Genesis 1-34

Amplified Bible

The Creation

1 In the beginning God (^[a]Elohim) ^[b]created [by forming from nothing] the heavens and the earth.^{(A) 2} The earth was ^[c]formless and void or a waste and emptiness, and darkness was upon the face of the deep [primeval ocean that covered the unformed earth]. The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters. ³ And God said, ^[d]“Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good (pleasing, useful) and ^[e]He affirmed and sustained it; and God separated the light [distinguishing it] from the darkness.^{(B) 5} And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was ^[f]evening and there was ^[g]morning, one day.

⁶ And God said, “Let there be an ^[h]expanse [of the sky] in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters [below the expanse] from the waters [above the expanse].” ⁷ 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]. ⁸ God called the expanse [of sky] heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

⁹ Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place [of standing, pooling together], and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that this was good (pleasing, useful) and He affirmed and sustained it. ¹¹ So God said, “Let the earth sprout [tender] ^[i]vegetation, ^[j]plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit according to (limited to, consistent with) their kind, whose seed is in them upon the earth”; and it was so. ¹² The earth sprouted and abundantly produced vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, according to their kind; and God saw that it was good and He affirmed and sustained it. ¹³ And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

¹⁴ Then God said, “Let there be light-bearers (sun, moon, stars) in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be useful for signs (tokens) [of God’s provident care], and for marking seasons, days, and years;^{(C) 15} and let them be useful as lights in the expanse of the heavens to provide light on the earth”; and it was so, [just as He commanded]. ¹⁶ God made the two great lights—the greater light (the sun) to rule the day, and the lesser light (the moon) to rule the night; He made the [galaxies of] stars also [that is, all the amazing wonders in the heavens]. ¹⁷ God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to provide light upon the earth, ¹⁸ to rule over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good and He affirmed and sustained it. ¹⁹ And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

²⁰ Then God said, “Let the waters swarm and abundantly produce living creatures, and let birds soar above the earth ^[k]in the open expanse of the heavens.” ²¹ God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind; and God saw that it was good and He affirmed and sustained it. ²² And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

²⁴ Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to (limited to, consistent with) their kind: livestock, crawling things, and wild animals of the earth according to their kinds”; and it was so [because He had spoken them into creation]. ²⁵ So God made the wild animals of the earth according to their kind, and the cattle according to their kind, and everything that creeps and crawls on the earth according to its kind; and God saw that it was good (pleasing, useful) and He affirmed and sustained it.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.”^{(D) 27} So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.^{(E) 28} And God blessed them [granting them certain authority] and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subjugate it [putting it under your power]; and rule over (dominate) the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the earth.” ²⁹ So God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of the entire earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; ³⁰ and to all the animals on the earth and to every bird of the air and to everything that moves on the ground—to everything in which there is the breath of life—I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so [because He commanded it]. ³¹ God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good and He validated it completely. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

The Creation of Man and Woman

2 So the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts (inhabitants). ² And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested (ceased) on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.^{(F) 3} So God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it [as His own, that is, set it apart as holy from other days], because in it He rested from all His work which He had created and done.^(G)

⁴ 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 ^[l]Lord God made the earth and the heavens— ⁵ no shrub or plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to ^[m]cultivate the ground, ⁶ but a ^[n]mist (fog, dew, vapor) used to rise from the land and water the entire surface of the ground— ⁷ then the Lord God ^[o]formed [that is, created the body of] man from the ^[p]dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being [an individual complete in body and spirit].^{(H) 8} And the Lord God ^[q]planted a garden (oasis) in the east, in Eden (delight, land of happiness); and He put the man whom He had formed (created) there. ⁹ And [in that garden] the Lord God caused to grow from the ground every tree that is desirable and pleasing to the sight and good (suitable, pleasant) for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the [experiential] knowledge (recognition) of [the difference between] good and evil.^(I)

¹⁰ Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four [branching] rivers. ¹¹ The first [river] is named Pishon; it flows around the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² The gold of that land is good; bdellium (a fragrant, valuable resin) and the ^[r]onyx stone are found there. ¹³ The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the entire land of Cush [in Mesopotamia]. ¹⁴ The third river is named Hiddekel (Tigris); it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ So the Lord God took the man [He had made] and settled him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely (unconditionally) eat [the fruit] from every tree of the garden; ¹⁷ but [only] from the tree of the knowledge (recognition) of good and evil you shall not eat, otherwise on the day that you eat from it, you shall most certainly ^[s]die [because of your disobedience].”

¹⁸ Now the Lord God said, “It is not good (beneficial) for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper [one who balances him—a counterpart who is] ^[t]suitable and complementary for him.” ¹⁹ So the Lord God formed out of the ground every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ And the man gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for Adam there was not found a helper [that was] suitable (a companion) for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and while he slept, He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. ²² And the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man He made (fashioned, formed) into a woman, and He brought her and presented her to the man. ²³ Then Adam said,

²⁴ For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.^{(J) 25} And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed or embarrassed.

The Fall of Man

3 Now the serpent was more crafty (subtle, skilled in deceit) than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And ^[u]the serpent (Satan) said to the woman, “Can it really be that God has said, ‘You shall not eat from ^[v]any tree of the garden’?”^{(K) 2} And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, ³ except the fruit from the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God said, ‘You shall not eat from it nor touch it, otherwise you will die.’” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die!^{(L) 5} For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened [that is, you will have greater awareness], and you will be like God, knowing [the difference between] good and evil.” ⁶ And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise and insightful, she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband ^[w]with her, and he ate. ⁷ 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.

⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool [afternoon breeze] of the day, so the man and his wife hid and kept themselves hidden from the ^[x]presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to Adam, and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ He said, “I heard the sound of You [walking] in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” ¹¹ God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten [fruit] from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² And the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me—she gave me [fruit] from the tree, and I ate it.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent beguiled and deceived me, and I ate [from the forbidden tree].”^{(M) 14} The Lord God said to the serpent,

¹⁷ Then to Adam the Lord God said, “Because you have listened [attentively] to the voice of your wife, and have eaten [fruit] from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’;

²⁰ The man named his wife Eve (life spring, life giver), because she was the mother of all the living. ²¹ The Lord God made tunics of [animal] skins for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

²² And the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), knowing [how to distinguish between] good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take from the tree of life as well, and eat [its fruit], and live [in this fallen, sinful condition] forever”— ²³ therefore the Lord God sent Adam away from the Garden of Eden, to till and cultivate the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ So God drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He [permanently] stationed the ^[z]cherubim and the sword with the flashing blade which turned round and round [in every direction] to protect and guard the way (entrance, access) to the tree of life.^(O)

Cain and Abel

4 Now the man ^[aa]Adam knew Eve as his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have obtained a man (baby boy, son) with the help of the Lord.” ² And [later] she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept the flocks [of sheep and goats], but Cain cultivated the ground. ³ And in the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground. ⁴ But Abel brought [an offering of] the [finest] firstborn of his flock and the ^[ab]fat portions. And the Lord had respect (regard) for Abel and for his offering;^{(P) 5} but for Cain and his offering He had no respect. So Cain became extremely angry (indignant), and ^[ac]he looked annoyed and hostile. ⁶ And the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you so angry? And why do you look annoyed? ⁷ If you do well [believing Me and doing what is acceptable and pleasing to Me], will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well [but ignore My instruction], sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you [to overpower you], but you must master it.” ⁸ Cain talked with Abel his brother [about what God had said]. And when they were [alone, working] in the field, Cain ^[ad]attacked Abel his brother and killed him.^(Q)

⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he [lied and] said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰ The Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s [innocent] blood is crying out to Me from the ground [for justice].^{(R) 11} And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s [shed] blood from your hand.^{(S) 12} When you cultivate the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength [it will resist producing good crops] for you; you shall be a fugitive and a vagabond [roaming aimlessly] on the earth [in perpetual exile without a home, a degraded outcast].” ¹³ Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴ Behold, You have driven me out this day from the face of the land; and from Your face (presence) I will be hidden, and I will be a fugitive and an [aimless] vagabond on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” ¹⁵ And the Lord said to him, “^[ae]Therefore, whoever kills Cain, a sevenfold vengeance [that is, punishment seven times worse] shall be taken on him [by Me].” And the Lord set a [protective] ^[af]mark (sign) on Cain, so that no one who found (met) him would kill him.^(T)

¹⁶ So Cain went away from the [manifested] presence of the Lord, and lived in the land of Nod [wandering in exile], east of Eden.

¹⁷ Cain knew his ^[ag]wife [one of Adam’s descendants] and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch; and Cain built a city and named it Enoch, after the name of his son. ¹⁸ Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad became the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael became the father of Methushael, and Methushael became the father of Lamech. ¹⁹ And Lamech took for himself two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal; he became the father of those [nomadic herdsmen] who live in tents and have cattle and raise livestock. ²¹ His brother’s name was Jubal; he became the father of all those [musicians] who play the lyre and flute. ²² Zillah gave birth to Tubal-cain, the smith (craftsman) and teacher of every artisan in instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

²³ Lamech said to his wives,

²⁵ Adam knew [Eve as] his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for [she said], “God has granted another child for me in place of Abel, because Cain killed him.” ²⁶ To Seth, also, a son was born, whom he named Enosh (mortal man, mankind). At that [same] time men began to call on the name of the Lord [in worship through prayer, praise, and thanksgiving].^(U)

Descendants of Adam

5 This is the book (the written record, the history) of the generations of [the descendants of] Adam. When God created man, He made him in the likeness of God [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]. ² He created them male and female, and blessed them and named them ^[ai]Mankind at the time they were created.

³ When Adam had lived a hundred and thirty years, he ^[aj]became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. ⁴ After he became the father of Seth, Adam lived eight hundred years and had other sons and daughters. ⁵ So Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years in all, and he died.

⁶ When Seth was a hundred and five years old, he became the father of Enosh. ⁷ Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after the birth of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters. ⁸ So Seth lived nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.

⁹ When Enosh was ninety years old, he became the father of Kenan. ¹⁰ Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years after the birth of Kenan and had other sons and daughters. ¹¹ So Enosh lived nine hundred and five years, and he died.

¹² When Kenan was seventy years old, he became the father of Mahalalel. ¹³ Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years after the birth of Mahalalel and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁴ So Kenan lived nine hundred and ten years, and he died.

¹⁵ When Mahalalel was sixty-five years old, he became the father of Jared. ¹⁶ Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years after the birth of Jared and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁷ So Mahalalel lived eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died.

¹⁸ When Jared was a hundred and sixty-two years old, he became the father of Enoch. ¹⁹ Jared lived eight hundred years after the birth of Enoch and had other sons and daughters. ²⁰ So Jared lived nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died.

²¹ When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he became the father of Methuselah. ²² Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God three hundred years after the birth of Methuselah and had other sons and daughters. ²³ So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. ²⁴ And [in reverent fear and obedience] Enoch walked with God; and he was not [found among men], because God took him [away to be home with Him].^(V)

²⁵ When Methuselah was a hundred and eighty-seven years old, he became the father of Lamech. ²⁶ Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after the birth of Lamech and had other sons and daughters. ²⁷ So Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died.

²⁸ When Lamech was a hundred and eighty-two years old, he became the father of a son. ²⁹ He named him Noah, saying, “This one shall bring us rest and comfort from our work and from the [dreadful] toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord cursed.” ³⁰ Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after the birth of Noah and had other sons and daughters. ³¹ So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died.

³² After Noah was five hundred years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

The Corruption of Mankind

6 Now it happened, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, ² that the ^[ak]sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and desirable; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose and desired. ³ Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive and remain with man forever, because he is indeed flesh [sinful, corrupt—given over to sensual appetites]; nevertheless his days shall yet be ^[al]a hundred and twenty years.” ⁴ 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).^(W)

⁵ The Lord saw that the wickedness (depravity) of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination or intent of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually. ⁶ The Lord ^[am]regretted that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was [deeply] grieved in His heart. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will destroy (annihilate) mankind whom I have created from the surface of the earth—not only man, but the animals and the crawling things and the birds of the air—because it [deeply] grieves Me [to see mankind’s sin] and I regret that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor and grace in the eyes of the Lord.

⁹ These are the records of the generations (family history) of Noah. Noah was a righteous man [one who was just and had right standing with God], blameless in his [evil] generation; Noah walked (lived) [in habitual fellowship] with God. ¹⁰ Now Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹¹ The [population of the] earth was corrupt [absolutely depraved—spiritually and morally putrid] in God’s sight, and the land was filled with violence [desecration, infringement, outrage, assault, and lust for power]. ¹² God looked on the earth and saw how debased and degenerate it was, for all humanity had corrupted their way on the earth and lost their true direction.

¹³ God said to Noah, “I intend to make an end of all that lives, for through men the land is filled with violence; and behold, I am about to ^[an]destroy them together with the land. ¹⁴ Make yourself an ^[ao]ark of ^[ap]gopher wood; make in it rooms (stalls, pens, coops, nests, cages, compartments) and ^[aq]coat it inside and out with pitch (bitumen). ¹⁵ This is the way you are to make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits (450’ x 75’ x 45’). ¹⁶ You shall make a ^[ar]window [for light and ventilation] for the ark, and finish it to at least a cubit (eighteen inches) from the top—and set the [entry] door of the ark in its side; and you shall make it with lower, second and third decks. ¹⁷ For behold, I, even I, will bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy all life under the heavens in which there is the breath and spirit of life; everything that is on the land shall die. ¹⁸ But I will establish My covenant (solemn promise, formal agreement) with you; and you shall come into the ark—you and your [three] sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹ And of every living thing [found on land], you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. ²⁰ Of fowls and birds according to their kind, of animals according to their kind, of every crawling thing of the ground according to its kind—two of every kind shall come to you to keep them alive. ²¹ Also take with you every kind of food that is edible, and you shall collect and store it; and it shall be food for you and for them.” ²² So Noah did this; according to all that God commanded him, that is what he did.

The Flood

7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you with all your household, for you [alone] I have seen as righteous (doing what is right) before Me in this generation.^{(X) 2} Of every ^[as]clean animal you shall take with you seven pair, the male and his female, and of animals that are not clean, two each the male and his female;^{(Y) 3} also of the birds of the air, seven pair, the male and the female, to keep the offspring alive on the surface of the earth. ⁴ For in seven days I am going to cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy (blot out, wipe away) every living thing that I have made from the surface of the earth.” ⁵ So Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.^(Z)

⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the flood (deluge) of water came on the earth [covering all of the land]. ⁷ Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark to escape the flood waters.^{(AA) 8} Of ^[at]clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and fowls and everything that crawls on the ground, ⁹ they came [motivated by God] into the ark with Noah two by two, the male and the female, just as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And after the seven days [God released the rain and] the floodwaters came on the earth. ¹¹ 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. ¹² It rained on the earth for forty days and forty nights.

¹³ On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, ¹⁴ they and every animal according to its kind, all the livestock according to their kinds, every moving thing that crawls on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every winged thing of every sort. ¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ Those which entered, male and female of all flesh (creatures), entered as God had commanded Noah; and the Lord closed the door behind him.

¹⁷ The flood [the great downpour of rain] was forty days and nights on the earth; and the waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it floated [high] above the land. ¹⁸ The waters became mighty and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. ¹⁹ 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. ²⁰ [In fact] the waters became ^[au]fifteen cubits higher [than the highest ground], and the mountains were covered. ²¹ All living beings that moved on the earth perished—birds and cattle (domestic animals), [wild] animals, all things that swarm and crawl on the earth, and all mankind. ²² Everything on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath and spirit of life, died. ²³ 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.^{(AB) 24} The waters covered [all of] the earth for a hundred and fifty days (five months).

The Flood Abates

8 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. ² Also the fountains of the deep [subterranean waters] and the windows of the heavens were closed, the [pouring] rain from the sky was restrained, ³ and the waters receded steadily from the earth. At the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters had diminished. ⁴ On the seventeenth day of the seventh month [five months after the rain began], the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat [in ^[av]Turkey]. ⁵ The waters continued to decrease until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen.

⁶ At the end of [another] forty days Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made; ⁷ and he sent out a raven, which flew here and there until the waters were dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then Noah sent out a dove to see if the water level had fallen below the surface of the land. ⁹ 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. ¹⁰ He waited another seven days and again sent the dove out from the ark. ¹¹ The dove came back to him in the evening, and there, in her beak, was a fresh olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water level had subsided from the earth. ¹² Then he waited another seven days and sent out the dove, but she did not return to him again.

¹³ 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. ¹⁴ On the twenty-seventh day of the second month the land was [entirely] dry. ¹⁵ And God spoke to Noah, saying, ¹⁶ “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing from all flesh—birds and animals and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth—that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah went out, and his wife and his sons and their wives with him [after being in the ark one year and ten days]. ¹⁹ Every animal, every crawling thing, every bird—and whatever moves on the land—went out by families (types, groupings) from the ark.

²⁰ And Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every [ceremonially] clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma [a soothing, satisfying scent] and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intent (strong inclination, desire) of man’s heart is wicked from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.

Covenant of the Rainbow

9 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ² The fear and the terror of you shall be [instinctive] in every animal of the land and in every bird of the air; and together with everything that moves on the ground, and with all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hand. ³ Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; I give you everything, as I gave you the green plants and vegetables. ⁴ But you shall not eat meat along with its life, that is, its blood.^{(AC) 5} For your lifeblood I will most certainly require an accounting; from every animal [that kills a person] I will require it. And from man, from every man’s brother [that is, anyone who murders] I will require the life of man.^(AD)

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, ⁹ “Now behold, I am establishing My covenant (binding agreement, solemn promise) with you and with your descendants after you ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you—the birds, the livestock, and the wild animals of the earth along with you, of everything that comes out of the ark—every living creature of the earth. ¹¹ I will establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the water of a flood, nor shall there ever again be a flood to destroy and ruin the earth.” ¹² And God said, “This is the token (visible symbol, memorial) of the [solemn] covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations; ¹³ I set My rainbow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall come about, when I bring clouds over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the clouds, ¹⁵ and I will [compassionately] remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again will the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ When the rainbow is in the clouds and I look at it, I will [solemnly] remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, “This [rainbow] is the sign of the covenant (solemn pledge, binding agreement) which I have established between Me and all living things on the earth.”

¹⁸ The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth. Ham would become the father of Canaan. ¹⁹ These are the three sons of Noah, and from these [men] the whole earth was populated and scattered with inhabitants.

²⁰ And Noah began to farm and cultivate the ground and he planted a vineyard. ²¹ He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he was uncovered and lay exposed inside his tent. ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, saw [by accident] the nakedness of his father, and [to his father’s shame] told his two brothers outside. ²³ 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. ²⁴ When Noah awoke from his wine [induced stupor], he knew what his younger son [Ham] had done to him. ²⁵ So he said,

²⁶ He also said,

²⁸ Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. ²⁹ So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

Descendants of Noah

10 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:

² the sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras; ³ the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah; ⁴ the sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. ⁵ From these, [the people of] the coastlands of the nations were separated and spread into their lands, every one ^[ba]according to his own language, according to their constituent groups (families), and into their nations:

⁶ the sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim [from whom descended the Egyptians], Put, and Canaan; ⁷ the sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah; Sheba and Dedan. ⁸ Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. ⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” ¹⁰ The beginning of his kingdom was ^[bb]Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar [in Babylonia]. ¹¹ From that land Nimrod went to Assyria, and built Nineveh, and Rehoboth-Ir, and Calah, ¹² and [Nimrod built] Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah; all these [combined to form] the great city [Nineveh].^{(AG) 13} Mizraim [the ancestor of the Egyptians] became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim ¹⁴ and Pathrusim and Casluhim—from whom came the Philistines—and Caphtorim.

¹⁵ Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth ¹⁶ and the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite ¹⁷ and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite ¹⁸ and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad. ¹⁹ The territory of the Canaanite extended from Sidon as one goes to Gerar, as far as Gaza; and as one goes to ^[bc]Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. ²⁰ These are the descendants of Ham according to their constituent groups, according to their languages, by their lands, and by their nations.

²¹ Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber [including the Hebrews], the ^[bd]older brother of Japheth, children were born. ²² The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud and Aram; ²³ the sons of Aram [ancestor of the Syrians]: Uz, Hul, Gether and ^[be]Mash. ²⁴ Arpachshad became the father of Shelah; and Shelah became the father of Eber. ²⁵ 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. ²⁶ Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ and Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ and ^[bf]Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ and Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰ Now their territory extended from Mesha as one goes toward Sephar, to the hill country of the east. ³¹ These are Shem’s descendants according to their constituent groups (families), according to their languages, by their lands, according to their nations.

³² These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their descendants, by their nations; and from these [people] the nations were separated and spread abroad on the earth after the flood.^(AH)

Universal Language, Babel, Confusion

11 Now the whole earth ^[bg]spoke one language and used the same words (vocabulary). ² And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they settled there.^{(AI) 3} They said one to another, “Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly [in a kiln, to harden and strengthen them].” So they used brick for stone [as building material], and they used tar (bitumen, asphalt) for mortar. ⁴ They said, “Come, let us build a city for ourselves, and a tower whose top will reach into the heavens, and let us make a [famous] name for ourselves, so that we will not be scattered [into separate groups] and be dispersed over the surface of the entire earth [as the Lord instructed].”^{(AJ) 5} Now the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one [unified] people, and they all have the same language. This is only the beginning of what they will do [in rebellion against Me], and now no evil thing they imagine they can do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) go down and there confuse and mix up their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the surface of the entire earth; and they stopped building the city. ⁹ Therefore the name of the city was ^[bh]Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the entire earth; and from that place the Lord scattered and dispersed them over the surface of all the earth.

Descendants of Shem

¹⁰ These are the records of the generations of Shem [from whom Abraham descended]. Shem was a hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the flood. ¹¹ And Shem lived five hundred years after Arpachshad was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹² When Arpachshad had lived thirty-five years, he became the father of Shelah. ¹³ Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after Shelah was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ When Shelah had lived thirty years, he became the father of Eber. ¹⁵ Shelah lived four hundred and three years after Eber was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ When Eber had lived thirty-four years, he became the father of Peleg. ¹⁷ And Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after Peleg was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ When Peleg had lived thirty years, he became the father of Reu. ¹⁹ And Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after Reu was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

²⁰ When Reu had lived thirty-two years, he became the father of Serug. ²¹ And Reu lived two hundred and seven years after Serug was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

²² When Serug had lived thirty years, he became the father of Nahor. ²³ And Serug lived two hundred years after Nahor was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

²⁴ When Nahor had lived twenty-nine years, he became the father of Terah. ²⁵ And Nahor lived a hundred and nineteen years after Terah was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

²⁶ After Terah had lived seventy years, he became the father of ^[bi]Abram and Nahor and Haran [his firstborn].

²⁷ Now these are the records of the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram (Abraham), Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. ²⁸ Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in ^[bj]Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai (later called Sarah), and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ But Sarai was barren; she did not have a child.

³¹ Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together to go from Ur of the Chaldeans into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran [about five hundred and fifty miles northwest of Ur], they settled there. ³² Terah lived two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.

Abram Journeys to Egypt

12 Now [in Haran] the Lord had said to Abram,

⁴ So Abram departed [in faithful obedience] as the Lord had directed him; and Lot [his nephew] left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵ Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had acquired, and the people (servants) which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶ Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the [great] terebinth (oak) tree of Moreh. Now the ^[bl]Canaanites were in the land at that time. ⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” So Abram built an altar there to [honor] the Lord who had appeared to him. ⁸ Then he moved on from there 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 [in worship through prayer, praise, and thanksgiving]. ⁹ Then Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev (the South country of Judah).

¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt to live temporarily, for the famine in the land was oppressive and severe. ¹¹ And when he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “Listen: I know that you are ^[bm]a beautiful woman; ¹² so when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me [to acquire you], but they will let you live. ¹³ Please tell them that you are ^[bn]my sister so that things will go well for me for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you.” ¹⁴ And when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was very beautiful. ¹⁵ Pharaoh’s princes (officials) also saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken [for the purpose of marriage] into Pharaoh’s house (harem). ¹⁶ Therefore Pharaoh treated Abram well for her sake; he acquired sheep, oxen, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord punished Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸ Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this that you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her and go!” ²⁰ So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him on his way, with his wife and all that he had.

Abram and Lot

13 So Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot [his nephew] with him, into the Negev (the South country of Judah).

² Now Abram was extremely rich in livestock and in silver and in gold. ³ He journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ where he had first built an altar; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord [in prayer].^{(AM) 5} But Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶ 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. ⁷ 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].

⁸ So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife and disagreement between you and me, nor between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, because we are relatives. ⁹ Is not the entire land before you? Please separate [yourself] from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or if you choose the right, then I will go to the left.” ¹⁰ So Lot looked and saw that the valley of the Jordan was well watered everywhere—this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; [it was all] like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar [at the south end of the Dead Sea]. ¹¹ Then Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and he traveled east. So they separated from each other. ¹² Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot settled in the cities of the valley and camped as far as Sodom and lived there. ¹³ But the men of Sodom were extremely wicked and sinful against the Lord [unashamed in their open sin before Him].

¹⁴ The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had left him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are standing, northward and southward and eastward and westward; ¹⁵ for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever.^{(AN) 16} I will make your descendants [as numerous] as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could count the [grains of] dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be counted.^{(AO) 17} Arise, walk (make a thorough reconnaissance) around in the land, through its length and its width, for I will give it to you.” ¹⁸ Then Abram broke camp and moved his tent, and came and settled by the [grove of the great] terebinths (oak trees) of Mamre [the Amorite], which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to [honor] the Lord.

War of the Kings

14 In the days of the [Eastern] kings Amraphel of Shinar, Arioch of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer of Elam, and Tidal of Goiim, ² they [invaded the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea, and] made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela ^[bo](that is, Zoar). ³ All of these [kings] joined together [as allies] in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Sea of Salt). ⁴ Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer [the most powerful king in the invading confederacy], but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. ⁵ 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, ⁶ and the Horites in their mountainous country of Seir, as far as El-paran, which is on the border of the wilderness. ⁷ Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and subdued all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar. ⁸ Then the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela (that is, Zoar) came out; and they joined together for battle with the invading kings in the Valley of Siddim, ⁹ against Chedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goiim and Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ Then the victors took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply and provisions and left. ¹² And they also took [captive] Lot, Abram’s nephew, and his possessions and left, for he was living in Sodom.

¹³ Then a survivor who had escaped [from the invading forces on the other side of the Jordan] came and told Abram the ^[bp]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. ¹⁴ When Abram heard that his nephew [Lot] had been captured, he armed and led out his trained men, born in his own house, [numbering] three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far [north] as Dan. ¹⁵ He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and attacked and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. ¹⁶ And he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his nephew Lot and his possessions, and also the women, and the people.

Abram and Melchizedek

¹⁷ 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). ^18 [bq]Melchizedek king of Salem (ancient Jerusalem) brought out bread and wine [for them]; he was the priest of ^[br]God Most High. ¹⁹ And Melchizedek blessed Abram and said,

And Abram gave him a tenth of all [the treasure he had taken in battle].^{(AP) 21} The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods (spoils of battle) for yourself.” ²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand and sworn an oath to the Lord God Most High, the Creator and Possessor of heaven and earth, ²³ that I would not take anything that is yours, from a thread to a sandal strap, so you could not say, ‘I [the King of Sodom] have made Abram rich.’ ²⁴ I will take nothing except what my young men have eaten, and the share of the spoils belonging to the men [my allies] who went with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share of the spoils.”

Abram Promised a Son

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,

² Abram said, “Lord ^[bs]God, what reward will You give me, since I am [leaving this world] childless, and he who will be the owner and heir of my house is this [servant] Eliezer from Damascus?” ³ And Abram continued, “Since You have given no child to me, one (a servant) born in my house is my heir.” ⁴ Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man [Eliezer] will not be your heir but he who shall come from your own body shall be your heir.” ⁵ And the Lord brought Abram outside [his tent into the night] and said, “Look now toward the heavens and count the stars—if you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “So [numerous] shall your descendants be.”^{(AQ) 6} Then Abram believed in (affirmed, trusted in, relied on, remained steadfast to) the Lord; and He counted (credited) it to him ^[bt]as righteousness (doing right in regard to God and man).^{(AR) 7} And He said to him, “I am the [same] Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land as an inheritance.” ⁸ But Abram said, “Lord ^[bu]God, by what [proof] will I know that I will inherit it?” ⁹ So God said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ So Abram brought all these to Him and ^[bv]cut them down the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. ¹¹ The birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

¹² When the sun was setting, a deep sleep overcame Abram; and a horror (terror, shuddering fear, nightmare) of great darkness overcame him. ¹³ God said to Abram, “Know for sure that your descendants will be strangers [living temporarily] in a land (Egypt) that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.^{(AS) 14} But on that nation whom your descendants will serve I will bring judgment, and afterward they will come out [of that land] with great possessions.^{(AT) 15} As for you, you shall [die and] go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ Then in the ^[bw]fourth generation your descendants shall return here [to Canaan, the land of promise], for the wickedness and guilt of the ^[bx]Amorites is not yet complete (finished).”^(AU)

¹⁷ When the sun had gone down and a [deep] darkness had come, there appeared a smoking ^[by]brazier and a flaming torch which passed between the [divided] pieces [of the animals].^{(AV) 18} On the same day the Lord made a covenant (promise, pledge) with Abram, saying,

¹⁹ [the land of] the Kenites and the Kenizzites and the Kadmonites ²⁰ and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Rephaim, ²¹ the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

Sarai and Hagar

16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him any children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. ² So Sarai said to Abram, “See here, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. I am asking you to go in to [the bed of] my maid [so that she may bear you a child]; perhaps I will ^[bz]obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to Sarai and did as she said. ³ After Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian [maid], and gave her to her husband Abram to be his [secondary] wife. ⁴ He went in to [the bed of] Hagar, and she conceived; and when she realized that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress [regarding Sarai as insignificant because of her infertility]. ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “May [the responsibility for] the wrong done to me [by the arrogant behavior of Hagar] be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, and when she realized that she had conceived, I was despised and looked on with disrespect. May the Lord judge [who has done right] between you and me.” ⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your maid is entirely in your hands and subject to your authority; do as you please with her.” So Sarai treated her harshly and humiliated her, and Hagar fled from her.

⁷ But ^[ca]the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, on the road to [Egypt by way of] Shur. ⁸ And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where did you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” ⁹ The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit ^[cb]humbly to her authority.” ¹⁰ Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” ¹¹ The Angel of the Lord continued,

¹³ Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are ^[cc]God Who Sees”; for she said, “Have I not even here [in the wilderness] remained alive after ^[cd]seeing Him [who sees me with understanding and compassion]?” ¹⁴ Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi (Well of the Living One Who Sees Me); it is ^[ce]between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son; and Abram named his son, to whom Hagar gave birth, ^[cf]Ishmael (God hears). ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the ^[cg]Lord appeared to him and said,

³ Then Abram fell on his face [in worship], and God spoke with him, saying,

⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and ^[ci]kings will come from you. ⁷ 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.^{(AW) 8} I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger [moving from place to place], all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession [of property]; and I will be their God.”^(AX)

⁹ Further, God said to Abraham, “As for you [your part of the agreement], you shall keep and faithfully obey [the terms of] My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰ This is [the sign of] My covenant, which you shall keep and faithfully obey, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be the sign (symbol, memorial) of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² Every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, [including] a servant whether born in the house or one who is purchased with [your] money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants. ¹³ A servant who is born in your house or one who is purchased with your money must be circumcised; and [the sign of] My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ And the male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵ Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai (my princess), but her name will be Sarah (^[cj]Princess). ¹⁶ I will bless her, and indeed I will also give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” ¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael [my firstborn] might live before You!” ¹⁹ But God said, “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed, and you shall name him Isaac (laughter); and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard and listened to you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will greatly multiply him [through his descendants]. He will be the father of twelve princes (chieftains, sheiks), and I will make him a great nation.^{(AY) 21} But My covenant [My promise, My solemn pledge], I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.” ²² And God finished speaking with him and went up from Abraham.

²³ 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. ²⁴ So Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised. ²⁵ And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised. ²⁶ On the very same day Abraham was circumcised, as well as Ishmael his son. ²⁷ 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].

Birth of Isaac Promised

18 Now the Lord appeared to Abraham by the terebinth trees of Mamre [in Hebron], while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. ² When he raised his eyes and looked up, behold, three men were standing [a little distance] from him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed down [with his face] to the ground, ³ and Abraham said, “My ^[ck]lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass by your servant [without stopping to visit]. ⁴ Please let a little water be brought [by one of my servants] and [you may] wash your feet, and recline and rest comfortably under the tree. ⁵ And I will bring a piece of bread to refresh and sustain ^[cl]you; after that you may go on, since you have come to your servant.” And they replied, “Do as you have said.” ⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly, get ready three ^[cm]measures of fine meal, knead it and bake cakes.” ⁷ Abraham also ran to the herd and brought a calf, tender and choice, and he gave it to the servant [to butcher], and he hurried to prepare it. ⁸ Then he took ^[cn]curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before the men; and he stood beside them under the tree while they ate.

⁹ Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” ¹⁰ He said, “I will surely return to you at this ^[co]time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.^{(AZ) 11} Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in years; she was past [the age of] childbearing. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself [when she heard the Lord’s words], saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure and delight, my lord (husband) being also old?”^{(BA) 13} And the Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh [to herself], saying, ‘Shall I really give birth [to a child] when I am so old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too difficult or too wonderful for the ^[cp]Lord? At the appointed time, when the season [for her delivery] comes, I will return to you and Sarah will have a son.”^{(BB) 15} Then Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh”; because she was afraid. And He (the Lord) said, “No, but you did laugh.”

¹⁶ Then the men got up from there, and looked toward Sodom; and Abraham walked with them to send them on the way. ¹⁷ The Lord said, “Shall I keep secret from Abraham [My friend and servant] what I am going to do,^{(BC) 18} since Abraham ^[cq]is destined to become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him?^{(BD) 19} For I have known (chosen, acknowledged) him [as My own], so that he may teach and command his children and [the sons of] his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is righteous and just, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has promised him.” ²⁰ And the Lord said, “The outcry [of the sin] of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. ²¹ I will go down now, and see whether they have acted [as vilely and wickedly] as the outcry which has come to Me [indicates]; and if not, I will know.”

²² Now the [two] men (angelic beings) turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. ²³ Abraham approached [the Lord] and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous (those who do right) with the wicked (those who do evil)? ²⁴ Suppose there are fifty righteous [people] within the city; will You really sweep it away and not spare it for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ Far be it from You to do ^[cr]such a thing—to strike the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right [by executing just and righteous judgment]?” ²⁶ So the Lord said, “If I find within the city of Sodom fifty righteous [people], then I will spare the entire place for their sake.” ²⁷ Abraham answered, “Now behold, I who am but dust [in origin] and ashes have decided to speak to the Lord.^{(BE) 28} If five of the fifty righteous are lacking, will You destroy the entire city for lack of five?” And He said, “If I find [at least] forty-five [righteous people] there, I will not destroy it.” ²⁹ Abraham spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose [only] forty are found there.” And He said, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty [who are righteous].” ³⁰ Then Abraham said [to Him], “Oh, may the Lord not be angry, and I will speak; suppose thirty [righteous people] are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” ³¹ And he said, “Now behold, I have decided to speak to the Lord [again]. Suppose [only] twenty [righteous people] are found there?” And the Lord said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.” ³² Then Abraham said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry [with me], and I will speak only this once; suppose ten [righteous people] are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.” ³³ As soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham the Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his own place.

The Doom of Sodom

19 It was evening when the two angels came to Sodom. Lot was sitting at Sodom’s [^[cs]city] gate. Seeing them, Lot got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. ² And he said, “See here, my lords, please turn aside and come into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may get up early and go on your way.” But they said, “No, we shall spend the night in the open plaza [of the city].” ³ However, Lot strongly urged them, so they turned aside and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them [with wine], and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴ But before they lay down [to sleep], the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house, ^[ct]all the men from every quarter; ⁵ and they called out to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may know them [intimately].” ⁶ But Lot went out of the doorway to the men, and shut the door after him, ⁷ and said, “Please, my brothers, do not do something so wicked. ⁸ See here, I have two daughters who have not known a man [intimately]; please let me bring them out to you [instead], and you can do as you please with them; only do nothing to these men, because they have in fact come under the shelter of my roof [for protection].” ⁹ But they said, “Get out of the way!” And they said, “This man (Lot) came [as an outsider] to live here temporarily, and now he is acting like a judge. Now we will treat you worse than your visitors!” So they rushed forward and pressed violently against ^[cu]Lot and came close to breaking down the door [of his house]. ¹⁰ But the men (angels) reached out with their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door [after him]. ¹¹ 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.

¹² And the [two] men (angels) asked Lot, “Have you any others here [in Sodom]—a son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters? Whomever you have in the city, take them out of here; ¹³ for we are destroying this place, because the outcry [for judgment] against them has grown so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy and ruin it.” ¹⁴ 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.

¹⁵ When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot [to hurry], saying, “Get up! Take your wife and two daughters who are here [and go], or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But Lot hesitated and lingered. The men took hold of his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, because the Lord was merciful to him [for Abraham’s sake]; and they brought him out, and left him outside the city [with his family]. ¹⁷ When they had brought them outside, one [of the angels] said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, or stop anywhere in the entire valley; escape to the mountains [of Moab], or you will be consumed and swept away.” ¹⁸ But Lot said to them, “Oh no, [not that place] my lords! ¹⁹ Please listen, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness (mercy) to me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, because the disaster will overtake me and I will be killed. ²⁰ Now look, this town [in the distance] is near enough for us to flee to, and it is small [with only a few people]. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) so that my life will be saved.” ²¹ And the angel said to him, “Behold, I grant you this request also; I will not destroy this town of which you have spoken. ²² Hurry and take refuge there, for I cannot do anything [to punish Sodom] until you arrive there.” For this reason the town was named Zoar (few, small).

²³ The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained down brimstone (flaming sulfur) and fire on Sodom and on Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven, ²⁵ and He overthrew (demolished, ended) those cities, and the entire valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew on the ground. ²⁶ But Lot’s wife, from behind him, [foolishly, longingly] looked [back toward Sodom in an act of disobedience], and she ^[cv]became a pillar of salt.^(BF)

²⁷ Abraham started out early the next morning to the place where he [only the day before] had stood before the Lord; ²⁸ and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley [of the Dead Sea]; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of ^[cw]the land went up like the smoke of a kiln (pottery furnace).

²⁹ Now when God ravaged and destroyed the cities of the plain [of Siddim], He remembered Abraham [and for that reason], and He sent [Abraham’s nephew] Lot out of the midst of the destruction, when He destroyed the cities in which Lot had lived.

Lot Is Debased

³⁰ Now Lot went up from Zoar, and lived in the mountain together with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay [any longer] in Zoar; and he lived in a cave with his two daughters. ³¹ The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is aging, and there is not a man on earth [available] to be intimate with us in the customary way [so that we may have children]. ³² Come, let us make our father drunk with wine, and we will lie with him so that we may preserve our family through our father.” ³³ So they gave their father wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she got up [because he was completely intoxicated]. ³⁴ Then the next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay with my father last night; let us make him drunk with wine tonight also, and then you go in and lie with him, so that we may preserve our family through our father.” ³⁵ So they gave their father wine that night also, and the younger got up and lay with him; and again he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁶ Thus both the daughters of Lot conceived by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn gave birth to a son, and named him Moab (from father); he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ The younger also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-ammi (son of my people); he is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

Abraham’s Deception

20 Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the Negev (the South country), and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he lived temporarily in Gerar. ² Abraham ^[cx]said [again] of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So ^[cy]Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took ^[cz]Sarah [into his harem]. ³ But God came to Abimelech in a dream during the night, and said, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken [as your wife], for she is another man’s wife.” ⁴ Now Abimelech had not yet come near her; so he said, “Lord, will you kill a people who are righteous and innocent and blameless [regarding Sarah]? ⁵ Did Abraham not tell me, ‘She is my sister?’ And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.” ⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this in the integrity of your heart, for it was I who kept you back and spared you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not give you an opportunity to touch her. ⁷ So now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her [to him], know that you shall die, you and all who are yours (your household).”

⁸ So Abimelech got up early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things; and the men were terrified. ⁹ Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I offended you that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me what ought not to be done [to anyone].” ¹⁰ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you encountered or seen [in us or our customs], that you have done this [unjust] thing?” ¹¹ Abraham said, “Because I thought, ‘Surely there is no fear or reverence of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ ¹² Besides, she actually is my [half] sister; she is the daughter of my father [Terah], but not of my mother; and she became my wife. ¹³ When God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This kindness and loyalty you can show me: at every place we stop, say of me, “He is my brother.”’” ¹⁴ Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him [as God commanded]. ¹⁵ So Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; settle wherever you please.” ¹⁶ Then to Sarah he said, “Look, I have given this brother of yours a ^[da]thousand pieces of silver; it is to compensate you [for all that has happened] and to vindicate your honor before all who are with you; before all men you are cleared and compensated.” ¹⁷ So Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, and they again gave birth to children, ¹⁸ for the Lord had securely closed the wombs of all [the women] in Abimelech’s household because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.^(BG)

Isaac Is Born

21 The Lord graciously remembered and visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for her as He had promised. ² So Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. ³ Abraham named his son Isaac (laughter), the son to whom Sarah gave birth. ⁴ So Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, just as God had commanded him. ⁵ Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born. ⁶ Sarah said, “God has made me laugh; all who hear [about our good news] will laugh with me.” ⁷ And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have given birth to a son by him in his old age.”^(BH)

⁸ The child [Isaac] grew and was ^[db]weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah Turns against Hagar

⁹ Now [as time went on] Sarah saw [Ishmael] the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^[dc]mocking [Isaac].^{(BI) 10} Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.”^{(BJ) 11} The situation ^[dd]distressed Abraham greatly because of his son [Ishmael]. ¹² God said to Abraham, “Do not let it distress you because of Ishmael and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her and do what she asks, for your descendants will be named through Isaac.^{(BK) 13} And I will also make a nation of [Ishmael] the son of the maid, because he is your descendant.” ¹⁴ So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her ^[de]away. And she left [but lost her way] and wandered [aimlessly] in the Wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was all gone, Hagar abandoned the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me see the boy die.” And as she sat down opposite him, she raised her voice and wept. ¹⁷ God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy from where he is [resting]. ¹⁸ Get up, help the boy up, and hold him by the hand, for I will make him a great nation.” ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the [empty] skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰ God was with Ishmael, and he grew and developed; and he lived in the wilderness and became an [expert] archer. ²¹ He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Covenant with Abimelech

²² Now at that time Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do; ²³ so now, swear to me here by God that you will not deal unfairly with me [by breaking any agreements we have] or with my son or with my descendants, but as I have treated you with kindness, you shall do the same to me and to the land in which you have sojourned (temporarily lived).” ²⁴ And Abraham said, “I will swear.” ²⁵ Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water which the servants of Abimelech had [violently] seized [from him], ²⁶ Abimelech said, “I do not know who did this thing. Indeed, you did not tell me, and I did not hear of it until today.”

²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant (binding agreement). ²⁸ Then Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock, ²⁹ and Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set apart?” ³⁰ Abraham said, “You are to accept these seven ewe lambs from me as a witness for me, that I dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore that place was called Beersheba (Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), because there the two of them swore an oath. ³² So they made a covenant at Beersheba; then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, got up and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord [in prayer], ^[df]the Eternal God. ³⁴ And Abraham lived [as a resident alien] in the land of the Philistines for ^[dg]many days.

The Offering of Isaac

22 Now after these things, God tested [the faith and commitment of] Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.” ² God said, “Take now your son, your only son [of ^[dh]promise], whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of ^[di]Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” ³ So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and then he got up and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day [of travel] Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵ Abraham said to his servants, “Settle down and stay here with the donkey; the ^[dj]young man and I will go over there and worship [God], and we will come back to you.”^{(BL) 6} Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it ^[dk]on [the shoulders of] Isaac his son, and he took the ^[dl]fire (firepot) in his own hand and the [sacrificial] knife; and the two of them walked on together. ⁷ And Isaac said to Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” ⁸ Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself ^[dm]a lamb for the burnt offering.” So the two walked on together.

⁹ When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood, and bound Isaac his son and placed him on the altar, on top of the wood.^{(BM) 10} Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to ^[dn]kill his son.^{(BN) 11} But the ^[do]Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He answered, “Here I am.” ¹² The Lord said, “Do not reach out [with the knife in] your hand against the boy, and do nothing to [harm] him; for now I know that you fear God [with reverence and profound respect], since you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son [of promise].” ¹³ Then Abraham looked up and glanced around, 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 for a burnt offering (ascending sacrifice) instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham named that place ^[dp]The Lord Will Provide. And it is said to this day, “On the mountain of the Lord it ^[dq]will be seen and provided.”

¹⁵ The ^[dr]Angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time ¹⁶ and said, “By Myself (on the basis of Who I Am) I have sworn [an oath], declares the Lord, that since you have done this thing and have not withheld [from Me] your son, your only son [of promise], ¹⁷ indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies [as conquerors].^{(BO) 18} Through your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have heard and obeyed My voice.”^{(BP) 19} So Abraham returned to his servants, and they got up and went with him to Beersheba; and Abraham settled in Beersheba.

²⁰ Now after these things Abraham was told, “Milcah has borne children to your brother Nahor: ²¹ Uz the firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram, ²² Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.” ²³ Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight [children] Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ Nahor’s ^[ds]concubine, whose name was Reumah, gave birth to Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.

Death and Burial of Sarah

23 Sarah lived a hundred and twenty-seven years; this was the length of the life of Sarah. ² Sarah died in Kiriath-arba ^[dt](that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. ³ Then Abraham stood up before his dead [wife’s body], and spoke to the ^[du]sons of Heth (Hittites), saying, ⁴ “I am a stranger and a sojourner (resident alien) among you; give (sell) me property for a burial place among you so that I may bury my dead [in the proper manner].” ⁵ The Hittites replied to Abraham, ⁶ “Listen to us, my lord; you are a prince of God [a mighty prince] among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our graves; none of us will refuse you his grave or hinder you from burying your dead [wife].” ⁷ So Abraham stood up and bowed to the people of the land, the Hittites. ⁸ And Abraham said to them, “If you are willing to grant my dead a [proper] burial, listen to me, and plead with Ephron the son of Zohar for me, ⁹ so that he may give (sell) me the cave of Machpelah which he owns—it is at the end of his field; let him give it to me here in your presence for the full price as a burial site [which I may keep forever among you].” ¹⁰ Now Ephron was present there among the sons of Heth; so within the hearing of all the sons of Heth and all who were entering the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham, saying, ¹¹ “No, my lord, hear me; I ^[dv]give you the [entire] field, and I also give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of the men of my people I give (sell) it to you; bury your dead [there].” ¹² Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. ¹³ He said to Ephron in the presence of the people of the land, “If you will only please listen to me and accept my offer. I will give you the price of the field; accept it from me and I will bury my dead there.” ¹⁴ Ephron replied to Abraham, ¹⁵ “My lord, listen to me. The land [you seek] is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that between you and me? So bury your dead.” ¹⁶ So Abraham listened to Ephron [and agreed to his terms]; and he weighed out for Ephron the [amount of] silver which he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.

¹⁷ 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] ¹⁸ to Abraham as his possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who were entering at the gate of his city. ¹⁹ After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of ^[dw]Machpelah to the east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰ The field and the cave in it were deeded over to Abraham by the Hittites as a [permanent] possession and burial place.

A Bride for Isaac

24 Now Abraham was old, [well] advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. ² Abraham said to his servant [Eliezer of Damascus], the oldest of his household, who had charge over all that Abraham owned, “Please, put your hand under my thigh [as is customary for affirming a solemn oath],^{(BQ) 3} and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, ⁴ but you will [instead] go to my [former] country (Mesopotamia) and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac [the heir of the covenant promise].” ⁵ The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman will not be willing to follow me back to this country; should I take your son back to the country from which you came?” ⁶ Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there! ⁷ The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house, from the land of my family and my birth, who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give this land’—He will send His angel before you [to guide you], and you will take a wife from there for my son [and bring her here]. ⁸ If the woman is not willing to follow you [to this land], then you will be free from this my oath and blameless; only you must never take my son back there.” ⁹ So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

¹⁰ Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels, and set out, taking some of his master’s good things with him; so he got up and journeyed to ^[dx]Mesopotamia [between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers], to the city of Nahor [the home of Abraham’s brother]. ¹¹ He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of the evening when women go out to draw water. ¹² And he said, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness (faithfulness) to my master Abraham. ¹³ Behold, I stand here at the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water; ¹⁴ now let it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please, let down your jar so that I may [have a] drink,’ and she replies, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels water to drink’—may she be the one whom You have selected [as a wife] for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness (faithfulness) to my master.”

Rebekah Is Chosen

¹⁵ Before Eliezer had finished speaking (praying), Rebekah came out with her [water] jar on her shoulder. Rebekah was the daughter of Bethuel the ^[dy]son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. ¹⁶ The girl was very beautiful, a virgin and unmarried; and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. ¹⁷ Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar.” ¹⁸ And she said, “Drink, my lord”; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink. ¹⁹ When she had given Eliezer a drink, she said, “I will also draw water for your camels until they have finished drinking.” ²⁰ So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran again to the well and drew water for all his camels. ²¹ Meanwhile, the man stood gazing at Rebekah in [reverent] silence, [waiting] to know if the Lord had made his trip successful or not.

²² When the camels had finished drinking, Eliezer took a gold ring weighing a half-shekel and two bracelets for her hands weighing ten shekels in gold, ²³ and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge?” ²⁴ And she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to [her husband] Nahor.” ²⁵ Again she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and also room to lodge.” ²⁶ The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord. ²⁷ He said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not denied His lovingkindness and His truth to my master. As for me, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brothers.”

²⁸ Then the girl ran and told her mother’s household what had happened. ²⁹ Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban; and Laban ran out to the man at the well. ³⁰ When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and when he heard Rebekah his sister, saying, “The man said this to me,” he went to Eliezer and found him standing by the camels at the spring. ³¹ And Laban said, “Come in, blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside since I have made the house ready and have prepared a place for the camels?” ³² 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. ³³ But when food was set before him, he said, “I will not eat until I have stated my business.” And Laban said, “Speak on.” ³⁴ So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. ³⁵ The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great (wealthy, powerful); He has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and maids, and camels and donkeys. ³⁶ Now Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was in her old age, and he has given everything that he has to him. ³⁷ My master made me swear [an oath], saying, ‘You must not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; ³⁸ but you shall [instead] go to my father’s house and to my family and take a wife for my son [Isaac].’ ³⁹ Then I said to my master, ‘But suppose the woman will not follow me [back to this land].’ ⁴⁰ He said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I walk [habitually and obediently], will send His angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s house; ⁴¹ then you will be free of my oath, when you come to my relatives; and if they do not give her to you, you will [also] be free of my oath.’

⁴² “I came today to the spring, and said, ‘O Lord, God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I go successful; ⁴³ please look, I am standing by the spring of water; now let it be that when the maiden [whom You have chosen for Isaac] comes out to draw [water], and to whom I say, “Please, give me a little water to drink from your jar”; ⁴⁴ and if she says to me, “You drink, and I will also draw [water] for your camels”; let that woman be the one whom the Lord has selected and chosen [as a wife] for my master’s son.’

⁴⁵ “Before I had finished praying in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her [water] jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. And I said to her, ‘Please, let me have a drink.’ ⁴⁶ And she quickly let down her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels’; so I drank, and she also watered the camels. ⁴⁷ Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him’; and I ^[dz]put the ring in her nose, and the bracelets on her arms. ⁴⁸ And I bowed down my head and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take the daughter of my master’s brother to his son [as a wife]. ⁴⁹ So now if you are going to show kindness and truth to my master [being faithful to him], tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right or to the left [and go on my way].”

⁵⁰ Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “The matter has come from the Lord; so we dare not speak bad or good [to you about it—we cannot interfere]. ⁵¹ Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken.”

⁵² When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the ground [in worship] before the Lord. ⁵³ Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold, and articles of clothing, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and her mother. ⁵⁴ 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.” ⁵⁵ But Rebekah’s brother and mother said, “Let the girl stay with us a few days—at least ten; then she may go.” ⁵⁶ But Eliezer said to them, “Do not delay me, since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away, so that I may go back to my master.” ⁵⁷ And they said, “We will call the girl and ask her ^[ea]what she prefers.” ⁵⁸ So they called Rebekah and said, “Will you go with this man?” And she answered, “I will go.” ⁵⁹ So they sent off their sister Rebekah and her nurse [Deborah, as her attendant] and Abraham’s servant [Eliezer] and his men. ⁶⁰ They blessed Rebekah and said to her,

⁶¹ Then Rebekah and her attendants ^[eb]stood, and they mounted camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and went on his way.

Isaac Marries Rebekah

⁶² Now Isaac had returned from going to Beer-lahai-roi (Well of the Living One Who Sees Me), for he was living in the ^[ec]Negev.^{(BR) 63} 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. ⁶⁴ Rebekah also raised her eyes and looked, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from her camel. ⁶⁵ She said to the servant, “Who is that man there walking across the field to meet us?” And the servant said, “He is my master [Isaac].” So she took a veil and covered herself [as was customary]. ⁶⁶ The servant told Isaac everything that he had done. ⁶⁷ Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took Rebekah [in marriage], and she became his wife, and he loved her; therefore Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Abraham’s Death

25 Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. ² She gave birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³ Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. ⁴ The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah. ⁵ Now Abraham gave ^[ed]everything that he had to Isaac; ⁶ but to the sons of his ^[ee]concubines [Hagar and Keturah], Abraham gave gifts while he was still living and he sent them to the east country, away from Isaac his son [of promise].

⁷ The days of Abraham’s life were a hundred and seventy-five years. ⁸ Then Abraham breathed his last and he died at a good old age, an old man who was satisfied [with life]; and he ^[ef]was gathered to his people [who had preceded him in death].^{(BS) 9} So his sons ^[eg]Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is east of Mamre, ¹⁰ the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth; there Abraham was buried with Sarah his wife. ¹¹ Now after the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac lived at Beer-lahai-roi.

Descendants of Ishmael

¹² Now ^[eh]these are the records of the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham; ¹³ and these are the names of the [twelve] sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their births: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴ Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶ These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their settlements, and by their encampments (sheepfolds); twelve princes (sheiks) according to their tribes.^{(BT) 17} Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years; then he breathed his last and died, and ^[ei]was gathered to his people [who had preceded him in death]. ¹⁸ Ishmael’s sons (descendants) settled from Havilah to Shur which is ^[ej]east of Egypt as one goes toward Assyria; he ^[ek]settled ^[el]opposite (east) of all his relatives.

Isaac’s Sons

¹⁹ Now these are the records of the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac. ²⁰ Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean (Syrian) of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean. ²¹ Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was unable to conceive children; and the Lord granted his prayer and Rebekah his wife conceived [twins]. ²² But the children struggled together within her [kicking and shoving one another]; and she said, “If it is so [that the Lord has heard our prayer], why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the Lord [praying for an answer]. ²³ The Lord said to her,

²⁴ When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵ The first came out reddish all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau (hairy). ²⁶ Afterward his brother came out, and his hand grasped Esau’s heel, so he was named Jacob (^[em]one who grabs by the heel, supplanter). Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

²⁷ When the boys grew up, Esau was an able and skilled hunter, a man of the outdoors, but Jacob was a quiet and peaceful man, living in tents. ²⁸ Now Isaac loved [and favored] Esau, because ^[en]he enjoyed eating his game, but Rebekah loved [and favored] Jacob. ²⁹ Jacob had cooked [reddish-brown lentil] stew [one day], when Esau came from the field and was famished; ³⁰ and Esau said to Jacob, “Please, let me have a quick swallow of that red stuff there, because I am exhausted and famished.” For that reason Esau was [also] called Edom (Red). ³¹ Jacob answered, “First sell me your ^[eo]birthright (the rights of a firstborn).” ³² Esau said, “Look, I am about to die [if I do not eat soon]; so of what use is this birthright to me?” ³³ Jacob said, “Swear [an oath] to me today [that you are selling it to me for this food]”; so he swore [an oath] to him, and sold him his birthright. ³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and got up and went on his way. In this way Esau scorned his birthright.^(BU)

Isaac Settles in Gerar

26 Now there was a famine in the land [of Canaan], besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to ^[ep]Abimelech king of the Philistines. ² The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I will tell you. ³ Live temporarily [as a resident] in this land and I will be with you and will bless and favor you, for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, and I will establish and carry out the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.^{(BV) 4} I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of the heavens, and will give to your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,^{(BW) 5} because Abraham listened to and obeyed My voice and [consistently] kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

⁶ So Isaac stayed in Gerar. ⁷ The men of the place asked him about his wife, and he said, “She is my ^[eq]sister,” for he was afraid to say, “my wife”—thinking, “the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, since she is very beautiful.” ⁸ It happened when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac ^[er]caressing Rebekah his wife. ⁹ Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “See here, Rebekah is in fact your wife! How did you [dare to] say to me, ‘She is my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I thought I might be killed because of her [desirability].” ¹⁰ Abimelech said, “What is this that you have done to us? One of the men [among our people] might easily have been intimate with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us [before God].” ¹¹ Then Abimelech commanded all his people, “Whoever touches this man [Isaac] or his wife [Rebekah] shall without exception be put to death.”

¹² Then Isaac planted [seed] in that land [as a farmer] and reaped in the same year a hundred times [as much as he had planted], and the Lord blessed and favored him. ¹³ And the man [Isaac] became great and gained more and more until he became very wealthy and extremely distinguished; ¹⁴ he owned flocks and herds and a great household [with a number of servants], and the Philistines envied him. ¹⁵ Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with dirt. ¹⁶ Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from here, because you are far too powerful for us.” ¹⁷ So Isaac left that region and camped in the Valley of Gerar, and settled there.

Quarrel over the Wells

¹⁸ Now Isaac again dug [and reopened] the wells of water which had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, because the Philistines had filled them up [with dirt] after the death of Abraham; and he gave the wells the same names that his father had given them. ¹⁹ But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of flowing [spring] water, ²⁰ the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours!” So Isaac named the well Esek (quarreling), because they quarreled with him. ²¹ Then his servants dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so Isaac named it Sitnah (enmity). ²² He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over that one; so he named it Rehoboth (broad places), saying, “For now the Lord has made ^[es]room for us, and we shall be ^[et]prosperous in the land.”

²³ Then he went up from there to Beersheba. ²⁴ The Lord appeared to him the same night and said,

²⁵ 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.

Covenant with Abimelech

²⁶ Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, his [close friend and confidential] adviser, and Phicol, the commander of his army. ²⁷ Isaac said to them, “Why have you [people] come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” ²⁸ They said, “We see clearly that the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘There should now be an oath between us [with a curse for the one who breaks it], that is, between you and us, and let us make a covenant (binding agreement, solemn promise) with you, ²⁹ that you will not harm us, just as we have not touched you and have done nothing but good to you and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed and favored of the Lord!’” ³⁰ Then Isaac held a [formal] banquet (covenant feast) for them, and they ate and drank. ³¹ They got up early in the morning and swore oaths [pledging to do nothing but good to each other]; and Isaac sent them on their way and they left him in peace. ³² Now on the same day, Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug, saying, “We have found water.” ³³ So he named the well ^[eu]Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.^(BX)

³⁴ When Esau was forty years old he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite as his wives; ³⁵ and they were a ^[ev]source of grief to [Esau’s parents] Isaac and Rebekah.

Jacob’s Deception

27 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.” ² Isaac said, “See here, I am old; ^[ew]I do not know ^[ex]when I may die. ³ So now, please take your [hunting] gear, your quiver [of arrows] and your bow, and go out into the open country and hunt game for me; ⁴ and make me a savory and delicious dish [of meat], the kind I love, and bring it to me to eat, so that my soul may bless you [as my firstborn son] before I die.”

⁵ But Rebekah overheard what Isaac said to Esau his son; and when Esau had gone to the open country to hunt for game that he might bring back, ⁶ Rebekah said to Jacob her [younger and favorite] son, “Listen carefully: I heard your father saying to Esau your brother, ⁷ ‘Bring me some game and make me a savory and delicious dish [of meat], so that I may eat it, and declare my blessing on you ^[ey]in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ ⁸ So now, my son, listen [carefully] to me [and do exactly] as I command you. ⁹ Go now to the flock and bring me two good and suitable young goats, and I will make them into a savory dish [of meat] for your father, the kind he loves [to eat]. ¹⁰ Then you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before his death.” ¹¹ Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Listen, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth [skinned] man. ¹² Suppose my father touches me and feels my skin; then I will be seen by him as a cheat (imposter), and I will bring his curse on me and not a blessing.” ¹³ But his mother said to him, “May your curse be on me, my son; only listen and obey me, and go, bring the young goats to me.” ¹⁴ So Jacob went and got the two young goats, and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared a delicious dish of food [with a delightful aroma], the kind his father loved [to eat]. ¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷ Then she gave her son Jacob the delicious meat and the bread which she had prepared.

¹⁸ So he went to his father and said, “My father.” And Isaac said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” ¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done what you told me to do. Now please, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me.” ²⁰ Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found the game so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the Lord your God caused it to come to me.” ²¹ But Isaac [wondered and] said to Jacob, “Please come close [to me] so that I may touch you, my son, and determine if you are really my son Esau or not.” ²² So Jacob approached Isaac, and his father touched him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³ He could not recognize him [as Jacob], because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. ²⁴ But he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” Jacob answered, “I am.” ²⁵ Then Isaac said, “Bring the food to me, and I will eat some of my son’s game, so that I may bless you.” He brought it to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine and he drank. ²⁶ Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come, my son, and kiss me.” ²⁷ So he came and kissed him; and Isaac smelled his clothing and blessed him and said,

The Stolen Blessing

³⁰ Now as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹ Esau also made a delicious dish [of meat] and brought it to his father and said to him, “Let my father get up and eat some of his son’s game, so that you may bless me.” ³² Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he replied, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” ³³ Then Isaac trembled violently, and he said, “Then who was the one [who was just here] who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I blessed him. Yes, and he [in fact] shall be (shall remain) blessed.” ³⁴ When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with a great and extremely bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!”^{(BZ) 35} Isaac said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has [fraudulently] taken away your blessing [for himself].” ³⁶ Esau replied, “Is he not rightly named ^[fa]Jacob (the supplanter)? For he has supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing. Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” ³⁷ But Isaac replied to Esau, “Listen carefully: I have made Jacob your lord and master; I have given him all his brothers and relatives as servants; and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then, can I do for you, my son?” ³⁸ Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” Then Esau [no longer able to restrain himself] raised his voice and wept [loudly].

³⁹ Then Isaac his father answered and [prophesied and] said to him,

⁴¹ So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are very near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” ⁴² 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. ⁴³ So now, my son, listen and do what I say; go, escape to my brother Laban in Haran! ⁴⁴ Stay with him for a while, until your brother’s anger subsides. ⁴⁵ When your brother’s anger toward you subsides and he forgets what you did to him, then ^[fb]I will send and bring you back from there. Why should I be deprived of you both in a single day?”

⁴⁶ Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth [these insolent wives of Esau]. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”^(CA)

Jacob Is Sent Away

28 So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, “You shall not marry one of the women of Canaan. ^2 [fc]Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take from there as a wife for yourself one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. ³ May ^[fd]God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a [great] company of peoples. ⁴ May He also give the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the [promised] land of your sojournings, which He gave to Abraham.” ⁵ Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶ Now Esau noticed that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to take a wife for himself from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a prohibition, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” ⁷ and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram. ⁸ So Esau realized that [his two wives] the daughters of Canaan displeased Isaac his father; ⁹ and [to appease his parents] Esau went to [the family of] Ishmael and took as his wife, in addition to the wives he [already] had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth [Ishmael’s firstborn son].

Jacob’s Dream

¹⁰ Now Jacob left Beersheba [never to see his mother again] and traveled toward Haran. ¹¹ And he came to a certain place and stayed overnight there because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down there [to sleep]. ¹² 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].^{(CB) 13} And behold, the Lord stood above and around him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your [father’s] father and the God of Isaac; I will give to you and to your descendants the land [of promise] on which you are lying. ¹⁴ Your descendants shall be as [countless as] the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and the east and the north and the south; and all the families (nations) of the earth shall be blessed through you and your ^[fe]descendants.^{(CC) 15} Behold, I am with you and will keep [careful watch over you and guard] you wherever you may go, and I will bring you back to this [promised] land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” ¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and he said, “Without any doubt the Lord is in this place, and I did not realize it.” ¹⁷ So he was afraid and said, “How fearful and awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gateway to heaven.”

¹⁸ So Jacob got up early in the morning, and took the stone he had put under his head and he set it up as a pillar [that is, a monument to the vision in his dream], and he poured [olive] oil on the top of it [to ^[ff]consecrate it]. ¹⁹ He named that place Bethel (the house of God); the previous name of that city was Luz (Almond Tree). ²⁰ Then Jacob made a vow (promise), saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and clothing to wear, ²¹ and if [He grants that] I return to my father’s house in safety, then the Lord will be my God. ²² This stone which I have set up as a pillar (monument, memorial) will be God’s house [a sacred place to me], and of everything that You give me I will give the tenth to You [as an offering to signify my gratitude and dependence on You].”^(CD)

Jacob Meets Rachel

29 Then Jacob ^[fg]went on his way and came to the land of the people of the East [near Haran]. ² 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, ³ 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.

⁴ Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from Haran.” ⁵ So he said to them, “Do you know Laban the grandson of Nahor [Abraham’s brother]?” And they replied, “We know him.” ⁶ And he asked them, “^[fh]Is it well with him?” And they said, “He is doing well; look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep!” ⁷ Jacob said, “Look, the sun is still high [overhead]; it is a long time before the flocks need to be gathered [in their folds for the night]. Water the sheep, and go, and return them to their pasture.” ⁸ But they said, “We cannot [leave] until all the flocks are gathered together, and the shepherds roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we will water the sheep.”

⁹ While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. ¹⁰ When Jacob saw [his cousin] Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and Laban’s sheep, he came up and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered the flock of Laban, his uncle. ¹¹ Then Jacob kissed Rachel [in greeting], and he raised his voice and wept. ¹² Jacob told Rachel he was her father’s relative, Rebekah’s son; and she ran and told her father.

¹³ When Laban heard of the arrival of Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, and embraced and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then he told Laban all these things. ¹⁴ Then Laban said to him, “You are my bone and my flesh.” And Jacob stayed with him a month.

¹⁵ Then Laban said to Jacob, “Just because you are my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me, what should your wages be?” ¹⁶ Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷ Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. ¹⁸ Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you [as a hired workman] for seven years [in return] for [the privilege of marrying] Rachel your younger daughter.” ¹⁹ Laban said, “It is better that I give her [in marriage] to you than give her to another man. Stay and work with me.” ²⁰ So Jacob served [Laban] for seven years for [the right to marry] Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

Laban’s Treachery

²¹ Finally, Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time [of service] is completed, so that I may take her to me [as my wife].” ²² So Laban gathered together all the men of the place and prepared a [wedding] ^[fi]feast [with wine]. ²³ But in the evening he took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob ^[fj]went in to [consummate the marriage with] her. ²⁴ Laban also gave Zilpah his maid to his daughter Leah as a maid. ²⁵ But in the morning [when Jacob awoke], it was Leah [who was with him]! And he said to Laban, “What is this that you have done to me? Did I not work for you [for seven years] for Rachel? Why have you deceived and betrayed me [like this]?” ²⁶ But Laban only said, “It is not ^[fk]the tradition here to give the younger [daughter in marriage] before the older. ²⁷ Finish the week [of the wedding feast] for Leah; then we will give you Rachel also, and in return you shall work for me for seven more years.” ²⁸ So Jacob complied and fulfilled Leah’s week [of celebration]; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his [second] wife. ²⁹ Laban also gave Bilhah his maid to his daughter Rachel as a maid. ³⁰ So Jacob consummated his marriage and lived with Rachel [as his wife], and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years.

³¹ Now when the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He ^[fl]made her able to bear children, but Rachel was barren. ³² Leah conceived and gave birth to a son and named him Reuben (See, a son!), for she said, “Because the Lord has seen my humiliation and suffering; now my husband will love me [since I have given him a son].” ³³ Then she conceived again and gave birth to a son and said, “Because the Lord heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon (God hears). ³⁴ She conceived again and gave birth to a son and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me [as a companion], for I have given him three sons.” Therefore he was named ^[fm]Levi. ³⁵ Again she conceived and gave birth to a [fourth] son, and she said, “Now I will praise the Lord.” So she named him ^[fn]Judah; then [for a time] she stopped bearing [children].

The Sons of Jacob

30 When Rachel saw that she conceived no children for Jacob, she envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.” ² Then Jacob became furious with Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has denied you children?” ³ She said, “Here, take my maid Bilhah and go in to her; and [when the baby comes] she shall ^[fo]deliver it [while sitting] on my knees, so that by her I may also have children [to count as my own].” ⁴ So she gave him Bilhah her maid as a [^[fp]secondary] wife, and Jacob went in to her. ⁵ Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob. ⁶ Then Rachel said, “God has judged and vindicated me, and has heard my plea and has given me a son [through my maid].” So she named him Dan (He judged). ⁷ Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, conceived again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. ⁸ So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings [in prayer to God] I have struggled with my sister and have prevailed.” So she named him Naphtali (my wrestlings).

⁹ When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing [children], she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as a [^[fq]secondary] wife. ¹⁰ Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave birth to a son for Jacob. ¹¹ Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad (good fortune). ¹² Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave birth to a second son for Jacob. ¹³ Then Leah said, “I am happy! For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher (happy).

¹⁴ Now at the time of wheat harvest Reuben [the eldest child] went and found some ^[fr]mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁵ But Leah answered, “Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Jacob shall sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁶ When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep with me [tonight], for I have in fact hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night. ¹⁷ God listened and answered [the prayer of] Leah, and she conceived and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. ¹⁸ Then Leah said, “God has given me my reward because I have given my maid to my husband.” So she named him ^[fs]Issachar. ¹⁹ Leah conceived again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob. ²⁰ Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good [marriage] gift [for my husband]; now he will live with me [regarding me with honor as his wife], because I have given birth to six sons.” So she named him ^[ft]Zebulun. ²¹ Afterward she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

²² Then God remembered [the prayers of] Rachel, and God thought of her and opened her womb [so that she would conceive]. ²³ So she conceived and gave birth to a son; and she said, “God has taken away my disgrace and humiliation.” ²⁴ She named him Joseph (may He add) and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”

Jacob Prospers

²⁵ Now when Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go back to my own place and to my own country. ²⁶ Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know the work which I have done for you.” ²⁷ But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, stay with me; for I have learned [from the omens in divination and by experience] that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” ²⁸ He said, “Name your wages, and I will give it [to you].” ²⁹ Jacob answered him, “You know how I have served you and how your possessions, your cattle and sheep and goats, have fared with me. ³⁰ For you had little before I came and it has increased and multiplied abundantly, and the Lord has favored you with blessings wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household?” ³¹ Laban asked, “What shall I give you?” Jacob replied, “You shall not give me anything. But if you will do this one thing for me [which I now propose], I will again pasture and keep your flock: ³² Let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every dark or black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and those shall be my wages. ³³ So my honesty will be evident for me later, when you come [for an accounting] concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and dark among the young lambs, if found with me, shall be considered stolen.” ³⁴ And Laban said, “Good! Let it be done as you say.” ³⁵ 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. ³⁶ And he put [a distance of] three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob was then left in care of the rest of Laban’s flock.

³⁷ Then Jacob took branches of fresh poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white in the branches. ³⁸ Then he set the branches which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated and conceived when they came to drink. ³⁹ So the flocks mated and conceived by the branches, and the flocks ^[fu]gave birth to streaked, speckled, and spotted offspring. ⁴⁰ Jacob separated the lambs, and [as he had done with the peeled branches] he made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the dark or black in the [new] flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart by themselves and did not put them [where they could breed] with Laban’s flock. ⁴¹ 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; ⁴² 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. ⁴³ So Jacob became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks [of sheep and goats], and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

Jacob Leaves Secretly for Canaan

31 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying: “Jacob has taken away everything that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has acquired all this wealth and honor.” ² Jacob noticed [a change in] the ^[fv]attitude of Laban, and saw that it was not friendly toward him as before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your people, and I will be with you.” ⁴ So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, ⁵ and he said to them, “I see [a change in] your father’s attitude, that he is not friendly toward me as [he was] before; but the God of my father [Isaac] has been with me. ⁶ You know that I have served your father with all my strength. ⁷ Yet your father has cheated me [as often as possible] and changed my wages ten times; but God did not allow him to hurt me. ⁸ If he said, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then the entire flock gave birth to speckled [young]; and if he said, ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then the entire flock gave birth to streaked [young]. ⁹ Thus God has taken away the flocks of your father and given them to me. ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ And the ^[fw]Angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’ ¹² He said, ‘Look up and see, all the rams which are mating [with the flock] are streaked, speckled, and spotted; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, and where you made a vow to Me; now stand up, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.’” ¹⁴ Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? ¹⁵ Are we not counted by him as foreigners? For he sold us [to you in marriage], and has also entirely used up our purchase price. ¹⁶ Surely all the riches which God has taken from our father are ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever God has told you to do, do it.”

¹⁷ Then Jacob stood [and took action] and put his children and his wives on camels; ¹⁸ and he drove away all his livestock and [took along] all his property which he had acquired, the livestock he had obtained and accumulated in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. ¹⁹ When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel [went inside the house and] stole her father’s ^[fx]household gods. ²⁰ And Jacob ^[fy]deceived Laban the Aramean (Syrian) by not telling him that he intended to leave and he slipped away secretly. ²¹ So he fled with everything that he had, and got up and crossed the river [Euphrates], and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead [east of the Jordan River].

Laban Pursues Jacob

²² On the third day [after his departure] Laban was told that Jacob had fled. ²³ So he took his relatives with him and pursued him for seven days, and they overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob, either good or bad.”

²⁵ Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent on the hill, and Laban with his relatives camped on the same hill of Gilead. ²⁶ Then Laban said to Jacob, “What do you mean by deceiving me and leaving without my knowledge, and carrying off my daughters as if [they were] captives of the sword? ²⁷ Why did you run away secretly and deceive me and not tell me, so that [otherwise] I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with [music on the] tambourine and lyre? ²⁸ And why did you not allow me to kiss my ^[fz]grandchildren and my daughters [goodbye]? Now you have done a foolish thing [in behaving like this]. ²⁹ It is in my power to harm you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to speak to Jacob, either good or bad.’ ³⁰ Now [I suppose] you felt you must go because you ^[ga]were homesick for your father’s house and family; but why did you steal my [household] ^[gb]gods?” ³¹ Jacob answered Laban, “[I left secretly] because I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. ³² The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our relatives [search my possessions and] point out whatever you find that belongs to you and take it.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.

³³ So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he came out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel’s saddlebag and sat on them. Laban searched through all her tent, but did not find them. ³⁵ So Rachel said to her father, “Do not be displeased, my lord, that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is on me and I am unwell.” He searched [further] but did not find the household idols.

³⁶ Then Jacob became angry and argued with Laban. And he said to Laban, “What is my fault? What is my sin that you pursued me like this? ³⁷ Although you have searched through all my possessions, what have you found of your household goods? Put it here before my relatives and your relatives, so that they may decide [who has done right] between the two of us. ³⁸ These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not lost their young, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. ³⁹ I did not bring you the torn carcasses [of the animals attacked by predators]; I [personally] took the loss. You required of me [to make good] everything that was stolen, whether it occurred by day or night. ⁴⁰ This was my situation: by day the heat consumed me and by night the cold, and ^[gc]I could not sleep. ⁴¹ These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for [my share of] your flocks, and you have ^[gd]changed my wages ten times. ⁴² If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and [the Feared One] of Isaac, had not been with me, most certainly you would have sent me away now empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and humiliation and the [exhausting] labor of my hands, so He rendered judgment and rebuked you last night.”

The Covenant of Mizpah

⁴³ Laban answered Jacob, “These ^[ge]women [that you married] are my daughters, these children are my ^[gf]grandchildren, these flocks are [from] my flocks, and all that you see [here] is mine. But what can I do today to these my daughters or to their children to whom they have given birth? ⁴⁴ So come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me.” ⁴⁵ So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a [memorial] pillar. ⁴⁶ Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a mound [of stones], and they ate [a ceremonial meal together] there on the mound [of stones].^{(CE) 47} Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha (stone monument of testimony in ^[gg]Aramaic), but Jacob called it ^[gh]Galeed. ⁴⁸ Laban said, “This mound [of stones] is a witness [a reminder of the oath taken] today between you and me.” Therefore he [also] called the name Galeed, ⁴⁹ and Mizpah (^[gi]watchtower), for Laban said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent from one another. ⁵⁰ If you should mistreat (humiliate, oppress) my daughters, or if you should take other wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us [as a witness], see and remember, God is witness between you and me.” ⁵¹ Laban said to Jacob, “Look at this mound [of stones] and look at this pillar which I have set up between you and me. ⁵² This mound is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this mound to harm you, and that you will not pass by this mound and this pillar to harm me. ⁵³ The God of Abraham [your father] and the God of Nahor [my father], and the ^[gj]god [the image of worship] of their father [Terah, an idolater], judge between us.” But Jacob swore [only] by [the one true God] the Fear of his father Isaac.^{(CF) 54} Then Jacob offered a sacrifice [to the Lord] on the mountain, and called his relatives to the meal; and they ate food and spent the night on the mountain. ⁵⁵ Early in the morning Laban got up and kissed his ^[gk]grandchildren and his daughters [goodbye] and pronounced a blessing [asking God’s favor] on them. Then Laban left and returned home.

Jacob’s Fear of Esau

32 Then as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him [to reassure and protect him]. ² When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp.” So he named that place Mahanaim (^[gl]double camps).^(CG)

³ Then Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ⁴ He commanded them, saying, “This is what to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says this, “I have been living temporarily with Laban, and have stayed there until now; ⁵ I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants; and I have sent [this message] to tell my lord, so that I may find grace and kindness in your sight.”’”

⁶ The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” ⁷ 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; ⁸ and he said, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the other camp which is left will escape.”

⁹ Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your people, and I will make you prosper,’ ¹⁰ I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and compassion and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant. With only my staff [long ago] I crossed over this Jordan, and now I have become [blessed and increased into these] two groups [of people]. ¹¹ Save me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. ¹² And You [Lord] said, ‘I will certainly make you prosper and make your descendants as [numerous as] the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.’”

¹³ So Jacob spent the night there. Then he selected a present for his brother Esau from the livestock he had acquired: ¹⁴ two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milking camels with their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten [donkey] colts. ¹⁶ He put them into the care of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go on ahead of me, and put an interval [of space] between the individual herds.” ¹⁷ Then he commanded the one in front, saying, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks to whom you belong, and where you are going, and whose are the animals in front of you? ¹⁸ then you shall say, ‘They are your servant Jacob’s; they are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And he also is behind us.’” ¹⁹ And so Jacob commanded the second and the third as well, and all that followed the herds, saying, “This is what you shall say to Esau when you meet him; ²⁰ and you shall say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he said [to himself], “I will try to appease him with the gift that is going ahead of me. Then afterward I will see him; perhaps he will accept and forgive me.” ²¹ So the gift [of the herds of livestock] went on ahead of him, and he himself spent that night back in the camp.

²² But he got up that same night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and waded over the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ Then he took them and sent them across the brook. And he also sent across whatever he had.

Jacob Wrestles

²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a ^[gm]Man [came and] wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵ When the Man saw that He had not prevailed against Jacob, He touched his hip joint; and Jacob’s hip was dislocated as he wrestled with Him. ²⁶ Then He said, “Let Me go, for day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You declare a blessing on me.” ²⁷ So He asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸ And He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but ^[gn]Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”^{(CH) 29} Then Jacob asked Him, “Please tell me Your name.” But He said, “Why is it that you ask My name?” And He declared a blessing [of the covenant promises] on Jacob there. ³⁰ So Jacob named the place Peniel (the face of God), saying, “For I have seen God face to face, yet my life has not been snatched away.” ³¹ Now the sun rose on him as he passed Penuel (Peniel), and he was limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore, to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh by the tendon of the hip.

Jacob Meets Esau

33 Then Jacob looked up, and saw Esau coming with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids. ² He put the maids and their children in front, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. ³ Then Jacob crossed over [the stream] ahead of them and bowed himself to the ground seven times [bowing and moving forward each time], until he approached his brother.

⁴ But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and hugged his neck and kissed him, and they wept [for joy].^{(CI) 5} Esau looked up and saw the women and the children, and said, “Who are these with you?” So Jacob replied, “They are the children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶ Then the maids approached with their children, and they bowed down. ⁷ Leah also approached with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel approached, and they bowed down. ⁸ Esau asked, “What do you mean by all this company which I have met?” And he answered, “[These are] to find favor in the sight of my lord.” ⁹ But Esau said, “I have plenty, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” ¹⁰ Jacob replied, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then accept my gift [as a blessing] from my hand, for I see your face as if I had seen the face of God, and you have received me favorably. ¹¹ Please accept my blessing (gift) which has been brought to you, for God has dealt graciously with me and I have everything [that I could possibly want].” So Jacob kept urging him and Esau accepted it.

¹² Then Esau said, “Let us get started on our journey and I will go in front of you [to lead the way].” ¹³ But Jacob replied, “You know, my lord, that the children are frail and need gentle care, and the nursing flocks and herds [with young] are of concern to me; for if the men should drive them hard for a single day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴ Please let my lord go on ahead of his servant, and I will move on slowly, governed by the pace of the livestock that are in front of me and according to the endurance of the children, ^[go]until I come to my lord in Seir [in Edom].”

¹⁵ Then Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But Jacob said, “^[gp]What need is there [for it]? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶ So Esau turned back [toward the south] that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷ But Jacob journeyed [north] to Succoth, and built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock; so the name of the place is Succoth (huts, shelters).

Jacob Settles in Shechem

¹⁸ When Jacob came from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely and in peace at the city of Shechem, in the land of Canaan, and camped in front of the [walled] city. ¹⁹ Then he bought the piece of land on which he had pitched his tents from ^[gq]the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred ^[gr]pieces of money. ²⁰ There he erected an altar and called it ^[gs]El-Elohe-Israel.

The Treachery of Jacob’s Sons

34 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out [unescorted] to visit the girls of the land. ² When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince (sheik) of the land, saw her, he kidnapped her and lay [intimately] with her by force [humbling and offending her]. ³ But his soul longed for and clung to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke comfortingly to her young heart’s wishes. ⁴ So Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Get me this young woman as a wife.” ⁵ 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. ⁶ But Shechem’s father Hamor went to Jacob to talk with him. ⁷ 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 ^[gt]Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing is not to be done.

⁸ But Hamor conferred with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem [deeply] longs for your daughter [and sister]. Please give her to him as his wife. ⁹ And [beyond that] intermarry with us; give your daughters to us [as wives] and take our daughters for yourselves.^{(CJ) 10} In this way you shall live with us; the country will be open to you; live and do business in it and acquire property and possessions in it.” ¹¹ Shechem also said to Dinah’s father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your sight, and I will give you whatever you ask of me. ¹² Demand of me a very large bridal payment and gift [as compensation for giving up your daughter and sister], and I will give you whatever you tell me; only give me the girl to be my wife.”

¹³ Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, because Shechem had defiled and disgraced their sister Dinah. ¹⁴ They said to them, “We cannot do this thing and give our sister [in marriage] to one who is not circumcised, because that would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ But we will consent to you only on this condition: if you will become like us, in that every male among you consents to be circumcised, ¹⁶ then we will give our daughters to you [in marriage], and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people. ¹⁷ But if you do not listen to us and refuse to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter [Dinah] and go.”

¹⁸ Their words seemed reasonable to Hamor and his son Shechem, ¹⁹ and the young man did not hesitate to do the [required] thing, for he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more respected and honored than all [others] in the household of his father.