God also told them, "Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant that grows throughout the earth, along with every tree that grows seed-bearing fruit. They will produce your food.

(Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife, and they will become one flesh.)

Even though both the man and his wife were naked, they were not ashamed about it.

As a result, they both understood what they had done, and they became aware that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Instead, Cain told his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the wilderness." When they were outside in the fields, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

some divine beings noticed how attractive human women were, so they took wives for themselves from a selection that pleased them.

So the LORD said, "My Spirit won't remain with human beings forever, because they're truly mortal. Their lifespan will be 120 years."

You are to bring two of every living thing into the ark so they may remain alive with you. They are to be male and female.

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.

two by two, male and female, they entered the ark to join Noah, just as God had commanded.

All existing creatures that had lived on the surface of the ground were annihilated, from humans to livestock, from crawling creatures to birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah remained, along with those who were with him in the ark.

Bring out with you every living creature including the flying creatures, animals, and everything that crawls on the ground so they may disperse throughout the land, be fruitful, and multiply throughout the earth."

All the living creatures of the earth will be filled with fear and terror of you from now on, including all the creatures that fly in the sky, everything that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the ocean. They've been assigned to live under your dominion.

Then Shem and Japheth took their father's cloak, laid it across both their shoulders, and walking backwards, they both covered their father's genitals. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's genitals.

As people migrated westward, they came across a plain in the region of Shinar and settled there.

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."

The LORD said, "Look! They are one people with the same language for all of them, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. Nothing that they have a mind to do will be impossible for them!

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

So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the surface of the whole earth, so that they had to stop building the city.

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran's son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they journeyed together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they had gone as far as Haran, they settled there,

Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the servants he had acquired while living in Haran. Then they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they arrived in the land of Canaan,

When the Egyptians see you, they will say, "She is his wife.' Then they'll kill me, but allow you to live.

When Pharaoh's officials saw her, they brought her to the attention of Pharaoh and took the woman to Pharaoh's palace.

So Pharaoh assigned men to Abram, and they escorted him, his wife, and all that he had out of the country.

But the land could not support them living together, because they had so many livestock that they could not stay together.

So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan plain. Then Lot traveled eastward, and they separated from each other.

they engaged in war against King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, along with the king of Bela (which was also known as Zoar).

They were subject to Chedorlaomer for twelve years, but they rebelled in the thirteenth year.

Next they turned back and came to En-mishpat (which was also known as Kadesh) and conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, along with the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.

They also took Abram's nephew Lot captive, and confiscated his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.

When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken prisoner, he gathered together 318 of his trained men, who had been born in his household, and they went out in pursuit as far as Dan.

Then the LORD told Abram, "You can be certain about this: Your descendants will be foreigners in a land that isn't theirs. They will be slaves there and will be oppressed for 400 years.

However, I will judge the nation that they serve, and later they will leave there with many possessions.

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."

Then he took curds, milk, and the calf that had been prepared, placed the food in front of them, and stood near them under the tree while they ate.

I'm going down to see whether they've acted according to the protests that have reached me. If not, I wish to know."

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."

But Lot kept urging them strongly, so they turned aside and entered his house. He prepared a festival and baked unleavened flat bread for them, and they ate.

Before they could lie down, all the men of Sodom and its outskirts, both young and old, surrounded the house.

They called out to Lot and asked, "Where are the men who came to visit you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!"

Look here, I have two daughters who are virgins. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them whatever you wish, only don't do anything to these men, because they're here under my protection."

But they replied, "Get out of the way! This man came here as a foreigner, and now he's acting like a judge! So we're going to deal more harshly with you than with them." Then they pushed hard against the man (that is, against Lot), intending to break down the door.

and blinded the men who were at the entrance of the house, from the least important to the greatest, so they were unable to find the doorway.

Lot then went out and told his sons-in-law (they had married his daughters), "Get out of here! The LORD is going to destroy this city!" But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

As dawn was breaking, the angels pressured Lot. "Get going!" they told him. "Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be engulfed by the devastation that's coming to this city."

So they had their father drink wine that night, and the older one had sexual relations with her father, but he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

So they made their father drink wine that night as well, so he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

"I thought that there's no fear of God in this place," Abraham replied, "and that they would kill me because of my wife.

Then Abraham interceded with God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants so they could bear children,

So after they had made a covenant in Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to Philistine territory.

After this, Abraham returned to his servants and they set out together for Beer-sheba, where Abraham settled.

When she had finished giving him a drink, she also said, "I'll also draw water for your camels until they've had enough to drink."

So the servant went to the house and unbridled the camels. They provided straw and feed for the camels and water for washing his feet and those of the men with him.

But when they had prepared a meal and set it in front of him, he said, "I'm not eating until I've spoken." "Speak up!" Laban exclaimed.

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.'

When Abraham's servant heard what they had said, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD.

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."

But they said, "We'll call the young lady and see what she has to say about this."

So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Do you want to go with this man?" "I will go," she replied.

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

As they were leaving, they all blessed Rebekah by saying, "Our sister, may you become the mother of tens of millions! May your descendants take over the city gates of those who hate them."

The first son came out reddish his entire body was covered with hair so they named him Esau.

After that, his brother came out with his hand clutching Esau's heel, so they named him Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.

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

While Isaac's servants were digging in the valley, they discovered a well with flowing water.

But the herdsmen who lived in Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen. "The water is ours," they said. As a result, Isaac named the well Esek, for they had fiercely disputed with him about it.

Then he left that area and dug still another well. Because they did not quarrel over that one, Isaac named it Rehoboth, because he used to say, "The LORD has enlarged the territory for us. We will prosper in the land."

"We've seen that the LORD is with you," they responded, "so we're proposing an agreement between us between us and you. Allow us to make a treaty with you

So Isaac held a festival for them, and they ate and drank.

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

That very same day, Isaac's servants arrived and reported to him about a well that they had just completed digging. "We've found water!" they said.

and when all the flocks had been gathered there, they would roll away the stone from the opening of the well, water their flocks, and then return the stone to its place covering the opening of the well.

Jacob asked them, "My brothers, where are you from?" "We're from Haran," they answered.

"Do you happen to know Nahor's son Laban?" he inquired. "We do," they replied.

So he asked them, "How's he doing?" "Very well," they answered. "As a matter of fact, look over there! That's his daughter Rachel, coming here with his sheep."

But they responded, "We can't do that until all the sheep have been gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the opening of the well. Only then can we water the flock."

Then he placed the branches that he had stripped bare in all the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. He placed the branches in front of the flock, and they went into heat as they came to drink.

When the flocks mated in front of the branches, they would bear offspring that were striped, speckled, or spotted.

But Laban answered Jacob, "These women are my daughters. These children are my children. The flocks are mine. In fact, everything that you see belongs to me. But what would I do today to my daughters and the children they have borne?

Then Jacob told his relatives, "Go gather some stones." So they picked up stones and stacked them one on top of the other. Then they had a meal together there by the stack of stones.

So Jacob made an oath by his father's Fear, offered sacrifices there on the mountain, and called on his relatives to eat some food. So they ate the food and spent the night on the mountain.

Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him. Then he fell on his neck and kissed him. And they wept.

"Sir, you know that the children are frail," Jacob suggested, "and the ewes and cows with me are still nursing their young. If they're driven even for a day, the entire flock will die.

Because Jacob learned that Shechem had dishonored his daughter Dinah while his sons were still out with their cattle on the open range, he remained silent until they returned.

Just then Jacob's sons arrived from the field. When they heard what had happened, they were distraught with grief and livid with anger toward Shechem, because he had committed a disgraceful deed in Israel by forcing Jacob's daughter to have sex, an act that never should have happened.

They told them, "We can't do this. We can't give our sister to a man who isn't circumcised, because that would be insulting to us.

What they said pleased Hamor and his son Shechem,

"These men are at peace with us," they announced. "Therefore, let them live in the land and trade in it. Look! The land is large enough for them. Let's take their daughters as wives for ourselves and let's give our sons to them.

"However," they added, "only on this condition will the men consent to live with us and be united as a single people with us: every male among us will have to be circumcised just as they are.

Shouldn't all their cattle, acquisitions, and animals belong to us? So, let's give our consent to them, and then they'll live with us."

Three days later, while they were still in pain, Jacob's sons Simeon and Levi, two of Dinah's brothers, each grabbed a sword and entered the city unannounced, intending to kill all the males.

They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took back Dinah from Shechem's house, and left.

They carried off all their wealth, their children, and their wives as captives, plundering everything that remained in the houses.

Then Jacob told Simeon and Levi, "You have certainly stirred up trouble for me! You've made me despised by the Canaanites and the Perizzites who live in this territory. Because I have only a few men with me, they're going to gather themselves together and attack me until I am totally destroyed, along with my entire household!"

"Should he have treated our sister like a whore?" they asked in response.

So they handed over to Jacob all their foreign gods on which they had been depending, along with the rings that they were wearing on their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak that grew near Shechem.

As they set out on their journey, because the people who lived in the cities around them feared God, they did not pursue Jacob's sons.

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!

Later, they set out from Beth-el. While still a long way from Ephrathah, Rachel started to have trouble giving birth.