10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Genesis 6:11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.

Genesis 6:12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.

Genesis 6:13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

Genesis 6:14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.

Genesis 6:15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.

Genesis 6:16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.

Genesis 6:17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.

Genesis 6:18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

Genesis 6:19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.

Genesis 6:20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.

Genesis 6:21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."

Genesis 6:22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Genesis 7

Genesis 7:1 The Lord then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.

Genesis 7:2 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,

Genesis 7:3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.

Genesis 7:4 Seven days from now 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."

Genesis 7:5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.

Genesis 7:6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.

Genesis 7:7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.

Genesis 7:8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground,

Genesis 7:9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.

Genesis 7:10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

Genesis 7:12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Genesis 7:13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark.

Genesis 7:14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings.

Genesis 7:15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark.

Genesis 7:16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

Genesis 7:17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth.

Genesis 7:18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water.

Genesis 7:19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.

Genesis 7:20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.

Genesis 7:21 Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.

Genesis 7:22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.

Genesis 7:23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

Genesis 7:24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

Genesis 8

Genesis 8:1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.

Genesis 8:2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky.

Genesis 8:3 The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down,

Genesis 8:4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

Genesis 8:5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

Genesis 8:6 After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark

Genesis 8:7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.

Genesis 8:8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground.

Genesis 8:9 But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark.

Genesis 8:10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark.

Genesis 8:11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.

Genesis 8:12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

Genesis 8:13 By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.

Genesis 8:14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

Genesis 8:15 Then God said to Noah,

Genesis 8:16 "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.

Genesis 8:17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it."

Genesis 8:18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.

Genesis 8:19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.

Genesis 8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.

Genesis 8:21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

Genesis 8:22 "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease."

Genesis 9

Genesis 9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.

Genesis 9:3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

Genesis 9:4 But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.

Genesis 9:5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.

Genesis 9:6 "Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.

Genesis 9:7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it."

Genesis 9:8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him:

Genesis 9:9 "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you

Genesis 9:10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth.

Genesis 9:11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

Genesis 9:12 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:

Genesis 9:13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

Genesis 9:14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,

Genesis 9:15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

Genesis 9:16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

Genesis 9:17 So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

Genesis 9:18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.)

Genesis 9:19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.

Genesis 9:20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.

Genesis 9:21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.

Genesis 9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.

Genesis 9:23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.

Genesis 9:24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him,

Genesis 9:25 he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers."

Genesis 9:26 He also said, "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem.

Genesis 9:27 May God extend Japheth’s territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth."

Genesis 9:28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years.

Genesis 9:29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.

Genesis 10

Genesis 10:1 This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.

Genesis 10:2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshek and Tiras.

Genesis 10:3 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.

Genesis 10:4 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites and the Rodanites.

Genesis 10:5 From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.

Genesis 10:6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan.

Genesis 10:7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteka. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

Genesis 10:8 Cush was the father of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth.

Genesis 10:9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; that is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord."

Genesis 10:10 The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in Shinar.

Genesis 10:11 From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah

Genesis 10:12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city.

Genesis 10:13 Egypt was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites,

Genesis 10:14 Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites.

Genesis 10:15 Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,

Genesis 10:16 Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites,

Genesis 10:17 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites,

Genesis 10:18 Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites. Later the Canaanite clans scattered

Genesis 10:19 and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, as far as Lasha.

Genesis 10:20 These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

Genesis 10:21 Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.

Genesis 10:22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.

Genesis 10:23 The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshek.

Genesis 10:24 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah the father of Eber.

Genesis 10:25 Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.

Genesis 10:26 Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,

Genesis 10:27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

Genesis 10:28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba,

Genesis 10:29 Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

Genesis 10:30 The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.

Genesis 10:31 These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

Genesis 10:32 These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.

Genesis 11

Genesis 11:1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.

Genesis 11:2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

Genesis 11:3 They said to each other, "Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

Genesis 11:4 Genesis Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

Genesis 11:5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.

Genesis 11:6 The Lord said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

Genesis 11:7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."

Genesis 11:8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.

Genesis 11:9 That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Genesis 11:10 This is the account of Shem’s family line. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad.

Genesis 11:11 And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah.

Genesis 11:13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber.

Genesis 11:15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg.

Genesis 11:17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu.

Genesis 11:19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug.

Genesis 11:21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor.

Genesis 11:23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah.

Genesis 11:25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:26 After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

Genesis 11:27 This is the account of Terah’s family line. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.

Genesis 11:28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth.

Genesis 11:29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah.

Genesis 11:30 Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.

Genesis 11:31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there.

Genesis 11:32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.

Genesis 12

Genesis 12:1 The Lord had said to Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

Genesis 12:2 "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.

Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

Genesis 12:4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.

Genesis 12:5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

Genesis 12:6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

Genesis 12:7 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.

Genesis 12:8 From there he went on toward the hills 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.

Genesis 12:9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

Genesis 12:10 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.

Genesis 12:11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are.

Genesis 12:12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.

Genesis 12:13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you."

Genesis 12:14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.

Genesis 12:15 And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace.

Genesis 12:16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

Genesis 12:17 But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai.

Genesis 12:18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?

Genesis 12:19 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!"

Genesis 12:20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

Genesis 13

Genesis 13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him.

Genesis 13:2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.

Genesis 13:3 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier

Genesis 13:4 and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.

Genesis 13:5 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.

Genesis 13:6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.

Genesis 13:7 And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.

Genesis 13:8 So Abram said to Lot, "Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives.

Genesis 13:9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left."

Genesis 13:10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

Genesis 13:11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:

Genesis 13:12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.

Genesis 13:13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.

Genesis 13:14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.

Genesis 13:15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.

Genesis 13:16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.

Genesis 13:17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you."

Genesis 13:18 So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.

Genesis 14

Genesis 14:1 At the time when Amraphel was king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goyim,

Genesis 14:2 these kings went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).

Genesis 14:3 All these latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Dead Sea Valley).

Genesis 14:4 For twelve years they had been subject to Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

Genesis 14:5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim

Genesis 14:6 and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran near the desert.

Genesis 14:7 Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazezon Tamar.

Genesis 14:8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboyim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim

Genesis 14:9 against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five.

Genesis 14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills.

Genesis 14:11 The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away.

Genesis 14:12 They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.

Genesis 14:13 A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshkol and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram.

Genesis 14:14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.

Genesis 14:15 During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.

Genesis 14:16 He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.

Genesis 14:17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

Genesis 14:18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High,

Genesis 14:19 and he blessed Abram, saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.

Genesis 14:20 And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Genesis 14:21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself."

Genesis 14:22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,

Genesis 14:23 that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’

Genesis 14:24 I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. Let them have their share."

Genesis 15

Genesis 15:1 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."

Genesis 15:2 But Abram said, "Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?"

Genesis 15:3 And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."

Genesis 15:4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir."

Genesis 15:5 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."

Genesis 15:6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15:7 He also said to him, "I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it."

Genesis 15:8 But Abram said, "Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?"

Genesis 15:9 So the Lord said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."

Genesis 15:10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.

Genesis 15:11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

Genesis 15:12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.

Genesis 15:13 Then the Lord said to him, "Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.

Genesis 15:14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.

Genesis 15:15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.

Genesis 15:16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."

Genesis 15:17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.

Genesis 15:18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—

Genesis 15:19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,

Genesis 15:20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,

Genesis 15:21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."

Genesis 16

Genesis 16:1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar;

Genesis 16:2 so she said to Abram, "The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said.

Genesis 16:3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.

Genesis 16:4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

Genesis 16:5 Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me."

Genesis 16:6 "Your slave is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

Genesis 16:7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.

Genesis 16:8 And he said, "Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I’m running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered.

Genesis 16:9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her."

Genesis 16:10 The angel added, "I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count."

Genesis 16:11 The angel of the Lord also said to her: "You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.

Genesis 16:12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers."

Genesis 16:13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me."

Genesis 16:14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

Genesis 16:15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.

Genesis 16:16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Genesis 17

Genesis 17:1 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.

Genesis 17:2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."

Genesis 17:3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,

Genesis 17:4 "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.

Genesis 17:5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.

Genesis 17:6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.

Genesis 17:7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

Genesis 17:8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."

Genesis 17:9 Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.

Genesis 17:10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

Genesis 17:11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.

Genesis 17:12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring.

Genesis 17:13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.

Genesis 17:14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."

Genesis 17:15 God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.

Genesis 17:16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."

Genesis 17:17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"

Genesis 17:18 And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!"

Genesis 17:19 Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

Genesis 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.

Genesis 17:21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year."

Genesis 17:22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.

Genesis 17:23 On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him.

Genesis 17:24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised,

Genesis 17:25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen;

Genesis 17:26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day.

Genesis 17:27 And every male in Abraham’s household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.

Genesis 18

Genesis 18:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.

Genesis 18:2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

Genesis 18:3 He said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by.

Genesis 18:4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree.

Genesis 18:5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant." "Very well," they answered, "do as you say."

Genesis 18:6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. "Quick," he said, "get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread."

Genesis 18:7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.

Genesis 18:8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.

Genesis 18:9 "Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked him. "There, in the tent," he said.

Genesis 18:10 Then one of them 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.

Genesis 18:11 Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.

Genesis 18:12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?"

Genesis 18:13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’

Genesis 18:14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son."

Genesis 18:15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh." But he said, "Yes, you did laugh."

Genesis 18:16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.

Genesis 18:17 Then the Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?

Genesis 18:18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.

Genesis 18:19 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."

Genesis 18:20 Then the Lord said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous

Genesis 18:21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."

Genesis 18:22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. [A

Genesis 18:23 Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

Genesis 18:24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?

Genesis 18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

Genesis 18:26 The Lord said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."

Genesis 18:27 Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes,

Genesis 18:28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?" "If I find forty-five there," he said, "I will not destroy it."

Genesis 18:29 Once again he spoke to him, "What if only forty are found there?" He said, "For the sake of forty, I will not do it."

Genesis 18:30 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?" He answered, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."

Genesis 18:31 Abraham said, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?" He said, "For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it."

Genesis 18:32 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?" He answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."

Genesis 18:33 When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

Genesis 19

Genesis 19:1 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.

Genesis 19:2 “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”

Genesis 19:3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate.

Genesis 19:4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house.

Genesis 19:5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have relations with them.”

Genesis 19:6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him

Genesis 19:7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing.

Genesis 19:8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

Genesis 19:9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

Genesis 19:10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door.

Genesis 19:11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.

Genesis 19:12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,

Genesis 19:13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”

Genesis 19:14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

Genesis 19:15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”

Genesis 19:16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them.

Genesis 19:17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

Genesis 19:18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please!

Genesis 19:19 Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die.

Genesis 19:20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”

Genesis 19:21 He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of.

Genesis 19:22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.)

Genesis 19:23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land.

Genesis 19:24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens.

Genesis 19:25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.

Genesis 19:26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Genesis 19:27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord.

Genesis 19:28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

Genesis 19:29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Genesis 19:30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave.

Genesis 19:31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth.

Genesis 19:32 Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”

Genesis 19:33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

Genesis 19:34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.”

Genesis 19:35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

Genesis 19:36 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.

Genesis 19:37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today.

Genesis 19:38 The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.

Genesis 20

20:1 Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar,

20:2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.

20:3 But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, "You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman."

20:4 Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, "Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation?

20:5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands."

20:6 Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her.

20:7 Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die."

20:8 Early the next morning Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid.

20:9 Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, "What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done."

20:10 And Abimelek asked Abraham, "What was your reason for doing this?"

20:11 Abraham replied, "I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’

20:12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife.

20:13 And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’"

20:14 Then Abimelek brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him.

20:15 And Abimelek said, "My land is before you; live wherever you like."

20:16 To Sarah he said, "I am giving your brother a thousand shekels of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated."

20:17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again,

20:18 for the Lord had kept all the women in Abimelek’s household from conceiving because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.

Genesis 21

Genesis 21:1 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.

Genesis 21:2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.

Genesis 21:3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.

Genesis 21:4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him.

Genesis 21:5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

Genesis 21:6 Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me."

Genesis 21:7 And she added, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

Genesis 21:8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.

Genesis 21:9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking,

Genesis 21:10 and she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac."

Genesis 21:11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.

Genesis 21:12 But God said to him, "Do not be so 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.

Genesis 21:13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring."

Genesis 21:14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.

Genesis 21:15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.

Genesis 21:16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, "I cannot watch the boy die." And as she sat there, she began to sob.

Genesis 21:17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.

Genesis 21:18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation."

Genesis 21:19 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.

Genesis 21:20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer.

Genesis 21:21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.

Genesis 21:22 At that time Abimelek and Phicol, the commander of his forces, said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do.

Genesis 21:23 Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you."

Genesis 21:24 Abraham said, "I swear it."

Genesis 21:25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelek about a well of water that Abimelek’s servants had seized.

Genesis 21:26 But Abimelek said, "I don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today."

Genesis 21:27 So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek, and the two men made a treaty.

Genesis 21:28 Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock,

Genesis 21:29 and Abimelek asked Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?"

Genesis 21:30 He replied, "Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well."

Genesis 21:31 So that place was called Beersheba, because the two men swore an oath there.

Genesis 21:32 After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelek and Phicol, the commander of his forces, returned to the land of the Philistines.

Genesis 21:33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God.

Genesis 21:34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

Genesis 22

Genesis 22:1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.

Genesis 22:2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you."

Genesis 22:3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

Genesis 22:4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

Genesis 22:5 He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."

Genesis 22:6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,

Genesis 22:7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

Genesis 22:8 Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.

Genesis 22:9 When they reached 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.

Genesis 22:10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

Genesis 22:11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.

Genesis 22:12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

Genesis 22:13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

Genesis 22:14 So 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."

Genesis 22:15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time

Genesis 22:16 and said, "I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,

Genesis 22:17 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,

Genesis 22:18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

Genesis 22:19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.

Genesis 22:20 Some time later Abraham was told, "Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor:

Genesis 22:21 Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram),

Genesis 22:22 Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel."

Genesis 22:23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milkah bore these eight sons to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

Genesis 22:24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah.

Genesis 23

Genesis 23:1 Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old.

Genesis 23:2 She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.

Genesis 23:3 Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said,

Genesis 23:4 "I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead."

Genesis 23:5 The Hittites replied to Abraham,

Genesis 23:6 "Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead."

Genesis 23:7 Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites.

Genesis 23:8 He said to them, "If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf

Genesis 23:9 so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you."

Genesis 23:10 Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people and he replied to Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city.

Genesis 23:11 "No, my lord," he said. "Listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead."

Genesis 23:12 Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land

Genesis 23:13 and he said to Ephron in their hearing, "Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there."

Genesis 23:14 Ephron answered Abraham,

Genesis 23:15 "Listen to me, my lord; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead."

Genesis 23:16 Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants.

Genesis 23:17 So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre—both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field—was deeded

Genesis 23:18 to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city.

Genesis 23:19 Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

Genesis 23:20 So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.

Genesis 24

Genesis 24:1 Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way.

Genesis 24:2 He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, "Put your hand under my thigh.

Genesis 24:3 I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living,

Genesis 24:4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac."

Genesis 24:5 The servant asked him, "What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?"

Genesis 24:6 "Make sure that you do not take my son back there," Abraham said.

Genesis 24:7 "The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.

Genesis 24:8 If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there."

Genesis 24:9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

Genesis 24:10 Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor.

Genesis 24:11 He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.

Genesis 24:12 Then he prayed, "Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

Genesis 24:13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water.

Genesis 24:14 May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—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."

Genesis 24:15 Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor.

Genesis 24:16 The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.

Genesis 24:17 The servant hurried to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water from your jar."

Genesis 24:18 "Drink, my lord," she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink.

Genesis 24:19 After she had given him a drink, she said, "I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink."

Genesis 24:20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.

Genesis 24:21 Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.

Genesis 24:22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels.

Genesis 24:23 Then he asked, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?"

Genesis 24:24 She answered him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor."

Genesis 24:25 And she added, "We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night."

Genesis 24:26 Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord,

Genesis 24:27 saying, "Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives."

Genesis 24:28 The young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things.

Genesis 24:29 Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring.

Genesis 24:30 As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring.

Genesis 24:31 "Come, you who are blessed by the Lord," he said. "Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels."

Genesis 24:32 So the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels, and water for him and his men to wash their feet.

Genesis 24:33 Then food was set before him, but he said, "I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say." "Then tell us," Laban said.

Genesis 24:34 So he said, "I am Abraham’s servant.

Genesis 24:35 The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.

Genesis 24:36 My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.

Genesis 24:37 And my master made me swear an oath, and said, ‘You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live,

Genesis 24:38 but go to my father’s family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.’

Genesis 24:39 "Then I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not come back with me?’

Genesis 24:40 "He replied, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked faithfully, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father’s family.

Genesis 24:67 So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.