Then God said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.”

Cain knew his wife [one of Adam’s descendants] and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch; and Cain built a city and named it Enoch, after the name of his son.

When Adam had lived a hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.

After he became the father of Seth, Adam lived eight hundred years and had other sons and daughters.

Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after the birth of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters.

Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years after the birth of Kenan and had other sons and daughters.

Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years after the birth of Mahalalel and had other sons and daughters.

Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years after the birth of Jared and had other sons and daughters.

Jared lived eight hundred years after the birth of Enoch and had other sons and daughters.

Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God three hundred years after the birth of Methuselah and had other sons and daughters.

Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after the birth of Lamech and had other sons and daughters.

Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after the birth of Noah and had other sons and daughters.

After Noah was five hundred years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

And after the seven days [God released the rain and] the floodwaters came on the earth.

So Noah went out, and his wife and his sons and their wives with him [after being in the ark one year and ten days].

“Now behold, I am establishing My covenant (binding agreement, solemn promise) with you and with your descendants after you

Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood.

These are the records of the generations (descendants) of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and the sons born to them after the flood:

These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their descendants, by their nations; and from these [people] the nations were separated and spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

These are the records of the generations of Shem [from whom Abraham descended]. Shem was a hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the flood.

And Shem lived five hundred years after Arpachshad was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after Shelah was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

Shelah lived four hundred and three years after Eber was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

And Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after Peleg was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

And Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after Reu was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

And Reu lived two hundred and seven years after Serug was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

And Serug lived two hundred years after Nahor was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

And Nahor lived a hundred and nineteen years after Terah was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

After Terah had lived seventy years, he became the father of Abram and Nahor and Haran [his firstborn].

The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had left him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are standing, northward and southward and eastward and westward;

Then after Abram’s return from the defeat (slaughter) of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,

“Do not be afraid, Abram,
I am your shield;
Your reward [for obedience] shall be very great.”

After Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian [maid], and gave her to her husband Abram to be his [secondary] wife.

I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.

I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger [moving from place to place], all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession [of property]; and I will be their God.”

Further, God said to Abraham, “As for you [your part of the agreement], you shall keep and faithfully obey [the terms of] My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

This is [the sign of] My covenant, which you shall keep and faithfully obey, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

But God said, “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed, and you shall name him Isaac (laughter); and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him.

So Sarah laughed to herself [when she heard the Lord’s words], saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure and delight, my lord (husband) being also old?”

For I have known (chosen, acknowledged) him [as My own], so that he may teach and command his children and [the sons of] his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is righteous and just, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has promised him.”

But Lot went out of the doorway to the men, and shut the door after him,

But the men (angels) reached out with their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door [after him].

Now after these things, God tested [the faith and commitment of] Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.”

Now after these things Abraham was told, “Milcah has borne children to your brother Nahor:

After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah to the east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman will not be willing to follow me back to this country; should I take your son back to the country from which you came?”

If the woman is not willing to follow you [to this land], then you will be free from this my oath and blameless; only you must never take my son back there.”

Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took Rebekah [in marriage], and she became his wife, and he loved her; therefore Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Now after the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac lived at Beer-lahai-roi.

Now Isaac again dug [and reopened] the wells of water which had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, because the Philistines had filled them up [with dirt] after the death of Abraham; and he gave the wells the same names that his father had given them.

So he took his relatives with him and pursued him for seven days, and they overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.

He put the maids and their children in front, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph last of all.

Leah also approached with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel approached, and they bowed down.

Now on the third day [after the circumcision], when all the men were [terribly] sore and in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s [full] brothers, took their swords, boldly entered the city [without anyone suspecting them of evil intent], and they killed every male.

“The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac
I will give to you,
and to your descendants after you I will give the land.”

Then the man said, “[They were here, but] they have moved on from this place. I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

Then after a time his master’s wife looked at Joseph with desire, and she said, “Lie with me.”

And so it was that she spoke to Joseph [persistently] day after day, but he did not listen to her [plea] to lie beside her or be with her.

Yet [even after all that] the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot [all about] him.

Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile.

Then behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the Nile, ugly and gaunt and raw-boned, and stood by the fat cows on the bank of the Nile.

Then behold, seven ears [of grain], thin and dried up by the east wind, sprouted after them.

Lo, seven other cows came up after them, very ugly and gaunt [just skin and bones]; such emaciated animals as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt.

and lo, seven [other] ears, withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind, sprouted after them;

The seven thin and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years; and also the seven thin ears, dried up and scorched by the east wind, they are seven years of famine and hunger.

When they had left the city, and were not yet far away, Joseph said to his steward, “Get up, follow after the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil [to us] for good [paid to you]?

Then they tore their clothes [in grief]; and after each man had loaded his donkey again, they returned to the city.

He kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.

Now some time after these things happened, Joseph was told, “Your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him [to go to Goshen].

and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a great company of people, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’

But other sons who were born to you after them shall be your own; they shall be called by the names of their [two] brothers in their inheritance.

After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him.