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.)

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."

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."

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."

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

He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. (That is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.")

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

Lot looked up and saw the whole region of the Jordan. He noticed that all of it was well-watered (before the Lord obliterated Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, all the way to Zoar.

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

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.

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."

Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please. Only don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."

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!"

Look, this town over here is close enough to escape to, and it's just a little one. Let me go there. It's just a little place, isn't it? Then I'll survive."

He looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of that region. As he did so, he saw the smoke rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace.

Then Abimelech said, "Look, my land is before you; live wherever you please."

To Sarah he said, "Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver to your 'brother.' This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you."

But the children struggled inside her, and she said, "If it is going to be like this, I'm not so sure I want to be pregnant!" So she asked the Lord,

The first came out reddish all over, like a hairy garment, so they named him Esau.

"Look," said Esau, "I'm about to die! What use is the birthright to me?"

After Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau,

He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau's hands. So Isaac blessed Jacob.

So Jacob went over and kissed him. When Isaac caught the scent of his clothing, he blessed him, saying, "Yes, my son smells like the scent of an open field which the Lord has blessed.

Esau exclaimed, "'Jacob' is the right name for him! He has tripped me up two times! He took away my birthright, and now, look, he has taken away my blessing!" Then he asked, "Have you not kept back a blessing for me?"

Isaac replied to Esau, "Look! I have made him lord over you. I have made all his relatives his servants and provided him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?"

When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, she quickly summoned her younger son Jacob and told him, "Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you.

Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using your name and that of your descendants.

"Is he well?" Jacob asked. They replied, "He is well. Now look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep."

So Jacob worked for seven years to acquire Rachel. But they seemed like only a few days to him because his love for her was so great.

When Jacob saw the look on Laban's face, he could tell his attitude toward him had changed.

Hasn't he treated us like foreigners? He not only sold us, but completely wasted the money paid for us!

This was my lot for twenty years in your house: I worked like a slave for you -- fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, but you changed my wages ten times!

But you said, 'I will certainly make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand on the seashore, too numerous to count.'"

But Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are young, and that I have to look after the sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. If they are driven too hard for even a single day, all the animals will die.

We will give you our consent on this one condition: You must become like us by circumcising all your males.

But Simeon and Levi replied, "Should he treat our sister like a common prostitute?"

Then he had another dream, and told it to his brothers. "Look," he said. "I had another dream. The sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me."

Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Live as a widow in your father's house until Shelah my son grows up." For he thought, "I don't want him to die like his brothers." So Tamar went and lived in her father's house.

Tamar was told, "Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep."

But he refused, saying to his master's wife, "Look, my master does not give any thought to his household with me here, and everything that he owns he has put into my care.

So he asked Pharaoh's officials, who were with him in custody in his master's house, "Why do you look so sad today?"

"So now Pharaoh should look for a wise and discerning man and give him authority over all the land of Egypt.

So Pharaoh asked his officials, "Can we find a man like Joseph, one in whom the Spirit of God is present?"

Joseph stored up a vast amount of grain, like the sand of the sea, until he stopped measuring it because it was impossible to measure.

He then said, "Look, I hear that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us so that we may live and not die."

Look, the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. Why then would we steal silver or gold from your master's house?

Joseph said to them, "What did you think you were doing? Don't you know that a man like me can find out things like this by divination?"

Then Judah approached him and said, "My lord, please allow your servant to speak a word with you. Please do not get angry with your servant, for you are just like Pharaoh.

So he blessed them that day, saying, "By you will Israel bless, saying, 'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.'" So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

You are destructive like water and will not excel, for you got on your father's bed, then you defiled it -- he got on my couch!

You are a lion's cub, Judah, from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches and lies down like a lion; like a lioness -- who will rouse him?

He said to his people, "Look at the Israelite people, more numerous and stronger than we are!

The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women -- for the Hebrew women are vigorous; they give birth before the midwife gets to them!"

The man replied, "Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Are you planning to kill me like you killed that Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid, thinking, "Surely what I did has become known."

When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."

He added, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

The Lord also said to him, "Put your hand into your robe." So he put his hand into his robe, and when he brought it out -- there was his hand, leprous like snow!

He said, "Put your hand back into your robe." So he put his hand back into his robe, and when he brought it out from his robe -- there it was, restored like the rest of his skin!

The slave masters were pressuring them, saying, "Complete your work for each day, just like when there was straw!"

and they said to them, "May the Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the opinion of Pharaoh and his servants, so that you have given them an excuse to kill us!"

So the Lord said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.

He said, "Tomorrow." And Moses said, "It will be as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God.

For this time I will send all my plagues on your very self and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.

Hail fell and fire mingled with the hail; the hail was so severe that there had not been any like it in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and settled down in all the territory of Egypt. It was very severe; there had been no locusts like them before, nor will there be such ever again.

"When a foreigner lives with you and wants to observe the Passover to the Lord, all his males must be circumcised, and then he may approach and observe it, and he will be like one who is born in the land -- but no uncircumcised person may eat of it.

The depths have covered them, they went down to the bottom like a stone.

In the abundance of your majesty you have overthrown those who rise up against you. You sent forth your wrath; it consumed them like stubble.

By the blast of your nostrils the waters were piled up, the flowing water stood upright like a heap, and the deep waters were solidified in the heart of the sea.

But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you? -- majestic in holiness, fearful in praises, working wonders?

When the layer of dew had evaporated, there on the surface of the desert was a thin flaky substance, thin like frost on the earth.

The house of Israel called its name "manna." It was like coriander seed and was white, and it tasted like wafers with honey.

Now Mount Sinai was completely covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire, and its smoke went up like the smoke of a great furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.

The Lord said to Moses, "Go down and solemnly warn the people, lest they force their way through to the Lord to look, and many of them perish.

"If you lend money to any of my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender to him; do not charge him interest.

and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear like the sky itself.

Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in plain view of the people.

Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, and three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on the next branch, and the same for the six branches extending from the lampstand.

On the lampstand there are to be four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms,

The artistically woven waistband of the ephod that is on it is to be like it, of one piece with the ephod, of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen.

You are to engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel with the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a seal; you are to have them set in gold filigree settings.

and two braided chains of pure gold, like a cord, and attach the chains to the settings.

The stones are to be for the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to the number of their names. Each name according to the twelve tribes is to be like the engravings of a seal.

"You are to make for the breastpiece braided chains like cords of pure gold,

There is to be an opening in its top in the center of it, with an edge all around the opening, the work of a weaver, like the opening of a collar, so that it cannot be torn.

It must not be applied to people's bodies, and you must not make any like it with the same recipe. It is holy, and it must be holy to you.

Whoever makes perfume like it and whoever puts any of it on someone not a priest will be cut off from his people.'"

Whoever makes anything like it, to use as perfume, will be cut off from his people."

Then the Lord said to Moses: "I have seen this people. Look what a stiff-necked people they are!

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and told them, 'I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken about I will give to your descendants, and they will inherit it forever.'"

The Lord said to Moses, "Cut out two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you smashed.

So Moses cut out two tablets of stone like the first; early in the morning he went up to Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him, and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.

Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms were on the first branch, and three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms were on the next branch, and the same for the six branches that were extending from the lampstand.

On the lampstand there were four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms,

and for the second side of the gate of the courtyard, just like the other, the hangings were twenty-two and a half feet long, with their three posts and their three bases.

The curtain for the gate of the courtyard was of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer. It was thirty feet long, and like the hangings in the courtyard, it was seven and a half feet high,

The artistically woven waistband of the ephod that was on it was like it, of one piece with it, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.