calling the light "day," and the darkness "night." The twilight and the dawn were day one.

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

God fashioned two great lights the larger light to shine during the day and the smaller light to shine during the night as well as stars.

to differentiate between day and night, and to distinguish light from darkness. And God saw how good it was.

no shrubs had yet grown in the meadows of the earth and no vegetation had sprouted, because the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there were no human beings to work the ground.

but you are not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because you will certainly die during the day that you eat from it."

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."

The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds that fly, and to each of earth's animals, but there was not found a strength corresponding to him,

Even though both the man and his wife were naked, they were not ashamed about it.

Now the Shining One was more clever than any animal of the field that the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, "Did God actually say, "You are not to eat from any tree of the garden'?"

"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.'"

"You certainly will not die!" the Shining One told the woman.

"Who told you that you are naked?" Godasked. "Did you eat fruit from the tree that I commanded you not to eat?"

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.

but he did not look favorably upon Cain and his offering.

After this, Cain left the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

but the dove could not yet find a place to rest, so it returned to Noah on the ark, since water still covered the land. Noah reached out his hand and took the dove back into the ark with him.

He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but it did not return to him anymore.

"Never again, as long as the earth exists, will sowing and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night ever cease."

However, you are not to eat meat with its life that is, its blood in it!

Then Shem and Japheth took their father's cloak, laid it across both their shoulders, and walking backwards, they both covered their father's genitals. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's genitals.

Sarai was barren, so she had not borne children.

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

So Abram told Lot, "Please, let's not have strife between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, since we are relatives.

During the night, Abram and his servants divided his forces, conquered his enemies, and pursued them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.

that I will not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that belongs to you, so you won't be able to say, "I made Abram rich.'

A message came from the LORD to him again: "This one will not be your heir. Instead, the child who will be born to you will be your heir."

So Abram brought him all these animals and cut each of them in half, down the middle, placing the pieces opposite each other, but he did not cut the birds in half.

Your descendants will return here in the fourth generation, since the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet run its course."

Now Abram's wife Sarai had not borne a child for him. She had an Egyptian servant girl whose name was Hagar.

Generation after generation, every male among you is to be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth, including the servant born in your house or the one purchased from a foreigner, who is not of your offspring.

Any uncircumcised male who does not have the foreskin of his flesh circumcised on the eighth day after his birth is to be eliminated from his people because he has broken my covenant."

God told Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are not to call her Sarai any longer, because her name is to be Sarah.

he glanced up and saw three men standing there, not far from him. As soon as he noticed them, Abraham ran from the tent entrance to greet them and bowed low to the ground.

Abraham hurried into the tent and told Sarah, "Quick! Take three measures of the best flour, knead it, and make some flat bread."

I'm going down to see whether they've acted according to the protests that have reached me. If not, I wish to know."

Perhaps there are 50 righteous ones within the city. Will you actually destroy it and not forgive the place for the sake of the 50 righteous that are found there?

Abraham then asked, "I hope my LORD will not be angry if I speak. What if 30 are found there?" The LORD answered, "I won't do it for the sake of those 30."

Finally, Abraham inquired, "I hope my LORD will not be angry if I speak only once more. What if ten are found there?" He replied, "For the sake of those ten 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."

So they had their father drink wine that night, and the older one had sexual relations with her father, but he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

The next day the firstborn told the younger one, "Look! I had sex with my father last night. Let's make him drink wine tonight again as well. Then you have sex with him, too. That way we'll preserve our father's lineage."

So they made their father drink wine that night as well, so he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

But God came to Abimelech in a dream during the night and spoke to him, "Pay attention! You're about to die, because the woman you have taken is a man's wife!"

Now Abimelech had not yet come near her, so he asked, "LORD, will you destroy an innocent nation?

Then Abimelech called Abraham and asked him, "What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such great sin against me and my kingdom? You've done things to me that ought not to have been done."

Besides, she really is my sister she's my father's daughter, but not my mother's daughter so she could become my wife.

"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,

"Make sure not to take my son there," Abraham replied.

The woman was very beautiful, young, and had not had sexual relations with a man. Going down to the spring, she filled her jug and turned for home.

The man stared at her in silence, waiting to see whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful.

He asked her, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?"

And yes," she continued, "we have plenty of straw and feed, as well as a place to spend the night."

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.

My master made me swear this oath: "You are not to select a wife for my son from among the daughters of the Canaanites in this land where I live.

So now, if you wish to show gracious love and truth toward my master, tell me so. But if not, tell me, so that I may go elsewhere."

He and the men with him ate and drank, and then they spent the night. When they got up the next morning, the servant requested, "Send me off to my master."

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.

Then he left that area and dug still another well. Because they did not quarrel over that one, Isaac named it Rehoboth, because he used to say, "The LORD has enlarged the territory for us. We will prosper in the land."

where one night the LORD appeared to him. "I am the God of your father Abraham," he told him. "Don't be afraid, because I'm with you. I'm going to bless you and multiply your descendants on account of my servant Abraham."

by which you'll agree not to do us any harm, just as we haven't harmed you, since we've done nothing but good for you after we sent you away in peace. As a result, you've been tremendously blessed by the LORD."

Eventually, Isaac grew so old that he could not see. One day, he called his eldest son Esau. "My son," he called out to him.

So Isaac told Jacob, "Come here, my son, so I can feel you and know for sure whether or not you're my son Esau."

He reached a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun was setting. He found a stone there, used it for a pillow, and slept there for the night,

Then Jacob woke up during the night and told himself, "Surely, the LORD is in this place and I never knew it!"

"Look!" Jacob replied. "The sun is still high. It's not yet time for the flocks to be gathered. Let's water the sheep, then let them graze."

That night Laban took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob. He had marital relations with her.

But Laban responded, "It's not the practice of our place to give the younger one in marriage before the firstborn.

Rachel noticed that she was not bearing children for Jacob, so because she envied her sister Leah, she told Jacob, "If you don't give me sons, I'm going to die!"

That made Jacob angry with Rachel, so he asked her, "Can I take God's place, who has not allowed you to conceive?"

When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went to meet him and told him, "You're having sex with me tonight. I traded my son's mandrakes for you!" So he slept with her that night.

In the future, you'll be able to verify my honesty because, when you come to check what I've earned, if you find a goat that's not speckled or spotted or a sheep that's not black, then it will have been stolen by me."

Jacob kept the lambs separate, facing the striped and entirely black ones that belonged to Laban's flock. He set his own herd by itself and would not let them be with Laban's flock.

That night, God appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, "Be careful what you say to Jacob, whether it's one word good or bad."

ran away from me secretly, and stole from me by not keeping me informed. Otherwise, I could have sent you off with a party and singing, accompanied by a band playing tambourines and harps.

It's actually in my power to do some serious evil to you, but last night the God of your father told me, "Be careful what you say to Jacob whether good or evil.'

and whatever was torn by beasts, I never bothered to bring to you. Instead, I bore the losses myself. Even so, you demanded that I provide restitution for anything that was stolen, whether during the day or the night.

As it was, I was attacked by drought during the day and by cold at night. I never got any decent rest.

If the God of my father the God of Abraham, the God whom Isaac feared had not been with me, you would have sent me away empty handed. But God saw my misery and how hard I've worked with my own hands and he rebuked you last night."

This stack is a witness, and so is this pillar, reminding me not to cross beyond this stack of stones, and reminding you not to pass by this stack in my direction, intending to cause harm.

So Jacob made an oath by his father's Fear, offered sacrifices there on the mountain, and called on his relatives to eat some food. So they ate the food and spent the night on the mountain.

Jacob spent the night there. Out of everything that he had brought with him, he chose a gift for his brother Esau

Jacob was thinking, "I'll pacify him with the presents that are being sent ahead of me. Then, when I meet him, perhaps he'll accept me." So the presents went ahead of him, while he spent that night in the camp.

Later that night, he woke up, quickly took his two wives, his two women servants, and his eleven children, and forded the river at Jabbok.

Therefore, to this day the Israelis do not eat the hip tendon that connects to the thigh socket, because he had injured the socket of the thigh where the tendon connected to Jacob's hip.

so the young man did not delay the matter any further, since he was delighted with Jacob's daughter.

As they set out on their journey, because the people who lived in the cities around them feared God, they did not pursue Jacob's sons.

because their holdings were too vast to allow them to stay together, since the land where they had settled was not able to support all of their livestock.

When Reuben heard about it, he tried to save Joseph from their plot. "Let's not do any killing,"

returned to his brothers, and shouted, "He's not there! Now what? Where am I to go?"

Later on, Judah sent his Adullamite friend to take her a young goat, intending to retrieve what he had put up as security from the woman, but he could not find her.

She kept on talking to him like this day after day, but he wouldn't listen to her. Not only would he refuse to have sex with her, he refused even to stay around her.

The prison warden did not have to worry about anything under Joseph's care, because the LORD was with him. That's why Joseph prospered in everything he did.

Then the two of them each had a dream. They both had their dreams the same night, and there were separate interpretations for each dream the senior security advisor and the head chef to the king of Egypt, who had confined them in prison.

because I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews. Not only that, I haven't done anything that deserves me being confined to this pit."

Despite all of this, the senior security advisor not only didn't remember Joseph, he deliberately forgot him.

We each had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning.

Not only that," Pharaoh continued, "after they had finished devouring the cows, nobody could tell that they had gobbled them up, because they were just as ugly as before. Then I woke up.

Jacob would not send Joseph's brother Benjamin to accompany them, because he was saying, "I'm afraid that he'll come to some kind of harm."