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."

Then the Lord God commanded the man, "You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard,

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."

The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard;

The man said, "The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it."

So the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman replied, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate."

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!

Then Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is too great to endure!

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."

Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah! Listen to me! You wives of Lamech, hear my words! I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for hurting me.

And Adam had marital relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth, saying, "God has given me another child in place of Abel because Cain killed him."

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

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

You may eat any moving thing that lives. As I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

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

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."

I will place my rainbow in the clouds, and it will become a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth.

then I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures of all kinds. Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy all living things.

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."

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!"

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."

When the Egyptians see you they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will keep you alive.

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!"

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.

Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself now from me. If you go to the left, then I'll go to the right, but if you go to the right, then I'll go to the left."

Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself."

But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, "I raise my hand to the Lord, the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, and vow

I will take nothing except compensation for what the young men have eaten. As for the share of the men who went with me -- Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre -- let them take their share."

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!"

The Lord said to him, "Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."

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.

Then Sarai said to Abram, "You have brought this wrong on me! I allowed my servant to have sexual relations with you, but when she realized that she was pregnant, she despised me. May the Lord judge between you and me!"

He said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" She replied, "I'm running away from my mistress, Sarai."

So Hagar named the Lord who spoke to her, "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "Here I have seen one who sees me!"

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

Then I will confirm my covenant between me and you, and I will give you a multitude of descendants."

"As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be 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.

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.

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."

God said, "No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual covenant for his descendants after him.

But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year."

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."

So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, "After I am worn out will I have pleasure, especially when my husband is old too?"

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."

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."

He said, "No, my brothers! Don't act so wickedly!

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."

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.

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."

So in the morning the older daughter said to the younger, "Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let's make him drunk again tonight. Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father."

Abraham said about his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.

Did Abraham not say to me, 'She is my sister'? And she herself said, 'He is my brother.' I have done this with a clear conscience and with innocent hands!"

Then in the dream God replied to him, "Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience. That is why I have kept you from sinning against me and why I did not allow you to touch her.

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!"

Abraham replied, "Because I thought, 'Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.'

What's more, she is indeed my sister, my father's daughter, but not my mother's daughter. She became my wife.

When God made me wander from my father's house, I told her, 'This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me: Every place we go, say about me, "He is my brother."'"

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

Sarah said, "God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears about this will laugh with me."

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!"

Now swear to me right here in God's name that you will not deceive me, my children, or my descendants. Show me, and the land where you are staying, the same loyalty that I have shown you."

"I do not know who has done this thing," Abimelech replied. "Moreover, you did not tell me. I did not hear about it until today."

He replied, "You must take these seven ewe lambs from my hand as legal proof that I dug this well."

Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father?" "What is it, my son?" he replied. "Here is the fire and the wood," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

"God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son," Abraham replied. The two of them continued on together.

"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."

and said, "'I solemnly swear by my own name,' decrees the Lord, 'that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,

Because you have obeyed me, all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants.'"

"I am a temporary settler among you. Grant me ownership of a burial site among you so that I may bury my dead."

"Listen, sir, you are a mighty prince among us! You may bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb to prevent you from burying your dead."

Then he said to them, "If you agree that I may bury my dead, then hear me out. Ask Ephron the son of Zohar

if he will sell me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him sell it to me publicly for the full price, so that I may own it as a burial site."

"No, my lord! Hear me out. I sell you both the field and the cave that is in it. In the presence of my people I sell it to you. Bury your dead."

and said to Ephron in their hearing, "Hear me, if you will. I pay to you the price of the field. Take it from me so that I may bury my dead there."

"Hear me, my lord. The land is worth 400 pieces of silver, but what is that between me and you? So bury your dead."

Abraham said to his servant, the senior one in his household who was in charge of everything he had, "Put your hand under my thigh

so that I may make you solemnly promise by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living.

You must go instead to my country and to my relatives to find a wife for my son Isaac."

The servant asked him, "What if the woman is not willing to come back with me to this land? Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?"

"Be careful never to take my son back there!" Abraham told him.

"The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and the land of my relatives, promised me with a solemn oath, 'To your descendants I will give this land.' He will send his angel before you so that you may find a wife for my son from there.

But if the woman is not willing to come back with you, you will be free from this oath of mine. But you must not take my son back there!"

He prayed, "O Lord, God of my master Abraham, guide me today. Be faithful to my master Abraham.

I will say to a young woman, 'Please lower your jar so I may drink.' May the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac reply, 'Drink, and I'll give your camels water too.' In this way I will know that you have been faithful to my master."

Abraham's servant ran to meet her and said, "Please give me a sip of water from your jug."

"Drink, my lord," she replied, and quickly lowering her jug to her hands, she gave him a drink.

"Whose daughter are you?" he asked. "Tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?"

saying "Praised be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his faithful love for my master! The Lord has led me to the house of my master's relatives!"