 CHAPTER I In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was on the surface of the deep, God's spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. God said, Let there be light, and there was light. God saw the light and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. There was evening and there was morning, one day. God said, Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse, from the waters which were above the expanse, and it was so. God called the expanse sky. There was evening and there was morning, a second day. God said, Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called seas. God saw that it was good. God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind with its seed in it on the earth, and it was so. The earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with its seed in it after their kind, and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a third day. God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the earth, and it was so. God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky. God created the large sea creatures, and every living creature that moves with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good. God blessed them saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind, and it was so. God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good. God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him, male and female he created them. God blessed them. God said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food, and it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. Chapter 2 The heavens and the earth were finished, and all their vast array. On the seventh day God finished his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work which he had created and made. This is the history of the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made the earth and the heavens. No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up, for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground, but a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground. Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Yahweh God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life also in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it was parted and became four heads. The name of the first is Pishon. This is the one which flows through the whole land of Havala, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. There is aromatic resin and the onyx stone. The name of the second river is Gihan, the same river that flows through the whole land of Qash. The name of the third river is Hiddickel. This is the one which flows in front of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. Yahweh God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Yahweh God commanded the man saying, Of every tree in the garden you may freely eat, But, of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, You shall not eat of it, for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die. Yahweh God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him. Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the sky, And brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the sky and to every animal of the field. But for man there was not found a helper suitable for him. Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. He made the rib which Yahweh God had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. The man said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She will be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and will join with his wife and they will be one flesh. They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Chapter 3 Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, Has God really said you shall not eat of any tree of the garden? The woman said to the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said you shall not eat of it, Neither shall you touch it, lest you die. The serpent said to the woman, You won't surely die, For God knows that in the day you eat it your eyes will be opened And you will be like God knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate and she gave some to her husband with her and he ate. The eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. They heard the voice of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden. Yahweh God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? The man said, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. God said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? The man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate. Yahweh God said to the woman, What is this you have done? The woman said, The serpent deceived me and I ate. Yahweh God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all livestock and above every animal of the field, On your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head and you will bruise his heel. To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you. To Adam he said, Because you have listened to your wife's voice and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you saying you shall not eat of it, Cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you and you will eat the herb of the field. By the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground for out of it you were taken. For you are dust and to dust you shall return. The man called his wife Eve because she was the mother of all living. Yahweh God made coats of skins for Adam and for his wife and clothed them. Yahweh God said, Behold the man has become like one of us knowing good and evil. Now lest he put forth his hand and also take of the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore Yahweh God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So he drove out the man and he placed cherubs at the east of the Garden of Eden and the flame of a sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. Chapter 4 The man knew Eve his wife. She conceived and gave birth to Cain and said, I have gotten the man with Yahweh's help. Again she gave birth to Cain's brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep but Cain was a tiller of the ground. As time passed it happened that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground. Abel also brought some of the first-born of his flock and of its fat. Yahweh respected Abel and his offering but he didn't respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry and the expression on his face fell. Yahweh said to Cain, Why are you angry? Why has the expression of your face fallen? If you do well, will it not be lifted up? If you don't do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you but you are to rule over it. Cain said to Abel his brother, Let's go into the field. It happened when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Yahweh said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? He said, I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper? Yahweh said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the ground. Now you are cursed because of the ground which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. From now on when you till the ground it won't yield its strength to you. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth. Cain said to Yahweh, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me out this day from the surface of the ground. I will be hidden from your face and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth. It will happen that whoever finds me will kill me. Yahweh said to him, Therefore whoever slays Cain, Vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. Yahweh appointed a sign for Cain lest any finding him should strike him. Cain went out from Yahweh's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife. She conceived and gave birth to Enoch. He built a city and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. To Enoch was born Irad. Irad became the father of Mehujayel. Mehujayel became the father of Methushayel. Methushayel became the father of Lamech. Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah and the name of the other, Zeelah. Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother's name was Jubal, who was the father of all who handle the harp and pipe. Zeelah also gave birth to Tubal Cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron. Tubal Cain's sister was Neyama. Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zeelah, hear my voice. You wives of Lamech, listen to my speech, for I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for bruising me. If Cain will be avenged seven times, truly Lamech seventy-seven times. Adam knew his wife again. She gave birth to a son and named him Seth, for God has appointed me another child instead of Abel, for Cain killed him. There was also born a son to Seth, and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on Yahweh's name. Chapter 5 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in God's likeness. He created them, male and female, and blessed them, and called their name Adam in the day when they were created. Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and became the father of a son in his own likeness after his image, and named him Seth. The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he became the father of sons and daughters. All the days that Adam lived were nine hundred thirty years. Then he died. Seth lived one hundred five years, and became the father of Enosh. Seth lived after he became the father of Enosh eight hundred seven years, and became the father of sons and daughters. All the days of Seth were nine hundred twelve years. Then he died. Enosh lived ninety years, and became the father of Kenan. Enosh lived after he became the father of Kenan eight hundred fifteen years, and became the father of sons and daughters. years. All the days of Enosh were nine hundred five years, then he died. Kenan lived seventy years, and became the father of Mahallel. Kenan lived after he became the father of Mahallel eight hundred forty years, and became the father of sons and daughters, and all the days of Kenan were nine hundred ten years. Then he died. Mahallel lived sixty five years, and became the father of Jared. Mahallel lived after he became the father of Jared eight hundred thirty years, and became the father of sons and daughters. All the days of Mahallel were eight hundred ninety five years, then he died. Jared lived one hundred sixty-two years, and became the father of Enoch. Jared lived after he became the father of Enoch eight hundred years, and became the father of sons and daughters. All the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty-two years, then he died. Enoch lived sixty five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he became the father of Methuselah three hundred years, and became the father of sons and daughters. All the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Methuselah lived one hundred eighty-seven years, and became the father of Lamech. Methuselah lived after he became the father of Lamech seven hundred eighty-two years, and became the father of sons and daughters. All the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty-nine years, then he died. Lamech lived one hundred eighty-two years, and became the father of a son, and he named him Noah, saying, This same will comfort us in our work, and in the toil of our hands, because of the ground which Yahweh has cursed. Lamech lived after he became the father of Noah five hundred ninety-five years, and became the father of sons and daughters. All the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy-seven years, then he died. Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. CHAPTER VI It happened, when men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, that God's sons saw that men's daughters were beautiful, and they took for themselves wives of all that they chose. Yahweh said, My spirit will not strive with man for ever, because he also is flesh, yet will his days be one hundred twenty years. The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God's sons came in to men's daughters. They bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. Yahweh said, I will destroy a man whom I have created from the surface of the ground, man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favor in Yahweh's eyes. This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God. Noah became the father of three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch. This is how you shall make it. The length of the ship will be three hundred cubits, with breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a roof in the ship, and you shall finish it to a cubit upward. You shall set the door of the ship in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels. I, even I, do bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh, having the breadth of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die. But I will establish my covenant with you. You shall come into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female, of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come to you, to keep them alive. Take with you of all food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself, and it will be food for you and for them. Thus Noah did, according to all that God commanded him, so he did. CHAPTER VII He always said to Noah, Come, with all of your household, into the ship, for I have seen your righteousness before me in this generation. You shall take seven pairs of every clean animal with you, the male and his female. Of the animals that are not clean, take two, the male and his female. Also of the birds of the sky, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive on the surface of all the earth. In seven days I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. Every living thing that I have made, I will destroy from the surface of the ground. Noah did everything that Yahweh commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth. Noah went into the ship with his sons, his wife, and his son's wives, because of the waters of the flood. Clean animals, animals that are not clean, birds, and everything that creeps on the ground went by pairs to Noah into the ship, male and female, as God commanded Noah. It happened after the seven days that the waters of the flood came on the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep were burst open, and the sky's windows were opened. The rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. In the same day Noah, and Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered into the ship. They, and every animal after its kind, all the livestock after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort, they went to Noah into the ship by pairs of all flesh with the breath of life in them. Those who went in went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him, and Yahweh shut him in. The flood was forty days on the earth. The waters increased and lifted up the ship, and it was lifted up above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ship floated on the surface of the waters. The waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth. All the high mountains that were under the whole sky were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. All flesh died that moved on the earth, including birds, livestock, animals, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was on the dry land, died. Every living thing was destroyed that was on the surface of the ground, including man, livestock, creeping things, and birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ship. The waters prevailed on the earth one hundred fifty days. God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ship, and God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided. The deeps fountains and the sky's windows were also stopped, and the rain from the sky was restrained. The waters receded from the earth continually. After the end of one hundred fifty days the waters decreased. The ship rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on Errorat's mountains. The waters receded continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. It happened at the end of forty days that Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made, and he sent forth a raven. It went back and forth until the waters were dried up from the earth. He sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground, but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him into the ship, for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put forth his hand and took her, and brought her to him into the ship. He stayed yet another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ship. The dove came back to him at evening, and behold, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from the earth. He stayed yet another seven days, and sent forth the dove, and she didn't return to him any more. It happened in the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth. Noah removed the covering of the ship and looked. He saw that the surface of the ground was dried. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. God spoke to Noah, saying, Go out of the ship, you and your wife and your sons and your son's wives with you. Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply on the earth. Noah went forth with his sons, his wife, and his son's wives with him. Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, whatever moves on the earth, after their families, went out of the ship. Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. Yahweh smelled the pleasant aroma. Yahweh said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, because the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike everything living as I have done. While the earth remains, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease. CHAPTER IX God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky. Everything that the ground teems with, and all the fish of the sea are delivered into your hand. Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. As the green herb I have given everything to you. But flesh with its life, its blood, you shall not eat. I will surely require the blood of your lives. At the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image. Be fruitful and multiply. Bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it. God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, As for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you. The birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ship, even every animal of the earth. I will establish my covenant with you. All flesh will not be cut off any more by the waters of the flood, neither will there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth. God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations. I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. It will happen when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look at it that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. God said to Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth. The sons of Noah who went forth from the ship were Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Ham is the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated. Noah began to be a farmer and planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it on both their shoulders, went in backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were backward and they didn't see their father's nakedness. Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him. He said, Canaan is cursed. He will be a servant of servants to his brothers. He said, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Shem, let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, let him dwell in the tents of Shem, let Canaan be his servant. Noah lived 350 years after the flood. All the days of Noah were 950 years, then he died. CHAPTER X Now this is the history of the generations of the sons of Noah and of Shem, Ham and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood. The sons of Japheth, Gomor, Magog, Madai, Javon, Tubol, Meshek, and Tirus. The sons of Gomor, Ashkenaz, Rifath, and Togarma. The sons of Javan, Elisha, Tarshish, Kitim, and Odanim. Of these were the islands of the nations divided in their lands, every one after his language, after their families, in their nations. The sons of Ham, Kush, Mizrayim, Putt, and Canaan. The sons of Kush, Siba, Havala, Sabta, Rayama, and Sabtika. The sons of Rayama, Shiba, and Deden. Kush became the father of Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh. Therefore it is said, like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Yahweh. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erek, Akkad, and Kalne in the land of Shinar. Out of that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth, Eir, Kala, and Resin between Nineveh and Kala, the same as the Great City. Mizrayim became the father of Ludim, Annamim, Lehabim, Naftuhim, Pathrusim, Kassluhim, which the Philistines descended from, and Kaftorim. Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, Heth, the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Gurgashite, the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite, the Arvadite, the Zemorite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad. The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as you go toward Gerar, to Gaza, as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Adma, and Zeboim, to Lasha. These are the sons of Ham after their families, after their languages, in their lands, in their nations. To Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, to him also were children born. The sons of Shem, Elam, Asshur, Arpaqshad, Lod, and Aram. The sons of Aram, Az, Hul, Geethur, and Mash. Arpaqshad became the father of Sheelah. Sheelah became the father of Eber. To Eber were born two sons. The name of the one was Pelig, for in his days the earth was divided. His brother's name was Joktan. Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazar Maveth, Gerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abemayel, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. Their dwelling was from Misha, as you go toward Sifar, the mountain of the East. These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their languages, in their lands, after their nations. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations. Of these were the nations divided in the earth, after the flood. CHAPTER XI. The whole earth was of one language and of one speech. It happened, as they travelled east, that they found a plane in the land of Shinar, and they lived there. They said to one another, Come, let's make bricks, and burn them thoroughly. They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. They said, Come, let's build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky. And let's make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth. Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men built. Yahweh said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them which they intend to do. Come, let's go down, and they are confused their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth. This is the history of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old and became the father of Arpakshad two years after the flood. Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpakshad and became the father of sons and daughters. Arpakshad lived thirty-five years and became the father of Sheela. Arpakshad lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Sheela and became the father of sons and daughters. Sheela lived thirty years and became the father of Eber, and Sheela lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Eber and became the father of sons and daughters. Eber lived thirty-four years and became the father of Peleg. Eber lived four hundred thirty years after he became the father of Peleg and became the father of sons and daughters. Peleg lived thirty years and became the father of Rue. Peleg lived two hundred nine years after he became the father of Rue and became the father of sons and daughters. Rue lived thirty-two years and became the father of Sarug. Rue lived two hundred seven years after he became the father of Sarug and became the father of sons and daughters. Serog lived thirty years and became the father of Nahor. Serog lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor and became the father of sons and daughters. Nahor lived twenty-nine years and became the father of Tehran. Nahor lived one hundred nineteen years after he became the father of Tehran and became the father of sons and daughters. Tehran lived seventy years and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Heran. Now this is the history of the generations of Tara. Tara became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Heran. Heran became the father of Lot. Heran died before his father Tara in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Caldees. Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Serai, and the name of Nahor's wife Milka, the daughter of Heran who was also the father of Iskha. Serai was barren. She had no child. Tara took Abram his son, Lot the son of Heran, his son's son, and Serai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. They went forth from Ur of the Caldees to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Heran and lived there. The days of Tara were two hundred five years. Tara died in Heran. End of chapters one through eleven. CHAPTER XII. Now you always said to Abram, get out of your country and from your relatives and from your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you. So Abram went as Yahweh had spoken to him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Heran. Abram took Serai, his wife, Lot, his brother's son, and all the substance that they had gathered and the souls whom they had gotten in Heran. And they went to go into the land of Canaan. Into the land of Canaan they came. Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of More. The Canaanite was then in the land. Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, I will give this land to your seed. He built an altar there to Yahweh who appeared to him. He left from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and called the name of Yahweh. Abram traveled, going on still toward the south. There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land. It happened when he had come near to Egypt that he said to Serai, his wife, See now that I know you are a beautiful woman to look at. It will happen when the Egyptians will see you that they will say, This is his wife. They will kill me but they will save you alive. Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake and that my soul may live because of you. It happened that when Abram had come into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. The princes of Pharaoh saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken in the Pharaoh's house. He dealt well with Abram for her sake. He had sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. Yahweh plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Serai, Abram's wife. Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this that you have done to me? Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say she is my sister, so I took her to be my wife? Now therefore, see your wife, take her, and go your way. Pharaoh commanded men concerning him, and they brought him on the way with his wife and all that he had. Chapter 13 Abram went up out of Egypt. He, his wife, all that he had, and lot with him into the south. Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold. He went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which she had made there at the first. There Abram called on the name of Yahweh. Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. The land was not able to bear them that they might live together, for their substance was great so that they could not live together. There was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herds of Lot's livestock, and the Canaanite and the Parasite lived in the land at the time. Abram said to Lot, Please, let there be no strife between me and you, between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are relatives. Isn't the whole land before you? Please, separate yourselves from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left. Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan that it was well watered everywhere before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zohar. So Lot chose the plain of Jordan for himself. Lot traveled east and they separated themselves one from the other. Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh. Yahweh said to Abram after Lot was separated from him, Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward. For all the land which you see, I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if any man can number the dust of the earth, then your seed may also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land and its length and its breadth, for I will give it to you. Abraham moved his tent and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to Yahweh. It happened in the days of Amrafel, king of Sheenar, Ariyok, king of Al-Asar, Kedolaomer, king of Ilam, and Tidal, king of Go'im, that they made war with Berah, king of Sodom, and with Birasha, king of Gomorrah, Sheenab, king of Adma, and Shemeber, king of Zebo'im, and the king of Bela, the same as Zohar. All these joined together in the valley of Sidim, the same as the Salt Sea. Twelve years they served Kedolaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. In the fourteenth year, Kedolaomer came and the kings were with him and struck the Rafa'im in Ashdorath Karna'im, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Amim in Shavah Kiryatha'im, and the Horites in their Mount Sayir to El-Paran, which is by the wilderness. They returned and came to Enmishpat, the same as Kadesh, and struck all the country of the Amalakites, and also the Amorites that lived in Hazazon Tamar. The king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Adma, and the king of Zebo'im, and the king of Bela, the same as Zohar, went out, and they set battle in a ray against them in the valley of Sidim, against Kedolaomer, king of Ilam, and Tidal, king of Go'im, and Amrafel, king of Shinar, and Ariyok, king of Al-Azhar, four kings against the five. Now the valley of Sidim was full of tarpits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and those who remained fled to the hills. They took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all the food, and went their way. They took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who lived in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. One who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now he lived by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite brother of Eshkol, and the brother of Aner, these were allies of Abram. When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he let out his trained men, born in his house, 318, and pursued as far as Dan. He divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people. The king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Kedolah Omer, and the kings who were with him at the valley of Shavah, that is the kings valley. Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and he was priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. Abram gave him a tenth of all. The king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the people, and take the goods to yourself. Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread nor a sandal strap, nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, I have made Abraham rich. I will accept nothing from you except that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshkol, and Mamari. Let them take their portion. Chapter 15 After these things, the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision saying, Don't be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. Abram said, Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus. Abram said, Behold to me you have given no seed, and behold, one born in my house is my heir. Behold, the word of Yahweh came to him saying, This man will not be your heir, but he who will come out of your own body will be your heir. Yahweh brought him outside and said, Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them. He said to Abram, So shall your seed be. He believed in Yahweh, and he reckoned it to him for righteousness. He said to him, I am Yahweh who brought you out of ore of the Caldees, to give you this land to inherit it. He said, Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it? He said to him, Bring me a heifer, three years old, a female goat, three years old, a ram, three years old, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. He brought him all of these and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other, but he didn't divide the birds. The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him, and he said to Abram, Know for sure that your seed will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them 400 years, and I will judge that nation whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth, but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a good old age. In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full. It came to pass that when the sun set down and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your seed I have given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the Kenites, the Kenazites, the Kedmonites, the Hittites, the Parazites, the Rafaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Gurgoshites, and the Jebusites. Chapter 16 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. She had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. Sarai said to Abram, See now Yahweh has restrained me from bearing. Please go into my handmaid. It may be that I will obtain children by her. Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar, the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram, her husband, to be his wife. He went into Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. Sarai said to Abram, This wrong is your fault. I gave my handmaid into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. Yahweh judged between me and you. But Abram said to Sarai, Behold, your maid is in your hand, due to her whatever is good in your eyes. Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face. The angel of Yahweh found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. He said, Hagar, Sarai's handmaid, where did you come from? Where are you going? She said, I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai. The angel of Yahweh said to her, Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands. The angel of Yahweh said to her, I will greatly multiply your seed, that they will not be numbered for multitude. The angel of Yahweh said to her, Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You should call his name Ishmael, because Yahweh has heard your affliction. He will be like a wild donkey among men. His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him. He will live opposite of all his brothers. She called the name of Yahweh, who spoke to her. You are a God who sees, for she said, Have I even stayed alive after seeing him? Therefore the well was called, Be'ir et lahay ro'ay. Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. Hey, garbora, son, for Abram. Abram called the name of his son, whom Hey, garbora, Ishmael. Abram was 86 years old when Hey, garbora, Ishmael, to Abram. Chapter 17 When Abram was 99 years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless. I will make my covenant between me and you. And I will multiply you exceedingly. Abraham fell on his face. God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations. Neither will your name any more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seat after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant. To be a God to you and to your seat after you. I will give to you and to your seat after you the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. I will be their God. God said to Abraham, As for you, you will keep my covenant, you on your seat after you, throughout their generations. This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your seat after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a token of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you. Every male throughout your generations. He who is born in the house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your seed. He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised. My covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. God said to Abraham, As for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her. Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, Will a child be born to him who is 100 years old? Will Sarah, who is 90 years old, give birth? Abraham said to God, Oh, that Ishmael might live before you. God said, No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of 12 princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I establish with Isaac. From Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year. When he finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. Abraham took Ishmael, his son, all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day as God had said to him. Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. Ishmael, his son, was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. In the same day, both Abraham and Ishmael, his son, were circumcised, all the men of his house, those born in his house, and those bought with money of a foreigner were circumcised with him. Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself to the earth and said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don't go away from your servant. Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. I will get a more slow bread so you can refresh your heart. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant. They said, Very well, do as you have said. Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, Quickly prepare three measures of fine meal, knead it and make cakes. Abraham ran to the herd and fetched a tender and good calf and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it. He took butter, milk, and the calf which he had dressed and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree and they ate. They asked him, Where is Sarah, your wife? He said, See in the tent. He said, I will certainly return to you when the season comes round. Behold, Sarah, your wife, will have a son. Sarah heard in the tent door which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Sarah laughed with the nurse, saying, After I have grown old, will I have pleasure, my Lord being old also? Yahweh said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Will I really bear a child, yet I am old? Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you. When the season comes round and Sarah will have a son. Then Sarah denied, saying, I didn't laugh, for she was afraid. He said, No, but you did laugh. The men rose up from there and looked towards Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way. Yahweh said, Will I hide from Abraham what I do, since Abraham has surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? For I have known him to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice, to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham, and that which he has spoken of him. Yahweh said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether their deeds are as bad as the reports which have come to me. If not, I will know. The men turned from there and went towards Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before Yahweh. Abraham drew near and said, Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for fifty righteous who are in it? Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked? May that be far from you? Shouldn't the judge of all the earth do right? Yahweh said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake. Abraham answered, See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. Who am I but dust and ashes? What if there lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy the city for lack of five? He said, I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there. He spoke to him yet again and said, What if there are forty found there? He said, I will not do it for the forty's sake. He said, Oh, don't let the Lord be angry and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there? He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there. He said, See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there? He said, I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake. He said, Oh, don't let the Lord be angry and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there? He said, I will not destroy it for the ten's sake. Yahweh went his way and as soon as he had finished committing with Abraham and Abraham returned to his place. Chapter 19 The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house. Stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early and go on your way. They said, No, but we will stay in the street all night. He urged them greatly and they came in with him and entered into his house. He made them a feast and baked unleavened bread and they ate. But before they laid down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house both young and old, all the people from every quarter. They called to Lot and said to him, Where are the men who came into you this night? Bring them out to us that we may have sex with them. Lot went out to the door and shut the door after him. He said, Please my brothers, don't act so wickedly. See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don't do anything to these men because they have come under the shadow of my roof. They said, Stand back. Then they said, This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now he will deal worse with you than with them. They pressed hard on the men, Lot, and drew near to break the door. But the men reached out their hand and brought Lot into the house to them and shut the door. They struck them in who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they weared themselves to find the door. The men said to Lot, Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring them out of the place for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown before Yahweh, that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it. Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, Get up, get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city. But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking. When the morning came, the angels hurried Lot, saying, Get up, take your wife and your two daughters, who were here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city. But he lingered, and the men grabbed his hand and his wife's hand, and his two daughters' hands, Yahweh being merciful to him, and they took him out and set him outside of the city. And it came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, Escape for your life, don't look behind you, and don't stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed. Lot said to them, Oh, not so, my lord. Now, see, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving-kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can't escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die. See now, this city is near to flee too, and it is a little one. Oh, let me escape there. Isn't it a little one? And my soul will live. He said to him, Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I can't do anything until you get there. Therefore, the name of the city was called Zohar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zohar. Then Yahweh reigned on Sodom and Gomorrah, sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky. He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the city, and that which grew on the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh. He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and looked, and he saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace. It happened when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and set Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, where he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. Lot went up out of Zohar, and lived in the mountain. He and his two daughters with him, for he was afraid to live in Zohar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters. The firstborn said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come into us in the way of all the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed. They made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with their father. He did not know when she lay down, nor when she arose. It came to pass on the next day, had the firstborn said to the younger, Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine again tonight. You go in and lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed. They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He did not know when she lay down, or when she got up. Thus both of Lot's daughters were with child by their father. The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ami. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day. Chapter 20 Abraham traveled from there toward the land of the south, and lived between Qadesh and Shur. He lived as a foreigner in Ghara. Abraham said about Sarah, his wife, she is my sister. Abimilek, king of Ghara, sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimilek in the dream of the night, and said to him, Behold, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife. Abimilek had not come near her. He said, Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation? Didn't he tell me she is my sister? She even herself said, he is my brother. In the integrity of my heart, and the innocence of my hands, I have done this. God said to him in the dream, Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore, I didn't allow you to touch her. Now therefore, restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. If you don't restore her, know for sure that you will die, you and all who are yours. Abimilek rose early in the morning and called all the servants, and told all the things in their ear. The men were very scared. Then Abimilek called Abraham and said to him, What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that will not be done. Abimilek said to Abraham, What did you see that you have done this thing? Abraham said, Because I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place, they will kill me for my wife's sake. Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. It happened when God caused me to wander from my father's house that I said to her, This is your kindness which you shall show to me. Everywhere that we go, say of me, he is my brother. Abimilek took sheep and cattle, male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored Sarah his wife to him. Abimilek said, Behold my land is before you, dwell where it pleases you. To Sarah he said, Behold I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold it is for you a covering to the eyes to all that are with you, in front of you all you are vindicated. Abraham prayed to God, God healed Abimilek and his wife and his female servants, and they bore children, for Yahweh had closed up tight all the wombs of the house of Abimilek because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. Chapter 21 Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called his son, who was born to him, whom Sarah had bore to him, Isaac. Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me. She said, Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children, for I have borne him a son in his old age? The child grew and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. Therefore she said to Abraham, Cast out this handmaid and her son, for the son of this handmaid will not be heir with my son Isaac. The thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight on account of his son. God said to Abraham, Don't let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy and because of your handmaid. And all that Sarah says to you, Listen to her voice, for from Isaac will your seed be called. I will also make a nation of the son of the handmaid, because he is your seed. Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread and a bottle of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and gave her the child and sent her away. She departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. The water in the bottle was spent, and she cast a child under one of the shrubs. She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, Don't let me see the death of the child. She sat over against him and lifted up her voice and wept. God heard the voice of the boy. The angel of God called out to Hagar out of the sky and said to her, What ails you Hagar? Don't be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Get up, lift up the boy and hold him in your hand, for I will make him a great nation. God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the bottle with water and gave the boy drink. God was with the boy and he grew. He lived in the wilderness and became as he grew up in Archer. He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt. It happened at that time that Abimelech and Fikol, the captain of his army, spoke to Abraham saying, God is with you in all that you do. Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son. But according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me and to the land in which you have lived as a foreigner. Abraham said, I will swear. Abraham complained to Abimelech because of a water well, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. Abimelech said, I don't know who has done this thing. You didn't tell me, neither did I hear of it until today. Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech. Those two made a covenant. Abraham set seven U-lams of the flock by themselves. Abimelech said to Abraham, What do these seven U-lams which you have set by themselves mean? He said, You shall take these seven U-lams from my hand, that it may be a witness to me that I have dug this well. Therefore he called that place Bersheba, because they both swore there. So they made a covenant at Bersheba. Abimelech rose up with Fikol, the captain of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Bersheba and called there on the name of Yahweh, the everlasting God. Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines many days. Chapter 22 It happened after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, he said, Here I am. He said, Now take your son, your only son whom you love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him therefore a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of. Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac, his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering and rose up and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place far off. Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go yonder, we will worship and come back to you. Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together. Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father? He said, Here I am son. He said, Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Abraham said, God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they both went together. They came to the place which God had told him of. Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order. Bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar on the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. The angel of Yahweh called out to him out of the sky and said, Abraham, Abraham. He said, Here I am. He said, Don't lay your hand on the boy. Neither do anything to him, for I now know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and he saw that behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram, offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son. Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh will provide. As it is said to this day, on Yahweh's mountain it will be provided. The angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time out of the sky, and said, I have sworn by myself, says Yahweh, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your seed greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your seed will possess the gate of his enemies, and your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba. Abraham lived at Beersheba. It happened after these things that it was told, Abraham, saying, Behold Milka, she has also borne children to your brother Nahor. Uz, his first brother, Buz, his brother, Chemuel, the father of Aram, Qased, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlath, and Bethuel. Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These ate Milka bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother. His concubine, whose name was Rayumah, also bore Teba, G'ham, Tahash, and Ma'aqa. Chapter 23 Sarah lived 127 years. This was the length of Sarah's life. Sarah died in Kiryat Arba, the same as Hebron, in the land of Canaan. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. Abraham rose up before his dead and spoke to the children of Hath, saying, I am a stranger and a foreigner living with you. Give me a possession of a burying place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight. The children of Hath answered Abraham, saying to him, Curious my lord, you are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the best of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb. Bury your dead. Abraham rose up and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Hath. He talked with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, Hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron, the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Makpilan, which he has, which is in the end of his field. For the full price, let him give it to me among you for a possession of a burying place. Now Ephron was sitting in the middle of the children of Hath. Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the children of Hath, even of all who went in at the gate of his city, saying, No my lord, hear me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of the children of my people, I give it to you. Bury your dead. Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land. He spoke to Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if you will, please hear me. I will give the price of the field. Take it from me, and I will bury my dead there. Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, My lord, listen to me. What is a piece of land worth, 400 shekels of silver, between me and you? Therefore, bury your dead. Abraham listened to Ephron. Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the audience of the children of Hath, 400 shekels of silver according to the current merchant standard. So the field of Ephron, which was in Makpila, which was before Mamre, the field, the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all of its borders, were deeded to Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Hath, before all who went in at the gate of his city. After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Makpila before Mamre, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan. The field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham for a possession of a burying place by the children of Hath. End of chapters 12 through 23. Chapters 24 through 28 of Genesis from the World English Bible. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jerry Dixon. The Book of Genesis from the World English Bible. Chapters 24 through 28. Chapter 24. Abraham was old and well stricken in age. Yahweh had blessed Abraham in all things. Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that he had, please put your hand under my thigh. I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you shall go to my country and to my relatives and take a wife for my son Isaac. The servant said to him, what if the woman isn't willing to follow me to this land? Must I bring your son again to the land you came from? Abraham said to him, beware that you don't bring my son there again. Yahweh, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, I will give this land to your seed. He will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. If the woman isn't willing to follow you, then you shall be clear from this oath. Only you shall not bring my son there again. The servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter. The servant took 10 camels of his master's camels and departed having a variety of good things of his master's with him. He arose and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor. He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water. He said, Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day and show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring of water. The daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let it happen that the young lady to whom I will say, please let down your pitcher that I may drink, and she will say, drink and I will also give your camels a drink. Let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master. It happened before he had finished speaking that behold, Rebecca came out who was born to Bethuel, the son of Milka, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher on her shoulder. The young lady was very beautiful to look at. A virgin neither had any man known her. She went down to the spring, filled her pitcher, and came up. The servant ran to meet her and said, please give me a drink, a little water from your pitcher. She said, drink my lord. She hurried and let down her pitcher on her hand and gave him drink. When she had done giving him drink, she said, I will also draw for your camels until they have done drinking. She hurried and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again to the well to draw and drew for all his camels. The man looked steadfastly at her, remaining silent, to know whether Yahweh had made his journey prosperous or not. It happened, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold, and said, whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is the room in your father's house for us to lodge in? She said to him, I am the daughter of Bifthul, the son of Milka, whom she bore to Nahor. She said moreover to him, we have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in. The man bowed his head and worshipped Yahweh. He said, blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, Yahweh has led me in the way to the house of my master's relatives. The young lady ran and told her mother's house about these words. Rebecca had a brother, and his name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man to the spring. It happened when he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebecca, his sister, saying, this is what the man said to me, that he came to the man. Behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. He said, come in, you blessed of Yahweh, why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house and room for the camels. The man came into the house, and he unloaded the camels. He gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet in the feet of the men who were with him. Food was set before him to eat, but he said, I will not eat until I have told my message. He said, speak on. He said, I am Abraham's servant. Yahweh has blessed my master greatly. He has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, and camels and donkeys. Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son to my master when she was old. He has given all that he has to him. My master made me swear, saying, you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites and whose land I live, but you shall go to my father's house and to my relatives and take a wife for my son. I said to my master, what if the woman will not follow me? He said to me, Yahweh, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son of my relatives and of my father's house. Then will you be clear from my oath when you come to my relatives. If they don't give her to you, you shall be clear from my oath. I came this day to the spring and said, Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, if now you do prosper my way which I go, behold, I am standing by this spring of water. Let it happen that the maiden who comes forth to draw, to whom I will say, give me I pray you a little water from your pitcher to drink. And she will tell me, drink and I will also draw for your camels. Let her be the woman whom Yahweh has appointed for my master's son. Before I had done speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew. I said to her, please let me drink. She hurried and let down her pitcher from her shoulder and said, drink and I will also give your camels a drink. So I drank and she made the camels drink also. I asked her and said, whose daughter are you? She said the daughter of Bethul, Nahor's son, whom Milko bore to him. I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her hands. I bowed my head and worshiped Yahweh, the blessed Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter for his son. Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. If not, tell me that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left. Then Laban and Bethul answered, The thing proceeds from Yahweh. We can't speak to you bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before you. Take her and go and let her be your master's son's wife, as Yahweh has spoken. It happened that when Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth to Yahweh. The servant brought forth jewels of silver and jewels of gold and clothing and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and her mother. They ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, and stayed all night. They rose up in the morning and he said, Send me away to my master. Her brother and her mother said, Let the young lady stay with us a few days, at least ten. After that she will go. He said to them, Don't hinder me, seeing Yahweh has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master. They said, We will call the young lady and ask her. They called Rebekah and said to her, Will you go with this man? She said, I will go. They sent away Rebekah their sister, with her nurse, Abraham's servant, and his men. They blessed Rebekah and said to her, Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your seed possess the gate of those who hate them. Rebekah rose with her ladies. They rode on the camels and followed the man. The servant took Rebekah and went his way. Isaac came from the way of Bir-Lahi-Roy, for he lived in the land of the south. Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming. Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel. She said to the servant, Who is the man who is walking in the field to meet us? The servant said, It is my master. She took her veil and covered herself. The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Isaac brought her into his mother, Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her. Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. Chapter 25 Abraham took another wife, and her name was Katorah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshin, Medan, Median, Ishbakh, and Shua. Jokshin became the father of Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Ashoram, Leteshim, and Lumam. The sons of Median, Ifa, Ephra, Hanok, Abedah, and Eldah. All these were the children of Katorah. Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, but to the sons of Abraham's concubines, Abraham gave gifts. He sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived eastward to the east country. These are the days of the years of Abraham's life, which he lived, 175 years. Abraham gave up the spirit and died in a good old age, an old man in full of years, and was gathered to his people. Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Makpala in the field of Ephraim, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before the Mamre, the field which Abraham purchased of the children of Heth. Abraham was buried there with Sarah, his wife. It happened after the death of Abraham, that God blessed Isaac his son. Isaac lived by Baer-Lahi Roy. Now this is the history of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bore to Abraham. These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names according to the order of their birth, the firstborn of Ishmael, Nabeath, then Qidar, Adbil, Mibsam, Mishma, Duma, Masa, Haddad, Tima, Jeter, Nafish, and Kedema. These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names by their villages, and by their encampments. 12 princes, according to their nations. These are the years of the life of Ishmael, 137 years. He gave up the spirit and died, and was gathered to his people. They lived from Havela to Shor, that is before Egypt, as you go toward Assyria. He lived opposite all his relatives. This is the history of the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian, of Padam Arim, the sister of Laban, the Syrian, to be his wife. Isaac entreated Yahweh for his wife because she was barren. Yahweh was entreated by him, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. The children struggled together within her. She said, If it be so, why do I live? She went to inquire of Yahweh. Yahweh said to her, Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples will be separated from your body. The one people will be stronger than the other people. The elder will serve the younger. When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment. They named him Esau. After that, his brother came out, and his hand had hold on Esau's hill. He was named Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them. The boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. Now, Isaac loved Esau because he ate his venison. Rebekah loved Jacob. Jacob boiled stew. Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am famished. Therefore, his name was called Edom. Jacob said, First, sell me your birthright. Esau said, Behold, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me? Jacob said, Swear to me first. He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Jacob. Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright. Chapter 26 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, to Gerar. Yahweh appeared to him and said, Don't go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about. So journey in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For to you and to your seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and will give to your seed all these lands, and your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. Isaac lived in Gerar. The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, She is my sister, for he was afraid to say my wife, lest he thought the men of the place might kill me for Rebecca, because she is beautiful to look at. It happened when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out at a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was caressing Rebecca, his wife. Abimelech called Isaac and said, Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say she is my sister? Isaac said to him, Because I said lest I die because of her. Abimelech said, What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us. Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death. Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year, one hundred times what he planted. Yahweh blessed him. The man grew great, and grew more and more, until he became very great. He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him. Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth. Abimelech said to Isaac, Go from us, for you are much mightier than we. Isaac departed from there, and camped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there. Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them. Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, The water is ours. He called the name of the well Isek, because they contended with him. They dug another well, and they argued over that also. He called its name Sitna. He left that place and dug another well. They didn't argue over that one. He called it Rehoboth. He said, For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land. He went up from there to Bathsheba. Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham your father. Don't be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham's sake. He built an altar there, and called on the name of Yahweh, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac's servants dug a well. Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzath his friend, and Phicall the captain of his army. Isaac said to them, Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you? They said, We saw plainly that Yahweh was with you. We said, Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of Yahweh. He made them a feast, and they ate and drank. They rose up some time in the morning, and swore one to another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. It happened the same day that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, We have found water. He called it Sheba, therefore the name of the city is Ba Sheba, to this day. When Esau was 40 years old, he took his wife Judith, the daughter of Bere, the Hittite, and Basimath, the daughter of Elan the Hittite. They grieved Isaac's and Rebekah's spirits. Chapter 27 It happened that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, My son, he said to him, Here I am. He said, See now, I am old, I don't know the day of my death. Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and take me venison. Make me savory food such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die. Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, Bring me venison, and make me savory food, that I may eat and bless you before Yahweh, before my death. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you. Go now to the flock, and get me from there two good kids of the goats. I will make them savory food for your father, such as he loves. You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death. Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing. His mother said to him, Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me. He went and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother made savory food, such as his father loved. Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. She put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck. She gave the savory food in the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. He came to his father and said, My father? He said, Here I am. Who are you, my son? Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit neat of my venison, that your soul may bless me. Isaac said to his son, How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son? He said, Because Yahweh your God gave me success. Isaac said to Jacob, Please come near that I may fill you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not. Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. He didn't recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him. He said, Are you really my son Esau? He said, I am. He said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless you. He brought it near to him and he ate. He brought him wine and he drank. His father Isaac said to him, Come near now and kiss me, my son. He came near and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his clothing and blessed him and said, Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed. God give you the dew of the sky, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine. Let people serve you and nations bow down to you. Be Lord over your brothers. Let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. Blessed be everyone who blesses you. It happened as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau, his brother, came in from his hunting. He also made savory food and brought it to his father. He said to his father, Let my father arise and eat of his son's venison, that your soul may bless me. Isaac his father said to him, Who are you? He said, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau. Isaac trembled violently and said, Who then is he who has taken venison and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed. When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me, even me also, my father. He said, Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing. He said, Isn't he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing. He said, Haven't you reserved a blessing for me? Isaac answered Esau, Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers have I given to him for servants. With grain and new wine have I sustained him. What then will I do for you, my son? Esau said to his father, Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father. Esau lifted up his voice and wept. Isaac his father answered him, Behold, of the fatness of the earth will be your dwelling, and of the dew of the sky from above. By your sword will you live, and you will serve your brother. It will happen when you will break loose, that you shall shake his yoke from off your neck. Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand, then I will kill my brother Jacob. The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, and Heron. Stay with him a few days, until your brother's fury turns away, until your brother's anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day? Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me? Chapter 28 Isaac called Jacob, blessed him and commanded him. You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padden Aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father. Take a wife from there, from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples, and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which God gave to Abraham. Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Padden Aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, Rebekah's brother, Jacob's and Esau's mother. Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padden Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him, he gave him a command saying, you shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan, and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padden Aram. Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan didn't please Isaac, his father. Esau went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Maheloth, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nabeath, to be his wife. Jacob went out from Bersheba, and went toward Heron. He came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed. Your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land, for I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken of to you. Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I didn't know it. He was afraid and said, How dreadful is this place? This is none other than God's house, and this is the gate of heaven. Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on its top. He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. Jacob vowed a vow saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on, so that I come again to my Father's house in peace, and Yahweh will be my God, then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God's house. Of all that you will give me, I will surely give the tenth to you. End of chapters 24 through 28 Recording by Jerry Dixon, Zephyr Hills, Florida