Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.

Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers.

The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—

Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.”

Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad became the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael became the father of Methushael, and Methushael became the father of Lamech.

Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.”

Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them,

Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.

Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth.

Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up.

“Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you;

Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan.

Now these are the records of the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood.

Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth.

Now their settlement extended from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the hill country of the east.

Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.

The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.

Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran became the father of Lot.

Now the Lord said to Abram,
“Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;

So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land.

Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.

It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman;

Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go.”

Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold.

Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.

And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land.

Now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord.

The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;

Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell into them. But those who survived fled to the hill country.

Then a fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now he was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, and these were allies with Abram.

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.

And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him.

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.

So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.

Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,
“I am God Almighty;
Walk before Me, and be blameless.

God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

Now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.

and said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by.

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing.

I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”

And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes.

And he said, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.”

Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.

And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.”

Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof.”

But they said, “Stand aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came in as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door.

Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die;

now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) that my life may be saved.”

Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord;

Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev, and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in Gerar.

Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a nation, even though blameless?

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

Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.

Now it came about at that time that Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do;

now therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have sojourned.”

Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”

He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Now it came about after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor:

Now Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.

Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth; even of all who went in at the gate of his city, saying,

Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way.

now may it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’—may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.”

Now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking.”

Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban; and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring.

Now Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him all that he has.

“So I came today to the spring, and said, ‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I go successful;

So now if you are going to deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, let me know, that I may turn to the right hand or the left.”

Now Isaac had come from going to Beer-lahai-roi; for he was living in the Negev.

Now Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah.

Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac;

Now these are the records of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham;

Now these are the records of the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham became the father of Isaac;

Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau.

Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines.

Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him,

Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with earth.

They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you,

that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.’”

Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac’s servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.”

Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.”

Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death.

Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me;

Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you.

Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves.

Now may God give you of the dew of heaven,
And of the fatness of the earth,
And an abundance of grain and new wine;

Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

Then he said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

But Isaac replied to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?”

Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you.