Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”

Then He asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

but He did not have regard for Cain and his offering. Cain was furious, and he looked despondent.

Since You are banishing me today from the soil, and I must hide myself from Your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, whoever finds me will kill me.”

And Noah did this. He did everything that God had commanded him.

And Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him.

After he had waited another seven days, he sent out the dove, but she did not return to him again.

Then Shem and Japheth took a cloak and placed it over both their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father naked.

Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and go!”

All of these came as allies to the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Dead Sea).

So he brought all these to Him, split them down the middle, and laid the pieces opposite each other, but he did not cut up the birds.

But the Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Can I really have a baby when I’m old?’

Sarah denied it. “I did not laugh,” she said, because she was afraid.

But He replied, “No, you did laugh.”

So they got their father to drink wine that night, and the firstborn came and slept with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she got up.

That night they again got their father to drink wine, and the younger went and slept with him; he did not know when she lay down or when she got up.

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.

Didn’t he himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I did this with a clear conscience and clean hands.”

Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience. I have also kept you from sinning against Me. Therefore I have not let you touch her.

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.”

Abimelech also said to Abraham, “What did you intend when you did this thing?”

The Lord came to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised.

Abimelech replied, “I don’t know who did this thing. You didn’t report anything to me, so I hadn’t heard about it until today.”

And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said: “It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain.”

Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites:

“I am a foreign resident among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.”

“Listen to us, lord. You are God’s chosen one among us. Bury your dead in our finest burial place. None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead.”

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

“No, my lord. 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.”

and said to Ephron in the presence of the people of the land, “Please listen to me. Let me pay the price of the field. Accept it from me, and let me bury my dead there.”

“My lord, listen to me. Land worth 400 shekels of silver—what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”

“Lord, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

“Today when I came to the spring, I prayed: Lord, God of my master Abraham, if only You will make my journey successful!

He moved from there and dug another, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Open Spaces and said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

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.”

He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”

And Jacob did just that. He finished the week of celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

Let me go through all your sheep today and remove every sheep that is speckled or spotted, every dark-colored sheep among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the female goats. Such will be my wages.

As for the weaklings of the flocks, he did not put out the branches. So it turned out that the weak sheep belonged to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.

Why did you secretly flee from me, deceive me, and not tell me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and lyres,

If you find your gods with anyone here, he will not live! Before our relatives, point out anything that is yours and take it.” Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.

I did not bring you any of the flock torn by wild beasts; I myself bore the loss. You demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or by night.

Then Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters; the sons, my sons; and the flocks, my flocks! Everything you see is mine! But what can I do today for these daughters of mine or for the children they have borne?

Then Laban said, “This mound is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore the place was called Galeed

The young man did not delay doing this, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most important in all his father’s house.

When they set out, a terror from God came over the cities around them, and they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.

What he did was evil in the Lord’s sight, so He put him to death also.

He went over to her and said, “Come, let me sleep with you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.

She said, “What will you give me for sleeping with me?”

Judah replied, “Let her keep the items for herself; otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send this young goat, but you couldn’t find her.”

Judah recognized them and said, “She is more in the right than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her intimately again.

When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he did successful,

He left all that he owned under Joseph’s authority; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome.

When his master heard the story his wife told him—“These are the things your slave did to me”—he was furious

The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph’s authority, because the Lord was with him, and the Lord made everything that he did successful.

So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?”

Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I remember my faults.

But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he thought, “Something might happen to him.”

Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.

Then they said to each other, “Obviously, we are being punished for what we did to our brother. We saw his deep distress when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this trouble has come to us.”

They did not realize that Joseph understood them, since there was an interpreter between them.

But Jacob answered, “My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If anything happens to him on your journey, you will bring my gray hairs down to Sheol in sorrow.”

“Why did you cause me so much trouble?” Israel asked. “Why did you tell the man that you had another brother?”

The man did as Joseph had said and brought them to Joseph’s house.

They said, “Sir, we really did come down here the first time only to buy food.

Put my cup, the silver one, at the top of the youngest one’s bag, along with his grain money.” So he did as Joseph told him.

and we answered my lord, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’

The sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had commanded, and he gave them provisions for the journey.

They said, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!” Jacob was stunned, for he did not believe them.

The only land he didn’t acquire was the priests’ portion, for it was given to them by Pharaoh. They lived off the rations Pharaoh had given them; therefore they did not sell their land.

Then Joseph said to the people, “Understand today that I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh. Here is seed for you. Sow it in the land.

So Joseph made it a law, still in effect today in the land of Egypt, that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. Only the priests’ land does not belong to Pharaoh.

So Jacob’s sons did for him what he had commanded them.

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, “If Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will certainly repay us for all the suffering we caused him.”

The Hebrew midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.

Looking all around and seeing no one, he struck the Egyptian dead and hid him in the sand.

“Who made you a leader and judge over us?” the man replied. “Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”

Then Moses became afraid and thought: What I did is certainly known.

When they returned to their father Reuel he asked, “Why have you come back so quickly today?”

“So where is he?” he asked his daughters. “Why then did you leave the man behind? Invite him to eat dinner.”

Then Moses answered, “What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

Now in Midian the Lord told Moses, “Return to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.”

The overseers insisted, “Finish your assigned work each day, just as you did when straw was provided.”

Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s slave drivers had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why haven’t you finished making your prescribed number of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”

So Moses went back to the Lord and asked, “Lord, why have You caused trouble for this people? And why did You ever send me?

I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I did not reveal My name Yahweh to them.

Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their broken spirit and hard labor.

So Moses and Aaron did this; they did just as the Lord commanded them.

So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord had commanded. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent.

But then Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers—the magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same thing by their occult practices.

However, Pharaoh’s heart hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded; in the sight of Pharaoh and his officials, he raised the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile was turned to blood.

But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their occult practices. So Pharaoh’s heart hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

But the magicians did the same thing by their occult practices and brought frogs up onto the land of Egypt.

The Lord did as Moses had said: the frogs in the houses, courtyards, and fields died.

And they did this. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and when he struck the dust of the earth, gnats were on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats throughout the land of Egypt.

And the Lord did this. Thick swarms of flies went into Pharaoh’s palace and his officials’ houses. Throughout Egypt the land was ruined because of the swarms of flies.

The Lord did as Moses had said: He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, his officials, and his people; not one was left.

But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also and did not let the people go.

The Lord did this the next day. All the Egyptian livestock died, but none among the Israelite livestock died.