If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

Cain was intimate with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain became the builder of a city, and he named the city Enoch after his son.

Adam was intimate with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, for she said, “God has given me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”

A son was born to Seth also, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of Yahweh.

Lamech was 182 years old when he fathered a son.

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before Me in this generation.

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 future generations:

I have placed My bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.

God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have confirmed between Me and every creature on earth.”

When Noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him,

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.

As the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and suddenly great terror and darkness descended on him.

When the sun had set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the divided animals.

Then the Angel of the Lord said to her:

You have conceived and will have a son.
You will name him Ishmael,
for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction.

So she called the Lord who spoke to her: The God Who Sees, for she said, “In this place, have I actually seen the One who sees me?”

So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son Hagar had.

You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and you.

I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his future offspring.

Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him.

and his son Ishmael was 13 years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised.

On that same day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised.

The Lord said, “I will certainly come back to you in about a year’s time, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him.

Is anything impossible for the Lord? At the appointed time I will come back to you, and in about a year she will have a son.”

Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious.

Then the angels said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here: a son-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of this place,

As soon as the angels got them outside, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look back and don’t stop anywhere on the plain! Run to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”

The sun had risen over the land when Lot reached Zoar.

The firstborn gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites of today.

The younger also gave birth to a son, and she named him Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites of today.

Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said to him, “What have you done to us? How did I sin against you that you have brought such enormous guilt on me and on my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.”

Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him.

Abraham named his son who was born to him—the one Sarah bore to him—Isaac.

When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.

Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

She also said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him in his old age.”

But Sarah saw the son mocking—the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham.

So she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave with her son, for the son of this slave will not be a coheir with my son Isaac!”

Now this was a very difficult thing for Abraham because of his son.

But I will also make a nation of the slave’s son because he is your offspring.”

“Take your son,” He said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about.

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the sacrificial knife, and the two of them walked on together.

Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.”

And he replied, “Here I am, my son.”

Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together.

When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.

Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

Then He said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from Me.”

Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.

and said, “By Myself I have sworn,” this is the Lord’s declaration: “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son,

He said to them, “If you are willing for me to bury my dead, listen to me and ask Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf

and I will have you swear by the Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,

but will go to my land and my family to take a wife for my son Isaac.”

The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Should I have your son go back to the land you came from?”

Abraham answered him, “Make sure that you don’t take my son back there.

The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’—He will send His angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there.

If the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are free from this oath to me, but don’t let my son go back there.”

Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah—daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor—coming with a jug on her shoulder.

She answered him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.”

As soon as he had seen the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he had heard his sister Rebekah’s words—“The man said this to me!”—he went to the man. He was standing there by the camels at the spring.

Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.

My master put me under this oath: ‘You will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live

but will go to my father’s household and to my family to take a wife for my son.’

He said to me, ‘The Lord before whom I have walked will send His angel with you and make your journey a success, and you will take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s household.

and who responds to me, ‘Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels also’—let her be the woman the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.

Then I asked her: Whose daughter are you? She responded, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.

Then I bowed down, worshiped the Lord, and praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who guided me on the right way to take the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son.

Rebekah is here in front of you. Take her and go, and let her be a wife for your master’s son, just as the Lord has spoken.”

And Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines, but while he was still alive he sent them eastward, away from his son Isaac, to the land of the East.

His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite.

After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near Beer-lahai-roi.

These are the family records of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s slave, bore to Abraham.

These are the family records of Isaac son of Abraham. Abraham fathered Isaac.

Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped a hundred times what was sown. The Lord blessed him,

They replied, “We have clearly seen how the Lord has been with you. We think there should be an oath between two parties—between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you:

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.”

And he answered, “Here I am.”

Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac said to his son Esau. So while Esau went to the field to hunt some game to bring in,

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen! I heard your father talking with your brother Esau. He said,

Now obey every order I give you, my son.

His mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey me and go get them for me.”

Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were in the house, and had her younger son Jacob wear them.

Then she handed the delicious food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob.

When he came to his father, he said, “My father.”

And he answered, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”

But Isaac said to his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?”

He replied, “Because the Lord your God worked it out for me.”

Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau or not?”

Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”

And he replied, “I am.”

Then he said, “Serve me, and let me eat some of my son’s game so that I can bless you.” Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; he brought him wine, and he drank.

Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come closer and kiss me, my son.”

So he came closer and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothes, he blessed him and said:

Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field
that the Lord has blessed.

As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left the presence of his father Isaac, his brother Esau arrived from the hunt.

He had also made some delicious food and brought it to his father. Then he said to his father, “Let my father get up and eat some of his son’s game, so that you may bless me.”

But his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”

He answered, “I am Esau your firstborn son.”

But Isaac answered Esau: “Look, I have made him a master over you, have given him all of his relatives as his servants, and have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then can I do for you, my son?”

When the words of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you.

So now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran,

So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

so Esau went to Ishmael and married, in addition to his other wives, Mahalath daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. She was the sister of Nebaioth.

He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place.

“Do you know Laban grandson of Nahor?” Jacob asked them.

They answered, “We know him.”

As soon as Jacob saw his uncle Laban’s daughter Rachel with his sheep, he went up and rolled the stone from the opening and watered his uncle Laban’s sheep.