When the earth was as yet unformed and desolate, with the surface of the ocean depths shrouded in darkness, and while the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters,

When the man was asleep, he removed one of the man's ribs and closed up the flesh where it had been. Then the LORD God formed the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.

When the woman saw that the tree produced good food, was attractive in appearance, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. Then she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate some, too.

When Cain became very upset and depressed, the LORD asked Cain, "Why are you so upset? Why are you depressed?

Instead, Cain told his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the wilderness." When they were outside in the fields, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

This is the historical record of Adam's generations. When God created mankind, he made them in his own likeness.

Creating them male and female, he blessed them and called them humans when he created them.

When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh.

When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan.

When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel.

When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared.

When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch.

When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah.

When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech.

When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son,

The Nephilim were on the earth at that time (and also immediately afterward), when those divine beings were having sexual relations with those human women, who gave birth to children for them. These children became the heroes and legendary figures of ancient times.

Noah was 600 years old when water began to flood the earth.

On the seventeenth day of the second month, when Noah was 600 years old, all the springs of the great deep burst open, the floodgates of the heavens were opened,

The flood water continued to recede until the tenth month, when, on the first of that month, the tops of the mountains could be seen.

When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, he told himself, "I will never again curse the land because of human beings even though human inclinations remain evil from youth nor will I destroy every living being ever again, as I've done.

When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will observe it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living beings on the earth."

When Noah sobered up and learned what his youngest son had done to him,

There was a time when the entire earth spoke a common language with an identical vocabulary.

These are the family records of Shem. When Shem had lived 100 years, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood.

When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Cainan.

When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber.

When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg.

When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu.

When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug.

When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor.

When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah.

When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran's son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they journeyed together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they had gone as far as Haran, they settled there,

So Abram left there, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot accompanied him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran.

Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the servants he had acquired while living in Haran. Then they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they arrived in the land of Canaan,

When he was about to enter Egypt, he told his wife Sarai, "Look, I'm aware that you're a beautiful woman.

When the Egyptians see you, they will say, "She is his wife.' Then they'll kill me, but allow you to live.

When Pharaoh's officials saw her, they brought her to the attention of Pharaoh and took the woman to Pharaoh's palace.

At the time when Amraphel was king of Shinar, Arioch was king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer was king of Elam, and Tidal was king of the Goiim,

Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, so when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of their people fell into them, while the rest fled to the hill country.

When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken prisoner, he gathered together 318 of his trained men, who had been born in his household, and they went out in pursuit as far as Dan.

When birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

When the sun had fully set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a fiery torch passed between the animal pieces.

He had sex with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she looked with contempt on her mistress.

Then Sarai told Abram, "My suffering is your fault! I gave you my servant so you could have sex with her, and when she discovered that she was pregnant, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!"

Abram was 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael for Abram.

When Abram was 99 years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and announced, "I am God Almighty. Live in constant awareness that I'm always with you, and be blameless.

Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised,

and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised.

The two angels entered Sodom at sunset while Lot was sitting in the gate area of the city. When Lot saw them, he got up, greeted them, bowed low with his face to the ground,

And so it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham and brought Lot out from the midst of the destruction when he overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

So they had their father drink wine that night, and the older one had sexual relations with her father, but he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

So they made their father drink wine that night as well, so he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

Abimelech also asked Abraham, "What could you have been thinking when you did this?"

When God caused me to journey from my father's house, I asked her to do me this favor and say, "He's my brother.'"

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

Nevertheless, when Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian whom Hagar had borne to Abraham making fun of Isaac,

As evening approached, he had the camels kneel outside the town at the water well, right about the time when women customarily went out to draw water.

That's when he prayed, "LORD God of my master Abraham, help me to succeed today. Please show your gracious love to my master Abraham.

When she had finished giving him a drink, she also said, "I'll also draw water for your camels until they've had enough to drink."

When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a half shekel and two bracelets for her wrists, weighing 10 shekels and presented them to her.

"Come on," Laban said. "The LORD has blessed you! So why are you standing out here when I've prepared some space in the house and a place for the camels?"

But when they had prepared a meal and set it in front of him, he said, "I'm not eating until I've spoken." "Speak up!" Laban exclaimed.

Only then will you be released from fulfilling my oath. However, when you come to my family, if they don't give her to you, you'll be released from fulfilling my oath.'

"That's when I asked, "Whose daughter are you?' "She replied, "I'm the daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bore for him.'

When Abraham's servant heard what they had said, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD.

He and the men with him ate and drank, and then they spent the night. When they got up the next morning, the servant requested, "Send me off to my master."

Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she quickly dismounted from her camel

Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean from Paddan-aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.

But when the infants kept on wrestling each other inside her womb, she asked herself, "Why is this happening?" So she asked the LORD for an explanation.

Sure enough, when her due date arrived, she delivered twin sons.

After that, his brother came out with his hand clutching Esau's heel, so they named him Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.

That's when the LORD appeared to Isaac. "You are not to go down to Egypt," he said. "Instead, you are to settle down in an area within this land where I'll tell you.

When his workers started digging another well, those herdsmen quarreled about that one, too, so Isaac named it Sitnah.

When Esau was 40 years old, he married Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.

Now Rebekah overheard Isaac while he was speaking to his son Esau. When Esau had gone out to the field to hunt and bring in some game,

So Jacob drew closer to kiss him. When Isaac smelled the scent of his son's clothes, he blessed him and said, "How my son's scent is the fragrance of the field that the LORD has blessed.

When Esau realized what his father Isaac was saying, he began to wail out loud bitterly. "Bless me," he cried, "even me, too, my father!"

By your sword you'll live; but you'll serve your brother. But when you've become restless, you'll break off his yoke from your neck."

So Esau harbored animosity toward Jacob because of the way his father had blessed him. Esau kept saying to himself, "The time to mourn for my father is very near. That's when I'm going to kill my brother Jacob."

when he had a dream! He saw a raised highway that had been built with its ending point on earth and its beginning point in heaven. God's angels were ascending and descending on it.

When Jacob got up early the next morning, he took the stone that he had used for his pillow, set it up as a pillar, drenched it with oil,

and when all the flocks had been gathered there, they would roll away the stone from the opening of the well, water their flocks, and then return the stone to its place covering the opening of the well.

When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, accompanied by Laban's sheep, Jacob approached the well, rolled the stone from the opening of the well, and then watered his mother's brother Laban's flock.

When Laban heard the news about his sister's son Jacob, he ran out to meet him. He embraced him, kissed him, and brought him back to his house. Then Jacob told Laban about everything that had happened.

When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing children, she took her woman servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went to meet him and told him, "You're having sex with me tonight. I traded my son's mandrakes for you!" So he slept with her that night.

What you had previously was only a few head, but the herd has now multiplied, because the LORD has blessed you through my efforts. But now, when am I going to be able to provide for my own household?"

In the future, you'll be able to verify my honesty because, when you come to check what I've earned, if you find a goat that's not speckled or spotted or a sheep that's not black, then it will have been stolen by me."

When the flocks mated in front of the branches, they would bear offspring that were striped, speckled, or spotted.

"When Laban said, "The speckled ones will be your wages,' then all the flock gave birth to speckled ones. Then when he said, "The streaked ones will be your wages,' all the flock gave birth to streaked offspring.

As it was, when it was time for the livestock to breed, I once looked up in a dream, and the male goats that were mating with the flock were producing streaked, speckled, and spotted offspring.

so he took his relatives with him and pursued Jacob. Laban was on the road for seven days when he finally caught up with Jacob in the hill country of Gilead.

It was also called Mizpah, because Laban said, "May the LORD watch between you and me, when we are estranged from each other.

I'm unworthy of all your gracious love, your faithfulness, and everything that you've done for your servant. When I first crossed over this river, I had only my staff. But now I've become two groups.

To the first group he said, "When you meet my brother Esau, if he asks, "To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And to whom do these herds belong?'

He issued similar instructions to the second and third group, as well as to all the others who drove the herds that followed: "This is how you are to speak to Esau when you find him.

Jacob was thinking, "I'll pacify him with the presents that are being sent ahead of me. Then, when I meet him, perhaps he'll accept me." So the presents went ahead of him, while he spent that night in the camp.

When the man realized that he hadn't yet won the struggle, he injured the socket of Jacob's thigh, dislocating it as he wrestled with him,

When Jacob looked off in the distance, there was Esau coming toward him, accompanied by 400 men! So Jacob divided Leah's children, Rachel, and the children of the two servants into separate groups.