Then God said, "Let the water beneath the sky come together into one area, and let dry ground appear!" And that is what happened:

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

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.

Then the LORD told Noah, "Come you and all your household into the ark, because I've seen that you alone are righteous in this generation.

The ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat on the seventeenth day of the seventh month.

and with every living creature that is with you the flying creatures, the livestock, and all the wildlife of the earth that are with you all the earth's animals that came out of the ark.

Noah's sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham later fathered Canaan.)

the Pathrusites, the Casluhites (from which came the Philistines), and the Caphtorites.

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."

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

At the time when Amraphel was king of Shinar, Arioch was king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer was king of Elam, and Tidal was king of the Goiim,

In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

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.

against King Chedorlaomer of Elam, King Tidal of Goiim, King Amraphel of Shinar, and King Arioch of Ellasar four kings against five.

Some time later, a message came from the LORD to Abram in a vision. "Stop being afraid, Abram," he said. "I myself your shield am your very great reward."

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."

I'm going to cause you to have many descendants, and I'll bring nations from you. Kings will come from you.

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 will bless her. Furthermore, I will give you a son from her. I will bless her, so that nations, kings, and people will come from her."

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."

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."

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!"

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.

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!"

Come on! Let's make our father drink wine, and then we'll have sex with him so we can preserve our father's lineage."

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

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

The two of them went on together and came to the place about which God had spoken. Abraham built an altar there, arranged the wood, tied up his son Isaac, and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.

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

"What if the woman doesn't want to come back with me to this land?" the servant asked. "Shouldn't I have your son go to the land from which you came?"

I've stationed myself here by the spring as the women of the town come to draw water.

"Come on," Laban said. "The LORD has blessed you! So why are you standing out here when I've prepared some space in the house and a place for the camels?"

"So I asked my master, "What if the woman won't come back with me?'

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.'

"Before I had finished praying, along came Rebekah with her jug on her shoulder! She went to the spring and drew some water. I asked her to please let me have a drink.

"Since this has come from the LORD," Laban and Bethuel both replied, "we cannot speak one way or another.

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.

One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau happened to come in from being outdoors, and he was feeling famished.

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

so go find your weapons, take your bow and arrows, go outside, and hunt some game for me.

Now Rebekah overheard Isaac while he was speaking to his son Esau. When Esau had gone out to the field to hunt and bring in some game,

"Bring me some game and then prepare some food for me so I can eat and bless you in the presence of the LORD before I die.'

So Isaac told Jacob, "Come here, my son, so I can feel you and know for sure whether or not you're my son Esau."

"Come closer to me," Isaac replied, "so I can eat some of the game, my son, and then bless you." So Jacob came closer, and Isaac ate. Jacob also brought wine so his father could drink.

After this, Jacob's father Isaac told him, "Come closer and kiss me, my son."

prepared some delicious food, brought it to his father, and told him, "Can you get up now, father, so you may eat some of your son's game and then bless me?"

At this, Isaac began to tremble violently. "Who then," he asked, "hunted some game and brought it to me to eat before you arrived, so that I've blessed him? Indeed, he is blessed."

Isaac replied, "Your brother came here deceitfully and stole your blessing."

When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went to meet him and told him, "You're having sex with me tonight. I traded my son's mandrakes for you!" So he slept with her that night.

In the future, you'll be able to verify my honesty because, when you come to check what I've earned, if you find a goat that's not speckled or spotted or a sheep that's not black, then it will have been stolen by me."

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.

Whenever the more vigorous of the flock came into heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the flock to make them mate by the branches.

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

Then Jacob got angry and started an argument with Laban. "What have I done?" he demanded. "What's my crime that would cause you to come pursue me so violently?

Come, let's make a covenant just between you and me. And let it serve as a witness between you and me."

Then Laban said, "This stack will serve as a witness between you and me today." That's how the place came to be named Galeed.

and said, "Let me go, because the dawn has come." "I won't let you go," Jacob replied, "unless you bless me."

Jacob's other sons came along afterward and plundered the city where their sister had been defiled,

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!

Now as for the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I'm giving it to you and to your descendants who come after you. I'm giving the land to you!"

When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was helping his brothers tend their flocks. He was a young man at that time, as were the children of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. But Joseph would come back and tell his father that his brothers were doing bad things. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his brothers, since he was born to him in his old age, so he had made a richly-embroidered tunic for him.

When Joseph told his father about this, his father rebuked him and asked him, "What kind of dream is that? Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come to you and bow down to the ground in front of you?"

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.

Come on! Let's kill him and toss him into one of the cisterns. Then we'll report that some wild animal devoured him and wait to see what becomes of his dreams!"

Come on! Let's sell him to the Ishmaelites! That way, we won't have laid our hands on him. After all, he's our brother, our own flesh."

So on the way, he turned aside, approached her, and said, "Come on! Let's have some sex!" But he didn't realize that he was talking to his own daughter-in-law. "What will you give me," she asked, "in order to have sex with me?"

While she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand, so the midwife grabbed it and tied something scarlet around his hand, observing, "This one came out first."

Afterwards, his brother came out, and around his hand was the scarlet. So they named him Zerah.

Now Joseph was well built and good looking. That's why, sometime later, Joseph's master's wife looked straight at Joseph and propositioned him: "Come on! Let's have a little sex!"

and yelled for her household servants. "Look!" she cried out. "My husband brought in a Hebrew man to humiliate us. He came in here to have sex with me, but I screamed out loud!

She kept his outer garment by her side until Joseph's master came home,

and then this is what she told him: "That Hebrew slave whom you brought to us came in here to rape me.

When Joseph came to see them in the morning, he noticed how downcast they looked! They were both very sad.

Right after that, seven more cows came up out of the Nile. Ugly and gaunt, they stood next to the other cows on the bank of the Nile River.

"We each related our dreams, and then he interpreted them for us. He provided specific meanings for each of our dreams. And what he interpreted for each of us came true! Pharaoh restored me to my responsibilities, but he executed the other man."

In addition, all of the surrounding nations came to Joseph to buy grain from Egypt, because the famine had become severe throughout the world.

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."

Furthermore, Joseph remembered the dreams that he had about them. So he accused them, "You're spies! You've come here to spy on our undefended territories!"

"No, your majesty," they replied. "Your servants have come here to buy food.

But Joseph kept insisting, "It's just as I've said you've come here to spy on our unguarded territories!"

As soon as Joseph noticed that Benjamin had come with them, he ordered his palace manager, "Bring the men into the palace. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, because these men will be dining with me for lunch."

"Your Excellency," they said, "The first time we came here to buy food,

then washed his face and came out. Barely controlling himself, he ordered his staff to serve the meal.

when he notices that the young man hasn't come back with us, he'll die, and your servants really will have brought death to your servant, our father, along with his sad, gray hair!

Joseph implored his brothers, "Please come close to me." So they did.

So hurry up, go back to my father, and tell him that his son Joseph tells him, "God has made me master of all of Egypt. Hurry up! Come live with me!'

get your father and your households, and come back to me. I'll give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can live off the abundance of the land.'

In addition," Pharaoh ordered, "Do this: take some transport wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones to ride in, along with your wives, and bring your father and come!

After this, Joseph went to inform Pharaoh. "My father and brothers have come here from Canaan," he said, "and they've come with their flocks, herds, and everything else they have. I settled them in the Goshen territory!"

"Your servants are shepherds," they replied, "both we and our ancestors. We've come to live for a while in this region, since there is no pasture back in Canaan for your servants' flocks. May your servants please live in the Goshen territory?"

Then Pharaoh replied to Joseph, "Now that your father and your brothers have come to you,

After all the money had been spent throughout Egypt and Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and demanded, "Give us food! Why should we die right in front of you? Our money is spent!"

The following year, they came to him and reminded him, "We won't hide from you, your Excellency, that we've spent all of our money, and that our livestock all belong to you. There's nothing left to trade with you, your Excellency, except our bodies and our territories.

So Joseph purchased all of the Egyptian territory for Pharaoh. Every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine's effect was so severe. That's how Pharaoh came to own the land.

As soon as Jacob was informed, "Look! Your son Joseph has come to visit you," Israel rallied his strength and sat up in bed.

You have two sons who were born to you in Egypt before I came to be with you, whom I now take as my own. Ephraim and Manasseh are mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are.