Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”

So God created man in His own image;
He created him in the image of God;
He created them male and female.

No shrub of the field had yet grown on the land, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not made it rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground.

Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He placed the man He had formed.

The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.

And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden,

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper as his complement.”

So the Lord God formed out of the ground every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal; but for the man no helper was found as his complement.

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place.

Then the Lord God made the rib He had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.

And the man said:

This one, at last, is bone of my bone
and flesh of my flesh;
this one will be called “woman,”
for she was taken from man.

This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.

Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

Then the man replied, “The woman You gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.”

The Lord God said, “Since man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.”

He drove man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life.

Lamech said to his wives:

Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
wives of Lamech, pay attention to my words.
For I killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for striking me.

These are the family records of the descendants of Adam. On the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God;

He created them male and female. When they were created, He blessed them and called them man.

the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful, and they took any they chose as wives for themselves.

The Nephilim were on the earth both in those days and afterward, when the sons of God came to the daughters of mankind, who bore children to them. They were the powerful men of old, the famous men.

When the Lord saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time,

the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

Then the Lord said, “I will wipe off from the face of the earth mankind, whom I created, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I made them.”

These are the family records of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God.

When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, He said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, even though man’s inclination is evil from his youth. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.

I will require the life of every animal and every man for your life and your blood. I will require the life of each man’s brother for a man’s life.

Whoever sheds man’s blood,
his blood will be shed by man,
for God made man in His image.

Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard.

Cush fathered Nimrod, who was the first powerful man on earth.

Then the Lord came down to look over the city and the tower that the men were building.

Then Pharaoh gave his men orders about him, and they sent him away with his wife and all he had.

Now the men of Sodom were evil, sinning greatly against the Lord.

When Abram heard that his relative had been taken prisoner, he assembled his 318 trained men, born in his household, and they went in pursuit as far as Dan.

I will take nothing except what the servants have eaten. But as for the share of the men who came with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre—they can take their share.”

This man will be like a wild donkey.
His hand will be against everyone,
and everyone’s hand will be against him;
he will live at odds with all his brothers.

Throughout your generations, every male among you at eight days old is to be circumcised. This includes a slave born in your house and one purchased with money from any foreigner. The one who is not your offspring,

a slave born in your house, as well as one purchased with money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.

If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?”

Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him.

And all the men of his household—both slaves born in his house and those purchased with money from a foreigner—were circumcised with him.

He looked up, and he saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed to the ground.

Meanwhile, Abraham ran to the herd and got a tender, choice calf. He gave it to a young man, who hurried to prepare it.

Then Abraham took curds and milk, and the calf that he had prepared, and set them before the men. He served them as they ate under the tree.

The men got up from there and looked out over Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them off.

The men turned from there and went toward Sodom while Abraham remained standing before the Lord.

Before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, the whole population, surrounded the house.

They called out to Lot and said, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have sex with them!”

Look, I’ve got two daughters who haven’t had sexual relations with a man. I’ll bring them out to you, and you can do whatever you want to them. However, don’t do anything to these men, because they have come under the protection of my roof.”

They struck the men who were at the entrance of the house, both young and old, with a blinding light so that they were unable to find the entrance.

But he hesitated. Because of the Lord’s compassion for him, the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters. Then they brought him out and left him outside the city.

Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us as is the custom of all the land.

Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will certainly die, you and all who are yours.”

Early in the morning Abimelech got up, called all his servants together, and personally told them all these things, and the men were terrified.

So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about.

Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.”

Abraham went back to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham settled in Beer-sheba.

I am standing here at the spring where the daughters of the men of the town are coming out to draw water.

Now the girl was very beautiful, a young woman who had not known a man intimately. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up.

while the man silently watched her to see whether or not the Lord had made his journey a success.

After the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing half a shekel, and for her wrists two bracelets weighing 10 shekels of gold.

Then the man bowed down, worshiped the Lord,

Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and Laban ran out to the man at the spring.

As soon as he had seen the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he had heard his sister Rebekah’s words—“The man said this to me!”—he went to the man. He was standing there by the camels at the spring.

So the man came to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and feed were given to the camels, and water was brought to wash his feet and the feet of the men with him.

Then he and the men with him ate and drank and spent the night.

When they got up in the morning, he said, “Send me to my master.”

They called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?”

She replied, “I will go.”

So they sent away their sister Rebekah with the one who had nursed and raised her, and Abraham’s servant and his men.

Then Rebekah and her female servants got up, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.

and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”

The servant answered, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself.

When the boys grew up, Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.

When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say “my wife,” thinking, “The men of the place will kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is a beautiful woman.”

So Abimelech warned all the people with these words: “Whoever harms this man or his wife will certainly die.”

and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy.

Jacob answered Rebekah his mother, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am a man with smooth skin.

Jacob asked the men at the well, “My brothers! Where are you from?”

“We’re from Haran,” they answered.

Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay with me.”

So Laban invited all the men of the place to a feast.

And the man became very rich. He had many flocks, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.

Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? For he has sold us and has certainly spent our money.

Then Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters; the sons, my sons; and the flocks, my flocks! Everything you see is mine! But what can I do today for these daughters of mine or for the children they have borne?

When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau; he is coming to meet you—and he has 400 men with him.”

Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

When the man saw that He could not defeat him, He struck Jacob’s hip socket as they wrestled and dislocated his hip.

“What is your name?” the man asked.

“Jacob,” he replied.

“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” He said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”

Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female slaves.

So Esau said, “What do you mean by this whole procession I met?”

“To find favor with you, my lord,” he answered.

“We cannot do this thing,” they said to them. “Giving our sister to an uncircumcised man is a disgrace to us.

The young man did not delay doing this, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most important in all his father’s house.

So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and spoke to the men there.

“These men are peaceful toward us,” they said. “Let them live in our land and move about in it, for indeed, the region is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as our wives and give our daughters to them.

But the men will agree to live with us and be one people only on this condition: if all our men are circumcised as they are.

All the able-bodied men listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and all the able-bodied men were circumcised.

These are the family records of Jacob.

At 17 years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father.