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."

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.

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!

But the Lord said to him, "All right then, if anyone kills Cain, Cain will be avenged seven times as much." Then the Lord put a special mark on Cain so that no one who found him would strike him down.

The waters kept receding steadily from the earth, so that they had gone down by the end of the 150 days.

And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma and said to himself, "I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, even though the inclination of their minds is evil from childhood on. I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.

When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor he learned what his youngest son had done to him.

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people had started building.

Come, let's go down and confuse their language so they won't be able to understand each other."

Abram continually journeyed by stages down to the Negev.

There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay for a while because the famine was severe.

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?

When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken captive, he mobilized his 318 trained men who had been born in his household, and he pursued the invaders as far as Dan.

When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, and great terror overwhelmed him.

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch passed between the animal parts.

So after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years, Sarai, Abram's wife, gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant, to her husband to be his wife.

Abram bowed down with his face to the ground, and God said to him,

Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed as he said to himself, "Can a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"

that I must go down and see if they are as wicked as the outcry suggests. If not, I want to know."

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."

The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while Lot was sitting in the city's gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground.

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."

Before they could lie down to sleep, all the men -- both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom -- surrounded the house.

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."

"Out of our way!" they cried, and "This man came to live here as a foreigner, and now he dares to judge us! We'll do more harm to you than to them!" They kept pressing in on Lot until they were close enough to break down the door.

At dawn the angels hurried Lot along, saying, "Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!"

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."

"Very well," he replied, "I will grant this request too and will not overthrow the town you mentioned.

Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there." (This incident explains why the town was called Zoar.)

Then the Lord rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord.

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.

But now give back the man's wife. Indeed he is a prophet and he will pray for you; thus you will live. But if you don't give her back, know that you will surely die along with all who belong to you."

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!"

Then she went and sat down by herself across from him at quite a distance, about a bowshot away; for she thought, "I refuse to watch the child die." So she sat across from him and wept uncontrollably.

But God heard the boy's voice. The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, "What is the matter, Hagar? Don't be afraid, for God has heard the boy's voice right where he is crying.

"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."

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,

Abraham got up and bowed down to the local people, the sons of Heth.

Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and departed with all kinds of gifts from his master at his disposal. He journeyed to the region of Aram Naharaim and the city of Nahor.

He made the camels kneel down by the well outside the city. It was evening, the time when the women would go out to draw water.

Here I am, standing by the spring, and the daughters of the people who live in the town are coming out to draw water.

Now the young woman was very beautiful. She was a virgin; no man had ever had sexual relations with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up.

When she had done so, she said, "I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have drunk as much as they want."

After the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels and gave them to her.

"Before I finished praying in my heart, along came Rebekah with her water jug on her shoulder! She went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, 'Please give me a drink.'

Then I bowed down and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right path to find the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son.

When Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord.

But Rebekah's brother and her mother replied, "Let the girl stay with us a few more days, perhaps ten. Then she can go."

But he said to them, "Don't detain me -- the Lord has granted me success on my journey. Let me leave now so I may return to my master."

They blessed Rebekah with these words: "Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands! May your descendants possess the strongholds of their enemies."

Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel

The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; settle down in the land that I will point out to you.

Then Abimelech exclaimed, "What in the world have you done to us? One of the men might easily have had sexual relations with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!"

Therefore, take your weapons -- your quiver and your bow -- and go out into the open fields and hunt down some wild game for me.

Now Rebekah had been listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau went out to the open fields to hunt down some wild game and bring it back,

Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau, your firstborn. I've done as you told me. Now sit up and eat some of my wild game so that you can bless me."

May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. You will be lord over your brothers, and the sons of your mother will bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed."

He reached a certain place where he decided to camp because the sun had gone down. He took one of the stones and placed it near his head. Then he fell asleep in that place

and had a dream. He saw a stairway erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens. The angels of God were going up and coming down it

I am with you! I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you!"

He called that place Bethel, although the former name of the town was Luz.

In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What in the world have you done to me! Didn't I work for you in exchange for Rachel? Why have you tricked me?"

Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me. He has responded to my prayer and given me a son." That is why she named him Dan.

After that she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

So Laban asked, "What should I give you?" "You don't need to give me a thing," Jacob replied, "but if you agree to this one condition, I will continue to care for your flocks and protect them:

but your father has humiliated me and changed my wages ten times. But God has not permitted him to do me any harm.

Then he said, 'Observe that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled, or spotted, for I have observed all that Laban has done to you.

"What have you done?" Laban demanded of Jacob. "You've deceived me and carried away my daughters as if they were captives of war!

Rachel said to her father, "Don't be angry, my lord. I cannot stand up in your presence because I am having my period." So he searched thoroughly, but did not find the idols.

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!

thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

Then the man said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." "I will not let you go," Jacob replied, "unless you bless me."

The female servants came forward with their children and bowed down.

Then Leah came forward with her children and they bowed down. Finally Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed down.

Now Dinah, Leah's daughter whom she bore to Jacob, went to meet the young women of the land.

Then he became very attached to Dinah, Jacob's daughter. He fell in love with the young woman and spoke romantically to her.

When Jacob heard that Shechem had violated his daughter Dinah, his sons were with the livestock in the field. So Jacob remained silent until they came in.

Then Shechem's father Hamor went to speak with Jacob about Dinah.

Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers, "Let me find favor in your sight, and whatever you require of me I'll give.

Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully when they spoke because Shechem had violated their sister Dinah.

The young man did not delay in doing what they asked because he wanted Jacob's daughter Dinah badly. (Now he was more important than anyone in his father's household.)

In three days, when they were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword and went to the unsuspecting city and slaughtered every male.

They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword, took Dinah from Shechem's house, and left.

When her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid, for you are having another son."

The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant, were Dan and Naphtali.

There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the middle of the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose up and stood upright and your sheaves surrounded my sheaf and bowed down to it!"

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."

When he told his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him, saying, "What is this dream that you had? Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow down to you?"

Reuben continued, "Don't shed blood! Throw him into this cistern that is here in the wilderness, but don't lay a hand on him." (Reuben said this so he could rescue Joseph from them and take him back to his father.)

When they sat down to eat their food, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh down to Egypt.

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.

Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, purchased him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.

They told him, "We both had dreams, but there is no one to interpret them." Joseph responded, "Don't interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me."

for I really was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews and I have done nothing wrong here for which they should put me in a dungeon."

When they had eaten them, no one would have known that they had done so, for they were just as bad-looking as before. Then I woke up.