Then God said, "Let the water beneath the sky come together into one area, and let dry ground appear!" And that is what happened:

God called the dry ground "land," and he called the water that had come together "oceans." And God saw how good it was.

From birds according to their species, from domestic animals according to their species, and from everything that crawls on the ground according to their species two of everything will come to you so they may remain alive.

Then the LORD told Noah, "Come you and all your household into the ark, because I've seen that you alone are righteous in this generation.

They told each other, "Come on! Let's burn bricks thoroughly." They used bricks for stone and tar for mortar.

Then they said, "Come on! Let's build ourselves a city and a tower, with its summit in the heavens, and let's make a name for ourselves so we won't be scattered over the surface of the whole earth."

Come on! Let's go down there and confuse their language, so that they won't understand each other's speech."

I'm going to cause you to have many descendants, and I'll bring nations from you. Kings will come from you.

I'm establishing my covenant between me and you, and with your descendants who come after you, generation after generation, as an eternal covenant, to be your God and your descendants' God after you.

I will bless her. Furthermore, I will give you a son from her. I will bless her, so that nations, kings, and people will come from her."

I'll bring some food for you, and after that you may continue your journey, since you have come to visit your servant." So they replied, "Okay! Do what you've proposed."

and said, "Look, my lords! Please come inside your servant's house, wash your feet, and spend the night. Then you can get up early and be on your way." But they responded, "No, we would rather spend the night in the town square."

because we're going to destroy it. Their outcry has come to the attention of the LORD, so he sent us here to destroy it!"

Come on! Let's make our father drink wine, and then we'll have sex with him so we can preserve our father's lineage."

Now Abimelech had not yet come near her, so he asked, "LORD, will you destroy an innocent nation?

"What if the woman doesn't want to come back with me to this land?" the servant asked. "Shouldn't I have your son go to the land from which you came?"

I've stationed myself here by the spring as the women of the town come to draw water.

"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?"

"So I asked my master, "What if the woman won't come back with me?'

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.'

here I am standing by the spring. May it be that the young woman who comes out to draw water, from whom I request a little water from her jug to drink,

"Since this has come from the LORD," Laban and Bethuel both replied, "we cannot speak one way or another.

One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau happened to come in from being outdoors, and he was feeling famished.

"Why have you come to see me," Isaac asked them, "since you hate me so much that you sent me away from you?"

So Isaac told Jacob, "Come here, my son, so I can feel you and know for sure whether or not you're my son Esau."

"Come closer to me," Isaac replied, "so I can eat some of the game, my son, and then bless you." So Jacob came closer, and Isaac ate. Jacob also brought wine so his father could drink.

After this, Jacob's father Isaac told him, "Come closer and kiss me, my son."

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."

Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to come out to the field where his flock was

Then Jacob got angry and started an argument with Laban. "What have I done?" he demanded. "What's my crime that would cause you to come pursue me so violently?

Come, let's make a covenant just between you and me. And let it serve as a witness between you and me."

Jacob was thinking, "If Esau comes to one group and attacks it, then the remaining group may escape."

and said, "Let me go, because the dawn has come." "I won't let you go," Jacob replied, "unless you bless me."

So God called his name Israel and also told him, "I am God Almighty. You are to be fruitful and multiply. You will become a nation in fact, an assembly of nations! Kings will come from you they'll emerge from your own loins!

Now as for the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I'm giving it to you and to your descendants who come after you. I'm giving the land to you!"

When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was helping his brothers tend their flocks. He was a young man at that time, as were the children of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. But Joseph would come back and tell his father that his brothers were doing bad things. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his brothers, since he was born to him in his old age, so he had made a richly-embroidered tunic for him.

When Joseph told his father about this, his father rebuked him and asked him, "What kind of dream is that? Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come to you and bow down to the ground in front of you?"

And Israel instructed Joseph, "Your brothers are tending the flock in Shechem. Come here, because I'm going to send you to them." "Here I am!" he responded.

"Look!" they said. "Here comes the Dream Master!

Come on! Let's kill him and toss him into one of the cisterns. Then we'll report that some wild animal devoured him and wait to see what becomes of his dreams!"

Come on! Let's sell him to the Ishmaelites! That way, we won't have laid our hands on him. After all, he's our brother, our own flesh."

So on the way, he turned aside, approached her, and said, "Come on! Let's have some sex!" But he didn't realize that he was talking to his own daughter-in-law. "What will you give me," she asked, "in order to have sex with me?"

Now Joseph was well built and good looking. That's why, sometime later, Joseph's master's wife looked straight at Joseph and propositioned him: "Come on! Let's have a little sex!"

Jacob would not send Joseph's brother Benjamin to accompany them, because he was saying, "I'm afraid that he'll come to some kind of harm."

Furthermore, Joseph remembered the dreams that he had about them. So he accused them, "You're spies! You've come here to spy on our undefended territories!"

"No, your majesty," they replied. "Your servants have come here to buy food.

But Joseph kept insisting, "It's just as I've said you've come here to spy on our unguarded territories!"

So here's how we'll test you. You can bet the life of Pharaoh that you're not leaving here until your youngest brother comes here!

But Judah reminded him, "The man distinctly warned us: "You'll never see my face unless your brother comes with you.'

As soon as Joseph noticed that Benjamin had come with them, he ordered his palace manager, "Bring the men into the palace. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, because these men will be dining with me for lunch."

But then you told your servants, "Unless your youngest brother comes back with you, you won't see my face again.'

when he notices that the young man hasn't come back with us, he'll die, and your servants really will have brought death to your servant, our father, along with his sad, gray hair!

Joseph implored his brothers, "Please come close to me." So they did.

So hurry up, go back to my father, and tell him that his son Joseph tells him, "God has made me master of all of Egypt. Hurry up! Come live with me!'

get your father and your households, and come back to me. I'll give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can live off the abundance of the land.'

In addition," Pharaoh ordered, "Do this: take some transport wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones to ride in, along with your wives, and bring your father and come!

After this, Joseph went to inform Pharaoh. "My father and brothers have come here from Canaan," he said, "and they've come with their flocks, herds, and everything else they have. I settled them in the Goshen territory!"

"Your servants are shepherds," they replied, "both we and our ancestors. We've come to live for a while in this region, since there is no pasture back in Canaan for your servants' flocks. May your servants please live in the Goshen territory?"

Then Pharaoh replied to Joseph, "Now that your father and your brothers have come to you,

As soon as Jacob was informed, "Look! Your son Joseph has come to visit you," Israel rallied his strength and sat up in bed.

The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor a ruler's staff from between his feet, until the one comes, who owns them both, and to him will belong the allegiance of nations.

Your father's blessings will prove to be stronger than blessings from the eternal mountains or bounties from the everlasting hills. May they come to rest on Joseph's head, May they be set upon the brow of the one who was separated from his own brothers."