God said, "Let there be light." And there was light!

God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate water from water.

God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear." It was so.

God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years,

God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth."

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground."

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.

By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing.

The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him."

Then the man said, "This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man."

for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil."

By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return."

And the Lord God said, "Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it."

When you try to cultivate the ground it will no longer yield its best for you. You will be a homeless wanderer on the earth."

Look! You are driving me off the land today, and I must hide from your presence. I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth; whoever finds me will kill me."

But the Lord said to him, "All right then, if anyone kills Cain, Cain will be avenged seven times as much." Then the Lord put a special mark on Cain so that no one who found him would strike him down.

If Cain is to be avenged seven times as much, then Lamech seventy-seven times!"

This is how you should make it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.

And you must take for yourself every kind of food that is eaten, and gather it together. It will be food for you and for them.

On that very day Noah entered the ark, accompanied by his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, along with his wife and his sons' three wives.

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

And by the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was dry.

Bring out with you all the living creatures that are with you. Bring out every living thing, including the birds, animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Let them increase and be fruitful and multiply on the earth!"

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

Every living creature of the earth and every bird of the sky will be terrified of you. Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea are under your authority.

"Whoever sheds human blood, by other humans must his blood be shed; for in God's image God has made humankind."

But as for you, be fruitful and multiply; increase abundantly on the earth and multiply on it."

I confirm my covenant with you: Never again will all living things be wiped out by the waters of a flood; never again will a flood destroy the earth."

So he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves he will be to his brothers."

He also said, "Worthy of praise is the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem!

May God enlarge Japheth's territory and numbers! May he live in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be his slave!"

From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to its language, according to their families, by their nations.

Cush was the father of Nimrod; he began to be a valiant warrior on the earth.

These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and by their nations.

These are the sons of Shem according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and according to their nations.

These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations, and from these the nations spread over the earth after the flood.

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."

I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name."

Abram continually journeyed by stages down to the Negev.

So tell them you are my sister so that it may go well for me because of you and my life will be spared on account of you."

Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Here is your wife! Take her and go!"

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.

Abram said to Lot, "Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives.

And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted.

So Abram moved his tents and went to live by the oaks of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.

A fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner. (All these were allied by treaty with Abram.)

He blessed Abram, saying, "Blessed be Abram by the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth.

But Abram said, "O sovereign Lord, what will you give me since I continue to be childless, and my heir is Eliezer of Damascus?"

Abram added, "Since you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!"

But look, the word of the Lord came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but instead a son who comes from your own body will be your heir."

The Lord took him outside and said, "Gaze into the sky and count the stars -- if you are able to count them!" Then he said to him, "So will your descendants be."

But Abram said, "O sovereign Lord, by what can I know that I am to possess it?"

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 as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.

So Sarai said to Abram, "Since the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her." Abram did what Sarai told him.

So after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years, Sarai, Abram's wife, gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant, to her husband to be his wife.

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

He will be a wild donkey of a man. He will be hostile to everyone, and everyone will be hostile to him. He will live away from his brothers."

When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am the sovereign God. Walk before me and be blameless.

"As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of a multitude of nations.

No longer will your name be Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham because I will make you the father of a multitude of nations.

I will confirm my covenant as a perpetual covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

I will give the whole land of Canaan -- the land where you are now residing -- to you and your descendants after you as a permanent possession. I will be their God."

This is my requirement that you and your descendants after you must keep: Every male among you must be circumcised.

You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder of the covenant between me and you.

Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants.

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.

Any uncircumcised male who has not been circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin will be cut off from his people -- he has failed to carry out my requirement."

Then God said to Abraham, "As for your wife, you must no longer call her Sarai; Sarah will be her name.

Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed as he said to himself, "Can a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest time of the day.

He said, "My lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by and leave your servant.

Let a little water be brought so that you may all wash your feet and rest under the tree.

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."

I have chosen him so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then the Lord will give to Abraham what he promised him."

Far be it from you to do such a thing -- to kill the godly with the wicked, treating the godly and the wicked alike! Far be it from you! Will not the judge of the whole earth do what is right?"

Then Abraham said, "May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak! What if thirty are found there?" He replied, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."

Finally Abraham said, "May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more. What if ten are found there?" He replied, "I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten."

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."

At dawn the angels hurried Lot along, saying, "Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!"

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!"

Your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountains because this disaster will overtake me and I'll die.

Then the Lord rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord.

In this way both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.

Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? What sin did I commit against you that would cause you to bring such great guilt on me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done!"

So she said to Abraham, "Banish that slave woman and her son, for the son of that slave woman will not be an heir along with my son Isaac!"

But God said to Abraham, "Do not be upset about the boy or your slave wife. Do all that Sarah is telling you because through Isaac your descendants will be counted.

Then she went and sat down by herself across from him at quite a distance, about a bowshot away; for she thought, "I refuse to watch the child die." So she sat across from him and wept uncontrollably.

But God heard the boy's voice. The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, "What is the matter, Hagar? Don't be afraid, for God has heard the boy's voice right where he is crying.

Get up! Help the boy up and hold him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation."

Then God enabled Hagar to see a well of water. She went over and filled the skin with water, and then gave the boy a drink.

God was with the boy as he grew. He lived in the wilderness and became an archer.

Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs apart from the flock by themselves.

So he said to his servants, "You two stay here with the donkey while the boy and I go up there. We will worship and then return to you."

"Do not harm the boy!" the angel said. "Do not do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me."

Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. So he went over and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

And Abraham called the name of that place "The Lord provides." It is said to this day, "In the mountain of the Lord provision will be made."