Then God said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.”

Cain knew his wife [one of Adam’s descendants] and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch; and Cain built a city and named it Enoch, after the name of his son.

When Adam had lived a hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.

After he became the father of Seth, Adam lived eight hundred years and had other sons and daughters.

Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after the birth of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters.

Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years after the birth of Kenan and had other sons and daughters.

Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years after the birth of Mahalalel and had other sons and daughters.

Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years after the birth of Jared and had other sons and daughters.

Jared lived eight hundred years after the birth of Enoch and had other sons and daughters.

Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God three hundred years after the birth of Methuselah and had other sons and daughters.

Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after the birth of Lamech and had other sons and daughters.

Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after the birth of Noah and had other sons and daughters.

After Noah was five hundred years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

And after the seven days [God released the rain and] the floodwaters came on the earth.

So Noah went out, and his wife and his sons and their wives with him [after being in the ark one year and ten days].

“Now behold, I am establishing My covenant (binding agreement, solemn promise) with you and with your descendants after you

Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood.

These are the records of the generations (descendants) of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and the sons born to them after the flood:

These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their descendants, by their nations; and from these [people] the nations were separated and spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

These are the records of the generations of Shem [from whom Abraham descended]. Shem was a hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the flood.

And Shem lived five hundred years after Arpachshad was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after Shelah was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

Shelah lived four hundred and three years after Eber was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

And Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after Peleg was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

And Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after Reu was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

And Reu lived two hundred and seven years after Serug was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

And Serug lived two hundred years after Nahor was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

And Nahor lived a hundred and nineteen years after Terah was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

After Terah had lived seventy years, he became the father of Abram and Nahor and Haran [his firstborn].

The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had left him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are standing, northward and southward and eastward and westward;

Then after Abram’s return from the defeat (slaughter) of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,

“Do not be afraid, Abram,
I am your shield;
Your reward [for obedience] shall be very great.”

After Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian [maid], and gave her to her husband Abram to be his [secondary] wife.

I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.

I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger [moving from place to place], all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession [of property]; and I will be their God.”

Further, God said to Abraham, “As for you [your part of the agreement], you shall keep and faithfully obey [the terms of] My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

This is [the sign of] My covenant, which you shall keep and faithfully obey, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

But God said, “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed, and you shall name him Isaac (laughter); and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him.

So Sarah laughed to herself [when she heard the Lord’s words], saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure and delight, my lord (husband) being also old?”

For I have known (chosen, acknowledged) him [as My own], so that he may teach and command his children and [the sons of] his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is righteous and just, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has promised him.”

But Lot went out of the doorway to the men, and shut the door after him,

But the men (angels) reached out with their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door [after him].

Now after these things, God tested [the faith and commitment of] Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.”

Now after these things Abraham was told, “Milcah has borne children to your brother Nahor:

After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah to the east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman will not be willing to follow me back to this country; should I take your son back to the country from which you came?”

If the woman is not willing to follow you [to this land], then you will be free from this my oath and blameless; only you must never take my son back there.”

Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took Rebekah [in marriage], and she became his wife, and he loved her; therefore Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Now after the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac lived at Beer-lahai-roi.

Now Isaac again dug [and reopened] the wells of water which had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, because the Philistines had filled them up [with dirt] after the death of Abraham; and he gave the wells the same names that his father had given them.

So he took his relatives with him and pursued him for seven days, and they overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.

He put the maids and their children in front, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph last of all.

Leah also approached with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel approached, and they bowed down.

Now on the third day [after the circumcision], when all the men were [terribly] sore and in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s [full] brothers, took their swords, boldly entered the city [without anyone suspecting them of evil intent], and they killed every male.

“The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac
I will give to you,
and to your descendants after you I will give the land.”

Then the man said, “[They were here, but] they have moved on from this place. I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

Then after a time his master’s wife looked at Joseph with desire, and she said, “Lie with me.”

And so it was that she spoke to Joseph [persistently] day after day, but he did not listen to her [plea] to lie beside her or be with her.

Yet [even after all that] the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot [all about] him.

Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile.

Then behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the Nile, ugly and gaunt and raw-boned, and stood by the fat cows on the bank of the Nile.

Then behold, seven ears [of grain], thin and dried up by the east wind, sprouted after them.

Lo, seven other cows came up after them, very ugly and gaunt [just skin and bones]; such emaciated animals as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt.

and lo, seven [other] ears, withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind, sprouted after them;

The seven thin and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years; and also the seven thin ears, dried up and scorched by the east wind, they are seven years of famine and hunger.

When they had left the city, and were not yet far away, Joseph said to his steward, “Get up, follow after the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil [to us] for good [paid to you]?

Then they tore their clothes [in grief]; and after each man had loaded his donkey again, they returned to the city.

He kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.

Now some time after these things happened, Joseph was told, “Your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him [to go to Goshen].

and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a great company of people, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’

But other sons who were born to you after them shall be your own; they shall be called by the names of their [two] brothers in their inheritance.

After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him.

One day, after Moses had grown [into adulthood], it happened that he went to his countrymen and looked [with compassion] at their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his countrymen.

Now it happened after a long time [about forty years] that the king of Egypt died. And the children of Israel (Jacob) groaned and sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out. And their cry for help because of their bondage ascended to God.

So I will reach out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go.

Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.

All these servants of yours will come down to me and bow down before me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ After that I will leave.” And he left Pharaoh in the heat of anger.

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians marching after them, and they were very frightened; so the Israelites cried out to the Lord.

As for Me, hear this: I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will go in [the sea] after them; and I will be glorified and honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and his war-chariots and his horsemen.

Then the Egyptians pursued them into the middle of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his war-chariots and his charioteers.

Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron [and Moses], took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her with timbrels and dancing.

They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they left the land of Egypt.

Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Moses’ wife Zipporah, after he had sent her away [from Egypt],

In the third month after the children of Israel had left the land of Egypt, the very same day, they came into the Wilderness of Sinai.

He said to the people, “Be prepared for the third day; do not be intimate with a woman.”

You shall not bow down to worship their gods, nor serve them, nor do [anything] in accordance with their practices. You shall completely overthrow them and break down their [sacred] pillars and images [of pagan worship].

You shall erect the tabernacle according to its plan [the direction corresponding to its meaning and purpose] which has been shown to you on the mountain.

The various articles of clothing shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they enter the Tent of Meeting, or when they approach the altar [of incense] to minister in the Holy Place, so that they do not incur guilt and die. It shall be a statute forever to Aaron and to his descendants after him.

You shall make of these a holy anointing oil, a perfume mixture, the work of a perfumer; it shall be a sacred anointing oil.

and make incense with it, a perfume, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure and sacred.

Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand, each at his tent door, and look at Moses until he entered the tent.

otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the prostitute with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat his sacrifice (meal),

and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters would play the prostitute with their gods and cause your sons also to play the prostitute (commit apostasy) with their gods [that is, abandon the true God for man-made idols].

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

He also made the holy anointing oil and the pure, fragrant incense of spices, the work of a perfumer.

Then Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them, and came down [from the altar of burnt offering] after presenting the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings.

“But if the scab spreads farther on the skin after he has shown himself to the priest for his [ceremonial] cleansing, he shall show himself to the priest again.

But if the scale spreads farther on the skin after his cleansing,

The priest shall examine the article with the mark after it has been washed, and if the mark has not changed color, even though the mark has not spread, it is unclean; you shall burn it in the fire; it is a corroding mildew, whether on the top or on the front of it.

“If the priest looks and the mark has faded after it is washed, he shall tear it out of the garment, or the leather, or out of the warp or woof.