God called the dry ground "land," and he called the water that had come together "oceans." And God saw how good it was.

Now God saw all that he had made, and indeed, it was very good! The twilight and the dawn were the sixth day.

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.

Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God stopped working on everything that he had been creating.

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.

The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east, where he placed the man whom he had formed.

When the man was asleep, he removed one of the man's ribs and closed up the flesh where it had been. Then the LORD God formed the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.

Now the Shining One was more clever than any animal of the field that the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, "Did God actually say, "You are not to eat from any tree of the garden'?"

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.

"I heard your voice in the garden," the man answered, "and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid from you."

"I'll place hostility between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. He'll strike you on the head, and you'll strike him on the heel."

Now Adam had named his wife "Eve," because she was to become the mother of everyone who was living.

therefore the LORD God expelled the man from the garden of Eden so he would work the ground from which he had been taken.

After he had expelled the man, the LORD God placed winged angels at the eastern end of the garden of Eden, along with a fiery, turning sword, to prevent access to the tree of life.

Later, Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve. She became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "I have given birth to a male child the LORD."

Later, after a while, Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit that he had harvested,

Later, Cain had sexual relations with his wife. She became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain founded a city and named it after his son Enoch.

Later on, after Adam had sexual relations with his wife, she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, because "God granted me another offspring to replace Abel, since Cain murdered him."

After Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son just like him, that is, according to his own likeness, and named him Seth.

Adam lived another 800 years, fathering other sons and daughters after he had fathered Seth.

When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh.

When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan.

When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel.

When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared.

When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch.

When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah.

communing with God and then he was there no longer, because God had taken him.

When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech.

When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son,

After Noah had lived 500 years, he fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Now after the population of human beings had increased throughout the earth, and daughters had been born to them,

Then the LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and he was deeply grieved about that.

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

God looked at the earth, observing how corrupt its population had become, because the entire human race had corrupted itself.

Noah did all of this, precisely as God had commanded.

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

The males and females of each living creature entered the ark, just as God had commanded. Then the LORD sealed them inside.

Everything that breathed and everything that had lived on dry land died.

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.

After 40 days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had built

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

The dove returned to him in the evening, but in its beak there was an olive leaf that it had plucked! So Noah knew that the flood waters had decreased on the land.

"Never again, as long as the earth exists, will sowing and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night ever cease."

When Noah sobered up and learned what his youngest son had done to him,

After Noah had lived a total of 950 years, he died.

Shem, Japheth's older brother, also had descendants. Shem was the father of the descendants of Eber.

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

These are the family records of Shem. When Shem had lived 100 years, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood.

Shem lived 500 years after he fathered Arpachshad and had other sons and daughters.

When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Cainan.

After he fathered Cainan, Arpachshad lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters, and then died. Cainan lived 130 years and fathered Shelah. After he fathered Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and had other sons and daughters, and then died.

When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber.

After he fathered Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg.

After he fathered Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu.

After he fathered Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug.

After he fathered Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor.

After he fathered Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah.

After he fathered Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Sarai was barren, so she had not borne children.

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,

So Abram left there, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot accompanied him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran.

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,

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I'll give this land to your descendants." So Abram built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

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

Now Abram had become quite wealthy in livestock, silver, and gold.

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

where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the LORD.

Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks of sheep, herds, and tents.

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

After Lot had separated from Abram, the LORD told Abram, "Look off to the north, south, east, and west from where you're living,

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.

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.

When the sun had fully set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a fiery torch passed between the animal pieces.

Now Abram's wife Sarai had not borne a child for him. She had an Egyptian servant girl whose name was Hagar.

Abram listened to Sarai's suggestion, so Abram's wife Sarai took her Egyptian servant, Hagar, and gave her as a wife to her husband Abram. This took place ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.

He had sex with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she looked with contempt on her mistress.

Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the servants born in his house or purchased with his money every male among the men of his household and circumcised them that very day, just as God had spoken to him.

Every man born in his household as well as those who had been purchased with money from a foreigner was circumcised with him.

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.

"Should I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do," the LORD asked,

As soon as he finished talking to Abraham, the LORD left and Abraham returned to where he had been sitting.

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.

The sun had risen over the land about the time Lot reached Zoar.

Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD earlier.

And so it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham and brought Lot out from the midst of the destruction when he overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

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.

The next day the firstborn told the younger one, "Look! I had sex with my father last night. Let's make him drink wine tonight again as well. Then you have sex with him, too. That way we'll preserve our father's lineage."

Now Abimelech had not yet come near her, so he asked, "LORD, will you destroy an innocent nation?

since the LORD had made all the women barren in Abimelech's household on account of Abraham's wife Sarah.

The LORD came to Sarah, just as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.

Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age, at the very time that God had told him.

On the eighth day after his son Isaac had been born, Abraham circumcised him, just as God had commanded him.

Now Sarah had said, "God has caused me to laugh, and all who hear about it will laugh with me."

Nevertheless, when Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian whom Hagar had borne to Abraham making fun of Isaac,