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NEW AMERICAN
STANDARD
BIBLE
NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972,
1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by THE LOCKMAN FOUNDATION
A Corporation Not for Profit
900 S. Euclid St., La Habra, California 90631
All Rights Reserved
The “New American Standard Bible,” “New American Standard,” “NASB,” and “NAS” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by The Lockman Foundation. Use of these trademarks requires the permission of The Lockman Foundation.
Permission to Quote
The text of the New American Standard Bible® may be quoted and/or reprinted up to and inclusive of five hundred (500) verses without express written permission of The Lockman Foundation, providing that the verses do not amount to a complete book of the Bible nor do the verses quoted account for more than 25% of the total work in which they are quoted.
Notice of Copyright must appear on the title or copyright page of the work as follows:
“Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.”
When quotations from the NASB text are used in not-for-sale media, such as church bulletins, orders of service, posters, transparencies or similar media, the abbreviation (NASB) may be used at the end of the quotation.
This permission to quote is limited to material which is wholly manufactured in compliance with the provisions of the copyright laws of the United States of America. The Lockman Foundation may terminate this permission at any time.
Quotations and/or reprints in excess of the above limitations, or other permission requests, must be directed to and approved in writing by The Lockman Foundation, PO Box 2279, La Habra, CA 90631, 714-879-3055. http://www.lockman.org
FOREWORD
Scriptural Promise
“The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God stands forever.”
The New American Standard Bible has been produced with the conviction that the words of Scripture as originally penned in the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek were inspired by God. Since they are the eternal Word of God, the Holy Scriptures speak with fresh power to each generation, to give wisdom that leads to salvation, that men may serve Christ to the glory of God.
The purpose of the Editorial Board in making this translation was to adhere as closely as possible to the original languages of the Holy Scriptures, and to make the translation in a fluent and readable style according to current English usage.
The Fourfold Aim
of
The Lockman Foundation
1. These publications shall be true to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
2. They shall be grammatically correct.
3. They shall be understandable to the masses.
4. They shall give the Lord Jesus Christ His proper place, the place which the Word gives Him; therefore, no work will ever be personalized.
Preface to the
New American Standard Bible
In the history of English Bible translations, the King James Version is the most prestigious. This time-honored version of 1611, itself a revision of the Bishops’ Bible of 1568, became the basis for the English Revised Version appearing in 1881 (New Testament) and 1885 (Old Testament). The American counterpart of this last work was published in 1901 as the American Standard Version. The ASV, a product of both British and American scholarship, has been highly regarded for its scholarship and accuracy. Recognizing the values of the American Standard Version, the Lockman Foundation felt an urgency to preserve these and other lasting values of the ASV by incorporating recent discoveries of Hebrew and Greek textual sources and by rendering it into more current English. Therefore, in 1959 a new translation project was launched, based on the time-honored principles of the ASV and KJV. The result is the New American Standard Bible.
Translation work for the NASB was begun in 1959. In the preparation of this work numerous other translations have been consulted along with the linguistic tools and literature of biblical scholarship. Decisions about English renderings were made by consensus of a team composed of educators and pastors. Subsequently, review and evaluation by other Hebrew and Greek scholars outside the Editorial Board were sought and carefully considered.
The Editorial Board has continued to function since publication of the complete Bible in 1971. This edition of the NASB represents revisions and refinements recommended over the last several years as well as thorough research based on modern English usage.
Principles of Translation
Modern English Usage: The attempt has been made to render the grammar and terminology in contemporary English. When it was felt that the word-for-word literalness was unacceptable to the modern reader, a change was made in the direction of a more current English idiom. In the instances where this has been done, the more literal rendering has been indicated in the notes. There are a few exceptions to this procedure. In particular, frequently “And” is not translated at the beginning of sentences because of differences in style between ancient and modern writing. Punctuation is a relatively modern invention, and ancient writers often linked most of their sentences with “and” or other connectives. Also the Hebrew idiom “answered and said” is sometimes reduced to “answered” or “said” as demanded by the context. For current English the idiom “it came about that” has not been translated in the New Testament except when a major transition is needed.
Alternate Readings: In addition to the more literal renderings, notations have been made to include alternate translations, reading of variant manuscripts, and explanatory equivalents of the text. These notations have been used specifically to assist the reader in comprehending the terms used by the original author.
Hebrew Text: In the present translation the latest edition of Rudolf Kittel’s Biblica Hebraica has been employed together with the most recent light from lexicography, cognate languages, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Hebrew Tenses: Consecution of tenses in Hebrew remains a puzzling factor in translation. The translators have been guided by the requirements of a literal translation, the sequence of tenses, and the immediate and broad contexts.
The Proper Name of God in the Old Testament: In the Scriptures, the name of god is most significant and understandably so. It is inconceivable to think of spiritual matters without a proper designation for the Supreme Deity. Thus the most common name for the deity is God, a translation of the original Elohim. One of the titles for God is Lord, a translation of Adonai. There is yet another name for which is particularly assigned to God as His special or proper name, that is, the four letters YHWH (Exodus 3:14 and Isaiah 42:8). This name has not been pronounced by the Jews because of reverence for the great sacredness of the divine name. Therefore, it has been consistently translated Lord. The only exception to this translation of YHWH is when it occurs in immediate proximity to the word Lord, that is, Adonai. In that case it is regularly translated God in order to avoid confusion.
It is known that for many years YHWH has been transliterated as Yahweh, however no complete certainty attaches to this pronunciation.
Greek Text: Consideration was given to the latest available manuscripts with a view to determining the best Greek text. In most instances the 26th edition of Eberhard Nestle’s Novum Testamentum Graece was followed.
Greek Tenses: A careful distinction has been made in the treatment of the Greek aorist tense (usually translated as the English past, “He did”) and the Greek imperfect tense (normally rendered either as English past progressive, “he was doing”; or, if inceptive, as “He began to do” or “He started to do”; or else if customary past, as “He used to do”). “Began” is italicized if it renders an imperfect tense, in order to distinguish it from he Greek verb for “begin.”In some contexts the difference between the Greek imperfect and the English past is conveyed better by the choice of vocabulary or by other words in the context, and in such cases the Greek imperfect may be rendered as a simple past tense (e.g. “had an illness for many years” would be preferable to “was having an illness for many years” and would be understood in the same way).
On the other hand, not all the aorists have been rendered as English pasts (“He did”), for some of them are clearly to be rendered as English perfects (“He has done”), or even as pasts perfects (“He had done”), judging from the context in which they occur. Such aorists have been rendered as perfects or as past perfects in this translation.
As for the distinction between aorist and present imperatives, the translators have usually rendered these imperatives in the customary manner, rather than attempting any such fine distinction as “Begin to do!” (for the aorist imperative), or “Continually do!” (for the present imperative).
As for sequence of tenses, the translators took care to follow English rules rather than Greek in translating Greek presents, imperfects and aorists. Thus, where English says, “We knew that he was doing,”Greek puts it, “We knew that he does”; similarly, “We knew that he had done” is the Greek, “We knew that he did.”Likewise, the English, “When he had come, they met him,” is represented in Greek by, “When he came, they met him.”In all cases a consistent transfer has been made from the Greek tense in the subordinate clause to the appropriate tense in English.
In the rendering of negative questions introduced by the particle mē (which always expects the answer “No”) the wording has been altered from a mere, “Will he not do this?” to a more accurate, “He will not do this, will he?”
The Lockman Foundation
Explanation of General Format
Notes and Cross References are placed in a column adjoining the text on the page and listed under verse numbers to which they refer. Superior numbers refer to literal renderings, alternate translations, or explanations. Superior letters refer to cross references. Cross references in italics are parallel passages.
Paragraphs are designated by bold face verse numbers or letters.
Quotation Marks are used in the text in accordance with modern English usage.
“Thy,” “Thee” and “Thou” are not used in this edition and have been rendered as “You” and “Your.”
Italics are used in the text to indicate words which are not found in the original Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek but implied by it. Italics are used in the marginal notes to signify alternate readings for the text. Roman text in the marginal alternate readings is the same as italics in the Bible text.
Small Caps in the New Testament are used in the text to indicated Old Testament quotations or obvious references to Old Testament texts. Variations of Old Testament working are found in New Testament citations depending on whether the New Testament writer translated from a Hebrew text, used existing Greek or Aramaic translations, or paraphrased the material. It should be noted that modern rules for the indication of direct quotation were not used in biblical times; thus the ancient writer would use exact quotations or references to quotation without specific indication of such.
A star (*) are used to mark verbs that are historical presents in the Greek which have been translated with an English past tense in order to conform to modern usage. The translators recognized that in some contexts the present tense seems more unexpected and unjustified to the English reader than a past tense would have been. But Greek authors frequently used the present tense for the sake of heightened vividness, thereby transporting their readers in imagination to the actual scene at the time of occurence. However, the translators felt that it would be wise to change these historical presents to English past tenses.
1 aIn the beginning bGod ccreated the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was 1aformless and void, and bdarkness was over the 2surface of the deep, and cthe Spirit of God dwas 3moving over the 2surface of the waters.
3 Then aGod said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was agood; and God bseparated the light from the darkness.
5 aGod called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And bthere was evening and there was morning, one day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be 1an aexpanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
7 God made the 1expanse, and separated athe waters which were below the 1expanse from the waters bwhich were above the 1expanse; and it was so.
8 God called the 1expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
9 Then God said, “aLet the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let bthe dry land appear”; and it was so.
10 God called the dry land earth, and the agathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout 1avegetation, 2plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after 3their kind 4with seed in them”; and it was so.
12 The earth brought forth 1vegetation, 2plants yielding seed after 3their kind, and trees bearing fruit 4with seed in them, after 3their kind; and God saw that it was good.
13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.
14 Then God said, “Let there be 1alights in the 2bexpanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for csigns and for dseasons and for days and years;
15 and let them be for 1lights in the 2expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.
16 God made the two 1great lights, the agreater 2light 3to govern the day, and the lesser 2light 3to govern the night; He made bthe stars also.
17 aGod placed them in the 1expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18 and 1to agovern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.
19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
20 Then God said, “Let the waters 1teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth 2in the open 3expanse of the heavens.”
21 God created athe great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
24 aThen God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after 1their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after 1their kind”; and it was so.
25 God made the abeasts of the earth after 1their kind, and the cattle after 1their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let aUs make bman in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them crule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the 1sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 God created man ain His own image, in the image of God He created him; bmale and female He created them.
28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “aBe fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the 1sky and over every living thing that 2moves on the earth.”
29 Then God said, “Behold, aI have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the 1surface of all the earth, and every tree 2which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
30 and ato every beast of the earth and to every bird of the 1sky and to every thing that 2moves on the earth 3which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.
31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very agood. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all atheir hosts.
2 By athe seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and bHe rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created 1and made.
4 1aThis is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in bthe day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.
5 aNow no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, bfor the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to 1cultivate the ground.
6 But a 1mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole 2surface of the ground.
7 Then the Lord God formed man of adust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and bman became a living 1being.
8 The Lord God planted a agarden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.
9 Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow aevery tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; bthe tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 Now a ariver 1flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four 2rivers.
11 The name of the first is Pishon; it 1flows around the whole land of aHavilah, where there is gold.
12 The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there.
13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it 1flows around the whole land of Cush.
14 The name of the third river is 1aTigris; it 2flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the 3bEuphrates.
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
16 The Lord God acommanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not 1eat, for in the day that you eat from it ayou will surely die.”
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; aI will make him a helper 1suitable for him.”
19 aOut of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the 1sky, and bbrought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.
20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the 1sky, and to every beast of the field, but for 2Adam there was not found aa helper 3suitable for him.
21 So the Lord God caused a adeep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.
22 The Lord God 1fashioned into a woman athe rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
“aThis is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
Because 1she was taken out of 3Man.”
24 aFor this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
25 aAnd the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
1 Now athe serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from 1any tree of the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “aFrom the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
4 aThe serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and ayou will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 aWhen the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they aknew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves 1loin coverings.
8 They heard the sound of athe Lord God walking in the garden in the 1cool of the day, band the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “aWhere are you?”
10 He said, “aI heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 aThe man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “aThe serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“aBecause you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And bdust you will eat
All the days of your life;
15 And I will put aenmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
bHe shall 1bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
“I will greatly multiply
Your pain 1in childbirth,
In pain you will abring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And bhe will rule over you.”
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;
aCursed is the ground because of you;
All the days of your life.
18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the 1plants of the field;
You will eat bread,
Till you areturn to the ground,
Because bfrom it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”
20 Now the man called his wife’s name 1aEve, because she was the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of aUs, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from bthe tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
24 So aHe drove the man out; and at the beast of the garden of Eden He stationed the ccherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to dthe tree of life.
1 Now the man 1had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to 2Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a 3manchild with the help of the Lord.”
2 Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And aAbel was ba keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 So it came about 1in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground.
4 aAbel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And bthe Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering;
5 but afor Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So bCain became very angry and his countenance fell.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “aWhy are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
7 “aIf you do well, 1will not your countenance be lifted up? bAnd if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, cbut you must master it.”
8 Cain 1told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and akilled him.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “aWhere is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 He said, “What have you done? aThe voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.
11 “Now ayou are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
12 “aWhen you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; byou will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.”
13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to bear!
14 “Behold, You have adriven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and bI will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and cwhoever finds me will kill me.”
15 So the Lord said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him asevenfold.” And the Lord 1bappointed a sign for Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him.
16 Then Cain went out from the presence aof the Lord, and 1settled in the land of 2Nod, east of Eden.
17 Cain 1had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son.
18 Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad 1became the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael 1became the father of Methushael, and Methushael 1became the father of Lamech.
19 Lamech took to himself atwo wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah.
20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.
21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.
22 As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
“Adah and Zillah,
Listen to my voice,
You wives of Lamech,
Give heed to my speech,
aFor I 1have killed a man for wounding me;
And a boy for striking me;
24 If Cain is avenged asevenfold,
Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”
25 aAdam 1had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him 2Seth, for, she said, “God 3has appointed me another 4offspring in place of Abel, bfor Cain killed him.”
26 To Seth, to him also aa son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began bto call 1upon the name of the Lord.
1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him ain the likeness of God.
2 He created them amale and female, and He bblessed them and named them 1Man in the day when they were created.
3 When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he 1became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.
4 Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters.
5 So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.
6 Seth lived one hundred and five years, and became the father of Enosh.
7 Then Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters.
8 So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.
9 Enosh lived ninety years, and became the father of Kenan.
10 Then Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years after he became the father of Kenan, and he had other sons and daughters.
11 So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died.
12 Kenan lived seventy years, and became the father of Mahalalel.
13 Then Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years after he became the father of Mahalalel, and he had other sons and daughters.
14 So all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died.
15 Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Jared.
16 Then Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Jared, and he had other sons and daughters.
17 So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died.
18 Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and became the father of Enoch.
19 Then Jared lived eight hundred years after he became the father of Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters.
20 So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died.
21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah.
22 Then Enoch awalked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters.
23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.
24 aEnoch walked with God; and he was not, for God btook him.
25 Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and became the father of Lamech.
26 Then Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after he became the father of Lamech, and he had other sons and daughters.
27 So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died.
28 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son.
29 Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will 1give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from athe ground which the Lord has cursed.”
30 Then Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after he became the father of Noah, and he had other sons and daughters.
31 So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died.
32 Noah was afive hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
1 Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them,
2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were 1beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.
3 Then the Lord said, “aMy Spirit shall not 1strive with man forever, 2bbecause he also is flesh; 3nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
4 The aNephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that aevery intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 aThe Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was bgrieved 1in His heart.
7 The Lord said, “aI will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the 1sky; for bI am sorry that I have made them.”
8 But aNoah bfound favor in the eyes of the Lord.
9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a arighteous man, 1bblameless in his 2time; Noah cwalked with God.
10 Noah 1became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was acorrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was bfilled with violence.
12 God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for aall flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.
13 Then God said to Noah, “aThe end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.
14 “Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall 1cover it inside and out with pitch.
15 “This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred 1cubits, its breadth fifty 1cubits, and its height thirty 1cubits.
16 “You shall make a 1window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from 2the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.
17 “Behold, aI, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish.
18 “But I will establish aMy covenant with you; and byou shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
19 “aAnd of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.
20 “aOf the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.
21 “As for you, take for yourself some of all afood which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.”
22 aThus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.
1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be arighteous before Me in this 1time.
2 “You shall take 1with you of every aclean animal 2by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female;
3 also of the birds of the 1sky, 2by sevens, male and female, to keep 3offspring alive on the face of all the earth.
4 “For after aseven more days, I will send rain on the earth bforty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land cevery living thing that I have made.”
5 aNoah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him.
6 Now Noah was asix hundred years old when the flood of water 1came upon the earth.
7 Then aNoah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood.
8 aOf clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground,
9 there went into the ark to Noah 1by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 It came about after athe seven days, that the water of the flood 1came upon the earth.
11 In the asix hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all bthe fountains of the great deep burst open, and the 1floodgates of the sky were opened.
12 aThe rain 1fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
13 On the very same day aNoah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark,
14 they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after 1their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, 2all sorts of birds.
15 So they went into the ark to Noah, aby twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life.
16 Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed it behind him.
17 Then the flood 1came upon the earth for aforty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth.
18 The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark 1floated on the 2surface of the water.
19 The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains 1everywhere under the heavens were covered.
20 The water prevailed fifteen 1cubits higher, aand the mountains were covered.
21 aAll flesh that 1moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind;
22 of all that was on the dry land, all ain whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died.
23 Thus He blotted out 1every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the 2sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only aNoah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark.
24 aThe water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.
1 But aGod remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and bGod caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.
2 Also athe fountains of the deep and the 1floodgates of the sky were closed, and bthe rain from the sky was restrained;
3 and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end aof one hundred and fifty days the water decreased.
4 In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, athe ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.
5 The water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.
6 Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the awindow of the ark which he had made;
7 and he sent out a raven, and it 1flew here and there until the water was dried up 2from the earth.
8 Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land;
9 but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the 1surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself.
10 So he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark.
11 The dove came to him toward 1evening, and behold, in her 2beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth.
12 Then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out athe dove; but she did not return to him again.
13 Now it came about in the asix hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up 1from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the 2surface of the ground was dried up.
14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying,
16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.
17 “Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may 1abreed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him.
19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out 1by their families from the ark.
20 Then Noah built aan altar to the Lord, and took of every bclean animal and of every clean bird and offered cburnt offerings on the altar.
21 The Lord asmelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said 1to Himself, “I will never again bcurse the ground on account of man, for cthe 2intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; dand I will never again 3destroy every living thing, as I have done.
Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And asummer and winter,
And bday and night
Shall not cease.”
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “aBe fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
2 “The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the 1sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given.
3 “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, aas I gave the green plant.
4 “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, aits blood.
5 “Surely I will require 1ayour lifeblood; 2bfrom every beast I will require it. And 2from every man, 2from every man’s brother I will require the life of man.
6 “aWhoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed,
For bin the image of God
He made man.
7 “As for you, abe fruitful and multiply;
1Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”
8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,
9 “Now behold, aI Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your 1descendants after you;
10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth.
11 “I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall anever again be cut off by the water of the flood, bneither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 God said, “This is athe sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for 1all successive generations;
13 I set My abow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.
14 “It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud,
15 and aI will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and bnever again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 “When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the aeverlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
18 Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and aHam was the father of Canaan.
19 These three were the sons of Noah, and afrom these the whole earth was 1populated.
20 Then Noah began 1farming and planted a vineyard.
21 He drank of the wine and abecame drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent.
22 Ham, the father of Canaan, asaw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.
23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were 1turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.
24 When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him.
“aCursed be Canaan;
He shall be to his brothers.”
“aBlessed be the Lord,
The God of Shem;
And let Canaan be 1his servant.
27 “aMay God enlarge Japheth,
And let him dwell in the tents of Shem;
And let Canaan be 1his servant.”
28 Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood.
29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.
1 Now these are the records of the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood.
2 aThe sons of Japheth were bGomer and Magog and cMadai and dJavan and Tubal and eMeshech and Tiras.
3 The sons of Gomer were aAshkenaz and 1Riphath and bTogarmah.
4 The sons of Javan were Elishah and aTarshish, Kittim and 1Dodanim.
5 From these the coastlands of the nations 1were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.
6 aThe sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan.
7 The sons of Cush were aSeba and Havilah and Sabtah and bRaamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were bSheba and cDedan.
8 Now Cush 1became the father of Nimrod; he 2became a mighty one on the earth.
9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.”
10 The beginning of his kingdom was 1aBabel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of bShinar.
11 From that land he went forth ainto Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah,
12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.
13 Mizraim 1became the father of aLudim and Anamim and Lehabim and Naphtuhim
14 and aPathrusim and Casluhim (from which came the Philistines) and Caphtorim.
15 Canaan 1became the father of aSidon, his firstborn, and bHeth
16 and athe Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite
17 and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite
18 and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad.
19 aThe territory of the Canaanite 1extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; as you go toward bSodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
20 These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, by their nations.
21 Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the 1older brother of Japheth, children were born.
22 aThe sons of Shem were bElam and Asshur and cArpachshad and dLud and Aram.
23 The sons of Aram were aUz and Hul and Gether and Mash.
24 Arpachshad 1became the father of aShelah; and Shelah 1became the father of Eber.
25 aTwo sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was 1Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.
26 Joktan 1became the father of Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth and Jerah
27 and Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah
28 and 1Obal and Abimael and Sheba
29 and Ophir and Havilah and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.
30 Now their 1settlement 2extended from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the hill country of the east.
31 These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, according to their nations.
32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations; and aout of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.
Universal Language, Babel, Confusion
1 Now the whole earth 1used the same language and 2the same words.
2 It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land aof Shinar and 1settled there.
3 They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used atar for mortar.
4 They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top awill reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves ba name, otherwise we cwill be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
5 aThe Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
6 The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have 1athe same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be 2impossible for them.
7 “Come, alet Us go down and there bconfuse their 1language, so that they will not understand one another’s 1speech.”
8 So the Lord ascattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.
9 Therefore its name was called 1aBabel, because there the Lord confused the 2language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.
10 aThese are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old, and 1became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood;
11 and Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he had other sons and daughters.
12 Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and became the father of Shelah;
13 and Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Shelah, and he had other sons and daughters.
14 Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber;
15 and Shelah lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Eber, and he had other sons and daughters.
16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg;
17 and Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Peleg, and he had other sons and daughters.
18 Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu;
19 and Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after he became the father of Reu, and he had other sons and daughters.
20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug;
21 and Reu lived two hundred and seven years after he became the father of Serug, and he had other sons and daughters.
22 Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor;
23 and Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and he had other sons and daughters.
24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of aTerah;
25 and Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and he had other sons and daughters.
26 Terah lived seventy years, and became athe father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.
27 Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and aHaran became the father of bLot.
28 Haran died 1in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in aUr of the Chaldeans.
29 Abram and aNahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was bSarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife was cMilcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah 1and Iscah.
30 aSarai was barren; she had no child.
31 Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out 1together from aUr of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and 2settled there.
32 The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.
1 Now athe Lord said to Abram,
“1Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
2 And aI will make you a great nation,
And bI will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so 1cyou shall be a blessing;
3 And aI will bless those who bless you,
And the one who 1curses you I will 2curse.
bAnd in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
4 So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and aLot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their apossessions which they had accumulated, and bthe 1persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they 2set out for the land of Canaan; cthus they came to the land of Canaan.
6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of aShechem, to the 1oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land.
7 The Lord aappeared to Abram and said, “bTo your 1descendants I will give this land.” So he built can altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.
8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with aBethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and bcalled upon the name of the Lord.
9 Abram journeyed on, continuing toward athe 1Negev.
10 Now there was aa famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was bsevere in the land.
11 It came about when he 1came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a 2abeautiful woman;
12 aand when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.
13 “Please say that you are amy sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that 1bI may live on account of you.”
14 It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians 1saw that the woman was very beautiful.
15 Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and athe woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.
16 Therefore ahe treated Abram well for her sake; and 1bgave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.
17 But the Lord astruck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
18 Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “aWhat is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
19 “Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, 1here is your wife, take her and go.”
20 Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they 1escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.
1 So Abram went up from Egypt to athe 1Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him.
2 Now Abram was avery rich in livestock, in silver and in gold.
3 He went 1on his journeys from the 2Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, abetween Bethel and Ai,
4 to the place of the aaltar which he had made there formerly; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
5 Now aLot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.
6 And athe land could not 1sustain them 2while dwelling together, bfor their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together.
7 aAnd there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now bthe Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land.
8 aSo Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers.
9 “Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.”
10 Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the 1avalley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the Lord bdestroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like cthe garden of the Lord, dlike the land of Egypt as you go to eZoar.
11 So Lot chose for himself all the 1valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they separated from each other.
12 Abram 1settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot 1settled in athe cities of the 2valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom.
13 Now athe men of Sodom were wicked 1exceedingly and bsinners against the Lord.
14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “aNow lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, bnorthward and southward and eastward and westward;
15 afor all the land which you see, bI will give it to you and to your 1descendants forever.
16 “I will make your 1descendants aas the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your 1descendants can also be numbered.
17 “Arise, awalk about the land through its length and breadth; for bI will give it to you.”
18 Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the 1aoaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built ban altar to the Lord.
1 And it came about in the days of Amraphel king of aShinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of bElam, and Tidal king of 1Goiim,
2 that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of aAdmah, and Shemeber king of bZeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, cZoar).
3 All these 1came as allies to athe valley of Siddim (that is, bthe Salt Sea).
4 Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, came and 1defeated the aRephaim in bAshteroth-karnaim and the Zuzim in Ham and the Emim in 2cShaveh-kiriathaim,
6 and the aHorites in their Mount Seir, as far as bEl-paran, which is by the wilderness.
7 Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, aKadesh), and 1conquered all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, who lived in bHazazon-tamar.
8 And the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah and the king of Admah and the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) came out; and they arrayed for battle against them in athe valley of Siddim,
9 against Chedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of 1Goiim and Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five.
10 Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and athe kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell 1into them. But those who survived fled to the bhill country.
11 Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply, and departed.
12 They also took Lot, aAbram’s nephew, and his possessions and departed, bfor he was living in Sodom.
13 Then 1a fugitive came and told Abram the aHebrew. Now he was 2living by the 3boaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, and these were 4callies with Abram.
14 When Abram heard that ahis 1relative had been taken captive, he 2led out his trained men, bborn in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as cDan.
15 aHe divided 1his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and 2defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is 3north of bDamascus.
16 He abrought back all the goods, and also brought back bhis 1relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the people.
17 Then after his return from the 1defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, athe king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh (that is, bthe King’s Valley).
18 And aMelchizedek king of Salem brought out bbread and wine; now he was a cpriest of 1God Most High.
“Blessed be Abram of 1God Most High,
2aPossessor of heaven and earth;
20 And blessed be 1God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”
aHe gave him a tenth of all.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give the 1people to me and take the goods for yourself.”
22 Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have 1sworn to the Lord 2aGod Most High, 3bpossessor of heaven and earth,
23 that aI will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is yours, for fear you would say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’
24 “1I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, aAner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share.”
1 After these things athe word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,
“bDo not fear, Abram,
I am ca shield to you;
1Your dreward shall be very great.”
2 Abram said, “O Lord 1God, what will You give me, since I 2am childless, and the 3heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 And Abram said, “1Since You have given no 2offspring to me, 3one aborn in my house is my heir.”
4 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; abut one who will come forth from your own 1body, he shall be your heir.”
5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and acount the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “bSo shall your 1descendants be.”
6 aThen he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
7 And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of aUr of the Chaldeans, to bgive you this land to 1possess it.”
8 He said, “O Lord 1God, ahow may I know that I will 2possess it?”
9 So He said to him, “1Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
10 Then he 1brought all these to Him and acut them 2in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he bdid not cut the birds.
11 The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
12 Now when the sun was going down, aa deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, 1terror and great darkness fell upon him.
13 God said to Abram, “Know for certain that ayour 1descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, 2where bthey will be enslaved and oppressed cfour hundred years.
14 “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out awith 1many possessions.
15 “As for you, ayou shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.
16 “Then in athe fourth generation they will return here, for bthe iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
17 It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which apassed between these pieces.
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,
“aTo your 1descendants I have given this land,
From bthe river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:
19 athe Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite
20 and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim
21 and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”
1 Now aSarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had ban Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.
2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. aPlease go in to my maid; perhaps I will 1obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
3 After Abram had 1lived aten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.
4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight.
5 And Sarai said to Abram, “aMay the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your 1arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her 2sight. bMay the Lord judge between 3you and me.”
6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your 1power; do to her what is good in your 2sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and ashe fled from her presence.
7 Now athe angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to bShur.
8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, awhere have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”
9 Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself 1to her authority.”
10 Moreover, the aangel of the Lord said to her, “bI will greatly multiply your 1descendants so that 2they will be too many to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord said to her further,
“Behold, you are with child,
And you will bear a son;
And you shall call his name 1Ishmael,
Because athe Lord 2has given heed to your affliction.
12 “He will be a awild donkey of a man,
His hand will be against everyone,
And everyone’s hand will be against him;
And he will 1live 2bto the east of all his brothers.”
13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “1You are 2a God who sees”; for she said, “aHave I even 3remained alive here after seeing Him?”
14 Therefore the well was called 1Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between aKadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
16 Abram was aeighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to 1him.
Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision
1 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, athe Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,
Walk before Me, and be 2cblameless.
2 “I will 1establish My acovenant between Me and you,
And I will bmultiply you exceedingly.”
3 Abram afell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,
4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,
And you will be the father of a amultitude of nations.
5 “No longer shall your name be called 1Abram,
But ayour name shall be 2Abraham;
For bI will make you the father of a multitude of nations.
6 “I have made you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and akings will come forth from you.
7 “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your 1descendants after you throughout their generations for an aeverlasting covenant, bto be God to you and cto your 1descendants after you.
8 “aI will give to you and to your 1descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and bI will be their God.”
9 God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, ayou shall keep My covenant, you and your 1descendants after you throughout their generations.
10 “aThis is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your 1descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.
11 “And ayou shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.
12 “And every male among you who is aeight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your 1descendants.
13 “A servant who is born in your house or awho is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14 “But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be acut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but 1Sarah shall be her name.
16 “I will bless her, and indeed I will give you aa son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; bkings of peoples will 1come from her.”
17 Then Abraham afell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And bwill Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!”
19 But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you aa son, and you shall call his name 1Isaac; and bI will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his 2descendants after him.
20 “As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and awill make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. bHe shall 1become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a cgreat nation.
21 “But My covenant I will establish with aIsaac, whom bSarah will bear to you at this season next year.”
22 When He finished talking with him, aGod went up from Abraham.
23 Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all the servants who were aborn in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, bas God had said to him.
24 Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when ahe was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25 And aIshmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26 In the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son.
27 All the men of his household, who were aborn in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
1 Now athe Lord appeared to him by the 1boaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.
2 When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three amen were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth,
3 and said, “1My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not 2pass Your servant by.
4 “Please let a little water be brought and awash your feet, and 1rest yourselves under the tree;
5 and I will 1abring a piece of bread, that you may 2refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have 3visited your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.”
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “1Quickly, prepare three 2measures of fine flour, knead it and make bread cakes.”
7 Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and 1choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it.
8 He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree 1as they ate.
9 Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.”
10 He said, “aI will surely return to you 1at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.
11 Now aAbraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was bpast 1childbearing.
12 Sarah laughed 1to herself, saying, “aAfter I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my blord being old also?”
13 And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed 1bear a child, when I am so old?’
14 “aIs anything too 1difficult for the Lord? At the bappointed time I will return to you, 2at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
15 Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
16 Then athe men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off.
17 aThe Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham bwhat I am about to do,
18 since Abraham will surely become a great and 1mighty nation, and in him aall the nations of the earth will be blessed?
19 “For I have 1achosen him, so that he may bcommand his children and his household after him to ckeep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham dwhat He has spoken about him.”
20 And the Lord said, “aThe outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.
21 “I will ago down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
22 Then athe men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before bthe Lord.
23 Abraham came near and said, “aWill You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
24 “Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not 1spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?
25 “Far be it from You to do 1such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not athe Judge of all the earth 2deal justly?”
26 So the Lord said, “aIf I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will 1spare the whole place on their account.”
27 And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have 1ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but adust and ashes.
28 “Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
29 He spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.”
30 Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
31 And he said, “Now behold, I have 1ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.”
32 Then he said, “aOh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.”
33 As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham athe Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his place.
1 Now the atwo angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When bLot saw them, he rose to meet them and 1bowed down with his face to the ground.
2 And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.”
3 Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; aand he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
4 Before they lay down, athe men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people 1from every quarter;
5 and they called to Lot and said to him, “aWhere are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may 1have relations with them.”
6 But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him,
7 and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.
8 “Now behold, aI have two daughters who have not 1had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them 2whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the 3shelter of my roof.”
9 But they said, “Stand aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came in 1as an alien, and already ahe is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against 2Lot and came near to break the door.
10 But athe men reached out their 1hands and brought Lot into the house 2with them, and shut the door.
11 aThey 1struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.
12 Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place;
13 for we are about to destroy this place, because atheir outcry has become so great before the Lord that bthe Lord has sent us to destroy it.”
14 Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who 1were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, aget out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city.” bBut he appeared to his sons-in-law 2to be jesting.
15 When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the 1punishment of the city.”
16 But he hesitated. So the men aseized his hand and the hand of his wife and the 1hands of his two daughters, for bthe compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city.
17 When they had brought them outside, 1one said, “aEscape for your life! bDo not look behind you, and do not stay 2anywhere in the cvalley; escape to dthe 3mountains, or you will be swept away.”
18 But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords!
19 “Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the 1mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die;
20 now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) 1that my life may be saved.”
21 He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this 1request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken.
22 “Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the town was called 1aZoar.
23 The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24 Then the Lord arained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven,
25 and aHe overthrew those cities, and all the 1valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
26 But his wife, from behind him, alooked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to athe place where he had stood before the Lord;
28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the 1valley, and he saw, and behold, athe smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a 2furnace.
29 Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the 1valley, that aGod remembered Abraham, and bsent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.
30 Lot went up from Zoar, and 1astayed in the 2mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to 3stay in Zoar; and he 1stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters.
31 Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man 1on earth to acome in to us after the manner of the earth.
32 “Come, alet us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve 1our family through our father.”
33 So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
34 On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve 1our family through our father.”
35 So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
36 Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father.
37 The firstborn bore a son, and called his name aMoab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day.
38 As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the 1sons of aAmmon to this day.
1 Now Abraham journeyed from athere toward the land of bthe 1Negev, and 2settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in cGerar.
2 Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “aShe is my sister.” So bAbimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
3 aBut God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, byou are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is 1married.”
4 Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, awill You slay a nation, even though 1blameless?
5 “Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she aherself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In bthe integrity of my heart and the innocence of my 1hands I have done this.”
6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also 1akept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.
7 “Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for ahe is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
8 So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were greatly frightened.
9 aThen Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And 1how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom ba great sin? You have done to me 2things that ought not to be done.”
10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you 1encountered, that you have done this thing?”
11 Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no afear of God in this place, and bthey will kill me because of my wife.
12 “Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife;
13 and it came about, when aGod caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is 1the kindness which you will show to me: 2everywhere we go, bsay of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”
14 aAbimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored his wife Sarah to him.
15 Abimelech said, “aBehold, my land is before you; 1settle wherever 2you please.”
16 To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your abrother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is 1your vindication before all who are with you, and before all men you are cleared.”
17 aAbraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore children.
18 aFor the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
1 aThen the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had 1promised.
2 aSo Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at bthe appointed time of which God had spoken to him.
3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, aIsaac.
4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was aeight days old, as God had commanded him.
5 Now Abraham was aone hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, “God has made alaughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh 1with me.”
7 And she said, “aWho would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
8 The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
9 Now Sarah saw athe son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, 1bmocking.
10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “aDrive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son 1Isaac.”
11 aThe matter 1distressed Abraham greatly because of his son.
12 But God said to Abraham, “1Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for athrough Isaac 2your descendants shall be named.
13 “And of athe son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your 1descendant.”
14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a 1skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was used up, she 1left the boy under one of the bushes.
16 Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me 1see the boy die.” And she sat opposite him, and alifted up her voice and wept.
17 God aheard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? bDo not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.
18 “Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by 1the hand, afor I will make a great nation of him.”
19 Then God aopened her eyes and she saw ba well of water; and she went and filled the 1skin with water and gave the lad a drink.
20 aGod was with the lad, and he grew; and he 1lived in the wilderness and became an archer.
21 aHe 1lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
22 Now it came about at that time that aAbimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “bGod is with you in all that you do;
23 now therefore, aswear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have sojourned.”
24 Abraham said, “I swear it.”
25 But Abraham 1complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech ahad seized.
26 And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it 1until today.”
27 Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and athe two of them made a covenant.
28 Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
29 Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?”
30 He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a awitness to me, that I dug this well.”
31 Therefore he called that place aBeersheba, because there the two of them took an oath.
32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines.
33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there ahe called on the name of the Lord, the bEverlasting God.
34 And Abraham sojourned ain the land of the Philistines for many days.
1 Now it came about after these things, that aGod tested Abraham, and said to him, “bAbraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
2 He said, “Take now ayour son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of bMoriah, and offer him there as a cburnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.
5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and alaid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.
7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the alamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham said, “God will 1provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
9 Then they came to athe place of which God had told him; and Abraham built bthe altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and claid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But athe angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
12 He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now aI know that you 1fear God, since you have not withheld byour son, your only son, from Me.”
13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.
14 Abraham called the name of that place 1The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord ait will 2be provided.”
15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven,
16 and said, “aBy Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly amultiply your 1seed as the stars of the heavens and as bthe sand which is on the seashore; and cyour 1seed shall possess the gate of 2their enemies.
18 “aIn your 1seed all the nations of the earth shall 2be blessed, because you have bobeyed My voice.”
19 aSo Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.
20 Now it came about after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, “Behold, aMilcah 1also has borne children to your brother Nahor:
21 Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram
22 and Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.”
23 Bethuel 1became the father of aRebekah; these eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, 1also bore Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.
1 Now 1Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.
2 Sarah died in aKiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham 1went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
3 Then Abraham rose from before his dead, and spoke to the asons of Heth, saying,
4 “I am aa stranger and a sojourner among you; bgive me 1a cburial site among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”
5 The sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him,
6 “Hear us, my lord, you are a 1amighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our graves; none of us will refuse you his grave for burying your dead.”
7 So Abraham rose and bowed to the people of the land, the sons of Heth.
8 And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your 1wish for me to bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and approach aEphron the son of Zohar for me,
9 that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he owns, which is at the end of his field; for the full price let him give it to me in 1your presence for 2a burial site.”
10 Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth; even aof all who went in at the gate of his city, saying,
11 “No, my lord, hear me; aI give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of the sons of my people I give it to you; bury your dead.”
12 And Abraham bowed before the people of the land.
13 He spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If you will only please listen to me; I will give the price of the field, accept it from me that I may bury my dead there.”
14 Then Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,
15 “My lord, listen to me; a piece of land worth four hundred ashekels of silver, what is that between me and you? So bury your dead.”
16 Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham aweighed out for Ephron the silver which he had named in the 1hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, 2commercial standard.
17 So aEphron’s field, which was in Machpelah, which faced Mamre, the field and cave which was in it, and all the trees which were in the field, that were 1within all the confines of its border, 2were deeded over
18 to Abraham for a possession ain the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.
19 After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field at Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
20 So the field and the cave that is in it, 1were adeeded over to Abraham for 2a burial site by the sons of Heth.
1 Now aAbraham was old, advanced in age; and the Lord had bblessed Abraham in every way.
2 Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had acharge of all that he owned, “bPlease place your hand under my thigh,
3 and I will make you swear by the Lord, athe God of heaven and the God of earth, that you bshall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of cthe Canaanites, among whom I live,
4 but you will go to amy country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”
5 The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?”
6 Then Abraham said to him, “aBeware that you do not take my son back there!
7 “aThe Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘bTo your 1descendants I will give this land,’ He will send cHis angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.
8 “But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will abe free from this my oath; bonly do not take my son back there.”
9 So the servant aplaced his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.
10 Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and set out with a variety of agood things of his master’s in his hand; and he arose and went to 1Mesopotamia, to bthe city of Nahor.
11 He made the camels kneel down outside the city by athe well of water at evening time, bthe time when women go out to draw water.
12 He said, “aO Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please 1bgrant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham.
13 “Behold, aI am standing by the 1spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water;
14 now may it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and 1who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’—may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.”
15 aBefore he had finished speaking, behold, bRebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of cMilcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder.
16 The girl was avery beautiful, a virgin, and no man had 1had relations with her; and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.
17 Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, “aPlease let me drink a little water from your jar.”
18 aShe said, “Drink, my lord”; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink.
19 Now when she had finished giving him a drink, ashe said, “I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking.”
20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels.
21 aMeanwhile, the man was gazing at her 1in silence, to know whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not.
22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a agold ring weighing a half-shekel and two bracelets for her 1wrists weighing ten shekels in gold,
23 and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room for us to lodge in your father’s house?”
24 She said to him, “aI am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.”
25 Again she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and room to lodge in.”
26 Then the man abowed low and worshiped the Lord.
27 He said, “aBlessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken bHis lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, cthe Lord has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”
28 Then athe girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things.
29 Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was aLaban; and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring.
30 When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s 1wrists, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “2This is what the man said to me,” he went to the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.
31 And he said, “aCome in, bblessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside since cI have prepared the house, and a place for the camels?”
32 So the man entered the house. Then 1aLaban unloaded the camels, and he gave straw and feed to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
33 But when food was set before him to eat, he said, “I will not eat until I have told my business.” And he said, “Speak on.”
34 So he said, “I am aAbraham’s servant.
35 “The Lord has greatly ablessed my master, so that he has become 1rich; and He has given him bflocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and maids, and camels and donkeys.
36 “Now aSarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master 1in her old age, and bhe has given him all that he has.
37 “aMy master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I 1live;
38 but you shall go to my father’s house and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’
39 “aI said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman does not follow me.’
40 “He said to me, ‘aThe Lord, before whom I have bwalked, will send cHis angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s house;
41 athen you will be free from my oath, when you come to my relatives; and if they do not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’
42 “So aI came today to the spring, and said, ‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I go bsuccessful;
43 behold, aI am standing by the 1spring, and may it be that the maiden who comes out to draw, and to whom I say, “bPlease let me drink a little water from your jar”;
44 and she will say to me, “You drink, and I will draw for your camels also”; let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’
45 “Before I had finished aspeaking in my heart, behold, bRebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, and went down to the spring and drew, and cI said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’
46 “She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘aDrink, and I will water your camels also’; so I drank, and she watered the camels also.
47 “aThen I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him’; and I put the bring on her nose, and the bracelets on her 1wrists.
48 “And I abowed low and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, bwho had guided me in the right way to take the daughter of my master’s 1kinsman for his son.
49 “So now if you are going to 1adeal kindly and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, let me know, that I may turn to the right hand or the left.”
50 Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “aThe matter comes from the Lord; bso we cannot speak to you bad or good.
51 “Here is Rebekah before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken.”
52 When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he abowed himself to the ground 1before the Lord.
53 The servant brought out aarticles of silver and articles of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother.
54 Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night. When they arose in the morning, he said, “aSend me away to my master.”
55 But her brother and her mother said, “aLet the girl stay with us a few days, say ten; afterward she may go.”
56 He said to them, “Do not delay me, since athe Lord has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.”
57 And they said, “We will call the girl and 1consult her wishes.”
58 Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.”
59 Thus they sent away their sister Rebekah and aher nurse with Abraham’s servant and his men.
60 They blessed Rebekah and said to her,
“May you, our sister,
aBecome thousands of ten thousands,
And may byour 1descendants possess
The gate of those who hate them.”
61 Then Rebekah arose with her maids, and they mounted the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed.
62 Now Isaac had come from going to aBeer-lahai-roi; for he 1was living in bthe 2Negev.
63 Isaac went out ato 1meditate in the field toward evening; and bhe lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming.
64 Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from the camel.
65 She said to the servant, “Who is that man walking in the field to meet us?” And the servant said, “He is my master.” Then she took her 1veil and covered herself.
66 The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.
67 Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and ahe took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and bhe loved her; thus Isaac was comforted after chis mother’s death.
1 Now Abraham took another wife, 1whose name was Keturah.
2 aShe bore to him Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah.
3 Jokshan 1became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim.
4 The sons of Midian were Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah.
5 aNow Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac;
6 but to the sons of 1his concubines, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and asent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east.
7 These are 1all the years of Abraham’s life that he lived, aone hundred and seventy-five years.
8 Abraham breathed his last and died ain a 1ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was bgathered to his people.
9 Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in athe cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre,
10 athe field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth; there Abraham was buried with Sarah his wife.
11 It came about after the death of Abraham, that aGod blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac 1lived by bBeer-lahai-roi.
12 Now these are the records of the generations of aIshmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham;
13 and these are the names of athe sons of Ishmael, by their names, 1in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam
14 and Mishma and Dumah and Massa,
15 Hadad and Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah.
16 These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages, and by their camps; atwelve princes according to their 1tribes.
17 These are the years of the life of Ishmael, aone hundred and thirty-seven years; and he breathed his last and died, and was bgathered to his people.
18 They 1settled from aHavilah to bShur which is 2east of Egypt 3as one goes toward Assyria; che 4settled in defiance of all his 5relatives.
19 Now these are the records of athe generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham 1became the father of Isaac;
20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took aRebekah, the bdaughter of Bethuel the 1Aramean of Paddan-aram, the csister of Laban the 1Aramean, to be his wife.
21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and athe Lord 1answered him and Rebekah his wife bconceived.
22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to ainquire of the Lord.
“aTwo nations are in your womb;
bAnd two peoples will be separated from your body;
And one people shall be stronger than the other;
And cthe older shall serve the younger.”
24 When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 Now the first came forth red, aall over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau.
26 Afterward his brother came forth with ahis hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so bhis name was called 1Jacob; and Isaac was csixty years old when she gave birth to them.
27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a 1peaceful man, 2aliving in tents.
28 Now Isaac loved Esau, because 1he had aa taste for game, bbut Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 When Jacob had cooked astew, Esau came in from the field and he was 1famished;
30 and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a swallow of 1that red stuff there, for I am 2famished.” Therefore his name was called 3Edom.
31 But Jacob said, “1First sell me your abirthright.”
32 Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?”
33 And Jacob said, “1First swear to me”; so he swore to him, and asold his birthright to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
1 Now there was aa famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to bAbimelech king of the Philistines.
2 The Lord aappeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; 1bstay in the land of which I shall tell you.
3 “Sojourn in this land and aI will be with you and bbless you, for cto you and to your 1descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish dthe oath which I swore to your father Abraham.
4 “aI will multiply your 1descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your 1descendants all these lands; and bby your 1descendants all the nations of the earth 2shall be blessed;
5 because Abraham 1aobeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.”
6 So Isaac 1lived in Gerar.
7 When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “aShe is my sister,” for he was bafraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “1the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is cbeautiful.”
8 It came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah.
9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, certainly she is your wife! How then did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘I might die on account of her.’ ”
10 aAbimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
11 So Abimelech charged all the people, saying, “He who atouches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
12 Now Isaac sowed in that land and 1reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And athe Lord blessed him,
13 and the man abecame rich, and continued to grow 1richer until he became very 1wealthy;
14 for ahe had possessions of flocks 1and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him.
15 Now aall the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up 1by filling them with earth.
16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are 1atoo powerful for us.”
17 And Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar, and 1settled there.
18 Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which 1had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he 2gave them the same names which his father had 3given them.
19 But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of 1flowing water,
20 the herdsmen of Gerar aquarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well 1Esek, because they contended with him.
21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it 1Sitnah.
22 He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it 1Rehoboth, for he said, “2aAt last the Lord has made 3room for us, and we will be bfruitful in the land.”
23 Then he went up from there to aBeersheba.
24 The Lord aappeared to him the same night and said,
“bI am the God of your father Abraham;
cDo not fear, for I am with you.
I dwill bless you, and multiply your 1descendants,
For the sake of My servant Abraham.”
25 So he built an aaltar there and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
26 Then aAbimelech came to him from Gerar 1with his adviser Ahuzzath and Phicol the commander of his army.
27 Isaac said to them, “aWhy have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”
28 They said, “We see plainly athat the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between 1you and us, and let us make a covenant with you,
29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you 1and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the ablessed of the Lord.’ ”
30 Then ahe made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31 In the morning they arose early and 1aexchanged oaths; then Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in peace.
32 Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac’s servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.”
33 So he called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is aBeersheba to this day.
34 When Esau was forty years old ahe 1married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite;
1 Now it came about, when Isaac was old and ahis eyes were too dim to see, that he called his bolder son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.”
2 1aIsaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death.
3 “Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and ahunt game for me;
4 and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that amy soul may bless you before I die.”
5 Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home,
6 aRebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying,
7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’
8 “Now therefore, my son, alisten to 1me 2as I command you.
9 “Go now to the flock and 1bring me two choice 2young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves.
10 “Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”
11 Jacob 1answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a ahairy man and I am a smooth man.
12 “aPerhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a 1deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.”
13 But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only aobey my voice, and go, get them for me.”
14 So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved.
15 Then Rebekah took the 1best agarments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.
16 And she put the skins of the 1young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
17 She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, 1to her son Jacob.
18 Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. aGet up, please, sit and eat of my game, that 1byou may bless me.”
20 Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “aBecause the Lord your God caused it to happen to me.”
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, that aI may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”
22 So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”
23 He did not recognize him, because his hands were ahairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.
24 And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.”
25 So he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that 1aI may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank.
26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.”
27 So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he ablessed him and said,
“See, bthe smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field cwhich the Lord has blessed;
28 Now may aGod give you of the dew of heaven,
And of the bfatness of the earth,
And an abundance of grain and new wine;
29 aMay peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you;
bBe master of your brothers,
cAnd may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
dCursed be those who curse you,
And blessed be those who bless you.”
30 Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31 Then he also made savory food, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “aLet my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that 1byou may bless me.”
32 Isaac his father said to him, “aWho are you?” And he said, “I am your son, byour firstborn, Esau.”
33 Then Isaac 1trembled violently, and said, “aWho was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? bYes, and he shall be blessed.”
34 When Esau heard the words of his father, ahe cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!”
35 And he said, “aYour brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.”
36 Then he said, “1Is he not rightly named aJacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
37 But Isaac replied to Esau, “Behold, I have made him ayour master, and all his 1relatives I have given to him 2as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?”
38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and awept.
39 Then aIsaac his father answered and said to him,
“Behold, 1baway from the 2fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling,
And 1away from the dew of heaven from above.
40 “By your sword you shall live,
And your brother ayou shall serve;
But it shall come about bwhen you become restless,
That you will 1break his yoke from your neck.”
41 So Esau abore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said 1to himself, “bThe days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you.
43 “Now therefore, my son, aobey my voice, and arise, 1flee to bHaran, to my brother cLaban!
44 “Stay with him aa few days, until your brother’s fury 1subsides,
45 until your brother’s anger 1against you subsides and he forgets awhat you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”
46 Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of 1living because of athe daughters of Heth; bif Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”
1 So Isaac called Jacob and ablessed him and charged him, and said to him, “bYou shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.
2 “Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of aBethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.
3 “May 1aGod Almighty bbless you and cmake you fruitful and dmultiply you, that you may become a ecompany of peoples.
4 “May He also give you the ablessing of Abraham, to you and to your 1descendants with you, that you may bpossess the land of your csojournings, which God gave to Abraham.”
5 Then aIsaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, “aYou shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,”
7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram.
8 So Esau saw that athe daughters of Canaan displeased 1his father Isaac;
9 and Esau went to Ishmael, and 1married, abesides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.
10 Then Jacob departed from aBeersheba and went toward bHaran.
11 He 1came to 2a acertain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it 3under his head, and lay down in that place.
12 aHe had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, bthe angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13 And behold, athe Lord stood 1above it and said, “I am the Lord, bthe God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it cto you and to dyour 2descendants.
14 “Your 1descendants will also be like athe dust of the earth, and you will 2spread out bto the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and cin you and in your 1descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
15 “Behold, aI am with you and bwill keep you wherever you go, and cwill bring you back to this land; for dI will not leave you until I have done what I have 1promised you.”
16 Then Jacob aawoke from his sleep and said, “bSurely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
17 He was afraid and said, “aHow awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
18 So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took athe stone that he had put 1under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top.
19 He called the name of that place 1aBethel; however, 2previously the name of the city had been bLuz.
20 Then Jacob amade a vow, saying, “bIf God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I 1take, and will give me 2cfood to eat and garments to wear,
21 and aI return to my father’s house in 1safety, bthen the Lord will be my God.
22 “This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, awill be God’s house, and bof all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
1 Then Jacob 1went on his journey, and came to the land of athe sons of the east.
2 He looked, and 1saw aa well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, for from that well they watered the flocks. Now the stone on the mouth of the well was large.
3 When all the flocks were gathered there, they would then roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place on the mouth of the well.
4 Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from aHaran.”
5 He said to them, “Do you know Laban the ason of Nahor?” And they said, “We know him.”
6 And he said to them, “Is it well with him?” And they said, “It is well, and here is aRachel his daughter coming with the sheep.”
7 He said, “Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered. Water the sheep, and go, pasture them.”
8 But they said, “We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered, and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.”
9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
10 When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.
11 Then Jacob akissed Rachel, and lifted his voice and wept.
12 Jacob told Rachel that he was a 1arelative of her father and that he was Rebekah’s son, and bshe ran and told her father.
13 So when aLaban heard the news of Jacob his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, and bembraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then he related to Laban all these things.
14 Laban said to him, “Surely you are amy bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him a month.
15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my 1relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall ayour wages be?”
16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
17 And Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was abeautiful of form and 1face.
18 Now Jacob aloved Rachel, so he said, “bI will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
19 Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than to give her to another man; stay with me.”
20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days abecause of his love for her.
21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my 1time is completed, that I may ago in to her.”
22 Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast.
23 Now in the evening he took his daughter Leah, and brought her to him; and Jacob went in to her.
24 Laban also gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid.
25 So it came about in the morning that, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, “aWhat is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you bdeceived me?”
26 But Laban said, “It is not 1the practice in our place to 2marry off the younger before the firstborn.
27 “Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which ayou shall serve with me for another seven years.”
28 Jacob did so and completed her week, and he gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.
29 Laban also gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid.
30 So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and indeed ahe loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with 1Laban for banother seven years.
31 Now the Lord saw that Leah was 1unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
32 Leah conceived and bore a son and named him 1Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has 2aseen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.”
33 Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “aBecause the Lord has 1heard that I am 2unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon.
34 She conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will become 1attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named aLevi.
35 And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will 1praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him 2aJudah. Then she stopped bearing.
1 Now when Rachel saw that ashe bore Jacob no children, 1she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “bGive me children, or else I die.”
2 Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has awithheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
3 She said, “aHere is my maid Bilhah, go in to her that she may bbear on my knees, that 1athrough her I too may have children.”
4 So ashe gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.
5 Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.
6 Then Rachel said, “God has 1avindicated me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him 2Dan.
7 Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
8 So Rachel said, “With 1mighty wrestlings I have 2wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
10 Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
11 Then Leah said, “1How fortunate!” So she named him 2Gad.
12 Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.
13 Then Leah said, “1Happy am I! For women awill call me happy.” So she named him 2Asher.
14 Now in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found amandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15 But she said to her, “Is it a small matter for you to take my husband? And would you take my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Therefore he may lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, then Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night.
17 God gave heed to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18 Then Leah said, “God has given me my 1wages because I gave my maid to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.
19 Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.
20 Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; now my husband 1will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.
21 Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
22 Then aGod remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and bopened her womb.
23 So she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has ataken away my reproach.”
24 She named him Joseph, saying, “aMay the Lord 1give me another son.”
25 Now it came about when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “aSend me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country.
26 “Give me my wives and my children afor whom I have served you, and let me depart; for you yourself know my service which I have 1rendered you.”
27 But Laban said to him, “If now 1it pleases you, stay with me; I have divined athat the Lord has blessed me on your account.”
28 He 1continued, “aName me your wages, and I will give it.”
29 But he said to him, “aYou yourself know how I have served you and how your cattle have 1fared with me.
30 “For you had little before 1I came and it has 2increased to a multitude, and the Lord has blessed you 3wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?”
31 So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock:
32 let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every aspeckled and spotted sheep and every black 1one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages.
33 “So my 1honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my 2wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.”
34 Laban said, “1Good, let it be according to your word.”
35 So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the 1care of his sons.
36 And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37 Then Jacob 1took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was 2in the rods.
38 He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they 1mated when they came to drink.
39 So the flocks 1mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.
40 Jacob separated the lambs, and 1made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock.
41 Moreover, whenever the 1stronger of the flock 2were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might 3mate by the rods;
42 but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the 1stronger Jacob’s.
43 So athe man 1became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.
Jacob Leaves Secretly for Canaan
1 Now 1Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this 2wealth.”
2 Jacob saw the 1attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly.
3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “aReturn to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and bI will be with you.”
4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field,
5 and said to them, “aI see your father’s 1attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but bthe God of my father has been with me.
6 “aYou know that I have served your father with all my strength.
7 “Yet your father has acheated me and bchanged my wages ten times; however, cGod did not allow him to hurt me.
8 “If ahe spoke thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if he spoke thus, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth striped.
9 “Thus God has ataken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.
10 “And it came about at the time when the flock were 1mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were 2mating were striped, speckled, and mottled.
11 “Then athe angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’
12 “He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are 1mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for aI have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.
13 ‘I am athe God of Bethel, where you banointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, 1leave this land, and creturn to the land of your birth.’ ”
14 Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house?
15 “Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For ahe has sold us, and has also 1entirely consumed 2our purchase price.
16 “Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.”
17 Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels;
18 and he drove away all his livestock and all his property which he had gathered, his acquired livestock which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, ato go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.
19 When Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the 1ahousehold idols that were her father’s.
20 And Jacob 1deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing.
21 So he fled with all that he had; and he arose and crossed the Euphrates River, and set his face toward the hill country of aGilead.
22 When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled,
23 then he took his 1kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.
24 aGod came to Laban the Aramean in a bdream of the night and said to him, “1cBe careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.”
25 Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his 1kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead.
26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done 1by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword?
27 “Why did you flee secretly and 1deceive me, and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with atimbrel and with blyre;
28 and did not allow me ato kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly.
29 “It is in 1my power to do you harm, but athe God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘2bBe careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.’
30 “Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal amy gods?”
31 Then Jacob replied to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.
32 “aThe one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our 1kinsmen 2point out what is yours 3among my belongings and take it for yourself.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.
34 Now Rachel had taken the 1household idols and put them in the camel’s saddle, and she sat on them. And Laban felt through all the tent but did not find them.
35 She said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot arise before you, for the manner of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the 1bhousehold idols.
36 Then Jacob became angry and contended with Laban; and Jacob said to Laban, “What is my transgression? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me?
37 “Though you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my 1kinsmen and your 1kinsmen, that they may decide between us two.
38 “These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks.
39 “That which was torn of beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself. You required it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night.
40 “Thus I was: by day the 1heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.
41 “These twenty years I have been in your house; aI served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you bchanged my wages ten times.
42 “If athe God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. bGod has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He crendered judgment last night.”
43 Then Laban replied to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and athe flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne?
44 “So now come, let us amake a covenant, 1you and I, and blet it be a witness between 2you and me.”
45 Then Jacob took aa stone and set it up as a pillar.
46 Jacob said to his 1kinsmen, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.
47 Now Laban acalled it 1Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it 2Galeed.
48 Laban said, “aThis heap is a witness between 1you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed,
49 and 1aMizpah, for he said, “May the Lord watch between 2you and me when we are 3absent one from the other.
50 “If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, aGod is witness between 1you and me.”
51 Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between 1you and me.
52 “This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.
53 “aThe God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, bjudge between us.” So Jacob swore by cthe fear of his father Isaac.
54 Then Jacob aoffered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his 1kinsmen to 2the meal; and they ate 3the meal and spent the night on the mountain.
55 1Early in the morning Laban arose, and akissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.
1 Now as Jacob went on his way, athe angels of God met him.
2 Jacob said when he saw them, “This is God’s 1camp.” So he named that place 2aMahanaim.
3 Then Jacob asent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of bSeir, the 1country of cEdom.
4 He also commanded them saying, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban, and astayed until now;
5 aI have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, bthat I may find favor in your sight.” ’ ”
6 The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore ahe is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
7 Then Jacob was agreatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two companies;
8 for he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and 1attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.”
9 Jacob said, “O aGod of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, ‘bReturn to your country and to your relatives, and I will 1prosper you,’
10 1I am unworthy aof all the lovingkindness and of all the 2faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.
11 “aDeliver me, I pray, bfrom the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and 1attack me and the cmothers with the children.
12 “For You said, ‘aI will surely 1prosper you and bmake your 2descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.’ ”
13 So he spent the night there. Then he 1selected from what 2he had with him a apresent for his brother Esau:
14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
15 thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.
16 He delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on before me, and put a space between droves.”
17 He commanded the 1one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’
18 then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’ ”
19 Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the droves, saying, “After this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him;
20 and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’ ” For he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.”
21 So the present passed on before him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.
22 Now he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the aJabbok.
23 He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.
24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a man awrestled with him until daybreak.
25 When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him.
26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “aI will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
28 aHe said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but 1Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.”
29 Then aJacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob named the place 1Peniel, for he said, “aI have seen God face to face, yet my 2life has been preserved.”
31 Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over aPenuel, and he was limping on his thigh.
32 Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.
1 Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, aEsau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children 1among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.
2 He put the maids and their children 1in front, and Leah and her children 2next, and Rachel and Joseph 2last.
3 But he himself passed on ahead of them and abowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
4 Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and afell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.
5 He lifted his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, “1Who are these with you?” So he said, “aThe children whom God has graciously given your servant.”
6 Then the maids came near 1with their children, and they bowed down.
7 Leah likewise came near with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed down.
8 And he said, “What do you mean by aall this company which I have met?” And he said, “bTo find favor in the sight of my lord.”
9 But Esau said, “aI have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.”
10 Jacob said, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand, 1for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably.
11 “Please take my 1agift which has been brought to you, bbecause God has dealt graciously with me and because I have 2plenty.” Thus he urged him and he took it.
12 Then 1Esau said, “Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you.”
13 But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds which are nursing are 1a care to me. And if they are driven hard one day, all the flocks will die.
14 “Please let my lord pass on before his servant, and I will proceed at my leisure, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at aSeir.”
15 Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “1What need is there? aLet me find favor in the sight of my lord.”
16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.
17 Jacob journeyed to 1aSuccoth, and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is named Succoth.
18 Now Jacob came safely to the city of aShechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from bPaddan-aram, and camped before the city.
19 aHe bought the piece of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred 1pieces of money.
20 Then he erected there an altar and called it 1El-Elohe-Israel.
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About New American Standard Bible: 1995 UpdateThe New American Standard Bible, long considered a favorite study Bible by serious students of the Scriptures, has been completely revised and updated in this new 1995 translation. Preserving the Lockman Foundation's standard of creating a literal translation of the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic manuscripts, the 1995 NASB provides a literal translation that is very readable. Formalized language and outdated words and phrases have been replaced with their contemporary counterparts. In short, the 1995 NASB is a Bible translation that is very conducive to word-by-word study and is also able to be read (and understood) by the whole family. |
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