1*In the beginning God created^a the heavens and the earth. ²The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit^b of God was moving over the face of the waters.

³And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

⁶And God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. ⁸And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

⁹And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. ¹¹And God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth.” And it was so. ¹²The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ¹³And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

¹⁴And God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, ¹⁵and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also. ¹⁷And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth, ¹⁸to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

²⁰And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the firmament of the heavens.” ²¹So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²²And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

²⁴And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. ²⁵And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the cattle according to their kinds, and everything that creeps upon the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” ²⁷So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. ²⁸And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” ²⁹And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. ³⁰And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

2Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. ²And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. ³So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation.

⁴These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

*In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, ⁵when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; ⁶but a mist^c went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground—⁷then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. ⁸And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹And out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. ¹¹The name of the first is Pi'shon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Hav'ilah, where there is gold; ¹²and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. ¹³The name of the second river is Gi'hon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴And the name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphra'tes.

¹⁵The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. ¹⁶And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; ¹⁷but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

¹⁸Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” ¹⁹So out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper fit for him. ²¹So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; ²²and the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³Then the man said,

⁸And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ⁹But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” ¹¹He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹²The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.” ¹⁴The LORD God said to the serpent,

²⁰The man called his wife’s name Eve,^f because she was the mother of all living. ²¹And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them.

²²Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever”—²³therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

4*Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten^g a man with the help of the LORD.” ²And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. ³In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, ⁴and Abel brought some of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. ⁶The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? ⁷If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

⁸Cain said to Abel his brother, “Let us go out to the field.”^h And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. ⁹Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. ¹¹And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹²When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” ¹³Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴Behold, you have driven me this day away from the ground; and from your face I shall be hidden; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will slay me.” ¹⁵Then the LORD said to him, “Not so!ⁱ If any one slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who came upon him should kill him. ¹⁶Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod,^j east of Eden.

¹⁷Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore E'noch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. ¹⁸To E'noch was born I'rad; and Irad was the father of Mehu'ja-el, and Mehuja-el the father of Methu'sha-el, and Methusha-el the father of La'mech. ¹⁹And La'mech took two wives; the name of the one was A'dah, and the name of the other Zillah. ²⁰A'dah bore Ja'bal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have cattle. ²¹His brother’s name was Ju'bal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. ²²Zillah bore Tu'bal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Na'amah.

²³La'mech said to his wives:

²⁵And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another child instead of Abel, for Cain slew him.” ²⁶To Seth* also a son was born, and he called his name E'nosh. At that time men began to call upon the name of the LORD.

⁶When Seth had lived a hundred and five years, he became the father of E'nosh. ⁷Seth lived after the birth of E'nosh eight hundred and seven years, and had other sons and daughters. ⁸Thus all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.

⁹When E'nosh had lived ninety years, he became the father of Ke'nan. ¹⁰E'nosh lived after the birth of Ke'nan eight hundred and fifteen years, and had other sons and daughters. ¹¹Thus all the days of E'nosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died.

¹²When Ke'nan had lived seventy years, he became the father of Ma-hal'alel. ¹³Ke'nan lived after the birth of Ma-hal'alel eight hundred and forty years, and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁴Thus all the days of Ke'nan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died.

¹⁵When Ma-hal'alel had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Jar'ed. ¹⁶Ma-hal'alel lived after the birth of Jar'ed eight hundred and thirty years, and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁷Thus all the days of Ma-hal'alel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.

¹⁸When Jar'ed had lived a hundred and sixty-two years he became the father of E'noch. ¹⁹Jared lived after the birth of E'noch eight hundred years, and had other sons and daughters. ²⁰Thus all the days of Jar'ed were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died.

²¹When E'noch had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Methu'selah. ²²E'noch walked with God after the birth of Methu'selah three hundred years, and had other sons and daughters. ²³Thus all the days of E'noch were three hundred and sixty-five years. ²⁴E'noch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

²⁵When Methu'selah had lived a hundred and eighty-seven years, he became the father of La'mech. ²⁶Methu'selah lived after the birth of La'mech seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had other sons and daughters. ²⁷Thus all the days of Methu'selah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.

²⁸When La'mech had lived a hundred and eighty-two years, he became the father of a son, ²⁹and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground which the LORD has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands.” ³⁰La'mech lived after the birth of Noah five hundred and ninety-five years, and had other sons and daughters. ³¹Thus all the days of La'mech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.

³²After Noah was five hundred years old, Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Ja'pheth.

⁵The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. ⁷So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the ground, man and beast and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

⁹These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. ¹⁰And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Ja'pheth.

¹¹*Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹²And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. ¹³And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth. ¹⁴Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. ¹⁵This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. ¹⁶Make a roof^k for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and set the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks. ¹⁷For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall die. ¹⁸But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. ²⁰Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you, to keep them alive. ²¹Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them.” ²²Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

7 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. ²Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate; ³and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive upon the face of all the earth. ⁴For in seven days I will send rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” ⁵And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.

⁶Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. ⁷And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark, to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, ⁹two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

¹¹In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. ¹²And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. ¹³On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Ja'pheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, ¹⁴they and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every bird of every sort. ¹⁵They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. ¹⁶And they that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in.

¹⁷The flood continued forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. ¹⁸The waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters. ¹⁹And the waters prevailed so mightily upon the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered; ²⁰the waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. ²¹And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, birds, cattle, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth, and every man; ²²everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. ²³He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark. ²⁴And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.

⁶At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made, ⁷and sent forth a raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. ⁸Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground; ⁹but the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put forth his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. ¹⁰He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; ¹¹and the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. ¹²Then he waited another seven days, and sent forth the dove; and she did not return to him any more.

¹³In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. ¹⁴In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. ¹⁵Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶“Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.” ¹⁸So Noah went forth, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. ¹⁹And every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves upon the earth, went forth by families out of the ark.

²⁰Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹And when the LORD smelled the pleasing odor, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. ²²While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

⁸Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ⁹“Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you, ¹⁰and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.^l11I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹²And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: ¹³I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, ¹⁵I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶When the bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” ¹⁷God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.”

¹⁸The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Ja'pheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. ¹⁹These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole earth was peopled.

²⁰Noah was the first tiller of the soil. He planted a vineyard; ²¹and he drank of the wine, and became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent. ²²And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. ²³Then Shem and Ja'pheth took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. ²⁴When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵he said,

²⁸After the flood Noah lived three hundred and fifty years. ²⁹All the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.

²The sons of Ja'pheth: Gomer, Ma'gog, Ma'dai, Ja'van, Tu'bal, Me'shech, and Ti'ras. ³The sons of Gomer: Ash'kenaz, Ri'phath, and Togar'mah. ⁴The sons of Ja'van: Eli'shah, Tar'shish, Kittim, and Do'danim. ⁵From these the coastland peoples spread. These are the sons of Ja'phethⁿ in their lands, each with his own language, by their families, in their nations.

⁶The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. ⁷The sons of Cush: Seba, Hav'ilah, Sabtah, Ra'amah, and Sab'teca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and De'dan. ⁸Cush became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. ⁹He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.” ¹⁰The beginning of his kingdom was Ba'bel, E'rech, and Accad, all of them in the land of Shi'nar. ¹¹From that land he went into Assyria, and built Nin'eveh, Reho'both-Ir, Ca'lah, and ¹²Re'sen between Nin'eveh and Ca'lah; that is the great city. ¹³Egypt became the father of Lu'dim, An'amim, Leha'bim, Naph'tuhim, ¹⁴Pathru'sim, Caslu'him (whence came the Philis'tines), and Caph'torim.

¹⁵Canaan became the father of Si'don his first-born, and Heth, ¹⁶and the Jeb'usites, the Am'orites, the Gir'gashites, ¹⁷the Hi'vites, the Arkites, the Si'nites, ¹⁸the Ar'vadites, the Zem'arites, and the Ha'mathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. ¹⁹And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Si'don, in the direction of Ge'rar, as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomor'rah, Admah, and Zeboi'im, as far as La'sha. ²⁰These are the sons of Ham, by their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

²¹To Shem also, the father of all the children of E'ber, the elder brother of Ja'pheth, children were born. ²²The sons of Shem: E'lam, Asshur, Arpach'shad, Lud, and Ar'am. ²³The sons of Ar'am: Uz, Hul, Ge'ther, and Mash. ²⁴Arpach'shad became the father of She'lah; and Shelah became the father of E'ber. ²⁵To E'ber were born two sons: the name of the one was Pe'leg,^o for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan. ²⁶Joktan became the father of Almo'dad, She'leph, Haz''arma'veth, Je'rah, ²⁷Hador'am, U'zal, Diklah, ²⁸O'bal, Abim'a-el, Sheba, ²⁹O'phir, Hav'ilah, and Jo'bab; all these were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰The territory in which they lived extended from Me'sha in the direction of Se'phar to the hill country of the east. ³¹These are the sons of Shem, by their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

³²These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations; and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

11*Now the whole earth had one language and few words. ²And as men migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. ³And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. ⁴Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” ⁵And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. ⁶And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. ⁷Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. ⁹Therefore its name was called Ba'bel, because there the LORD confused^p the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

¹⁰These are the descendants of Shem. When Shem was a hundred years old, he became the father of Arpach'shad two years after the flood; ¹¹and Shem lived after the birth of Arpach'shad five hundred years, and had other sons and daughters.

¹²When Arpach'shad had lived thirty-five years, he became the father of She'lah; ¹³and Arpach'shad lived after the birth of She'lah four hundred and three years, and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴When She'lah had lived thirty years, he became the father of E'ber; ¹⁵and She'lah lived after the birth of E'ber four hundred and three years, and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶When E'ber had lived thirty-four years, he became the father of Pe'leg; ¹⁷and E'ber lived after the birth of Pe'leg four hundred and thirty years, and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸When Pe'leg had lived thirty years, he became the father of Re'u; ¹⁹and Pe'leg lived after the birth of Re'u two hundred and nine years, and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰When Re'u had lived thirty-two years, he became the father of Se'rug; ²¹and Re'u lived after the birth of Se'rug two hundred and seven years, and had other sons and daughters.

²²When Se'rug had lived thirty years, he became the father of Na'hor; ²³and Se'rug lived after the birth of Na'hor two hundred years, and had other sons and daughters.

²⁴When Na'hor had lived twenty-nine years, he became the father of Te'rah; ²⁵and Na'hor lived after the birth of Te'rah a hundred and nineteen years, and had other sons and daughters.

²⁶When Te'rah had lived seventy years, he became the father of Abram, Na'hor, and Haran.

²⁷Now these are the descendants of Te'rah. Terah was the father of Abram, Na'hor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. ²⁸Haran died before his father Te'rah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chalde'ans. ²⁹And Abram and Na'hor took wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sar'ai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Is'cah. ³⁰Now Sar'ai was barren; she had no child.

³¹Te'rah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sar'ai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chalde'ans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there. ³²The days of Te'rah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.

⁴So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵And Abram took Sar'ai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions which they had gathered, and the persons that they had gotten in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, ⁶Abram passed through the land to the place at She'chem, to the Oak^r of Mo'reh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷Then the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. ⁸Thence he removed to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. ⁹And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Neg'eb.

¹⁰Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sar'ai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful to behold; ¹²and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; then they will kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared on your account.” ¹⁴When Abram entered Egypt the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵And when the princes of Pharoah saw her, they praised her to Pharoah. And the woman was taken into Pharoah’s house. ¹⁶And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, he-donkeys, menservants, maidservants, she-donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷But the LORD afflicted Pharoah and his house with great plagues because of Sar'ai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸So Pharoah called Abram, and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her, and be gone.” ²⁰And Pharoah gave men orders concerning him; and they set him on the way, with his wife and all that he had.

²Now Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. ³And he journeyed on from the Neg'eb as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴to the place where he had made an altar at the first; and there Abram called on the name of the LORD. ⁵And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, ⁶so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, ⁷and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle. At that time the Canaanites and the Per'izzites dwelt in the land.

⁸Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen; for we are kinsmen. ⁹Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” ¹⁰And Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw that the Jordan valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar; this was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomor'rah. ¹¹So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan valley, and Lot journeyed east; thus they separated from each other. ¹²Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, while Lot dwelt among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. ¹³Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.

¹⁴The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; ¹⁵for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants for ever. ¹⁶I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your descendants also can be counted. ¹⁷Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” ¹⁸So Abram moved his tent, and came and dwelt by the Oaks^s of Mamre, which are at He'bron; and there he built an altar to the LORD.

¹³Then one who had escaped came, and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the Oaks^s of Mamre the Am'orite, brother of Eshcol and of A'ner; these were allies of Abram. ¹⁴When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. ¹⁵And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and routed them and pursued them to Ho'bah, north of Damascus. ¹⁶Then he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his goods, and the women and the people.

¹⁷After his return from the defeat of Ched''-or-lao'mer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Sha'veh (that is, the King’s Valley). ¹⁸And Mel-chiz'edek* king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. ¹⁹And he blessed him and said,

⁷And he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chalde'ans, to give you this land to possess.” ⁸But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” ⁹He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a she-goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰And he brought him all these, cut them in two, and laid each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. ¹¹And when birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹²As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and behold, a dread and great darkness fell upon him. ¹³Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know of a surety that your descendants will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will be slaves there, and they will be oppressed for four hundred years; ¹⁴but I will bring judgment on the nation which they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶And they shall come back here in the fourth generation; for the iniquity of the Am'orites is not yet complete.”

¹⁷When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ¹⁸On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphra'tes, ¹⁹the land of the Kenites, the Ken'izzites, the Kad'monites, ²⁰the Hittites, the Per'izzites, the Reph'aim, ²¹the Am'orites, the Canaanites, the Gir'gashites and the Jeb'usites.”

⁷The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸And he said, “Hagar, maid of Sar'ai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” ⁹The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her.” ¹⁰The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” ¹¹And the angel of the LORD said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ish'mael;^t because the LORD has given heed to your affliction. ¹²He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against every man and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” ¹³So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing”; for she said, “Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?”^{u 14}Therefore the well was called Be'er-la'hai-roi;^v it lies between Ka'desh and Be'red.

¹⁵And Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ish'mael. ¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ish'mael to Abram.

17When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty;^w walk before me, and be blameless. ²And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” ³Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ⁴“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be Abram,^x but your name shall be Abraham;^y for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you. ⁷And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. ⁸And I will give to you, and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

⁹And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹²He that is eight days old among you shall be circumcised; every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house, or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, ¹³both he that is born in your house and he that is bought with your money, shall be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

¹⁵And God said to Abraham, “As for Sar'ai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her; I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” ¹⁷Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “O that Ish'mael might live in your sight!” ¹⁹God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.^z I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. ²⁰As for Ish'mael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.”

²²When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. ²³Then Abraham took Ish'mael his son and all the slaves born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. ²⁴Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵And Ish'mael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶That very day Abraham and his son Ish'mael were circumcised; ²⁷and all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

18And the LORD appeared to him by the Oaks^a of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. ²He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men stood in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth, ³and said, “My lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. ⁴Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, ⁵while I fetch a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” ⁶And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures^b of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.” ⁷And Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. ⁸Then he took curds, and milk, and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

⁹They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” ¹⁰The LORD said, “I will surely return to you in the spring, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. ¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. ¹²So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” ¹³The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴Is anything too hard^c for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, in the spring, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁵But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

¹⁶Then the men set out from there, and they looked toward Sodom; and Abraham went with them to set them on their way. ¹⁷The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, ¹⁸seeing that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by him?^{d 19}No, for I have chosen^e him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice; so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” ²⁰Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomor'rah is great and their sin is very grave, ²¹I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry which has come to me; and if not, I will know.”

²²So the men turned from there, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham still stood before the LORD. ²³Then Abraham drew near, and said, “Will you indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” ²⁶And the LORD said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” ²⁷Abraham answered, “Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. ²⁸Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ²⁹Again he spoke to him, and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” ³⁰Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” ³¹He said, “Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” ³²Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” ³³And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.

¹²Then the men said to Lot, “Have you any one else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or any one you have in the city, bring them out of the place; ¹³for we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up, get out of this place; for the LORD is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

¹⁵When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him forth and set him outside the city. ¹⁷And when they had brought them forth, they^f said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley; flee to the hills, lest you be consumed.” ¹⁸And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords; ¹⁹behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me, and I die. ²⁰Behold, yonder city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one? —and my life will be saved!” ²¹He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²²Make haste, escape there; for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.^{g 23}The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

²⁴Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomor'rah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; ²⁵and he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶But Lot’s wife behind him looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. ²⁷And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD; ²⁸and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomor'rah and toward all the land of the valley, and beheld, and behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.

³⁰Now Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar; so he dwelt in a cave with his two daughters. ³¹And the first-born said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. ³²Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring through our father.” ³³So they made their father drink wine that night; and the first-born went in, and lay with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁴And on the next day, the first-born said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring through our father.” ³⁵So they made their father drink wine that night also; and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁶Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. ³⁷The first-born bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben-am'mi; he is the father of the Am'monites to this day.

⁸So Abim'elech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told them all these things; and the men were very much afraid. ⁹Then Abim'elech called Abraham, and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰And Abim'elech said to Abraham, “What were you thinking of, that you did this thing?” ¹¹Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. ¹²Besides she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. ¹³And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, He is my brother.’” ¹⁴Then Abim'elech took sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham, and restored Sarah his wife to him. ¹⁵And Abim'elech said, “Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” ¹⁶To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; it is your vindication in the eyes of all who are with you; and before every one you are righted.” ¹⁷Then Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abim'elech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. ¹⁸For the LORD had closed all the wombs of the house of Abim'elech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

⁸And the child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac.^{h 10}So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” ¹¹And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. ¹²But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the lad and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your descendants be named. ¹³And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” ¹⁴So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Be'er-she'ba.

¹⁵When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. ¹⁶Then she went, and sat down over against him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, “Let me not look upon the death of the child.” And as she sat over against him, the child lifted up his voiceⁱ and wept. ¹⁷And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not; for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. ¹⁸Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him fast with your hand; for I will make him a great nation.” ¹⁹Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink. ²⁰And God was with the lad, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. ²¹He lived in the wilderness of Par'an; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

²²At that time Abim'elech and Phi'col the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do; ²³now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but as I have dealt loyally with you, you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.” ²⁴And Abraham said, “I will swear.”

²⁵When Abraham complained to Abim'elech about a well of water which Abimelech’s servants had seized, ²⁶Abim'elech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.” ²⁷So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abim'elech, and the two men made a covenant. ²⁸Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. ²⁹And Abim'elech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set apart?” ³⁰He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that you may be a witness for me that I dug this well.” ³¹Therefore that place was called Be'er-she'ba;^j because there both of them swore an oath. ³²So they made a covenant at Be'er-she'ba. Then Abim'elech and Phi'col the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philis'tines. ³³Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Be'er-she'ba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. ³⁴And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philis'tines.

⁹When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. ¹⁰Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” ¹²He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only-begotten son, from me.” ¹³And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴So Abraham called the name of that place The LORD will provide;^k as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”^l

¹⁵And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, ¹⁶and said, “By myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only-begotten son, ¹⁷I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies, ¹⁸and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.” ¹⁹So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Be'er-she'ba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.

²⁰Now after these things it was told Abraham, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Na'hor: ²¹Uz the first-born, Buz his brother, Ke'muel the father of Ar'am, ²²Che'sed, Ha'zo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethu'el.” ²³Bethu'el became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Na'hor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reu'mah, bore Te'bah, Ga'ham, Ta'hash, and Ma'acah.

¹⁷So the field of E'phron in Mach-pe'lah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave which was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over ¹⁸to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city. ¹⁹After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Mach-pe'lah east of Mamre (that is, He'bron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as a possession for a burying place by the Hittites.

¹⁰Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master; and he arose, and went to Mesopota'mia, to the city of Na'hor. ¹¹And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time when women go out to draw water. ¹²And he said, “O LORD, God of my master Abraham, grant me success today, I beg you, and show mercy to my master Abraham. ¹³Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴Let the maiden to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown mercy to my master.”

¹⁵Before he had done speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethu'el the son of Milcah, the wife of Na'hor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar upon her shoulder. ¹⁶The maiden was very fair to look upon, a virgin, whom no man had known. She went down to the spring, and filled her jar, and came up. ¹⁷Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.” ¹⁸She said, “Drink, my lord”; and she quickly let down her jar upon her hand, and gave him a drink. ¹⁹When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw for your camels also, until they have done drinking.” ²⁰So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. ²¹The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the LORD had prospered his journey or not.

²²When the camels had done drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels, ²³and said, “Tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge in?” ²⁴She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethu'el the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Na'hor.” ²⁵She added, “We have both straw and food enough, and room to lodge in.” ²⁶The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD, ²⁷and said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his mercy and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the LORD has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.”

²⁸Then the maiden ran and told her mother’s household about these things. ²⁹Rebekah had a brother whose name was La'ban; and Laban ran out to the man, to the spring. ³⁰When he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, “Thus the man spoke to me,” he went to the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. ³¹He said, “Come in, O blessed of the LORD; why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” ³²So the man came into the house; and La'ban ungirded the camels, and gave him straw and food for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. ³³Then food was set before him to eat; but he said, “I will not eat until I have told my errand.” He said, “Speak on.”

³⁴So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. ³⁵The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels and donkeys. ³⁶And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and to him he has given all that he has. ³⁷My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell; ³⁸but you shall go to my father’s house and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son.’ ³⁹I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’ ⁴⁰But he said to me, ‘The LORD, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you and prosper your way; and you shall take a wife for my son from my kindred and from my father’s house; ⁴¹then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my kindred; and if they will not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’

⁴²“I came today to the spring, and said, ‘O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, if now you will prosper the way which I go, ⁴³behold, I am standing by the spring of water; let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,” ⁴⁴and who will say to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also,” let her be the woman whom the LORD has appointed for my master’s son.’

⁴⁵“Before I had done speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her water jar on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ ⁴⁶She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels drink also. ⁴⁷Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethu'el, Na'hor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her arms. ⁴⁸Then I bowed my head and worshiped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to take the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son. ⁴⁹Now then, if you will deal loyally and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”

⁵⁰Then La'ban and Bethu'el answered, “The thing comes from the LORD; we cannot speak to you bad or good. ⁵¹Behold, Rebekah is before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has spoken.”

⁵²When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the LORD. ⁵³And the servant brought forth jewelry of silver and of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments. ⁵⁴And he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there. When they arose in the morning, he said, “Send me back to my master.” ⁵⁵Her brother and her mother said, “Let the maiden remain with us a while, at least ten days; after that she may go.” ⁵⁶But he said to them, “Do not delay me, since the LORD has prospered my way; let me go that I may go to my master.” ⁵⁷They said, “We will call the maiden, and ask her.” ⁵⁸And they called Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.” ⁵⁹So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men. ⁶⁰And they blessed Rebekah, and said to her, “Our sister, be the mother of thousands of ten thousands; and may your descendants possess the gate of those who hate them!” ⁶¹Then Rebekah and her maids arose, and rode upon the camels and followed the man; thus the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.

⁶²Now Isaac had come fromⁿ Be'er-la'hai-roi, and was dwelling in the Neg'eb. ⁶³And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there were camels coming. ⁶⁴And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she alighted from the camel, ⁶⁵and said to the servant, “Who is the man yonder, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. ⁶⁶And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. ⁶⁷Then Isaac brought her into the tent,^o and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

⁷These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life, a hundred and seventy-five years. ⁸Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. ⁹Isaac and Ish'mael his sons buried him in the cave of Mach-pe'lah, in the field of E'phron the son of Zo'har the Hittite, east of Mamre, ¹⁰the field which Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with Sarah his wife. ¹¹After the death of Abraham God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac dwelt at Be'er-la'hai-roi.

¹²These are the descendants of Ish'mael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham. ¹³These are the names of the sons of Ish'mael, named in the order of their birth: Neba'ioth, the first-born of Ishmael; and Ke'dar, Ad'beel, Mibsam, ¹⁴Mishma, Du'mah, Massa, ¹⁵Ha'dad, Te'ma, Je'tur, Na'phish, and Ked'emah. ¹⁶These are the sons of Ish'mael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, twelve princes according to their tribes. ¹⁷(These are the years of the life of Ish'mael, a hundred and thirty-seven years; he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his kindred.) ¹⁸They dwelt from Hav'ilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria; he settled^p over against all his people.

¹⁹*These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, ²⁰and Isaac was forty years old when he took to wife Rebekah, the daughter of Bethu'el the Arame'an of Pad'dan-ar'am, the sister of La'ban the Aramean. ²¹And Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. ²²The children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is thus, why do I live?”^q So she went to inquire of the LORD. ²³And the LORD said to her,

²⁴When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵The first came forth red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they called his name Esau. ²⁶Afterward his brother came forth, and his hand had taken hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob.^r Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

²⁷When the boys grew up, Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. ²⁸Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

²⁹Once when Jacob was boiling pottage, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. ³⁰And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red pottage, for I am famished!” (Therefore his name was called E'dom.)^{s 31}Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” ³²Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” ³³Jacob said, “Swear to me first.”^t So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

⁶So Isaac dwelt in Ge'rar. ⁷When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister”; for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me for the sake of Rebekah”; because she was fair to look upon. ⁸When he had been there a long time, Abim'elech king of the Philis'tines looked out of a window and saw Isaac fondling Rebekah his wife. ⁹So Abim'elech called Isaac, and said, “Behold, she is your wife; how then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.' " ¹⁰Abim'elech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” ¹¹So Abim'elech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall be put to death.”

¹²And Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The LORD blessed him, ¹³and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. ¹⁴He had possessions of flocks and herds, and a great household, so that the Philis'tines envied him. ¹⁵(Now the Philis'tines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) ¹⁶And Abim'elech said to Isaac, “Go away from us; for you are much mightier than we.”

¹⁷So Isaac departed from there, and encamped in the valley of Ge'rar and dwelt there. ¹⁸And Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philis'tines had stopped them after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the names which his father had given them. ¹⁹But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of springing water, ²⁰the herdsmen of Ge'rar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well E'sek,^u because they contended with him. ²¹Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also; so he called its name Sitnah.^{v 22}And he moved from there and dug another well, and over that they did not quarrel; so he called its name Reho'both,^w saying, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

²³From there he went up to Be'er-she'ba. ²⁴And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father; fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your descendants for my servant Abraham’s sake.” ²⁵So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

²⁶Then Abim'elech went to him from Ge'rar with Ahuz'zath his adviser and Phi'col the commander of his army. ²⁷Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?” ²⁸They said, “We see plainly that the LORD is with you; so we say, let there be an oath between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, ²⁹that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.” ³⁰So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. ³¹In the morning they rose early and took oath with one another; and Isaac set them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. ³²That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” ³³He called it Shi'bah; therefore the name of the city is Be'er-she'ba to this day.

³⁴When Esau was forty years old, he took to wife Judith the daughter of Bee'ri the Hittite, and Bas'emath the daughter of E'lon the Hittite; ³⁵and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

⁵Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, ⁶Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, ⁷‘Bring me game, and prepare for me savory food, that I may eat it, and bless you before the LORD before I die.’ ⁸Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you. ⁹Go to the flock, and fetch me two good kids, that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he loves; ¹⁰and you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” ¹¹But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. ¹²Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him, and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” ¹³His mother said to him, “Upon me be your curse, my son; only obey my word, and go, fetch them to me.” ¹⁴So he went and took them and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared savory food, such as his father loved. ¹⁵Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son; ¹⁶and the skins of the kids she put upon his hands and upon the smooth part of his neck; ¹⁷and she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

¹⁸So he went in to his father, and said, “My father”; and he said, “Here I am; who are you, my son?” ¹⁹Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your first-born. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that you may bless me.” ²⁰But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the LORD your God granted me success.” ²¹Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” ²²So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. ²⁴He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” ²⁵Then he said, “Bring it to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. ²⁶Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed him, and said,