And God said, “Let there be an expanse [of the sky] in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters [below the expanse] from the waters [above the expanse].”

His brother’s name was Jubal; he became the father of all those [musicians] who play the lyre and flute.

And God remembered and thought kindly of Noah and every living thing and all the animals that were with him in the ark; and God made a wind blow over the land, and the waters receded.

they [invaded the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea, and] made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).

Then the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela (that is, Zoar) came out; and they joined together for battle with the invading kings in the Valley of Siddim,

Laban also gave Bilhah his maid to his daughter Rachel as a maid.

She said, “Here, take my maid Bilhah and go in to her; and [when the baby comes] she shall deliver it [while sitting] on my knees, so that by her I may also have children [to count as my own].”

So she gave him Bilhah her maid as a [secondary] wife, and Jacob went in to her.

Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob.

Then Rachel said, “God has judged and vindicated me, and has heard my plea and has given me a son [through my maid].” So she named him Dan (He judged).

Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, conceived again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob.

So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings [in prayer to God] I have struggled with my sister and have prevailed.” So she named him Naphtali (my wrestlings).

Now Deborah, [who once was] Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried below Bethel under the oak; and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth (Oak of Weeping).

While Israel was living in that land, Reuben [his eldest son] went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it.

Now Jacob had twelve sons—

and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali;

Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah.

Now Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned as his successor.

And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned as his successor.

Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and then Hadar reigned [as his successor]. His [walled] city was Pau; his wife’s name was Mehetabel the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.

These are the generations of Jacob.

Joseph, when he was seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers [Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher]; the boy was with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s [secondary] wives; and Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.

The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

And the sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.

These are the sons of Bilhah, [the maid] whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter [when she married Jacob]. And she bore these to Jacob; [there were] seven persons in all [two sons and five grandchildren].

These are the heads of their fathers’ households. The sons of Reuben, Israel’s (Jacob’s) firstborn: Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben.

“Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. You shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea.

The Egyptians chased them with all the horses and war-chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them as they camped by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

“You blew with Your wind, the sea covered them;
[Clad in armor] they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord’; bake and boil what you will bake and boil [today], and all that remains left over put aside for yourselves to keep until morning.”

“You shall bring the choice first fruits of your ground into the house of the Lord your God.

“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, fine twisted linen, goats’ hair,

You shall make a rim of a hand width around it; you shall make a gold border for the rim around it.

“Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle (sacred tent of worship) with ten [interior] curtains of fine twisted linen, and blue, purple, and scarlet fabric; you shall make them with [embroidered] cherubim, the handwork of a skillful craftsman.

You shall make loops of blue on the outer edge of the last curtain in the first set, and likewise in the second set.

They shall be joined together underneath, and joined together on top with one ring. So shall it be for both of them; they shall form the two [rear] corners.

“You shall make a veil [to divide the two rooms] of blue, purple, and scarlet fabric and fine twisted linen, skillfully worked with cherubim on it.

“You shall make a screen [to provide a covering] for the doorway of the tent of blue, purple, and scarlet fabric and finely woven [embroidered] linen, the work of an embroiderer.

For the gate of the court there shall be a screen [to provide a covering] of twenty cubits, of blue, purple, and scarlet fabric and finely woven [embroidered] linen, the work of an embroiderer, with four pillars and four [base] sockets.

They are to use the gold and the blue and the purple and the scarlet fabric and fine twisted linen [from the people],

and they shall make the ephod of gold and blue, purple, and scarlet fabric and fine twisted linen, skillfully woven and [beautifully] worked.

And the skillfully woven sash, which is on the ephod shall be made of the same material: of gold, of blue, purple, and scarlet fabric and fine twisted linen.

“You are to make a breastpiece of judgment, the work of a skilled and talented craftsman; like the work of the ephod you shall make it: of gold, of blue, purple, and scarlet fabric and of fine twisted linen.

They shall bind the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a blue cord, so that it will be above the skillfully woven sash of the ephod, so that the breastpiece will not come loose from the ephod.

“And you shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue.

You shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet fabric all around its hem, with gold bells between them;

a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, all around the [bottom] hem of the robe.

You shall fasten it on the front of the turban with a blue cord.

“This is what you shall do to consecrate Aaron and his sons so that they may serve Me as priests: take one young bull and two rams, without blemish,

You shall put them in one basket, and present them in the basket along with the bull and the two rams.

“Then you shall bring the bull before the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the bull’s head.

Then you shall kill the bull before the Lord by the doorway of the Tent of Meeting.

And you shall take some of the blood of the bull and with your finger put it on the horns of the altar [of burnt offering], and you shall pour out the remainder of the blood at the base of the altar.

But the meat of the bull, its hide, and the contents of its intestines you shall burn in the fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

“You shall take the ram of the ordination and boil its meat in a holy place.

You shall offer a bull every day as a sin offering for atonement. You shall cleanse the altar from sin when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to consecrate it [for God’s sacred purpose].

So they got up early the next day and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; then the people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play [shamefully—without moral restraint].

otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the prostitute with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat his sacrifice (meal),

and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters would play the prostitute with their gods and cause your sons also to play the prostitute (commit apostasy) with their gods [that is, abandon the true God for man-made idols].

“You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of the Lord your God.

“You shall not boil a young goat in his mother’s milk [as some pagans do].”

blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, fine linen, goats’ hair,

Every man who had in his possession blue or purple or scarlet fabric, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, and rams’ skins dyed red and porpoise skins, brought them.

All the skilled and talented women spun thread with their hands, and brought what they had spun, blue and purple and scarlet fabric and fine linen.

He has filled them with skill to do the work of an engraver, of a designer, and of an embroiderer, in blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, and in fine linen, and of a weaver; makers of every work and embroiderers of [excellent] designs.

All the skilled men among them who were doing the work on the tabernacle made ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, with cherubim [worked into them], the work of an embroiderer, Bezalel made them.

He made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set; he also did this on the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the second set.

They were separate below, but linked together at the top with one ring; thus he made both of them in both corners.

Further, Bezalel made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet fabric, and fine twisted linen; he made it with cherubim, the work of an embroiderer.

He made a screen (curtain) for the doorway of the tent, of blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, and fine twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer;

The screen (curtain) for the gate of the courtyard [on the east side] was the work of an embroiderer, in blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, and fine twisted linen; it was twenty cubits long and five cubits high, corresponding to the curtains of the court.

With him was Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and a skillful craftsman and an embroiderer in blue and in purple and in scarlet fabric, and in fine linen.

Moreover, from the blue and purple and scarlet fabric, they made finely woven garments for serving and ministering in the Holy Place; they made the holy garments for Aaron, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Bezalel made the ephod of gold, and of blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, and fine twisted linen.

Then Bezalel and Oholiab hammered the gold [into thin sheets] and cut it into threads to work into the blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, and into the fine linen, the work of a skilled craftsman.

The skillfully woven sash with which to bind it, which was on the ephod [to hold it in place], was like its workmanship, of the same material: of gold and of blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, and fine twisted linen, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Bezalel made the breastpiece, the work of a skillful craftsman, like the workmanship of the ephod: of gold and of blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, and fine twisted linen.

They bound the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a blue cord, so that it would lie on the woven sash of the ephod, and so that the breastpiece would not come loose from the ephod, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

Then Bezalel made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue;

On the hem of the robe they made pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, and fine twisted linen.

a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, all [the way] around the hem of the robe, for service and ministering, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

and the sash of fine twisted linen, and blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, the work of an embroiderer, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

They tied a blue cord to it, to fasten it on the turban above, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

He shall kill the young bull before the Lord; and Aaron’s sons the priests shall present the blood and sprinkle the blood around on the altar that is at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting.

if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer to the Lord a young bull without blemish as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.

He shall bring the bull to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting before the Lord, and shall lay his hand on the bull’s head [transferring symbolically his guilt to the sacrifice] and kill the bull before the Lord.

Then the anointed priest is to take some of the bull’s blood and bring it into the Tent of Meeting;

The priest shall also put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense which is before the Lord in the Tent of Meeting. All the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of the burnt offering which is at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting.

He shall remove all the fat from the bull of the sin offering—the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat which is on the entrails,

(just as these are removed from the ox of the sacrifice of peace offerings), and the priest is to offer them up in smoke on the altar of burnt offering.

But the hide of the bull and all its meat, with its head, its legs, its entrails, and its refuse,

that is, all the rest of the bull, he is to bring outside the camp to a clean place where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on a fire of wood. Where the ashes are poured out it shall be burned.

when the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the congregation shall offer a young bull of the herd as a sin offering and bring it before the Tent of Meeting.

Then the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord [to transfer symbolically the congregation’s guilt to the sacrifice], and they shall kill the bull before the Lord.

The anointed priest is to bring some of the bull’s blood to the Tent of Meeting,

He shall remove all its fat from the bull and offer it up in smoke on the altar.

He shall also do with the bull just as he did with the bull of the sin offering; that is what he shall do with this. So the priest shall make atonement for [the sin of] the people, and they will be forgiven.

Then the priest is to bring the bull outside the camp and burn it as he burned the first bull; it is the sin offering for the congregation.

“Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments [which are symbols of their office], and the anointing oil, and the bull for the sin offering, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread;

Then he brought the bull for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull.

But the bull (the sin offering) and its hide, its meat, and its refuse he burned in the fire outside the camp, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, “Boil the meat at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting and eat it there together with the bread that is in the basket of the consecration (ordination) offering, just as I commanded, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons shall eat it.’

and a bull and a ram as peace offerings to sacrifice before the Lord, and a grain offering mixed with [olive] oil, for today the Lord will appear to you.’”