no shrubs had yet grown in the meadows of the earth and no vegetation had sprouted, because the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there were no human beings to work the ground.

Seven days from now I'll send rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, and I'll destroy every living creature that I've made."

and sent out a raven. It went back and forth as the flood water continued to evaporate throughout the earth.

Later, he sent a dove out from the ark to see whether the water that covered the land's surface had completely receded,

Noah waited another seven days and sent the dove out from the ark again.

He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but it did not return to him anymore.

After this, the men set out from there and looked out over Sodom. Abraham went with them to send them off.

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!"

So early the next morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a leather bottle of water, gave them to Hagar, and placed them on her shoulder. He then sent her away, along with the child. She went off and roamed in the Beer-sheba wilderness.

I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in heaven and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the gates of their enemies.

"The LORD God of heaven, who brought me from my father's house and from my family's land, who spoke to me and promised me "I will give this land to your descendants,' will send his angel ahead of you, and you are to acquire a wife for my son from there.

"Abraham told me, "The LORD, who is with me wherever I go, will send his angel with you to make your journey successful. So you are to choose a wife for my son from my family, from my father's household.

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."

"Please don't delay me," the servant answered them. "The LORD has made my journey successful. Send me off so I can return to my master."

So they sent off their sister Rebekah, along with her personal assistant, Abraham's servant, and his men.

While he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts to his concubines and sent them to the east country in order to keep them away from his son Isaac.

They filled in with sand all of the wells that Isaac's father Abraham's servants had dug during his lifetime.

Isaac re-excavated some wells that his father had first dug during his lifetime, because the Philistines had filled them with sand after Abraham's death. Isaac renamed those wells with the same names that his father had called them.

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

by which you'll agree not to do us any harm, just as we haven't harmed you, since we've done nothing but good for you after we sent you away in peace. As a result, you've been tremendously blessed by the LORD."

They woke up early the next morning and made the treaty. After this, Isaac sent them off and they left on peaceful terms.

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.

Eventually, what Rebekah's older son Esau had been saying was reported to her, so she sent for her younger son Jacob and warned him, "Look! Your brother is planning to get even by killing you.

After that happens and he has forgotten what you've done to him, I'll send for you so you can return from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?"

So Isaac sent Jacob off toward Paddan-aram to visit Bethuel's son Laban, the Aramean and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

After Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob told Laban, "Send me off so that I can go back to my place and country.

He sent them as far away from Jacob as a three days' journey could take them.

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

ran away from me secretly, and stole from me by not keeping me informed. Otherwise, I could have sent you off with a party and singing, accompanied by a band playing tambourines and harps.

If the God of my father the God of Abraham, the God whom Isaac feared had not been with me, you would have sent me away empty handed. But God saw my misery and how hard I've worked with my own hands and he rebuked you last night."

Then Jacob sent messengers ahead of him into the land of Seir (that is, into the territory of Edom) to meet his brother Esau.

Now, you promised me that "I'm certainly going to cause things to go well with you, and I'm going to make your offspring as numerous as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.'"

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.

So receive my blessing, which has been sent to you, since God has been gracious to me. Besides, I have enough." Because Jacob kept pressing him, Esau accepted the gifts.

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.

"Go and see how things are with your brothers," Israel ordered him. "And see how things are with the flock. Bring back a report for me." Then he sent Joseph from the valley of Hebron.

"I'll send you a young goat from the flock," he responded. But she pressed him, asking, "What security will you put up until you've sent it?"

"Your signet ring, cord, and the staff in your hand," she suggested. So he gave them to her, had sex with her, and she became pregnant by him. Then she got up and left. Later, she took off her shawl and put on her mourning clothes.

Later on, Judah sent his Adullamite friend to take her a young goat, intending to retrieve what he had put up as security from the woman, but he could not find her.

Then Judah said, "Let her have those things. Otherwise, we'll become contemptible. I sent this young goat, but you didn't find her."

While they were bringing her out, she sent this message to her father-in-law: "I am pregnant by the man to whom these things belong. Furthermore," she added, "tell me to whom this signet ring, cord, and staff belongs."

The very next morning, he was frustrated about the dream, so he sent word to summon all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them what he had dreamed, but no one could interpret them.

Pharoah sent word to summon Joseph quickly from the dungeon, so they shaved his beard, changed his clothes, and then sent him straight to Pharaoh.

Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand, placed it on Joseph's hand, had him clothed in fine linen garments, and placed a gold chain around his neck.

Joseph stored up so much grain like sand on the seashore in so much abundance! that he stopped keeping records because it was proving to be impossible to measure how much they were gathering.

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."

One of you is to be sent back so he can get your brother while the rest of you remain in custody. That way, we'll test whether or not you're telling the truth. If you're not, as surely as the Pharaoh lives, you're spies!"

So if you send our brother with us, we'll go down and buy some food.

But if you don't send him, we're not going, because the man told us, "You'll never see my face unless your brother is with you.'"

"Send the young man with me," Judah told his father Israel, "and we'll get up and go so we can survive and not die and that includes all of us, you and our families.

and may God Almighty cause the man to show compassion toward you. May he send all of you back, including your other brother and Benjamin. Now as for me, if I lose my children, I lose them."

Early the next morning, the men were sent on their way, along with their donkeys.

"I'm your brother Joseph, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt!" he told them. "But don't be distressed or angry at yourselves because you sold me here, because God sent me ahead of you all in order to deliver us.

God sent me ahead of you to keep you alive on the earth, and to save you all in a magnificent way.

As a result, it wasn't you who sent me here, but God himself! He established me as a father-figure to Pharaoh himself! I'm in charge of his entire palace and ruler over the entire land of Egypt.

He sent his father ten male donkeys loaded with the best of Egyptian goods and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provisions for his father during the journey.

Then Joseph sent his brothers away, and they left for home. As they were leaving, Joseph admonished them, "Don't quarrel on the way back!"

However, as soon as his sons had told him everything Joseph had said, and after he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent along to carry him, their father Jacob's spirit was encouraged.

So Jacob got up and left Beer-sheba, and Israel's sons carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives in the transport wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry them.

Jacob sent Judah ahead of them to meet with Joseph, who would be guiding them to Goshen, and so they arrived.

So they sent this message to Joseph: