Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move 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."

And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground -- everything that has the breath of life in it -- I give every green plant for food." It was so.

The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them.

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created -- when the Lord God made the earth and heavens.

The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.)

The name of the first is Pishon; it runs through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

(The gold of that land is pure; pearls and lapis lazuli are also there).

The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam no companion who corresponded to him was found.

The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.

but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, 'You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.'"

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."

Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?"

And the Lord God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the wild beasts and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life.

And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head, and you will attack her offspring's heel."

To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you."

But to Adam he said, "Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat from it,' cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

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."

Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast?

Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" And he replied, "I don't know! Am I my brother's guardian?"

But the Lord said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground!

So now, you are banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

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."

He created them male and female; when they were created, he blessed them and named them "humankind."

He named him Noah, saying, "This one will bring us comfort from our labor and from the painful toil of our hands because of the ground that the Lord has cursed."

When humankind began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,

the sons of God saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose.

So the Lord said, "My spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years."

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after this) when the sons of God were having sexual relations with the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. They were the mighty heroes of old, the famous men.

So the Lord said, "I will wipe humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth -- everything from humankind to animals, including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them."

God saw the earth, and indeed it was ruined, for all living creatures on the earth were sinful.

but I will confirm my covenant with you. You will enter the ark -- you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

The Lord said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, for I consider you godly among this generation.

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month -- on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

Those that entered were male and female, just as God commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.

The waters completely inundated the earth so that even all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered.

So the Lord destroyed every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived.

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over the earth and the waters receded.

The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed, and the rain stopped falling from the sky.

In Noah's six hundred and first year, in the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.

"Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons' wives with you.

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!"

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.

For your lifeblood I will surely exact punishment, from every living creature I will exact punishment. From each person I will exact punishment for the life of the individual since the man was his relative.

"Look! I now confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you

When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth."

So God said to Noah, "This is the guarantee of the covenant that I am confirming between me and all living things that are on the earth."

The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Now Ham was the father of Canaan.)

These were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.

Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers who were outside.

Shem and Japheth took the garment and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so they did not see their father's nakedness.

This is the account of Noah's sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.

The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

The sons of Gomer were Askenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim, and the Dodanim.

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.

The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

The primary regions of his kingdom were Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar.

From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,

Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. Eventually the families of the Canaanites were scattered

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

And sons were also born to Shem (the older brother of Japheth), the father of all the sons of Eber.

The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg because in his days the earth was divided, and his brother's name was Joktan.

Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

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.

Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans, while his father Terah was still alive.

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (the son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and with them he set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came to Haran, they settled there.

Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father's household to the land that I will show you.

Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing.

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 traveled through the land as far as the oak tree of Moreh at Shechem. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.)

The Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

As he approached Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman.

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."

So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, "What is this 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? Here is your wife! Take her and go!"

And he journeyed from place to place from the Negev as far as Bethel. He returned to the place where he had pitched his tent at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai.

This was the place where he had first built the altar, and there Abram worshiped the Lord.

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.

So there were quarrels between Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen. (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.)

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.

(Now the people of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord.)

After Lot had departed, the Lord said to Abram, "Look from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west.

I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants forever.

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.

went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).

For twelve years they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who were his allies came and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim,

Then they attacked En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh) again, and they conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazazon Tamar.

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.)

After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram in the Valley of Shaveh (known as the King's Valley).

Worthy of praise is the Most High God, who delivered your enemies into your hand." Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.