With this the heavens and the earth were completed, including all of their vast array.

So the man exclaimed, "At last! This is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. This one will be called "Woman,' because she was taken from Man."

The LORD God told the Shining One, "Because you have done this, you are more cursed than all the livestock, and more than all the earth's animals, You'll crawl on your belly and eat dust as long as you live.

The LORD told him, "This won't happen, because whoever kills you will suffer seven times the vengeance." Then the LORD placed a sign on Cain so that no one finding him would kill him.

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

This is the historical record of Adam's generations. When God created mankind, he made them in his own likeness.

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."

By this time, the earth had become ruined in God's opinion and filled with violence.

Make the ark like this: 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high.

Noah did all of this, precisely as God had commanded.

Then the LORD told Noah, "Come you and all your household into the ark, because I've seen that you alone are righteous in this generation.

God also told Noah, "This is the symbol of the covenant that I've established between me and everything that lives on the 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!

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.

Lot looked around and noticed that the whole Jordan plain as far as Zoar was well-watered like the garden of the LORD or like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

All of this latter group of kings allied together in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).

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."

The LORD spoke to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land as an inheritance."

Then the LORD told Abram, "You can be certain about this: Your descendants will be foreigners in a land that isn't theirs. They will be slaves there and will be oppressed for 400 years.

That very day the LORD made this covenant with Abram: "I'm giving this land to your descendants, from the river of Egypt to the great Euphrates River

Abram listened to Sarai's suggestion, so Abram's wife Sarai took her Egyptian servant, Hagar, and gave her as a wife to her husband Abram. This took place ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.

You are all to be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and this is to be the sign of the covenant between me and you.

Now as to Isaac, I'll confirm my covenant with him, to whom Sarah will give birth as your son at this time next year."

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

But they replied, "Get out of the way! This man came here as a foreigner, and now he's acting like a judge! So we're going to deal more harshly with you than with them." Then they pushed hard against the man (that is, against Lot), intending to break down the door.

"Do you have anyone else here in the city?" the angels asked Lot. "A son-in-law? Sons? Daughters? Get them out of this place,

Lot then went out and told his sons-in-law (they had married his daughters), "Get out of here! The LORD is going to destroy this city!" But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

As dawn was breaking, the angels pressured Lot. "Get going!" they told him. "Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be engulfed by the devastation that's coming to this city."

The firstborn gave birth to a son and named him Moab, and he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day.

The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-ammi, and he is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.

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."

Then God replied to him in the dream, "I know that you did this with pure intentions, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore, I didn't allow you to touch her.

Abimelech also asked Abraham, "What could you have been thinking when you did this?"

"I thought that there's no fear of God in this place," Abraham replied, "and that they would kill me because of my wife.

When God caused me to journey from my father's house, I asked her to do me this favor and say, "He's my brother.'"

she told Abraham, "Throw out this slave girl, along with her son, because this slave's son will never be a co-heir with my son Isaac!"

"I don't know who did this thing," Abimelech replied. "You didn't report this to me, and I didn't hear about it until today."

He replied, "You are to accept from me these seven ewe lambs as a witness that I have dug this well."

After this, Abraham resided as a foreigner in Philistine territory for a long period of time.

Abraham named that place, "The LORD Will Provide," as it is told this day, "On the LORD's mountain, he will provide."

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.

After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave at the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre (that is, in Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

So Abraham instructed his servant, who was the oldest member of his household and in charge of everything he owned, "Make this solemn oath to me

"What if the woman doesn't want to come back with me to this land?" the servant asked. "Shouldn't I have your son go to the land from which you came?"

"The LORD God of heaven, who brought me from my father's house and from my family's land, who spoke to me and promised me "I will give this land to your descendants,' will send his angel ahead of you, and you are to acquire a wife for my son from there.

If the woman isn't willing to follow you, then you'll be free from this oath to me. Just don't take my son back there!"

So the servant made a solemn oath to his master Abraham regarding this matter.

May it be that the young woman to whom I ask, "Please, lower your jug so that I may drink,' responds, "Have a drink, and I'll water your camels as well.' May she be the one whom you have chosen for your servant Isaac. This is how I'll know that you have shown your gracious love to my master."

At this, the man bowed down and worshipped the LORD.

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.

"Since this has come from the LORD," Laban and Bethuel both replied, "we cannot speak one way or another.

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

So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Do you want to go with this man?" "I will go," she replied.

This was the same field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites, where Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried.

Now this is what happened to Ishmael, whom Sarah's Egyptian servant Hagar bore for Abraham.

This is the account of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham fathered Isaac.

But when the infants kept on wrestling each other inside her womb, she asked herself, "Why is this happening?" So she asked the LORD for an explanation.

Esau told Jacob, "Let me gobble down some of this red stuff, since I'm starving." (That's how Esau got his nickname "Edom".)

"Look! I'm about to die," Esau replied. "What good is this birthright to me?"

Later on, a famine swept through the land. This famine was different from the previous famine that had occurred earlier, during Abraham's lifetime. So Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.

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.

Remain in this land, and I'll be with and bless you by giving all these lands to you and to your descendants in fulfillment of my solemn promise that I made to your father Abraham.

I'm going to do this because Abraham did what I told him to do. He kept my instructions, commands, statutes, and laws."

So he issued this order to everyone: "Whoever touches this man or his wife is to be executed."

They woke up early the next morning and made the treaty. After this, Isaac sent them off and they left on peaceful terms.

So Isaac named the well Shebah, which is why the city is named Beer-sheba to this day.

This brought extreme grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

After this, Jacob's father Isaac told him, "Come closer and kiss me, my son."

At this, Isaac began to tremble violently. "Who then," he asked, "hunted some game and brought it to me to eat before you arrived, so that I've blessed him? Indeed, he is 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?"

At this, his father Isaac replied to him, "Look! Away from the fertile land will be your dwellings; away from the dew of the skies above.

Now pay attention! I'm here with you, and I'm going to be watching over you wherever you go. I'm going to bring you back to this land, because I won't ever leave you until I've accomplished what I've promised about you."

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

In mounting terror, he cried out, "How scary this place is! This is nothing less than God's house and the gateway to heaven!"

Then he made this solemn vow: "If God remains with me, watches over me throughout this journey that I'm taking, gives me food to eat and clothes to wear,

this stone that I've erected in the form of a pillar will be God's house, and I'll give you a tenth of everything that you give to me."

Jacob loved Rachel, so he made this offer to Laban: "I'll serve you for seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter."

Fulfill the week for this daughter, then we'll give you the other one in exchange for serving me another seven years."

Later, she conceived again, bore a son, and declared, "Because the LORD heard that I'm neglected, he gave me this one, too." So she named him Simeon.

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 Leah said, "God has given me a good gift. This time my husband will exalt me, because I've borne him six sons." So she named him Zebulun.

Jacob responded, "You don't have to give me anything. Just do this for me: Let me tend your flock again and watch over it. Let me walk among your flocks today and remove every speckled or spotted sheep, along with every black lamb, and let me do the same with the speckled and spotted goats. These will be my wages.

I am the God of Bethel, the place where you consecrated that stone and made a vow to me. Now get up, leave this territory, and return to your native land.'"

Then Laban said, "This stack will serve as a witness between you and me today." That's how the place came to be named Galeed.

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.

As he was watching them, Jacob said, "This must be God's camp," so he named that place Mahanaim.

He instructed them, "This is what you are to say to my master Esau: "Your servant Jacob told me to tell you, "I've journeyed to stay with Laban and I've remained there until now.

I now have cattle, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants. I'm sending this message to you, sir, so that you'll show favor to me."'"

I'm unworthy of all your gracious love, your faithfulness, and everything that you've done for your servant. When I first crossed over this river, I had only my staff. But now I've become two groups.

He issued similar instructions to the second and third group, as well as to all the others who drove the herds that followed: "This is how you are to speak to Esau when you find him.

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.

Leah also approached, and she and her children bowed low. After this, Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed low.

"Please," Jacob implored him, "don't refuse. If I'm to receive favor from you, then receive this gift from me, because seeing your face is like seeing the face of God, since you have favorably accepted me.

Then Shechem told his father Hamor, "Get this young woman for me to be my wife."

But Hamor said this: "My son is deeply attracted to your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife.

They told them, "We can't do this. We can't give our sister to a man who isn't circumcised, because that would be insulting to us.

"However," they added, "only on this condition will the men consent to live with us and be united as a single people with us: every male among us will have to be circumcised just as they are.

Then Jacob told Simeon and Levi, "You have certainly stirred up trouble for me! You've made me despised by the Canaanites and the Perizzites who live in this territory. Because I have only a few men with me, they're going to gather themselves together and attack me until I am totally destroyed, along with my entire household!"