Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth."

Then God said, "I now give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created -- when the Lord God made the earth and heavens.

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife, and they become a new family.

The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.

Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard.

Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

He created them male and female; when they were created, he blessed them and named them "humankind."

the sons of God saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose.

So the Lord said, "My spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years."

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after this) when the sons of God were having sexual relations with the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. They were the mighty heroes of old, the famous men.

They entered, along with every living creature after its kind, every animal after its kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, everything with wings.

The flood engulfed the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark and raised it above the earth.

So the Lord destroyed every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived.

The waters kept receding steadily from the earth, so that they had gone down by the end of the 150 days.

Shem and Japheth took the garment and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so they did not see their father's nakedness.

When the people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

Then they said to one another, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." (They had brick instead of stone and tar instead of mortar.)

Then they said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise we will be scattered across the face of the entire earth."

And the Lord said, "If as one people all sharing a common language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be beyond them.

Come, let's go down and confuse their language so they won't be able to understand each other."

So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building the city.

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (the son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and with them he set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came to Haran, they settled there.

And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they left for the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.

When the Egyptians see you they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will keep you alive.

When Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. So Abram's wife was taken into the household of Pharaoh,

Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram, and so they expelled him, along with his wife and all his possessions.

But the land could not support them while they were living side by side. Because their possessions were so great, they were not able to live alongside one another.

For twelve years they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

Then they attacked En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh) again, and they conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazazon Tamar.

Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and prepared for battle. In the Valley of Siddim they met

Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them, but some survivors fled to the hills.

They also took Abram's nephew Lot and his possessions when they left, for Lot was living in Sodom.

Then the Lord said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country. They will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.

But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions.

I will greatly multiply your descendants," the Lord's angel added, "so that they will be too numerous to count."

They must indeed be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money. The sign of my covenant will be visible in your flesh as a permanent reminder.

And let me get a bit of food so that you may refresh yourselves since you have passed by your servant's home. After that you may be on your way." "All right," they replied, "you may do as you say."

Abraham then took some curds and milk, along with the calf that had been prepared, and placed the food before them. They ate while he was standing near them under a tree.

Then they asked him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" He replied, "There, in the tent."

When the men got up to leave, they looked out over Sodom. (Now Abraham was walking with them to see them on their way.)

that I must go down and see if they are as wicked as the outcry suggests. If not, I want to know."

He said, "Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant's house. Stay the night and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning." "No," they replied, "we'll spend the night in the town square."

But he urged them persistently, so they turned aside with him and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them, including bread baked without yeast, and they ate.

Before they could lie down to sleep, all the men -- both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom -- surrounded the house.

They shouted to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!"

Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please. Only don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."

"Out of our way!" they cried, and "This man came to live here as a foreigner, and now he dares to judge us! We'll do more harm to you than to them!" They kept pressing in on Lot until they were close enough to break down the door.

So the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house as they shut the door.

Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, with blindness. The men outside wore themselves out trying to find the door.

When Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters because the Lord had compassion on them. They led them away and placed them outside the city.

When they had brought them outside, they said, "Run for your lives! Don't look behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!"

So that night they made their father drunk with wine, and the older daughter came and had sexual relations with her father. But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up.

So they made their father drunk that night as well, and the younger one came and had sexual relations with him. But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up.

Early in the morning Abimelech summoned all his servants. When he told them about all these things, they were terrified.

Abraham replied, "Because I thought, 'Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.'

Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, as well as his wife and female slaves so that they were able to have children.

So they made a treaty at Beer Sheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, returned to the land of the Philistines.

When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.

I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the strongholds of their enemies.

Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set out together for Beer Sheba where Abraham stayed.

When she had done so, she said, "I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have drunk as much as they want."

You will be free from your oath if you go to my relatives and they will not give her to you. Then you will be free from your oath.'

After this, he and the men who were with him ate a meal and stayed there overnight. When they got up in the morning, he said, "Let me leave now so I can return to my master."

Then they said, "We'll call the girl and find out what she wants to do."

So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Do you want to go with this man?" She replied, "I want to go."

So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, accompanied by her female attendant, with Abraham's servant and his men.

They blessed Rebekah with these words: "Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands! May your descendants possess the strongholds of their enemies."

His descendants settled from Havilah to Shur, which runs next to Egypt all the way to Asshur. They settled away from all their relatives.

The first came out reddish all over, like a hairy garment, so they named him Esau.

When his brother came out with his hand clutching Esau's heel, they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants.

the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water belongs to us!" So Isaac named the well Esek because they argued with him about it.

His servants dug another well, but they quarreled over it too, so Isaac named it Sitnah.

Then he moved away from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over it, so Isaac named it Rehoboth, saying, "For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will prosper in the land."

They replied, "We could plainly see that the Lord is with you. So we decided there should be a pact between us -- between us and you. Allow us to make a treaty with you

So Isaac held a feast for them and they celebrated.

Early in the morning the men made a treaty with each other. Isaac sent them off; they separated on good terms.

That day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well they had dug. "We've found water," they reported.

They caused Isaac and Rebekah great anxiety.

When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone off the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would put the stone back in its place over the well's mouth.

Jacob asked them, "My brothers, where are you from?" They replied, "We're from Haran."

So he said to them, "Do you know Laban, the grandson of Nahor?" "We know him," they said.

"Is he well?" Jacob asked. They replied, "He is well. Now look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep."

"We can't," they said, "until all the flocks are gathered and the stone is rolled off the mouth of the well. Then we water the sheep."

So Jacob worked for seven years to acquire Rachel. But they seemed like only a few days to him because his love for her was so great.

Then he set up the peeled branches in all the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. He set up the branches in front of the flocks when they were in heat and came to drink.

When the sheep mated in front of the branches, they gave birth to young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.

When the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would set up the branches in the troughs in front of the flock, so they would mate near the branches.

"What have you done?" Laban demanded of Jacob. "You've deceived me and carried away my daughters as if they were captives of war!

Laban replied to Jacob, "These women are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, and these flocks are my flocks. All that you see belongs to me. But how can I harm these daughters of mine today or the children to whom they have given birth?

Then he said to his relatives, "Gather stones." So they brought stones and put them in a pile. They ate there by the pile of stones.

Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat the meal. They ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain.

then you must say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau. In fact Jacob himself is behind us.'"

But Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, hugged his neck, and kissed him. Then they both wept.

Then Leah came forward with her children and they bowed down. Finally Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed down.

But Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are young, and that I have to look after the sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. If they are driven too hard for even a single day, all the animals will die.

When Jacob heard that Shechem had violated his daughter Dinah, his sons were with the livestock in the field. So Jacob remained silent until they came in.

Now Jacob's sons had come in from the field when they heard the news. They were offended and very angry because Shechem had disgraced Israel by sexually assaulting Jacob's daughter, a crime that should not be committed.