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.”

“Get out of the way!” they said, adding, “This one came here as a foreigner, but he’s acting like a judge! Now we’ll do more harm to you than to them.” They put pressure on Lot and came up to break down the door.

Then the angels said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here: a son-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of this place,

So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were going to marry his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

At daybreak the angels urged Lot on: “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

As soon as the angels got them outside, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look back and don’t stop anywhere on the plain! Run to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”

Hurry up! Run there, for I cannot do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city is Zoar.

So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of the middle of the upheaval when He demolished the cities where Lot had lived.

Come, let’s get our father to drink wine so that we can sleep with him and preserve our father’s line.”

So they got their father to drink wine that night, and the firstborn came and slept with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she got up.

The next day the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight so you can go sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.”

That night they again got their father to drink wine, and the younger went and slept with him; he did not know when she lay down or when she got up.

But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “You are about to die because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.”

Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience. I have also kept you from sinning against Me. Therefore I have not let you touch her.

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

Abraham replied, “I thought, ‘There is absolutely no fear of God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.’

So when God had me wander from my father’s house, I said to her: Show your loyalty to me wherever we go and say about me: ‘He’s my brother.’”

Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could bear children,

Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him.

When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.

Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.”

But God said to Abraham, “Do not be concerned about the boy and your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac.

Early in the morning Abraham got up, took bread and a waterskin, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her and the boy away. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beer-sheba.

God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What’s wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy from the place where he is.

Get up, help the boy up, and support him, for I will make him a great nation.”

Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the waterskin and gave the boy a drink.

God was with the boy, and he grew; he settled in the wilderness and became an archer.

He settled in the Wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.

Swear to me by God here and now, that you will not break an agreement with me or with my children and descendants. As I have been loyal to you, so you will be loyal to me and to the country where you are a foreign resident.”

Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God.

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he answered.

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.

Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together.

When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.

Then He said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from Me.”

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

Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites:

“Listen to us, lord. You are God’s chosen one among us. Bury your dead in our finest burial place. None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead.”

Ephron was sitting among the Hittites. So in the presence of all the Hittites who came to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham:

Abraham’s possession in the presence of all the Hittites who came to the gate of his city.

and I will have you swear by the Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,

The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’—He will send His angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there.

“Lord, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

and said, “Praise the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld His kindness and faithfulness from my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”

“Today when I came to the spring, I prayed: Lord, God of my master Abraham, if only You will make my journey successful!

Then I bowed down, worshiped the Lord, and praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who guided me on the right way to take the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son.

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.”

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

Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she got down from her camel

After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near Beer-lahai-roi.

The first one came out red-looking, covered with hair like a fur coat, and they named him Esau.

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

“Look,” said Esau, “I’m about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?”

Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright.

and the Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of My servant Abraham.”

You will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have only done what was good to you, sending you away in peace. You are now blessed by the Lord.”

They got up early in the morning and swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace.

His mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey me and go get them for me.”

So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother, and his mother made the delicious food his father loved.

But Isaac said to his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?”

He replied, “Because the Lord your God worked it out for me.”

May God give to you—
from the dew of the sky
and from the richness of the land—
an abundance of grain and new wine.

He had also made some delicious food and brought it to his father. Then he said to his father, “Let my father get up and eat some of his son’s game, so that you may bless me.”

So Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m sick of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob marries a Hittite woman like one of them, what good is my life?”

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become an assembly of peoples.

May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”

Esau noticed that Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to get a wife there. When he blessed him, Isaac commanded Jacob, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman.”

And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down on it.

Yahweh was standing there beside him, saying, “I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land that you are now sleeping on.

He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”

Then Jacob made a vow: “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, if He provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear,

and if I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God.

This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to You a tenth of all that You give me.”

Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in God’s place, who has withheld children from you?”

Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; yes, He has heard me and given me a son,” and she named him Dan.

Rachel said, “In my wrestlings with God, I have wrestled with my sister and won,” and she named him Naphtali.

Then Leah said, “What good fortune!” and she named him Gad.

God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my slave to my husband,” and she named him Issachar.

“God has given me a good gift,” Leah said. “This time my husband will honor me because I have borne six sons for him,” and she named him Zebulun.

Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb.

She conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my shame.”

“Good,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.”

He said to them, “I can see from your father’s face that his attitude toward me is not the same, but the God of my father has been with me.

and that he has cheated me and changed my wages 10 times. But God has not let him harm me.

God has taken away your father’s herds and given them to me.

In that dream the Angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’

I am the God of Bethel, where you poured oil on the stone marker and made a solemn vow to Me. Get up, leave this land, and return to your native land.’”

In fact, all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has said to you.”

Then Jacob got up and put his children and wives on the camels.

But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night. “Watch yourself!” God warned him. “Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

I could do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me: ‘Watch yourself. Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’

If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, certainly now you would have sent me off empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and my hard work, and He issued His verdict last night.”

If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, though no one is with us, understand that God will be a witness between you and me.”

The God of Abraham, and the gods of Nahor—the gods of their father—will judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

Laban got up early in the morning, kissed his grandchildren and daughters, and blessed them. Then Laban left to return home.

Jacob went on his way, and God’s angels met him.

When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s camp.” So he called that place Mahanaim.

Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, ‘Go back to your land and to your family, and I will cause you to prosper,’

During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his 11 sons, and crossed the ford of Jabbok.