While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. As the green herb, I have given everything to you.

God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,

I will establish my covenant with you: all flesh will not be cut off any more by the waters of the flood, neither will there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth."

and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

God said to Noah, "This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."

Noah began to be a farmer, and planted a vineyard.

Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.

Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it on both their shoulders, went in backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were backwards, and they didn't see their father's nakedness.

Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had done to him.

He said, "Canaan is cursed. He will be servant of servants to his brothers."

Now this is the history of the generations of the sons of Noah and of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.

Cush became the father of Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one in the earth.

The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as you go toward Gerar, to Gaza; as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, to Lasha.

To Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, to him also were children born.

To Eber were born two sons. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided. His brother's name was Joktan.

They said one to another, "Come, let's make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.

They said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let's make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth."

Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.

Yahweh said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do.

This is the history of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood.

Peleg lived two hundred nine years after he became the father of Reu, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug.

Reu lived two hundred seven years after he became the father of Serug, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. They went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there.

The days of Terah were two hundred five years. Terah died in Haran.

Now Yahweh said to Abram, "Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you.

So Abram went, as Yahweh had spoken to him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran.

Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother's son, all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls whom they had gotten in Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. Into the land of Canaan they came.

Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanite was then in the land.

Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your seed." He built an altar there to Yahweh, who appeared to him.

He left from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and called on the name of Yahweh.

There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land.

It happened, when he had come near to enter Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, "See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman to look at.

The princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.

Pharaoh called Abram and said, "What is this that you have 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 to be my wife? Now therefore, see your wife, take her, and go your way."

He went on his journeys from the South even to Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,

to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on the name of Yahweh.

The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together: for their substance was great, so that they could not live together.

Abram said to Lot, "Please, let there be no strife between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are relatives.

Isn't the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left."

Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar.

Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, "Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward,

for all the land which you see, I will give to you, and to your offspring forever.

Arise, walk through the land in its length and in its breadth; for I will give it to you."

Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to Yahweh.

and the Horites in their Mount Seir, to Elparan, which is by the wilderness.

They returned, and came to En Mishpat (the same is Kadesh), and struck all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that lived in Hazazon Tamar.

Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and those who remained fled to the hills.

He divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

The king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley).

The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people, and take the goods to yourself."

Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,

After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Don't be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward."

Abram said, "Behold, to me you have given no seed: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir."

Behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir, but he who will come forth out of your own body will be your heir."

Yahweh brought him outside, and said, "Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." He said to Abram, "So shall your seed be."

He believed in Yahweh; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.

He said to him, "I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it."

He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon."

He brought him all of these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn't divide the birds.

He said to Abram, "Know for sure that your seed will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years.

but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a good old age.

It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.

In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

Sarai said to Abram, "See now, Yahweh has restrained me from bearing. Please go in to my handmaid. It may be that I will obtain children by her." Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife.

He went in to Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

Sarai said to Abram, "This wrong is your fault. I gave my handmaid into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. Yahweh judge between me and you."

But Abram said to Sarai, "Behold, your maid is in your hand. Do to her whatever is good in your eyes." Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face.

The angel of Yahweh found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

The angel of Yahweh said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands."

The angel of Yahweh said to her, "I will greatly multiply your seed, that they will not be numbered for multitude."

The angel of Yahweh said to her, "Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because Yahweh has heard your affliction.

She called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, "You are a God who sees," for she said, "Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?"

Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless.

I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your seed after you.

I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God."

God said to Abraham, "As for you, you will keep my covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations.

God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah.

Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, "Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?"

Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you!"

But my covenant I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year."

Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money; every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day, as God had said to him.

In the same day both Abraham and Ishmael, his son, were circumcised.

Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.

He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,

and said, "My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don't go away from your servant.

I will get a morsel of bread so you can refresh your heart. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant." They said, "Very well, do as you have said."

Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Quickly prepare three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes."

Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it.

He said, "I will certainly return to you when the season comes round. Behold, Sarah your wife will have a son." Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.

Yahweh said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Will I really bear a child, yet I am old?'

Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son."

Then Sarah denied, saying, "I didn't laugh," for she was afraid. He said, "No, but you did laugh."

The men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way.