Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals and for days and years.

God made the two great lights—the greater light to have dominion over the day and the lesser light to have dominion over the night—as well as the stars.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”

God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This food will be for you,

The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

Gold from that land is pure; bdellium and onyx are also there.

The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Cush.

The name of the third river is the Tigris, which runs east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper as his complement.”

And the man said:

This one, at last, is bone of my bone
and flesh of my flesh;
this one will be called “woman,”
for she was taken from man.

This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.

So the Lord God asked the woman, “What is this you have done?”

And the woman said, “It was the serpent. He deceived me, and I ate.”

And He said to Adam, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’:

The ground is cursed because of you.
You will eat from it by means of painful labor
all the days of your life.

The Lord God said, “Since man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.”

In the course of time Cain presented some of the land’s produce as an offering to the Lord.

If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

But Cain answered the Lord, “My punishment is too great to bear!

If Cain is to be avenged seven times over,
then for Lamech it will be seventy-seven times!

And he named him Noah, saying, “This one will bring us relief from the agonizing labor of our hands, caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.”

the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful, and they took any they chose as wives for themselves.

Then God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.

This is how you are to make it: The ark will be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.

Take with you every kind of food that is eaten; gather it as food for you and for them.”

two of each, male and female, entered the ark with Noah, just as God had commanded him.

Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered just as God had commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.

The mountains were covered as the waters surged above them more than 20 feet.

Every creature perished—those that crawl on the earth, birds, livestock, wildlife, and those that swarm on the earth, as well as all mankind.

God remembered Noah, as well as all the wildlife and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water began to subside.

Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, those that crawl on the ground—and they will spread over the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, He said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, even though man’s inclination is evil from his youth. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.

As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, and day and night
will not cease.”

Every living creature will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything.

and with every living creature that is with you—birds, livestock, and all wildlife of the earth that are with you—all the animals of the earth that came out of the ark.

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations:

God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have confirmed between Me and every creature on earth.”

He was a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord. That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord.”

The Canaanite border went from Sidon going toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and going toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim as far as Lasha.

Aram’s sons: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

As people migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.

They said to each other, “Come, let us make oven-fired bricks.” They used brick for stone and asphalt for mortar.

And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

The Lord said, “If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

Come, let Us go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”

Therefore its name is called Babylon, for there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran.

When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me but let you live.

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!”

But the land was unable to support them as long as they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they could not stay together,

Lot looked out and saw that the entire Jordan Valley as far as Zoar was well watered everywhere like the Lord’s garden and the land of Egypt. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

waged war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, as well as the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).

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

and the Horites in the mountains of Seir, as far as El-paran by the wilderness.

Then they came back to invade En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they defeated all the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.

Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and lined up for battle in the Valley of Siddim

Now the Valley of Siddim contained many asphalt pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, but the rest fled to the mountains.

When Abram heard that his relative had been taken prisoner, he assembled his 318 trained men, born in his household, and they went in pursuit as far as Dan.

And he and his servants deployed against them by night, attacked them, and pursued them as far as Hobah to the north of Damascus.

He brought back all the goods and also his relative Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the other people.

After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

He blessed him and said:

Abram is blessed by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth,

I will take nothing except what the servants have eaten. But as for the share of the men who came with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre—they can take their share.”

But Abram said, “Lord God, what can You give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.

As the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and suddenly great terror and darkness descended on him.

So Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan 10 years.

Abram replied to Sarai, “Here, your slave is in your hands; do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai mistreated her so much that she ran away from her.

This man will be like a wild donkey.
His hand will be against everyone,
and everyone’s hand will be against him;
he will live at odds with all his brothers.

That is why she named the spring, “A Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.” It is located between Kadesh and Bered.

“As for Me, My covenant is with you: you will become the father of many nations.

I will keep My covenant between Me and you, and your future offspring throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you.

And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession, and I will be their God.”

God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep My covenant.

This is My covenant, which you are to keep, between Me and you and your offspring after you: Every one of your males must be circumcised.

You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and you.

Throughout your generations, every male among you at eight days old is to be circumcised. This includes a slave born in your house and one purchased with money from any foreigner. The one who is not your offspring,

a slave born in your house, as well as one purchased with money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.

If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah will be her name.

But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his future offspring.

As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father 12 tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation.

Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him.

I will bring a bit of bread so that you may strengthen yourselves. This is why you have passed your servant’s way. Later, you can continue on.”

“Yes,” they replied, “do as you have said.”

Then Abraham took curds and milk, and the calf that he had prepared, and set them before the men. He served them as they ate under the tree.

“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.

“There, in the tent,” he answered.

So she laughed to herself: “After I have become shriveled up and my lord is old, will I have delight?”

Is anything impossible for the Lord? At the appointed time I will come back to you, and in about a year she will have a son.”

Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.

For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. This is how the Lord will fulfill to Abraham what He promised him.”

Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious.

You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won’t the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”

The two angels entered Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting at Sodom’s gate. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them. He bowed with his face to the ground

They called out to Lot and said, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have sex with them!”

“Get out of the way!” they said, adding, “This one came here as a foreigner, but he’s acting like a judge! Now we’ll do more harm to you than to them.” They put pressure on Lot and came up to break down the door.

for we are about to destroy this place because the outcry against its people is so great before the Lord, that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were going to marry his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

As soon as the angels got them outside, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look back and don’t stop anywhere on the plain! Run to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”

Look, this town is close enough for me to run to. It is a small place. Please let me go there—it’s only a small place, isn’t it?—so that I can survive.”

Hurry up! Run there, for I cannot do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city is Zoar.