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

Then God said, "Let there be a canopy between bodies of water, separating bodies of water from bodies of water!"

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

Then God said, "Let vegetation sprout all over the earth, including seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each kind containing its own seed!" And that is what happened:

Vegetation sprouted all over the earth, including seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each kind containing its own seed. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, "Let there be lights across the sky to distinguish day from night, to act as signs for seasons, days, and years,

Then God said, "Let the oceans swarm with living creatures, and let flying creatures soar above the earth throughout the sky!"

Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth each kind of living creature, each kind of livestock and crawling thing, and each kind of earth's animals!" And that is what happened:

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.

Later, the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make the woman to be an authority corresponding to him."

"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.'"

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."

Later, the LORD God said, "Look! The man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, so he won't reach out, also take from the tree of life, eat, and then live forever "

Later, Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve. She became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "I have given birth to a male child the LORD."

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."

So the LORD said, "My Spirit won't remain with human beings forever, because they're truly mortal. Their lifespan will be 120 years."

So the LORD said, "I will annihilate these human beings whom I've created from the earth, including people, animals, crawling things, and flying creatures, because I'm grieving that I made them."

Make a roof for the ark, and finish the walls to within one cubit from the top. Place the entrance in the side of the ark, and build a lower, a middle, and an upper deck.

God also said, "Here's the symbol that represents the covenant that I'm making between me and you and every living being with you, for all future generations:

I've set my rainbow in the sky to symbolize the covenant between me and the earth.

he said, "Canaan is cursed! He will be the lowest of slaves to his relatives."

He also said, "Blessed be the LORD God of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave.

He became a fearless hunter in defiance of the LORD. That is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a fearless hunter in defiance of the LORD."

Then they said, "Come on! Let's build ourselves a city and a tower, with its summit in the heavens, and let's make a name for ourselves so we won't be scattered over the surface of the whole earth."

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!

Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the servants he had acquired while living in Haran. Then they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they arrived in the land of Canaan,

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.

From there Abram traveled on to the hill country east of Bethel and set up his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.

But the land could not support them living together, because they had so many livestock that they could not stay together.

Melchizedek blessed Abram and said, "Abram is blessed by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,

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."

Look!" Abram said, "You haven't given me any offspring, so a servant born in my house is going to be my heir."

Then the LORD took him outside. "Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can!" he said. "Your descendants will be that numerous."

As the sun began to set, Abram was overcome with deep sleep, and suddenly a frightening and terrifying darkness descended on him.

When the sun had fully set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a fiery torch passed between the animal pieces.

Then one of them said, "I will certainly return to you in about a year's time. By then, your wife Sarah will have borne a son."

Is anything impossible for the LORD? At the time set for it, I will return to you about a year from now and Sarah will have a son."

After this, the men set out from there and looked out over Sodom. Abraham went with them to send them off.

The LORD also said, "How great is the disapproval of Sodom and Gomorrah! Their sin is so very serious!

The LORD said, "If I find 50 righteous people within Sodom, I'll forgive the whole place for their sake."

What if there are five less than 50 righteous ones? Will you bring destruction upon the city because of those five?" The LORD said, "I won't destroy it if I find 45 there."

"Look," Abraham said, "I've presumed to speak to my LORD" so what if 20 are found there?" "For the sake of those 20," the LORD responded, "I won't destroy it."

and said, "Look, my lords! Please come inside your servant's house, wash your feet, and spend the night. Then you can get up early and be on your way." But they responded, "No, we would rather spend the night in the town square."

and said, "I urge you, my brothers, don't do such a wicked thing.

Then one of them said, "Flee for your lives! Don't look back or stop anywhere on the plain. Escape to the hills, or you'll be swept away!"

"Your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me your gracious love in how you have dealt with me by keeping me alive. I cannot escape to the hills, because I'm afraid the disaster will overtake me, and I'll die.

Look, there is a town nearby where I can flee, and it's a small one. Let me escape there! It's a small one, isn't it? That way I'll stay alive!"

Didn't he say to me, "She's my sister'? And she also said, "He's my brother.' I did this with pure intentions and clean hands."

and said, "Look! My land is available to you, so settle wherever you please."

The LORD came to Sarah, just as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.

Now Sarah had said, "God has caused me to laugh, and all who hear about it will laugh with me."

She also said, "Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse sons? Yet I have given birth to a son in my husband's old age!"

Abraham was very troubled about what was being said about his son,

Then she went and sat by herself about a distance of a bowshot away, because she kept saying to herself, "I can't bear to watch the child die!" That's why she sat a short distance away, crying aloud and weeping.

Then Abraham set aside seven ewe lambs,

so Abimelech asked Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set aside?"

God said, "Please take your son, your unique son whom you love Isaac and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him as a burnt offering there on one of the mountains that I will point out to you."

So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his male servants with him, along with his son Isaac. He cut the wood for the burnt offering and set out to go to the place about which God had spoken to him.

Abraham ordered his two servants, "Both of you are to stay here with the donkey. Now as for the youth and me, we'll go up there, we'll worship, and then we'll return to you."

Just then, an angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven and said, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he answered.

"Don't lay your hand on the youth!" he said. "Don't do anything to him, because I've just demonstrated that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only unique one, from me."

and said, "I have taken an oath to swear by myself," declares the LORD, "that since you have carried this out and have not withheld your only unique son,

After this, Abraham returned to his servants and they set out together for Beer-sheba, where Abraham settled.

Then Abraham stood up from beside his dead wife and addressed the Hittites. He said,

and addressed them, "If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, listen to me and make a request of Zohar's son Ephron on my behalf.

Give me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him, at the end of his field. He should sell it to me in your presence at full price for a burial site."

Now since Ephron the Hittite had taken a seat there among the Hittites, he responded publicly to Abraham where the Hittites and everyone who was entering the gate of his city could hear him:

"No, sir. Listen to me! I'll give you the field, and I'll give you the cave that's in it. I give it to you publicly, in the sight of my people. Bury your dead."

And so the field with its cave was deeded by the Hittites to Abraham as a burial site.

When she had finished giving him a drink, she also said, "I'll also draw water for your camels until they've had enough to drink."

"Come on," Laban said. "The LORD has blessed you! So why are you standing out here when I've prepared some space in the house and a place for the camels?"

But when they had prepared a meal and set it in front of him, he said, "I'm not eating until I've spoken." "Speak up!" Laban exclaimed.

"I'm Abraham's servant," he said.

When Abraham's servant heard what they had said, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD.

But her brother and mother said, "Let the young lady stay with us a few days at least ten and after that she may go."

But they said, "We'll call the young lady and see what she has to say about this."

As the boys were growing up, Esau became skilled at hunting and was a man of the outdoors, but Jacob was the quiet type who tended to stay indoors.

One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau happened to come in from being outdoors, and he was feeling famished.

Then Jacob gave Esau some of his food, along with some boiled stew. So Esau ate, drank, got up, and left, after having belittled his own birthright.

That's when the LORD appeared to Isaac. "You are not to go down to Egypt," he said. "Instead, you are to settle down in an area within this land where I'll tell you.

But the herdsmen who lived in Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen. "The water is ours," they said. As a result, Isaac named the well Esek, for they had fiercely disputed with him about it.

That very same day, Isaac's servants arrived and reported to him about a well that they had just completed digging. "We've found water!" they said.

Rebekah gave these instructions to her son Jacob: "Quick! Pay attention!" she said. "I heard your father talking to your brother Esau. He told him,

who went to his father and said, "My father"" "It's me!" he replied. "Which one are you, my son?"

"I'm Esau, your firstborn!" Jacob told his father. "I've done what you asked, so please sit up and eat what I caught, so you can bless me."

So Jacob approached his father, who felt him and said, "It's Jacob's voice, but Esau's hands."

So Jacob drew closer to kiss him. When Isaac smelled the scent of his son's clothes, he blessed him and said, "How my son's scent is the fragrance of the field that the LORD has blessed.

Then he said, "Isn't his name rightly called Jacob?" Esau asked. "He has circumvented me this second time. First, he took away my birthright, and now, look how he also stole my blessing." Then he added, "Haven't you reserved a blessing for me?"

and stay there with him a few days until your brother's fury subsides.

After Jacob had obeyed his father and mother's instructions to set out for Paddan-aram,

When Jacob got up early the next morning, he took the stone that he had used for his pillow, set it up as a pillar, drenched it with oil,

"It's better that I give her to you than to another man," Laban replied, "so stay with me."

Later, she conceived again and said, "This time my husband will become attached to me, now that I've borne him three sons." So he named him Levi.

Then she conceived yet again, bore a son, and said, "This time I'll praise the LORD." So she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing children.

Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me! He has heard my voice and has given me a son." Therefore, she named him Dan.

so Rachel said, "I've been through a mighty struggle with my sister and won." She named him Naphtali.

She said, "How happy I am, because women will call me happy!" So she named him Asher.

God heard what Leah had said, so she conceived and bore a fifth son for Jacob.