When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord came to him, and said, I am God, Ruler of all; go in my ways and be upright in all things,

Let such a thing be far from you, to put the upright to death with the sinner: will not the judge of all the earth do right?

And when Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite: And Isaac and Rebekah had grief of mind because of them.

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, My life is a weariness to me because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob takes a wife from among the daughters of Heth, such as these, the women of this land, of what use will my life be to me?

Then Isaac sent for Jacob, and blessing him, said, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan;

And may God, the Ruler of all, give you his blessing, giving you fruit and increase, so that you may become an army of peoples.

So when Esau saw that Isaac had given Jacob his blessing, and sent him away to Paddan-aram to get a wife for himself there, blessing him and saying to him, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan; And that Jacob had done as his father and mother said and had gone to Paddan-aram; read more. It was clear to Esau that his father had no love for the women of Canaan, So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham's son Ishmael, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

Now the sons of Jacob came in from the fields when they had news of it, and they were wounded and very angry because of the shame he had done in Israel by having connection with Jacob's daughter; and they said, Such a thing is not to be done.

But the sons of Jacob gave a false answer to Shechem and Hamor his father, because of what had been done to Dinah their sister.

But they said, Were we to let him make use of our sister as a loose woman?

And God said to him, I am God, the Ruler of all: be fertile, and have increase; a nation, truly a group of nations, will come from you, and kings will be your offspring;

Now about three months after this, word came to Judah that Tamar, his daughter-in-law, had been acting like a loose woman and was with child. And Judah said, Take her out and let her be burned.

And as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. Because as in those days before the overflowing of the waters, they were feasting and taking wives and getting married, till the day when Noah went into the ark, read more. And they had no care till the waters came and took them all away; so will be the coming of the Son of man.

In the same way, in the days of Lot; they were feasting and trading, they were planting and building; But on the day when Lot went out of Sodom, fire came down from heaven and destruction came on them all. read more. So will it be in the day of the revelation of the Son of man. On that day, if anyone is on the roof of the house, and his goods are in the house, let him not go down to take them away; and let him who is in the field not go back to his house. Keep in mind Lot's wife.

My brothers, I may say to you openly that David came to his death, and was put in the earth, and his resting-place is with us today.

And he made with him the agreement of which circumcision was the sign. And so Abraham had a son, Isaac, and gave him circumcision on the eighth day; and Isaac had a son, Jacob, and Jacob was the father of the twelve heads of the families of Israel. And the brothers, moved with envy against Joseph, gave him to the Egyptians for money: but God was with him,

And not only so, but Rebecca being about to have a child by our father Isaac-- Before the children had come into existence, or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose and his selection might be effected, not by works, but by him whose purpose it is, read more. It was said to her, The older will be the servant of the younger. Even as it is said, I had love for Jacob, but for Esau I had hate.

Say, you whose desire it is to be under the law, do you not give ear to the law? Because it is in the Writings, that Abraham had two sons, one by the servant-woman, and one by the free woman. read more. Now the son by the servant-woman has his birth after the flesh; but the son by the free woman has his birth through the undertaking of God. Which things have a secret sense; because these women are the two agreements; one from the mountain of Sinai, giving birth to servants, which is Hagar. Now this Hagar is the mountain Sinai in Arabia, and is the image of the Jerusalem which now is: which is a servant with her children. But the Jerusalem on high is free, which is our mother. For it is in the Writings, You who have never given birth, be glad; give cries of joy, you who have had no birth-pains; for the children of her who has been given up by her husband are more than those of the woman who has a husband. Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are the children of the undertaking of God. But as in those days he who had birth after the flesh was cruel to him who had birth after the Spirit, even so it is now. What then do the Writings say? Send away the servant-woman and her son; for the son of the servant-woman will not have a part in the heritage with the son of the free woman. So, brothers, we are not children of the servant-woman, but of the free woman.

For this Melchizedek, the king of Salem, a priest of the Most High God, who gave Abraham his blessing, meeting him when he came back after putting the kings to death, And to whom Abraham gave a tenth part of everything which he had, being first named King of righteousness, and then in addition, King of Salem, that is to say, King of peace; read more. Being without father or mother, or family, having no birth or end to his life, being made like the Son of God, is a priest for ever. Now see how great this man was, to whom our father Abraham gave a tenth part of what he had got in the fight.

Now see how great this man was, to whom our father Abraham gave a tenth part of what he had got in the fight. And it is true that by the law, those of the sons of Levi who have the position of priests may take a tenth part of the people's goods; that is to say, they take it from their brothers though these are the sons of Abraham. read more. But this man, who was not of their family, took the tenth from Abraham, and gave a blessing to him to whom God had given his undertaking. But there is no doubt that the less gets his blessing from the greater.