God said, "Let there be light!" So there was light.

Then God said, "Let there be a canopy between bodies of water, separating bodies of water from bodies of water!"

Then God said, "Let there be lights across the sky to distinguish day from night, to act as signs for seasons, days, and years,

God blessed them by saying, "Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the oceans. Let the birds multiply throughout the earth!"

Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, to be like us. Let them be masters over the fish in the ocean, the birds that fly, the livestock, everything that crawls on the earth, and over the earth itself!"

God blessed the humans by saying to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it! Be masters over the fish in the ocean, the birds that fly, and every living thing that crawls on the earth!"

By the seventh day God had completed the work he had been doing, so on the seventh day he stopped working on everything that he had done.

Later, the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make the woman to be an authority corresponding to him."

So the man exclaimed, "At last! This is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. This one will be called "Woman,' because she was taken from Man."

"Even God knows that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you'll become like God, knowing good and evil."

He told the woman, "I'll greatly increase the pain of your labor during childbirth. It will be painful for you to bear children, "since your trust is turning toward your husband, and he will dominate you."

You will eat food by the sweat of your brow until you're buried in the ground, because you were taken from it. You're made from dust and you'll return to dust."

If you do what is appropriate, you'll be accepted, won't you? But if you don't do what is appropriate, sin is crouching near your doorway, turning toward you. Now as for you, will you take dominion over it?"

"You're driving me from the soil today. I'll be hidden from you, and I'll wander throughout the earth as a fugitive. In the future, whoever finds me will kill me."

For if Cain is being avenged seven times, then Lamech will be avenged 77 times."

whom he named Noah, because he said, "May this one comfort us from our work, from pain that is caused by our manual labor, and from the ground that the LORD has cursed."

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

By this time, the earth had become ruined in God's opinion and filled with violence.

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.

For your part, take some of the edible food and store it away these stores will be food for you and the animals."

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

Then the flood waters steadily receded, diminishing completely by the end of the 150 days.

The flood water continued to recede until the tenth month, when, on the first of that month, the tops of the mountains could be seen.

By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the ground was dry.

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."

Every animal, every crawling thing, every flying creature, and everything that moves on the earth emerged from the ark by groups.

God blessed Noah and his sons and ordered them, "Be productive, multiply, and fill 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.

"Every living, moving creature will be food for you. Just as I gave you green plants before, so now you have everything.

"Whoever sheds human blood, by a human his own blood is to be shed; because God made human beings in his own image.

Now as for you, be productive and multiply; spread out over the land and multiply throughout it."

"Pay attention! I'm establishing my covenant with you and with your descendants after you,

I will establish my covenant with you: No living beings will ever be cut off again by flood waters, and there will never again be a flood that destroys the earth."

he said, "Canaan is cursed! He will be the lowest of slaves to his relatives."

He also said, "Blessed be the LORD God of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave.

These are Ham's descendants, listed by their families, each with their own lands, language, and family groups.

These are Shem's descendants, listed by their families, each with their own lands, language, and family groups.

These are the families of Noah's sons, according to their records, by their nations. From these people, the nations on the earth spread out after the flood.

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!

I'll make a great nation of your descendants, I'll bless you, and I'll make your reputation great, so that you will be a blessing.

I'll bless those who bless you, but I'll curse the one who curses you, and through you all the people of the earth will be blessed."

Please say that you are my sister, so things will go well for me for your sake. That way, you'll be saving my life."

He journeyed by stages from the Negev to Bethel, the place where his tent had formerly been, between Bethel and Ai,

I'll make your descendants as plentiful as the specks of dust of the earth, so that if one could count the specks of dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be counted.

So Abram moved his tent and settled beside the oaks of Mamre that are by Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, near El-paran by the desert.

Someone escaped, arrived, and reported what had happened to Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks belonging to Mamre the Amorite, whose brothers Eshcol and Aner were allied with Abram.

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

and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your control." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

that I will not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that belongs to you, so you won't be able to say, "I made Abram rich.'

But Abram replied, "Lord GOD, what can you give me since I continue to be childless, and the heir of my household is Eliezer from Damascus?

Look!" Abram said, "You haven't given me any offspring, so a servant born in my house is going to be my heir."

A message came from the LORD to him again: "This one will not be your heir. Instead, the child who will be born to you will be your heir."

Then the LORD took him outside. "Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can!" he said. "Your descendants will be that numerous."

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.

Now as for you, you'll die peacefully, join your ancestors, and be buried at a good old age.

The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the desert on the road to Shur.

The angel of the LORD also told her, "I will greatly multiply your offspring, who will be too many to count.

He'll be a wild donkey of a man. He'll be against everyone, and everyone will be against him. He will live in conflict with all of his relatives."

When Abram was 99 years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and announced, "I am God Almighty. Live in constant awareness that I'm always with you, and be blameless.

"Look, I've made a covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations.

Your name is no longer to be Abram. Instead your name will be Abraham, since I'll make you the father of many nations.

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'll give to you and to your descendants the land to which you have traveled all the land of Canaan as an eternal possession. I will be their God."

Here is my covenant that you are to observe, between me and you and your descendants: Every male among you is to be circumcised.

You are all to be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and this is to be the sign of the covenant between me and you.

Generation after generation, every male among you is to be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth, including the servant born in your house or the one purchased from a foreigner, who is not of your offspring.

The servant born in your house or the one purchased with money is to be circumcised. My covenant is to remain in your flesh as an eternal covenant.

Any uncircumcised male who does not have the foreskin of his flesh circumcised on the eighth day after his birth is to be eliminated from his people because he has broken my covenant."

God told Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are not to call her Sarai any longer, because her name is to be Sarah.

Abraham fell to the ground, laughed, and told himself, "Can a child be born to a 100-year-old man? Can a 90-year-old Sarah give birth?"

Later, the LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks belonging to Mamre. As Abraham was sitting near the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day,

Then one of them said, "I will certainly return to you in about a year's time. By then, your wife Sarah will have borne a son."

"since Abraham's descendants will become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him?

Far be it from you to do such a thing to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! The Judge of all the earth will do what is right, won't he?"

Abraham then asked, "I hope my LORD will not be angry if I speak. What if 30 are found there?" The LORD answered, "I won't do it for the sake of those 30."

Finally, Abraham inquired, "I hope my LORD will not be angry if I speak only once more. What if ten are found there?" He replied, "For the sake of those ten I won't destroy it."

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."

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."

Then one of them said, "Flee for your lives! Don't look back or stop anywhere on the plain. Escape to the hills, or you'll be swept away!"

"Your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me your gracious love in how you have dealt with me by keeping me alive. I cannot escape to the hills, because I'm afraid the disaster will overtake me, and I'll die.

That's how both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.

But God came to Abimelech in a dream during the night and spoke to him, "Pay attention! You're about to die, because the woman you have taken is a man's wife!"

Now then, return the man's wife. As a matter of fact, he's a prophet and can intercede for you so you'll live. But if you don't return her, be aware that you and all who are yours will certainly die."

Abimelech also told Sarah, "Look! I am giving your brother 1,000 pieces of silver to vindicate you in the eyes of all who are with you. As a result, you will be completely vindicated."

she told Abraham, "Throw out this slave girl, along with her son, because this slave's son will never be a co-heir with my son Isaac!"

but God told Abraham, "Don't be troubled about the youth and your slave girl. Pay attention to Sarah in everything she tells you, because your offspring are to be named through Isaac.

Then she went and sat by herself about a distance of a bowshot away, because she kept saying to herself, "I can't bear to watch the child die!" That's why she sat a short distance away, crying aloud and weeping.

God heard the boy's voice, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven. He asked her, "What's wrong with you, Hagar? Don't be afraid, because God has heard the voice of the youth where he is.

Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went, filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.

God was with the boy as he grew up. He settled in the wilderness and became an expert archer.

Therefore swear an oath here by God that you won't deal falsely with me, my sons, or my descendants. Just as I've dealt graciously with you, won't you do so with me and with the land in which you live as a foreigner?"

Then Abraham looked up and behind him to see a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So Abraham went over, grabbed the ram, and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.

and said, "I have taken an oath to swear by myself," declares the LORD, "that since you have carried this out and have not withheld your only unique son,

Furthermore, through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed my command."

and then addressed Ephron so all the people of the land could hear him: "Please listen to me! I'm willing to pay the price of the field. Accept it from me, so I may bury my dead there."

That's how Ephron's field in Machpelah, east of Mamre the field, the cave that was in it, and all the trees that were within the boundaries of the field came to be deeded

And so the field with its cave was deeded by the Hittites to Abraham as a burial site.

If the woman isn't willing to follow you, then you'll be free from this oath to me. Just don't take my son back there!"