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

Then God said, "Let vegetation sprout all over the earth, including seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each kind containing its own seed!" And that is what happened:

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

Then God said, "Let the oceans swarm with living creatures, and let flying creatures soar above the earth throughout the sky!"

Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth each kind of living creature, each kind of livestock and crawling thing, and each kind of earth's animals!" And that is what happened:

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!"

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."

"but as for the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, God has said, "You are not to eat from it, nor are you to touch it, or you will die.'"

He told the man, "Because you have listened to what your wife said, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, "You must not eat from it,' cursed is the ground because of you. You'll eat from it through pain-filled labor for the rest of your life.

Later, the LORD God said, "Look! The man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, so he won't reach out, also take from the tree of life, eat, and then live forever "

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."

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."

So the LORD said, "I will annihilate these human beings whom I've created from the earth, including people, animals, crawling things, and flying creatures, because I'm grieving that I made them."

God also said, "Here's the symbol that represents the covenant that I'm making between me and you and every living being with you, for all future generations:

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.

He became a fearless hunter in defiance of the LORD. That is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a fearless hunter in defiance of the LORD."

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!

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.

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

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."

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

The LORD also said, "How great is the disapproval of Sodom and Gomorrah! Their sin is so very serious!

The LORD said, "If I find 50 righteous people within Sodom, I'll forgive the whole place for their sake."

What if there are five less than 50 righteous ones? Will you bring destruction upon the city because of those five?" The LORD said, "I won't destroy it if I find 45 there."

"Look," Abraham said, "I've presumed to speak to my LORD" so what if 20 are found there?" "For the sake of those 20," the LORD responded, "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."

and said, "I urge you, my brothers, don't do such a wicked thing.

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!"

Didn't he say to me, "She's my sister'? And she also said, "He's my brother.' I did this with pure intentions and clean hands."

and said, "Look! My land is available to you, so settle wherever you please."

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

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

She also said, "Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse sons? Yet I have given birth to a son in my husband's old age!"

Abraham was very troubled about what was being said about his son,

God said, "Please take your son, your unique son whom you love Isaac and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him as a burnt offering there on one of the mountains that I will point out to you."

Just then, an angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven and said, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he answered.

"Don't lay your hand on the youth!" he said. "Don't do anything to him, because I've just demonstrated that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only unique one, from me."

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,

Then Abraham stood up from beside his dead wife and addressed the Hittites. He said,

When she had finished giving him a drink, she also said, "I'll also draw water for your camels until they've had enough to drink."

"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?"

But when they had prepared a meal and set it in front of him, he said, "I'm not eating until I've spoken." "Speak up!" Laban exclaimed.

"I'm Abraham's servant," he said.

When Abraham's servant heard what they had said, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD.

But her brother and mother said, "Let the young lady stay with us a few days at least ten and after that she may go."

But they said, "We'll call the young lady and see what she has to say about this."

That's when the LORD appeared to Isaac. "You are not to go down to Egypt," he said. "Instead, you are to settle down in an area within this land where I'll tell you.

But the herdsmen who lived in Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen. "The water is ours," they said. As a result, Isaac named the well Esek, for they had fiercely disputed with him about it.

That very same day, Isaac's servants arrived and reported to him about a well that they had just completed digging. "We've found water!" they said.

Rebekah gave these instructions to her son Jacob: "Quick! Pay attention!" she said. "I heard your father talking to your brother Esau. He told him,

who went to his father and said, "My father"" "It's me!" he replied. "Which one are you, my son?"

So Jacob approached his father, who felt him and said, "It's Jacob's voice, but Esau's hands."

So Jacob drew closer to kiss him. When Isaac smelled the scent of his son's clothes, he blessed him and said, "How my son's scent is the fragrance of the field that the LORD has blessed.

Then he said, "Isn't his name rightly called Jacob?" Esau asked. "He has circumvented me this second time. First, he took away my birthright, and now, look how he also stole my blessing." Then he added, "Haven't you reserved a blessing for me?"

Later, she conceived again and said, "This time my husband will become attached to me, now that I've borne him three sons." So he named him Levi.

Then she conceived yet again, bore a son, and said, "This time I'll praise the LORD." So she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing children.

Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me! He has heard my voice and has given me a son." Therefore, she named him Dan.

so Rachel said, "I've been through a mighty struggle with my sister and won." She named him Naphtali.

She said, "How happy I am, because women will call me happy!" So she named him Asher.

God heard what Leah had said, so she conceived and bore a fifth son for Jacob.

Then Leah said, "God has paid me for giving my servant to my husband as his wife." So she named him Issachar.

Then Leah said, "God has given me a good gift. This time my husband will exalt me, because I've borne him six sons." So she named him Zebulun.

"When Laban said, "The speckled ones will be your wages,' then all the flock gave birth to speckled ones. Then when he said, "The streaked ones will be your wages,' all the flock gave birth to streaked offspring.

""Look around!' he said. "Go ahead, look! All the male goats have been mating with the flock, producing offspring that are streaked, speckled, and spotted, because I've been watching everything that Laban has done to you.

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.

It was also called Mizpah, because Laban said, "May the LORD watch between you and me, when we are estranged from each other.

As he was watching them, Jacob said, "This must be God's camp," so he named that place Mahanaim.

To the first group he said, "When you meet my brother Esau, if he asks, "To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And to whom do these herds belong?'

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

Esau said, "Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me."

But Hamor said this: "My son is deeply attracted to your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife.

What they said pleased Hamor and his son Shechem,

"Let me tell you about this dream that I had!" he said.

But then he had another dream, and he proceeded to tell his brothers about that one, too. "I had another dream," he said. "The sun, moon, and eleven of the stars were bowing down before me!"

"Look!" they said. "Here comes the Dream Master!

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?"

So he returned to Judah and said, "I haven't found her. Also, the men who are from there said, "There's been no prostitute here.'"

Then Judah said, "Let her have those things. Otherwise, we'll become contemptible. I sent this young goat, but you didn't find her."

So the senior security advisor related his dream to Joseph. "In my dream," he said, "all of a sudden there was a vine in front of me!

Joseph named his firstborn son Manasseh because, he said, "God has made me forget all of my hard life and my father's house."

He named his second son Ephraim because, he said, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my troubles."

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

"I'm right!" Joseph insisted. "Just as I said, you're spies!

"Didn't I tell you!" Reuben replied. ""Don't wrong the kid!' I said, but would you listen? No! Now it's payback time!"

"The man who was in charge of the land spoke harshly to us," they said. "He accused us of being spies!

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

"Relax," the manager said. "You can stop being afraid, now. Your God, the God of your father, has placed hidden treasure within those sacks for you. I've been paid in full." Then he brought Simeon out to them,

"Agreed," he responded. "Just as you've said, the one who is found to have it in his possession will become my slave, and the rest of you will be innocent."

Later on, after we had gone back to your servant, my father, we told him what Your Excellency had said.

However, as soon as his sons had told him everything Joseph had said, and after he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent along to carry him, their father Jacob's spirit was encouraged.

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!"

After this, Joseph addressed the people. "Pay attention," he said. "I've bought you and your land for Pharaoh today, in exchange for seed for you. Now go sow the land.

"These are my sons," Joseph replied. "God gave them to me here in Egypt." "Please bring them close to me," Jacob said, "so I can bless them."