And God made the expanse [of sky] and separated the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so [just as He commanded].

So the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts (inhabitants).

This is the history of [the origin of] the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day [that is, days of creation] that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens—

And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed or embarrassed.

Then the eyes of the two of them were opened [that is, their awareness increased], and they knew that they were naked; and they fastened fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten [fruit] from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

“By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread
Until you return to the ground,
For from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”

Cain talked with Abel his brother [about what God had said]. And when they were [alone, working] in the field, Cain attacked Abel his brother and killed him.

He created them male and female, and blessed them and named them Mankind at the time they were created.

So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.

So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died.

Now it happened, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them,

that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and desirable; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose and desired.

There were Nephilim (men of stature, notorious men) on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God lived with the daughters of men, and they gave birth to their children. These were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown (great reputation, fame).

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, on that same day all the fountains of the great deep [subterranean waters] burst open, and the windows and floodgates of the heavens were opened.

So they went into the ark with Noah, two by two of all living beings in which there was the breath and spirit of life.

The waters prevailed so greatly and were so mighty and overwhelming on the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered.

[In fact] the waters became fifteen cubits higher [than the highest ground], and the mountains were covered.

Everything on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath and spirit of life, died.

God destroyed (blotted out, wiped away) every living thing that was on the surface of the earth; man and animals and the crawling things and the birds of the heavens were destroyed from the land. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.

And God remembered and thought kindly of Noah and every living thing and all the animals that were with him in the ark; and God made a wind blow over the land, and the waters receded.

Also the fountains of the deep [subterranean waters] and the windows of the heavens were closed, the [pouring] rain from the sky was restrained,

The waters continued to decrease until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen.

and he sent out a raven, which flew here and there until the waters were dried up from the earth.

But the dove found no place on which to rest the sole of her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were [still] on the face of the entire earth. So he reached out his hand and took the dove, and brought her into the ark.

Now in the six hundred and first year [of Noah’s life], on the first day of the first month, the waters were drying up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and the surface of the ground was drying.

The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth. Ham would become the father of Canaan.

So Shem and Japheth took a robe and put it on both their shoulders, and walked backwards and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.

So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

These are the records of the generations (descendants) of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and the sons born to them after the flood:

Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber [including the Hebrews], the older brother of Japheth, children were born.

Two sons were born to Eber; the name of one was Peleg (division), for [the inhabitants of] the earth were divided in his days; and his brother’s name was Joktan.

and Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.

Now the land was not able to support them [that is, sustain all their grazing and water needs] while they lived near one another, for their possessions were too great for them to stay together.

And there was strife and quarreling between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were living in the land at that same time [making grazing of the livestock difficult].

But the men of Sodom were extremely wicked and sinful against the Lord [unashamed in their open sin before Him].

In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the [three] kings who were with him attacked and subdued the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar (bitumen) pits; and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them. But the remainder [of the kings] who survived fled to the hill country.

Then a survivor who had escaped [from the invading forces on the other side of the Jordan] came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now he was living by the terebinths (oaks) of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner—they were allies of Abram.

Then after Abram’s return from the defeat (slaughter) of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all the servants who were born in his house and all who were purchased with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin the very same day, as God had said to him.

All the men [servants] of his household, both those born in the house and those purchased with money from a foreigner, were circumcised along with him [as the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham].

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in years; she was past [the age of] childbearing.

They struck (punished) the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from the young men to the old men, so that they exhausted themselves trying to find the doorway.

So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were [betrothed, and legally promised] to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he appeared to be joking.

Thus both the daughters of Lot conceived by their father.

So Abimelech got up early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things; and the men were terrified.

So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre (Hebron)—the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field and in all its borders around it—were deeded over [legally]

The field and the cave in it were deeded over to Abraham by the Hittites as a [permanent] possession and burial place.

So the man came into the house, and Laban unloaded his camels and gave them straw and feed, and [he gave] water to [Eliezer to] wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night [there]. In the morning when they got up, he said, “Now send me back to my master.”

Isaac went out to bow down [in prayer] in the field in the [early] evening; he raised his eyes and looked, and camels were coming.

Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim.

The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah.

The days of Abraham’s life were a hundred and seventy-five years.

When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.

So Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord [in prayer]. He pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

Now when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called his elder [and favorite] son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And Esau answered him, “Here I am.”

Then Rebekah took her elder son Esau’s best clothes, which were with her in her house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.

He could not recognize him [as Jacob], because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.

When these words of her elder son Esau were repeated to Rebekah, she sent for Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Listen carefully, your brother Esau is comforting himself concerning you by planning to kill you.

He dreamed that there was a ladder (stairway) placed on the earth, and the top of it reached [out of sight] toward heaven; and [he saw] the angels of God ascending and descending on it [going to and from heaven].

As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and three flocks of sheep lying there [resting] beside it because the flocks were watered from that well. Now the stone on the mouth of the well [that covered and protected it] was large,

and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well, water the sheep, and [afterward] replace the stone on the mouth of the well.

Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.

So on that same day Laban [secretly] removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one with white on it, and all the dark ones among the sheep, and put them in the care of his sons.

Furthermore, whenever the stronger [animals] of the flocks were breeding, Jacob would place the branches in the sight of the flock in the watering troughs, so that they would mate and conceive among the branches;

but when the flock was sickly, he did not put the branches there; so the sicker [animals] were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s.

And it happened at the time when the flock conceived that I looked up and saw in a dream that the rams which mated [with the female goats] were streaked, speckled, and spotted.

Now [I suppose] you felt you must go because you were homesick for your father’s house and family; but why did you steal my [household] gods?”

Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps;

Now Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled (violated) Dinah his daughter; but his sons were in the field with his livestock, so Jacob said nothing until they came in.

Now when Jacob’s sons heard of it they came in from the field; they were deeply grieved, and they were very angry, for Shechem had done a disgraceful thing to Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing is not to be done.

Now on the third day [after the circumcision], when all the men were [terribly] sore and in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s [full] brothers, took their swords, boldly entered the city [without anyone suspecting them of evil intent], and they killed every male.

Then Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the [idols and images of] foreign gods that are among you, and ceremonially purify yourselves and change [into fresh] clothes;

So they gave Jacob all the [idols and images of the] foreign gods they had and the rings which were in their ears [worn as charms against evil], and Jacob buried them under the oak tree near Shechem.

While Israel was living in that land, Reuben [his eldest son] went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it.

Now Jacob had twelve sons—

Now the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years.

For their [great flocks and herds and] possessions made it impossible for them to live together [in the same region]; the land in which they lived temporarily could not support them because of their livestock.

And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.

we [brothers] were binding sheaves [of grain stalks] in the field, and lo, my sheaf [suddenly] got up and stood upright and remained standing; and behold, your sheaves stood all around my sheaf and bowed down [in respect].”

Joseph’s brothers were envious and jealous of him, but his father kept the words [of Joseph] in mind [wondering about their meaning].

Then the man said, “[They were here, but] they have moved on from this place. I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

Then as the Midianite [and Ishmaelite] traders were passing by, the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and they sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And so they took Joseph [as a captive] into Egypt.

Again she conceived and gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.

Now when the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb.

Then it happened one day that Joseph went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the men of the household was there in the house.

So Joseph’s master took him and put him in the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined; so he was there in the prison.

The warden committed to Joseph’s care (management) all the prisoners who were in the prison; so that whatever was done there, he was in charge of it.

Then the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, both dreamed a dream in the same night, each man with his [own significant] dream and each dream with its [personal] interpretation.

When Joseph came to them in the morning and looked at them, [he saw that] they were sad and depressed.

So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in confinement with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so down-hearted today?”

and on the vine were three branches. Then as soon as it budded, its blossoms burst open, and its clusters produced ripe grapes [in rapid succession].

within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head (present you in public) and restore you to your position; and you will [again] put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand just as [you did] when you were his cupbearer.

and in the top basket there were some of all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds [of prey] were eating [these foods] out of the basket on my head.”

Yet when they had devoured them, it could not be detected that they had eaten them, because they were still as thin and emaciated as before. Then I awoke [but again I fell asleep and dreamed].

Now two sons were born to Joseph before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.

When the seven years of plenty came to an end in the land of Egypt,

When Joseph saw his brothers he recognized them, but [hiding his identity] he treated them as strangers and spoke harshly to them. He said to them, “Where have you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

And he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned! Here it is in my sack!” And their hearts sank, and they were afraid and turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”