calling the light "day," and the darkness "night." The twilight and the dawn were day one.

God called the canopy "sky." The twilight and the dawn were the second day.

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

The twilight and the dawn were the third day.

The twilight and the dawn were the fourth day.

The twilight and the dawn were the fifth day.

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!"

God also told them, "Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant that grows throughout the earth, along with every tree that grows seed-bearing fruit. They will produce your food.

Now God saw all that he had made, and indeed, it was very good! The twilight and the dawn were the sixth day.

With this the heavens and the earth were completed, including all of their vast array.

These are the records of the universe at its creation. Onthe day that the LORD God made the earth and skies,

no shrubs had yet grown in the meadows of the earth and no vegetation had sprouted, because the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there were no human beings to work the ground.

The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east, where he placed the man whom he had formed.

The name of the first one is Pishon it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

The gold of that land is pure; bdellium and onyx are also found there.

but you are not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because you will certainly die during the day that you eat from it."

When the man was asleep, he removed one of the man's ribs and closed up the flesh where it had been. Then the LORD God formed the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.

Even though both the man and his wife were naked, they were not ashamed about it.

Now the Shining One was more clever than any animal of the field that the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, "Did God actually say, "You are not to eat from any tree of the garden'?"

"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.'"

"Even God knows that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you'll become like God, knowing good and evil."

As a result, they both understood what they had done, and they became aware that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

So the LORD God called out to the man, asking him, "Where are you?"

"I heard your voice in the garden," the man answered, "and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid from you."

"Who told you that you are naked?" Godasked. "Did you eat fruit from the tree that I commanded you not to eat?"

The LORD God told the Shining One, "Because you have done this, you are more cursed than all the livestock, and more than all the earth's animals, You'll crawl on your belly and eat dust as long as you live.

"I'll place hostility between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. He'll strike you on the head, and you'll strike him on the heel."

He told the woman, "I'll greatly increase the pain of your labor during childbirth. It will be painful for you to bear children, "since your trust is turning toward your husband, and he will dominate you."

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.

You will eat food by the sweat of your brow until you're buried in the ground, because you were taken from it. You're made from dust and you'll return to dust."

When Cain became very upset and depressed, the LORD asked Cain, "Why are you so upset? Why are you depressed?

If you do what is appropriate, you'll be accepted, won't you? But if you don't do what is appropriate, sin is crouching near your doorway, turning toward you. Now as for you, will you take dominion over it?"

Instead, Cain told his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the wilderness." When they were outside in the fields, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Later, the LORD asked Cain, "Where's your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he answered. "Am I my brother's guardian?"

"What did you do?" God asked. "Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.

Now you're more cursed than the ground, which has opened to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

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."

some divine beings noticed how attractive human women were, so they took wives for themselves from a selection that pleased them.

The Nephilim were on the earth at that time (and also immediately afterward), when those divine beings were having sexual relations with those human women, who gave birth to children for them. These children became the heroes and legendary figures of ancient times.

These are the family records of Noah: Noah was a righteous man. Blameless during his times, Noah communed with God.

However, I will establish my own covenant with you, and you are to enter the ark you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives.

You are to bring two of every living thing into the ark so they may remain alive with you. They are to be male and female.

For your part, take some of the edible food and store it away these stores will be food for you and the animals."

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.

You are to take with you seven pairs of every clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of the unclean animals, a male and its mate;

On the seventeenth day of the second month, when Noah was 600 years old, all the springs of the great deep burst open, the floodgates of the heavens were opened,

The flood water surged even higher throughout the earth, until all the highest mountains under the sky were covered.

All existing creatures that had lived on the surface of the ground were annihilated, from humans to livestock, from crawling creatures to birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah remained, along with those who were with him in the ark.

God kept Noah in mind, along with all the wildlife and livestock that were with him in the ark. God's Spirit moved throughout the earth, causing the flood waters to subside.

The water sources from the ocean depths were blocked and the floodgates of the heavens were closed.

In the six hundred and first year of Noah's life, during the first month, the flood water began to evaporate from the land. Noah then removed the ark's cover and saw that the surface of the land was drying.

"It's time for you, your wife, your sons, and your sons' wives who are with you to leave the ark.

All the living creatures of the earth will be filled with fear and terror of you from now on, including all the creatures that fly in the sky, everything that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the ocean. They've been assigned to live under your dominion.

However, you are not to eat meat with its life that is, its blood in it!

"Pay attention! I'm establishing my covenant with you and with your descendants after you,

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.)

These three were Noah's sons, and from these men the whole earth was repopulated.

Then Shem and Japheth took their father's cloak, laid it across both their shoulders, and walking backwards, they both covered their father's genitals. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's genitals.

These are the records of Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, to whom descendants were born after the flood.

From there he went north to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, and Calah,

Later, the Canaanite families were widely scattered. The Canaanite border extended south from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and east toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

These are Ham's descendants, listed by their families, each with their own lands, language, and family groups.

To Eber were born two sons. One was named Peleg, because the earth was divided during his lifetime. His brother was named Joktan.

Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were Joktan's descendants.

These are Shem's descendants, listed by their families, each with their own lands, language, and family groups.

These are the families of Noah's sons, according to their records, by their nations. From these people, the nations on the earth spread out after the flood.

However, the LORD descended to look over the city and the tower that the humans were building.

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!

These are the family records of Shem. When Shem had lived 100 years, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood.

Now these are the family records of Terah: Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot.

Haran died during his father's lifetime in the land of his birth, that is, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran's son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they journeyed together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they had gone as far as Haran, they settled there,

where Terah died at the age of 205 years.

The LORD told Abram, "You are to leave your land, your relatives, and your father's house and go to the land that I'm going to show you.

I'll make a great nation of your descendants, I'll bless you, and I'll make your reputation great, so that you will be a blessing.

Abram traveled through the land to the place called Shechem, as far as the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

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.

Please say that you are my sister, so things will go well for me for your sake. That way, you'll be saving my life."

Pharaoh summoned Abram and asked, "What have you done to me! Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife?

Why did you say, "She is my sister,' so that I took her as a wife for myself? Now, here is your wife! Take her and get out!"

He journeyed by stages from the Negev to Bethel, the place where his tent had formerly been, between Bethel and Ai,

where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the LORD.

There was strife between the herdsmen in charge of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen in charge of Lot's livestock. Also, at that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land.

So Abram told Lot, "Please, let's not have strife between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, since we are relatives.

Lot looked around and noticed that the whole Jordan plain as far as Zoar was well-watered like the garden of the LORD or like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

Now the men of Sodom were particularly evil and sinful in their defiance of the LORD.

After Lot had separated from Abram, the LORD told Abram, "Look off to the north, south, east, and west from where you're living,

because I'm going to give you and your descendants all of the land that you see forever!

I'll make your descendants as plentiful as the specks of dust of the earth, so that if one could count the specks of dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be counted.

So Abram moved his tent and settled beside the oaks of Mamre that are by Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

they engaged in war against King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, along with the king of Bela (which was also known as Zoar).

They were subject to Chedorlaomer for twelve years, but they rebelled in the thirteenth year.

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,

Someone escaped, arrived, and reported what had happened to Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks belonging to Mamre the Amorite, whose brothers Eshcol and Aner were allied with Abram.

After Abram's return from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with them, the king of Sodom went out to meet with him in the Shaveh Valley (that is, the King's Valley).

and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your control." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

that I will not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that belongs to you, so you won't be able to say, "I made Abram rich.'

I will take nothing except what my warriors have eaten. But as for what belongs to the men who were allied with me, including Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, let them take their share."

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."