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The New Jerusalem Bible with Apocrypha
Introduction to GenesisGenesis, the story of origins, sets the scene for the whole Bible. The very first episode shows that God is the all powerful creator of the universe, and that he chose Adam to administer it. The second episode already shows human failure and God's forgiveness, themes woven together especially in Genesis 1-11, through stories couched in the remote past, but relevant to every phase of human history. Much of the imagery is similar to that of other ancient religions, but the conception of God and the world is wholly different. Instead of the fantastic world of quarrelling deities who use human beings as mere pawns, God is a loving creator who repeatedly acts to save the human race even when it fails him.
The stories of the ancestors which follow represent the oldest traditions of Israel. Their world is that of the Hebrews, pastoral nomads on the fringes of civilization. Abraham stands out as the friend of God at the origin of faith, reckless in his trust in Yahweh, and a partner in the first of the series of covenants which lead up to the great covenant on Sinai. Isaac receives a confirmation of this covenant, and so does Jacob, that figure of cunning and intrigue. Finally, the extended story of Joseph shows that God is able to save his people in Egypt through the very man they had rejected and sold into slavery. The origin of these traditions is diverse.
Many of the stories explain customs such as circumcision or abstention from eating blood; some comment on features of the landscape or the existence of shrines; others explain the origin of names. Although identification of persons is not always certain, details of legal observances often show a striking correspondence with ancient codes of Law, e.g. on ownership of land or on marital customs. Through it all shines the faith of these ancestors and their certainty that they are chosen and protected by their God.
Chapter 1
I: the origin of the world and of the human race
1In the beginning God created heaven and earth. 2Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, with a divine wind sweeping over the waters.
3God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4God saw that light was good, and God divided light from darkness. 5God called light "day", and darkness he called "night". Evening came and morning came: the first day.
6God said, "Let there be a vault through the middle of the waters to divide the waters in two." And so it was. 7God made the vault, and it divided the waters under the vault from the waters above the vault. 8God called the vault "heaven". Evening came and morning came: the second day.
9God said, "Let the waters under heaven come together into a single mass, and let dry land appear." And so it was. 10God called the dry land "earth" and the mass of waters "seas", and God saw that it was good.
11God said, "Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants, and fruit trees on earth, bearing fruit with their seed inside, each corresponding to its own species." And so it was. 12The earth produced vegetation: the various kinds of seed-bearing plants and the fruit trees with seed inside, each corresponding to its own species. God saw that it was good. 13Evening came and morning came: the third day.
14God said, "Let there be lights in the vault of heaven to divide day from night, and let them indicate festivals, days and years. 15Let them be lights in the vault of heaven to shine on the earth." And so it was. 16God made the two great lights: the greater light to govern the day, the smaller light to govern the night, and the stars. 17God set them in the vault of heaven to shine on the earth, 18to govern the day and the night and to divide light from darkness. God saw that it was good. 19Evening came and morning came: the fourth day.
20God said, "Let the waters be alive with a swarm of living creatures, and let birds wing their way above the earth across the vault of heaven." And so it was. 21God created great sea-monsters and all the creatures that glide and teem in the waters in their own species, and winged birds in their own species. God saw that it was good. 22God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas; and let the birds multiply on land." 23Evening came and morning came: the fifth day.
24God said, "Let the earth produce every kind of living creature in its own species: cattle, creeping things and wild animals of all kinds." And so it was. 25God made wild animals in their own species, and cattle in theirs, and every creature that crawls along the earth in its own species. God saw that it was good.
26God said, "Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the ground."
27God created man in the image of himself,
in the image of God he created him,
male and female he created them.28God blessed them, saying to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all the living creatures that move on earth." 29God also said, "Look, to you I give all the seed-bearing plants everywhere on the surface of the earth, and all the trees with seed-bearing fruit; this will be your food. 30And to all the wild animals, all the birds of heaven and all the living creatures that creep along the ground, I give all the foliage of the plants as their food." And so it was. 31God saw all he had made, and indeed it was very good. Evening came and morning came: the sixth day.
Chapter 2
1Thus heaven and earth were completed with all their array. 2On the seventh day God had completed the work he had been doing. He rested on the seventh day after all the work he had been doing. 3God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on that day he rested after all his work of creating.
4Such was the story of heaven and earth as they were created.
paradise and the test of free will
At the time when Yahweh God made earth and heaven 5there was as yet no wild bush on the earth nor had any wild plant yet sprung up, for Yahweh God had not sent rain on the earth, nor was there any man to till the soil. 6Instead, water flowed out of the ground and watered all the surface of the soil. 7Yahweh God shaped man from the soil of the ground and blew the breath of life into his nostrils, and man became a living being.
8Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, which is in the east, and there he put the man he had fashioned. 9From the soil, Yahweh God caused to grow every kind of tree, enticing to look at and good to eat, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10A river flowed from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided to make four streams. 11The first is named the Pishon, and this winds all through the land of Havilah where there is gold. 12The gold of this country is pure; bdellium and cornelian stone are found there. 13The second river is named the Gihon, and this winds all through the land of Cush. 14The third river is named the Tigris, and this flows to the east of Ashur. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 15Yahweh God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and take care of it. 16Then Yahweh God gave the man this command, "You are free to eat of all the trees in the garden. 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat; for, the day you eat of that, you are doomed to die."
18Yahweh God said, "It is not right that the man should be alone. I shall make him a helper." 19So from the soil Yahweh God fashioned all the wild animals and all the birds of heaven. These he brought to the man to see what he would call them; each one was to bear the name the man would give it. 20The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of heaven and all the wild animals. But no helper suitable for the man was found for him. 21Then, Yahweh God made the man fall into a deep sleep. And, while he was asleep, he took one of his ribs and closed the flesh up again forthwith. 22Yahweh God fashioned the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man. 23And the man said:
This one at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh!
She is to be called Woman,
because she was taken from Man.24This is why a man leaves his father and mother and becomes attached to his wife, and they become one flesh.
25Now, both of them were naked, the man and his wife, but they felt no shame before each other.
Chapter 3
the fall
1Now, the snake was the most subtle of all the wild animals that Yahweh God had made. It asked the woman, "Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?" 2The woman answered the snake, "We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden. 3But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, "You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death. 4Then the snake said to the woman, "No! You will not die! 5God knows in fact that the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good from evil." 6The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye, and that it was enticing for the wisdom that it could give. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realised that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together to make themselves loincloths.
8The man and his wife heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from Yahweh God among the trees of the garden. 9But Yahweh God called to the man. "Where are you?" he asked. 10"I heard the sound of you in the garden," he replied. "I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid." 11"Who told you that you were naked?" he asked. "Have you been eating from the tree I forbade you to eat?" 12The man replied, "It was the woman you put with me; she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." 13Then Yahweh God said to the woman, "Why did you do that?" The woman replied, "The snake tempted me and I ate."
14Then Yahweh God said to the snake, "Because you have done this,
Accursed be you of all animals wild and tame!
On your belly you will go and on dust you will feed as long as you live.
15I shall put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
it 1 will bruise your head
and you will strike its heel."1Footnote [Greek reads "He", suggesting a personal savior.]
16To the woman he said:
I shall give you intense pain in childbearing,
you will give birth to your children in pain.
Your yearning will be for your husband,
and he will dominate you.17To the man he said, "Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat,
Accursed be the soil because of you!
Painfully will you get your food from it as long as you live.
18It will yield you brambles and thistles,
as you eat the produce of the land.
19By the sweat of your face
will you earn your food,
until you return to the ground,
as you were taken from it.
For dust you are
and to dust you shall return."20The man named his wife "Eve" because she was the mother of all those who live. 21Yahweh God made tunics of skins for the man and his wife and clothed them. 22Then Yahweh God said, "Now that the man has become like one of us in knowing good from evil, he must not be allowed to reach out his hand and pick from the tree of life too, and eat and live for ever!" 23So Yahweh God expelled him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil from which he had been taken. 24He banished the man, and in front of the garden of Eden he posted the great winged creatures and the fiery flashing sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Chapter 4
cain and abel
1The man had intercourse with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. "I have acquired a man with the help of Yahweh," she said. 2She gave birth to a second child, Abel, the brother of Cain. Now Abel became a shepherd and kept flocks, while Cain tilled the soil. 3Time passed and Cain brought some of the produce of the soil as an offering for Yahweh, 4while Abel for his part brought the first-born of his flock and some of their fat as well. Yahweh looked with favour on Abel and his offering. 5But he did not look with favour on Cain and his offering, and Cain was very angry and downcast. 6Yahweh asked Cain, "Why are you angry and downcast? 7If you are doing right, surely you ought to hold your head high! But if you are not doing right, Sin is crouching at the door hungry to get you. You can still master him." 8Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out"; and while they were in the open country, Cain set on his brother Abel and killed him.
9Yahweh asked Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I do not know," he replied. "Am I my brother's guardian?" 10"What have you done?" Yahweh asked. "Listen! Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground. 11Now be cursed and banned from the ground that has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood at your hands. 12When you till the ground it will no longer yield up its strength to you. A restless wanderer you will be on earth." 13Cain then said to Yahweh, "My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14Look, today you drive me from the surface of the earth. I must hide from you, and be a restless wanderer on earth. Why, whoever comes across me will kill me!" 15"Very well, then", Yahweh replied, "whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance." So Yahweh put a mark on Cain, so that no one coming across him would kill him. 16Cain left Yahweh's presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
the descendants of cain
17Cain had intercourse with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. He became the founder of a city and gave the city the name of his son Enoch. 18Enoch fathered Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael; Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. 19Lamech married two women: the name of the first was Adah and the name of the second was Zillah. 20Adah gave birth to Jabal: he was the ancestor of tent-dwelling herdsmen. 21His brother's name was Jubal: he was the ancestor of all who play the harp and the pipe. 22As for Zillah, she gave birth to Tubal-Cain: he was the ancestor of all who work copper and iron. Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah.
23Lamech said to his wives:
Adah and Zillah, hear my voice,
wives of Lamech, listen to what I say:
I killed a man for wounding me,
a boy for striking me.
24Sevenfold vengeance for Cain,
but seventy-sevenfold for Lamech.seth and his descendants
25Adam had intercourse with his wife, and she gave birth to a son whom she named Seth, "because God has granted me other offspring", she said, "in place of Abel, since Cain has killed him." 26A son was also born to Seth, and he named him Enosh. This man was the first to invoke the name Yahweh.
Chapter 5
the patriarchs before the flood
1This is the roll of Adam's descendants: On the day that God created Adam he made him in the likeness of God. 2Male and female he created them. He blessed them and gave them the name Man, when they were created.
3When Adam was a hundred and thirty years old he fathered a son, in his likeness, after his image, and he called him Seth. 4Adam lived for eight hundred years after the birth of Seth and he fathered sons and daughters. 5In all, Adam lived for nine hundred and thirty years; then he died.
6When Seth was a hundred and five years old he fathered Enosh. 7After the birth of Enosh, Seth lived for eight hundred and seven years, and he fathered sons and daughters. 8In all, Seth lived for nine hundred and twelve years; then he died.
9When Enosh was ninety years old he fathered Kenan. 10After the birth of Kenan, Enosh lived for eight hundred and fifteen years and he fathered sons and daughters. 11In all, Enosh lived for nine hundred and five years; then he died.
12When Kenan was seventy years old he fathered Mahalalel. 13After the birth of Mahalalel, Kenan lived for eight hundred and forty years and he fathered sons and daughters. 14In all, Kenan lived for nine hundred and ten years; then he died.
15When Mahalalel was sixty-five years old he fathered Jared. 16After the birth of Jared, Mahalalel lived for eight hundred and thirty years and he fathered sons and daughters. 17In all, Mahalalel lived for eight hundred and ninety-five years; then he died.
18When Jared was a hundred and sixty-two years old he fathered Enoch. 19After the birth of Enoch, Jared lived for eight hundred years and he fathered sons and daughters. 20In all, Jared lived for nine hundred and sixty-two years; then he died.
21When Enoch was sixty-five years old he fathered Methuselah. 22Enoch walked with God. After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch lived for three hundred years and he fathered sons and daughters. 23In all, Enoch lived for three hundred and sixty-five years. 24Enoch walked with God, then was no more, because God took him.
25When Methuselah was a hundred and eighty-seven years old he fathered Lamech. 26After the birth of Lamech, Methuselah lived for seven hundred and eighty-two years and he fathered sons and daughters. 27In all, Methuselah lived for nine hundred and sixty-nine years; then he died.
28When Lamech was a hundred and eighty-two years old he fathered a son. 29He gave him the name Noah because, he said, "Here is one who will give us, in the midst of our toil and the laboring of our hands, a consolation out of the very soil that Yahweh cursed." 30After the birth of Noah, Lamech lived for five hundred and ninety-five years and fathered sons and daughters. 31In all, Lamech lived for seven hundred and seventy-seven years; then he died.
32When Noah was five hundred years old he fathered Shem, Ham and Japheth.
Chapter 6
sons of god and the daughters of men
1When people began being numerous on earth, and daughters had been born to them, 2the sons of God, looking at the women, saw how beautiful they were and married as many of them as they chose. 3Yahweh said, "My spirit cannot be indefinitely responsible for human beings, who are only flesh; let the time allowed each be a hundred and twenty years." 4The Nephilim were on earth in those days (and even afterwards) when the sons of God resorted to the women, and had children by them. These were the heroes of days gone by, men of renown.
B: the flood
the corruption of humanity5Yahweh saw that human wickedness was great on earth and that human hearts contrived nothing but wicked schemes all day long. 6Yahweh regretted having made human beings on earth and was grieved at heart. 7And Yahweh said, "I shall rid the surface of the earth of the human beings whom I created -- human and animal, the creeping things and the birds of heaven -- for I regret having made them." 8But Noah won Yahweh's favor.
9This is the story of Noah: Noah was a good man, an upright man among his contemporaries, and he walked with God. 10Noah fathered three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. 11God saw that the earth was corrupt and full of lawlessness. 12God looked at the earth: it was corrupt, for corrupt were the ways of all living things on earth.
preparations for the flood
13God said to Noah, "I have decided that the end has come for all living things, for the earth is full of lawlessness because of human beings. So I am now about to destroy them and the earth. 14Make yourself an ark out of resinous wood. Make it of reeds and caulk it with pitch inside and out. 15This is how to make it: the length of the ark is to be three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16Make a roof to the ark, building it up to a cubit higher. Put the entrance in the side of the ark, which is to be made with lower, second and third decks.
17"For my part I am going to send the flood, the waters, on earth, to destroy all living things having the breath of life under heaven; everything on earth is to perish. 18But with you I shall establish my covenant and you will go aboard the ark, yourself, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives along with you. 19From all living creatures, from all living things, you must take two of each kind aboard the ark, to save their lives with yours; they must be a male and a female. 20Of every species of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that creeps along the ground, two must go with you so that their lives may be saved. 21For your part, provide yourself with eatables of all kinds, and lay in a store of them, to serve as food for yourself and them." 22Noah did this; exactly as God commanded him, he did.
Chapter 7
1Yahweh said to Noah, "Go aboard the ark, you and all your household, for you alone of your contemporaries do I see before me as an upright man. 2Of every clean animal you must take seven pairs, a male and its female; of the unclean animals you must take one pair, a male and its female 3(and of the birds of heaven, seven pairs, a male and its female), to preserve their species throughout the earth. 4For in seven days' time I shall make it rain on earth for forty days and forty nights, and I shall wipe every creature I have made off the face of the earth." 5Noah did exactly as Yahweh commanded him.
6Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came, the waters over the earth.
7Noah with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives boarded the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8(Of the clean animals and the animals that are not clean, of the birds and all that creeps along the ground, 9one pair boarded the ark with Noah, one male and one female, as God had commanded Noah.) 10Seven days later the waters of the flood appeared on earth.
11In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, and on the seventeenth day of the month, that very day all the springs of the great deep burst through, and the sluices of heaven opened. 12And heavy rain fell on earth for forty days and forty nights.
13That very day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth boarded the ark, with Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons, 14and with them every species of wild animal, every species of cattle, every species of creeping things that creep along the ground, every species of bird, everything that flies, everything with wings. 15One pair of all that was alive and had the breath of life boarded the ark with Noah, 16and those that went aboard were a male and female of all that was alive, as God had commanded him.
Then Yahweh shut him in.
the deluge
17The flood lasted forty days on earth. The waters swelled, lifting the ark until it floated off the ground. 18The waters rose, swelling higher above the ground, and the ark drifted away over the waters. 19The waters rose higher and higher above the ground until all the highest mountains under the whole of heaven were submerged. 20The waters reached their peak fifteen cubits above the submerged mountains. 21And all living things that stirred on earth perished; birds, cattle, wild animals, all the creatures swarming over the earth, and all human beings. 22Everything with the least breath of life in its nostrils, everything on dry land, died. 23Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out, people, animals, creeping things and birds; they were wiped off the earth and only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. 24The waters maintained their level on earth for a hundred and fifty days.
Chapter 8
the flood subsides
1But God had Noah in mind, and all the wild animals and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. God sent a wind across the earth and the waters began to subside. 2The springs of the deep and the sluices of heaven were stopped up and the heavy rain from heaven was held back. 3Little by little, the waters ebbed from the earth. After a hundred and fifty days the waters fell, 4and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5The waters gradually fell until the tenth month when, on the first day of the tenth month, the mountain tops appeared.
6At the end of forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 7and released a raven, which flew back and forth as it waited for the waters to dry up on earth. 8He then released a dove, to see whether the waters were receding from the surface of the earth. 9But the dove, finding nowhere to perch, returned to him in the ark, for there was water over the whole surface of the earth; putting out his hand he took hold of it and brought it back into the ark with him. 10After waiting seven more days, he again released the dove from the ark. 11In the evening, the dove came back to him and there in its beak was a freshly-picked olive leaf! So Noah realised that the waters were receding from the earth. 12After waiting seven more days, he released the dove, and now it returned to him no more.
13It was in the six hundred and first year of Noah's life, in the first month and on the first of the month, that the waters began drying out on earth. Noah lifted back the hatch of the ark and looked out. The surface of the ground was dry!
14In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
they disembark
15Then God said to Noah, 16"Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons' wives with you. 17Bring out all the animals with you, all living things, the birds, the cattle and all the creeping things that creep along the ground, for them to swarm on earth, for them to breed and multiply on earth." 18So Noah came out with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives. 19And all the wild animals, all the cattle, all the birds and all the creeping things that creep along the ground, came out of the ark, one species after another.
20Then Noah built an altar to Yahweh and, choosing from all the clean animals and all the clean birds he presented burnt offerings on the altar. 21Yahweh smelt the pleasing smell and said to himself, "Never again will I curse the earth because of human beings, because their heart contrives evil from their infancy. Never again will I strike down every living thing as I have done.
22As long as earth endures:
seed-time and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease."Chapter 9
the new world order
1God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Breed, multiply and fill the earth. 2Be the terror and the dread of all the animals on land and all the birds of heaven, of everything that moves on land and all the fish of the sea; they are placed in your hands. 3Every living thing that moves will be yours to eat, no less than the foliage of the plants. I give you everything, 4with this exception: you must not eat flesh with life, that is to say blood, in it. 5And I shall demand account of your life-blood, too. I shall demand it of every animal, and of man. Of man as regards his fellow-man, I shall demand account for human life.
6He who sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for in the image of God
was man created.7Be fruitful then and multiply, teem over the earth and subdue it!"
8God spoke as follows to Noah and his sons, 9"I am now establishing my covenant with you and with your descendants to come, 10and with every living creature that was with you: birds, cattle and every wild animal with you; everything that came out of the ark, every living thing on earth. 11And I shall maintain my covenant with you: that never again shall all living things be destroyed by the waters of a flood, nor shall there ever again be a flood to devastate the earth."
12"And this", God said, "is the sign of the covenant which I now make between myself and you and every living creature with you for all ages to come: 13I now set my bow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I gather the clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, 15I shall recall the covenant between myself and you and every living creature, in a word all living things, and never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all living things. 16When the bow is in the clouds I shall see it and call to mind the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth, that is, all living things.
17"That", God told Noah, "is the sign of the covenant I have established between myself and all living things on earth.
C: from the flood to abraham
noah and his sons18The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth; Ham being the father of Canaan. 19These three were Noah's sons, and from these the whole earth was peopled.
20Noah, a tiller of the soil, was the first to plant the vine. 21He drank some of the wine, and while he was drunk, he lay uncovered in his tent. 22Ham, father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23Shem and Japheth took a cloak and they both put it over their shoulders, and walking backwards, covered their father's nakedness; they kept their faces turned away, and they did not look at their father naked. 24When Noah awoke from his stupor he learned what his youngest son had done to him, 25and said:
Accursed be Canaan,
he shall be his brothers
meanest slave.26He added:
Blessed be Yahweh, God of Shem,
let Canaan be his slave!
27May God make space for Japheth,
may he live in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his slave!28After the flood Noah lived three hundred and fifty years. 29In all, Noah's life lasted nine hundred and fifty years; then he died.
Chapter 10
the peopling of the earth
1These are the descendants of Noah's sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, to whom sons were born after the flood:
2Japheth's sons: Gomer, Magog, the Medes, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, Tiras. 3Gomer's sons: Ashkenaz, Riphath, Togarmah. 4Javan's sons: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim, the Dananites. 5From these came the dispersal to the islands of the nations.
These were Japheth's sons, in their respective countries, each with its own language, by clan and nation.
6Ham's sons: Cush, Mizraim, Put, Canaan. 7Cush's sons: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, Sabteca. Raamah's sons: Sheba, Dedan.
8Cush fathered Nimrod who was the first potentate on earth. 9He was a mighty hunter in the eyes of Yahweh, hence the saying, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter in the eyes of Yahweh." 10The mainstays of his empire were Babel, Erech and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar. 11From this country came Asshur, and he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, 12and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (this being the capital).
13Mizraim fathered the people of Lud, of Anam, Lehab, Naphtuh, 14Pathros, Casluh and Caphtor, from which the Philistines came.
15Canaan fathered Sidon, his first-born, then Heth, 16and the Jebusites, the Amorites, Girgashites, 17Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites. Later, the Canaanite clans spread out. 19The Canaanite frontier stretched from Sidon all the way to Gerar near Gaza, and all the way to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim near Lesha.
20These were Ham's sons, by clans and languages, by countries and nations.
21Shem too fathered sons, being ancestor of all the sons of Eber and Japheth's elder brother.
22Shem's sons: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, Aram. 23Aram's sons: Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash.
24Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber. 25To Eber were born two sons: the first was called Peleg, because it was in his time that the earth was divided, and his brother was called Joktan. 26Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28Obal, Abima-El, Sheba, 29Ophir, Havilah, Jobab; all these were sons of Joktan. 30They occupied a stretch of country from Mesha all the way to Sephar, the eastern mountain range.
31These were Shem's sons, by clans and languages, by countries and nations.
32Such were the clans of Noah's descendants, listed by descent and nation. From them, other nations branched out on earth after the flood.
Chapter 11
the tower of babel
1The whole world spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary. 2Now, as people moved eastwards they found a valley in the land of Shinar where they settled. 3They said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire." For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen. 4"Come," they said, "let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top reaching heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we do not get scattered all over the world."
5Now Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower that the people had built. 6"So they are all a single people with a single language!" said Yahweh. "This is only the start of their undertakings! Now nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. 7Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they cannot understand one another." 8Yahweh scattered them thence all over the world, and they stopped building the city. 9That is why it was called Babel, since there Yahweh confused the language of the whole world, and from there Yahweh scattered them all over the world.
the patriarchs after the flood
10These are Shem's descendants:
When Shem was a hundred years old he fathered Arpachshad, two years after the flood. 11After the birth of Arpachshad, Shem lived five hundred years and fathered sons and daughters.
12When Arpachshad was thirty-five years old he fathered Shelah. 13After the birth of Shelah, Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years and fathered sons and daughters.
14When Shelah was thirty years old he fathered Eber. 15After the birth of Eber, Shelah lived four hundred and three years and fathered sons and daughters.
16When Eber was thirty-four years old he fathered Peleg. 17After the birth of Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years and fathered sons and daughters.
18When Peleg was thirty years old he fathered Reu. 19After the birth of Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years and fathered sons and daughters.
20When Reu was thirty-two years old he fathered Serug. 21After the birth of Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years and fathered sons and daughters.
22When Serug was thirty years old he fathered Nahor. 23After the birth of Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years and fathered sons and daughters.
24When Nahor was twenty-nine years old he fathered Terah. 25After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived a hundred and nineteen years and fathered sons and daughters.
26When Terah was seventy years old he fathered Abram, Nahor and Haran.
the descendants terah
27These are Terah's descendants: Terah fathered Abram, Nahor and Haran. Haran fathered Lot. 28Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in his native land, Ur of the Chaldaeans. 29Abram and Nahor both married: Abram's wife was called Sarai, Nahor's wife was called Milcah daughter of Haran, father of Milcah and Iscah. 30Sarai was barren, having no child.
31Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law the wife of Abram, and made them leave Ur of the Chaldaeans to go to the land of Canaan. But on arrival in Haran they settled there.
32Terah's life lasted two hundred and five years; then he died at Haran.
Chapter 12
II: the story of abram
the call of abram1Yahweh said to Abram, "Leave your country, your kindred and your father's house for a country which I shall show you; 2and I shall make you a great nation, I shall bless you and make your name famous; you are to be a blessing!
3I shall bless those who bless you,
and shall curse those who curse you,
and all clans on earth
will bless themselves by you."4So Abram went as Yahweh told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 5Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had amassed and the people they had acquired in Haran. They set off for the land of Canaan, and arrived there.
6Abram passed through the country as far as the holy place at Shechem, the Oak of Moreh. The Canaanites were in the country at the time. 7Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, "I shall give this country to your progeny." And there, Abram built an altar to Yahweh who had appeared to him. 8From there he moved on to the mountainous district east of Bethel, where he pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and invoked the name of Yahweh. 9Then Abram made his way stage by stage to the Negeb.
Abram in Egypt
10There was a famine in the country, and Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for a time, since the famine in the country was severe. 11When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "Look, I know you are a beautiful woman. 12When the Egyptians see you they will say, "That is his wife," and they will kill me but leave you alive. 13Therefore please tell them you are my sister, so that they may treat me well because of you and spare my life out of regard for you." 14When Abram arrived in Egypt the Egyptians did indeed see that the woman was very beautiful. 15When Pharaoh's officials saw her they sang her praises to Pharaoh and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's household. 16And Abram was very well treated because of her and received flocks, oxen, donkeys, men and women slaves, she-donkeys and camels. 17But Yahweh inflicted severe plagues on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai. 18So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, "What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me she was your wife? 19Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and go!" 20And Pharaoh gave his people orders about him; they sent him on his way with his wife and all his possessions.
Chapter 13
abram and lot separate
1From Egypt Abram returned to the Negeb with his wife and all he possessed, and Lot with him. 2Abram was very rich in livestock, silver and gold. 3By stages he went from the Negeb to Bethel, where he had first pitched his tent, between Bethel and Ai, 4at the place where he had formerly erected the altar. There Abram invoked the name of Yahweh.
5Lot, who was travelling with Abram, had flocks and cattle of his own, and tents too. 6The land was not sufficient to accommodate them both at once, for they had too many possessions to be able to live together. 7Dispute broke out between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and those of Lot. (The Canaanites and Perizzites were living in the country at the time.) 8Accordingly Abram said to Lot, "We do not want discord between us or between my herdsmen and yours, for we are kinsmen. 9Is not the whole land open before you? Go in the opposite direction to me: if you take the left, I shall go right; if you take the right, I shall go left."
10Looking round, Lot saw all the Jordan plain, irrigated everywhere -- this was before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah -- like the garden of Yahweh or the land of Egypt, as far as Zoar. 11So Lot chose all the Jordan plain for himself and moved off eastwards. Thus they parted company: 12Abram settled in the land of Canaan; Lot settled among the cities of the plain, pitching his tents on the outskirts of Sodom. 13Now the people of Sodom were vicious and great sinners against Yahweh.
14Yahweh said to Abram after Lot had parted company from him, "Look all round from where you are, to north and south, to east and west, 15for all the land within sight I shall give to you and your descendants for ever. 16I shall make your descendants like the dust on the ground; when people succeed in counting the specks of dust on the ground, then they will be able to count your descendants too! 17On your feet! Travel the length and breadth of the country, for I mean to give it to you."
18So Abram moved his tent and went to settle at the Oak of Mamre, at Hebron, and there he built an altar to Yahweh.
Chapter 14
the campaign of the four great kings
1When Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedor-Laomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of the Goiim, 2made war on Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar),
3all the latter joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (now the Salt Sea). 4For twelve years they had been under the yoke of Chedor-Laomer, but in the thirteenth year they revolted. 5In the fourteenth year Chedor-Laomer arrived and the kings who had allied themselves with him. They defeated the Rephaim at Ashteroth-Carnaim, the Zuzim at Ham, the Emim in the Plain of Kiriathaim, 6the Horites in the mountainous district of Seir near El-Paran, which is on the edge of the desert. 7Wheeling round, they came to the Spring of Judgement (that is, Kadesh); they conquered all the territory of the Amalekites and also the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-Tamar. 8Then the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and engaged them in the Valley of Siddim: 9Chedor-Laomer king of Elam, Tidal king of the Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar: four kings against five. 10Now there were many bitumen wells in the Valley of Siddim, and in their flight the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell into them, while the rest fled into the hills. 11The conquerors seized all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and made off. 12They also took Lot (the nephew of Abram) and his possessions and made off; he had been living at Sodom.
13A survivor came to tell Abram, and Aner the Hebrew, who was living at the Oak of the Amorite Mamre, the brother of Eshcol; these were allies of Abram. 14When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he mustered his retainers born in his own household, numbering three hundred and eighteen, and gave chase as far as Dan. 15He and his retainers deployed against them under cover of dark, defeated them and pursued them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. 16He recaptured all the goods as well as his kinsman Lot and his possessions, together with the women and people.
melchizedek
17When Abram returned from defeating Chedor-Laomer and the kings who had been on his side, the king of Sodom came to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the Valley of the King). 18Melchizedek king of Salem brought bread and wine; he was a priest of God Most High. 19He pronounced this blessing:
Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.
And blessed be God Most High for putting your enemies into your clutches.20And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. 21The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself." 22But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, "I swear by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth: 23not one thread, not one sandal strap, will I take of what is yours, for you to be able to say, "I made Abram rich." 24For myself, nothing -- except what the troops have used up, and the share due to the men who came with me, Eshcol, Aner and Mamre; let them take their share."
Chapter 15
the divine promises and covenant
1Some time later, the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram! I am your shield and shall give you a very great reward.
2"Lord Yahweh," Abram replied, "What use are your gifts, as I am going on my way childless? ... Footnote [The remainder of the verse is unintelligible.] 3Since you have given me no offspring," Abram continued, "a member of my household will be my heir." 4Then Yahweh's word came to him in reply, "Such a one will not be your heir; no, your heir will be the issue of your own body." 5Then taking him outside, he said, "Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Just so will your descendants be," he told him. 6Abram put his faith in Yahweh and this was reckoned to him as uprightness.
7He then said to him, "I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldaeans to give you this country as your possession." 8"Lord Yahweh," Abram replied, "how can I know that I shall possess it?" 9He said to him, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon." 10He brought him all these, split the animals down the middle and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not divide. 11And whenever birds of prey swooped down on the carcases, Abram drove them off.
12Now, as the sun was on the point of setting, a trance fell on Abram, and a deep dark dread descended on him. 13Then Yahweh said to Abram, "Know this for certain, that your descendants will be exiles in a land not their own, and be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. 14But I shall bring judgement on the nation that enslaves them and after this they will leave, with many possessions. 15For your part, you will join your ancestors in peace; you will be buried at a happy old age. 16In the fourth generation they will come back here, for until then the iniquity of the Amorites will not have reached its full extent."
17When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passing between the animals' pieces. 18That day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram in these terms:
"To your descendants I give this country,
from the River of Egypt to the Great River,the River Euphrates, 19the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."
Chapter 16
the birth of ishmael
1Abram's wife Sarai had borne him no child, but she had an Egyptian slave-girl called Hagar. 2So Sarai said to Abram, "Listen, now! Since Yahweh has kept me from having children, go to my slave-girl. Perhaps I shall get children through her." And Abram took Sarai's advice.
3Thus, after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan for ten years, Sarai took Hagar her Egyptian slave-girl and gave her to Abram as his wife. 4He went to Hagar and she conceived. And once she knew she had conceived, her mistress counted for nothing in her eyes. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, "This outrage done to me is your fault! It was I who put my slave-girl into your arms but, now she knows that she has conceived, I count for nothing in her eyes. Yahweh judge between me and you!" 6"Very well," Abram said to Sarai, "your slave-girl is at your disposal. Treat her as you think fit." Sarai accordingly treated her so badly that she ran away from her.
7The angel of Yahweh found her by a spring in the desert, the spring on the road to Shur. 8He said, "Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I am running away from my mistress Sarai," she replied. 9The angel of Yahweh said to her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." 10The angel of Yahweh further said to her, "I shall make your descendants too numerous to be counted." 11Then the angel of Yahweh said to her:
Now, you have conceived and will bear a son,
and you shall name him Ishmael,
for Yahweh has heard your cries of distress.
12A wild donkey of a man he will be,
his hand against every man, and every man's hand against him,
living his life in defiance of all his kinsmen.13Hagar gave a name to Yahweh who had spoken to her, "You are El Roi," by which she meant, "Did I not go on seeing here, after him who sees me?" 14This is why the well is called the well of Lahai Roi; it is between Kadesh and Bered.
15Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave his son borne by Hagar the name Ishmael. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Chapter 17
the covenant and circumcision
1When Abram was ninety-nine years old Yahweh appeared to him and said, "I am El Shaddai. Live in my presence, be perfect, 2and I shall grant a covenant between myself and you, and make you very numerous."
3Abram bowed to the ground. God spoke to him as follows, 4"For my part, this is my covenant with you: you will become the father of many nations. 5And you are no longer to be called Abram; your name is to be Abraham, for I am making you father of many nations. 6I shall make you exceedingly fertile. I shall make you into nations, and your issue will be kings. 7And I shall maintain my covenant between myself and you, and your descendants after you, generation after generation, as a covenant in perpetuity, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8And to you and to your descendants after you, I shall give the country where you are now immigrants, the entire land of Canaan, to own in perpetuity. And I shall be their God."
9God further said to Abraham, "You for your part must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation. 10This is my covenant which you must keep between myself and you, and your descendants after you: every one of your males must be circumcised. 11You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that will be the sign of the covenant between myself and you. 12As soon as he is eight days old, every one of your males, generation after generation, must be circumcised, including slaves born within the household or bought from a foreigner not of your descent. 13Whether born within the household or bought, they must be circumcised. My covenant must be marked in your flesh as a covenant in perpetuity. 14The uncircumcised male, whose foreskin has not been circumcised -- that person must be cut off from his people: he has broken my covenant."
15Furthermore God said to Abraham, "As regards your wife Sarai, you must not call her Sarai, but Sarah. 16I shall bless her and moreover give you a son by her. I shall bless her and she will become nations: kings of peoples will issue from her." 17Abraham bowed to the ground, and he laughed, Footnote [Play on the Hebrew root "laugh" in the name Isaac, which in fact means "God will smile".] thinking to himself, "Is a child to be born to a man one hundred years old, and will Sarah have a child at the age of ninety?" 18Abraham said to God, "May Ishmael live in your presence! That will be enough!" 19But God replied, "Yes, your wife Sarah will bear you a son whom you must name Isaac. And I shall maintain my covenant with him, a covenant in perpetuity, to be his God and the God of his descendants after him. 20For Ishmael too I grant you your request. I hereby bless him and will make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I shall make him into a great nation. 21But my covenant I shall maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear you at this time next year." 22When he had finished speaking to Abraham, God went up from him.
23Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, all the slaves born in his household or whom he had bought, in short all the males among the people of Abraham's household, and circumcised their foreskins that same day, as God had said to him. 24Abraham was ninety-nine years old when his foreskin was circumcised. 25Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when his foreskin was circumcised. 26Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the very same day, 27and all the men of his household, those born in the household and those bought from foreigners, were circumcised with him.
Chapter 18
the apparition at mamre
1Yahweh appeared to him at the Oak of Mamre while he was sitting by the entrance of the tent during the hottest part of the day. 2He looked up, and there he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them, and bowed to the ground. 3"My lord," he said, "if I find favor with you, please do not pass your servant by. 4Let me have a little water brought, and you can wash your feet and have a rest under the tree. 5Let me fetch a little bread and you can refresh yourselves before going further, now that you have come in your servant's direction." They replied, "Do as you say."
6Abraham hurried to the tent and said to Sarah, "Quick, knead three measures of best flour and make loaves." 7Then, running to the herd, Abraham took a fine and tender calf and gave it to the servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8Then taking curds, milk and the calf which had been prepared, he laid all before them, and they ate while he remained standing near them under the tree.
9"Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked him. "She is in the tent," he replied. 10Then his guest said, "I shall come back to you next year, and then your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him. 11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well on in years, and Sarah had ceased to have her monthly periods. 12So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, "Now that I am past the age of childbearing, and my husband is an old man, is pleasure to come my way again?" 13But Yahweh asked Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, "Am I really going to have a child now that I am old?" 14Nothing is impossible for Yahweh. I shall come back to you at the same time next year and Sarah will have a son." 15Sarah said, "I did not laugh," lying because she was afraid. But he replied, "Oh yes, you did laugh."
abraham intercedes for sodom
16From there the men set out and arrived within sight of Sodom, with Abraham accompanying them to speed them on their way. 17Now Yahweh had wondered, "Shall I conceal from Abraham what I am going to do, 18as Abraham will become a great and powerful nation and all nations on earth will bless themselves by him? 19For I have singled him out to command his sons and his family after him to keep the way of Yahweh by doing what is upright and just, so that Yahweh can carry out for Abraham what he has promised him." 20Then Yahweh said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin is so grave, 21that I shall go down and see whether or not their actions are at all as the outcry reaching me would suggest. Then I shall know."
22While the men left there and went to Sodom, Yahweh remained in Abraham's presence. 23Abraham stepped forward and said, "Will you really destroy the upright with the guilty? 24Suppose there are fifty upright people in the city. Will you really destroy it? Will you not spare the place for the sake of the fifty upright in it? 25Do not think of doing such a thing: to put the upright to death with the guilty, so that upright and guilty fare alike! Is the judge of the whole world not to act justly?" 26Yahweh replied, "If I find fifty upright people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place because of them."
27Abraham spoke up and said, "It is presumptuous of me to speak to the Lord, I who am dust and ashes: 28Suppose the fifty upright were five short? Would you destroy the whole city because of five?" "No," he replied, "I shall not destroy it if I find forty-five there." 29Abraham persisted and said, "Suppose there are forty to be found there?" "I shall not do it," he replied, "for the sake of the forty."
30Abraham said, "I hope the Lord will not be angry if I go on: Suppose there are only thirty to be found there?" "I shall not do it," he replied, "if I find thirty there." 31He said, "It is presumptuous of me to speak to the Lord: Suppose there are only twenty there?" "I shall not destroy it," he replied, "for the sake of the twenty." 32He said, "I trust my Lord will not be angry if I speak once more: perhaps there will only be ten." "I shall not destroy it," he replied, "for the sake of the ten."
33When he had finished talking to Abraham Yahweh went away, and Abraham returned home.
Chapter 19
the destruction of sodom
1When the two angels reached Sodom in the evening, Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. As soon as Lot saw them, he stood up to greet them, and bowed to the ground. 2"My lords," he said, "please come down to your servant's house to stay the night and wash your feet. Then you can make an early start on your journey." "No," they said, "we shall spend the night in the square." 3But he pressed them so much that they went home with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking unleavened bread, and they had supper.
4They had not gone to bed when the house was surrounded by the townspeople, the men of Sodom both young and old, all the people without exception. 5Calling out to Lot they said, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so that we can have intercourse with them."
6Lot came out to them at the door and, having shut the door behind him, 7said, "Please, brothers, do not be wicked. 8Look, I have two daughters who are virgins. I am ready to send them out to you, for you to treat as you please, but do nothing to these men since they are now under the protection of my roof." 9But they retorted, "Stand back! This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge. Now we shall treat you worse than them." Then they forced Lot back and moved forward to break down the door. 10But the men reached out, pulled Lot back into the house with them, and shut the door. 11And they dazzled those who were at the door of the house, one and all, with a blinding light, so that they could not find the doorway.
12The men said to Lot, "Have you anyone else here? Your sons, your daughters and all your people in the city, take them away, 13for we are about to destroy this place, since the outcry to Yahweh against those in it has grown so loud that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it." 14So Lot went off and spoke to his future sons-in-law who were to marry his daughters. "On your feet!" he said, "Leave this place, for Yahweh is about to destroy the city." But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
15When dawn broke the angels urged Lot on, "To your feet! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city." 16And as he hesitated, the men seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters -- Yahweh being merciful to him -- and led him out and left him outside the city.
17When they had brought him outside, he was told, "Flee for your life. Do not look behind you or stop anywhere on the plain. Flee to the hills or you will be swept away." 18"Oh no, my lord!" Lot said to them, 19"You have already been very good to your servant and shown me even greater love by saving my life, but I cannot flee to the hills, or disaster will overtake me and I shall die. 20That town over there is near enough to flee to, and is small. Let me flee there -- after all it is only a small place -- and so survive." 21He replied, "I grant you this favor too, and will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22Hurry, flee to that one, for I cannot do anything until you reach it." That is why the town is named Zoar.
23The sun rose over the horizon just as Lot was entering Zoar. 24Then Yahweh rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire of his own sending. 25He overthrew those cities and the whole plain, with all the people living in the cities and everything that grew there. 26But Lot's wife looked back, and was turned into a pillar of salt.
27Next morning, Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood before Yahweh, 28and looking towards Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole area of the plain, he saw the smoke rising from the ground like smoke from a furnace.
29Thus it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he did not forget Abraham and he rescued Lot from the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities where Lot was living.
the origin of the moabites and the ammonites
Footnote [Popular explanations of the name Moab as
"from my father" and of Ben Ammon as "son of my kinsman".]30After leaving Zoar Lot settled in the hill country with his two daughters, for he dared not stay at Zoar. He lived in a cave, he and his two daughters.
31The elder said to the younger, "Our father is an old man, and there is no one here to marry us in the normal way of the world. 32Come on, let us ply our father with wine and sleep with him. In this way we can preserve the race by our father." 33That night they made their father drunk, and the elder slept with her father though he was unaware of her coming to bed or of her leaving. 34The next day the elder said to the younger, "Last night, I was the one who slept with our father. Let us make him drunk again tonight, and you go and sleep with him. In this way we can preserve the race by our father." 35They made their father drunk that night too, and the younger went and slept with him, though he was unaware of her coming to bed or of her leaving. 36Both Lot's daughters thus became pregnant by their father. 37The elder gave birth to a son whom she named Moab; and he is the ancestor of the Moabites of our own times. 38The younger also gave birth to a son whom she named Ben-Ammi; and he is the ancestor of the Bene-Ammon of our own times.
Chapter 20
abraham at gerar
1Abraham left there for the region of the Negeb, and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While staying in Gerar, 2Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister," and Abimelech the king of Gerar had Sarah brought to him. 3But God visited Abimelech in a dream one night. "You are to die," he told him, "because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman." 4Abimelech, however, had not gone near her; so he said, "Lord, would you kill someone even if he is upright? 5Did he not tell me himself, 'She is my sister'? And she herself said, 'He is my brother.' I did this with a clear conscience and clean hands." 6"Yes, I know," God replied in the dream, "that you did this with a clear conscience and I myself prevented you from sinning against me. That was why I did not let you touch her. 7Now send the man's wife back; for he is a prophet and can intercede on your behalf for your life. But understand that if you do not send her back, this means death for you and all yours."
8Early next morning, Abimelech summoned his full court and told them the whole story, at which the people were very much afraid. 9Then summoning Abraham, Abimelech said to him, "What have you done to us? What wrong have I done you, for you to bring such guilt on me and on my kingdom? You had no right to treat me like this." 10Abimelech then said to Abraham, "What possessed you to do such a thing?" 11"Because", Abraham replied, "I thought there would be no fear of God here and that I should be killed for the sake of my wife. 12Anyway, she really is my sister, my father's daughter though not my mother's, besides being my wife. 13So when God made me wander far from my father's home I said to her, "There is an act of love you can do me: everywhere we go, say of me that I am your brother."
14Abimelech took sheep, cattle, men and women slaves, and presented them to Abraham, and gave him back his wife Sarah. 15And Abimelech said, "Look, my land is open to you. Settle wherever you please." 16To Sarah he said, "Look, I am giving your brother a thousand pieces of silver. This will allay suspicions about you, as far as all the people round you are concerned; you have been completely vindicated." 17Abraham then interceded with God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his slave-girls, so that they could have children, 18for Yahweh had made all the women of Abimelech's household barren on account of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
Chapter 21
the birth of issac
1Yahweh treated Sarah as he had said, and did what he had promised her. 2Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time God had promised. 3Abraham named the son born to him Isaac, the son to whom Sarah had given birth. 4Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6Sarah said: God has given me cause to laugh! All who hear about this will laugh with me! 7She added:
Whoever would have told Abraham
that Sarah would nurse children!
Yet I have borne a son in his old age.the dismissal of hagar and ishmael
8The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham gave a great banquet on the day Isaac was weaned. 9Now Sarah watched the son that Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. 10"Drive away that slave-girl and her son," she said to Abraham, "this slave-girl's son is not to share the inheritance with my son Isaac." 11This greatly distressed Abraham, because the slave-girl's child too was his son, 12but God said to him, "Do not distress yourself on account of the boy and your slave-girl. Do whatever Sarah says, for Isaac is the one through whom your name will be carried on. 13But the slave-girl's son I shall also make into a great nation, for he too is your child." 14Early next morning, Abraham took some bread and a skin of water and, giving them to Hagar, put the child on her shoulder and sent her away. She wandered off into the desert of Beersheba.
15When the skin of water was finished she abandoned the child under a bush. 16Then she went and sat down at a distance, about a bowshot away, thinking, "I cannot bear to see the child die." Sitting at a distance, she began to sob.
17God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven. "What is wrong, Hagar?" he asked. "Do not be afraid, for God has heard the boy's cry in his plight. 18Go and pick the boy up and hold him safe, for I shall make him into a great nation." 19Then God opened Hagar's eyes and she saw a well, so she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20God was with the boy. He grew up and made his home in the desert, and he became an archer. 21He made his home in the desert of Paran, and his mother got him a wife from Egypt.
abraham and abimelech at beersheba
Footnote [Fragments using two explanations of
the name as "Well of the Seven" and "Well of the Oath". The story is
parallel with 26:15-33]22About then, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, "Since God is with you in everything you do, 23swear to me by God, here and now, that you will not act treacherously towards me or my kith and kin, but behave with the same faithful love to me and the land of which you are a guest as I have behaved to you." 24"Yes," Abraham replied, "I swear it."
25Abraham then reproached Abimelech about a well that Abimelech's servants had seized. 26"I do not know who has done this," Abimelech said. "You yourself have never mentioned it to me and, for myself, I heard nothing of it till today." 27Abraham then took sheep and cattle and presented them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. 28Abraham put seven lambs of the flock on one side. 29"Why have you put these seven lambs on one side?" Abimelech asked Abraham. 30He replied, "You must accept these seven lambs from me as evidence that I have dug this well." 31This was why the place was called Beersheba: because there the two of them swore an oath.
32After they had made a covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and went back to Philistine territory. 33And Abraham planted a tamarisk at Beersheba and there he invoked the name of Yahweh. 34Abraham stayed for a long while in Philistine territory.
Chapter 22
abraham's sacrifice
1It happened some time later that God put Abraham to the test. "Abraham, Abraham!" he called. "Here I am," he replied. 2God said, "Take your son, your only son, your beloved Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, where you are to offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I shall point out to you."
3Early next morning Abraham saddled his donkey and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He chopped wood for the burnt offering and started on his journey to the place which God had indicated to him. 4On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5Then Abraham said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I are going over there; we shall worship and then come back to you."
6Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, loaded it on Isaac, and carried in his own hands the fire and the knife. Then the two of them set out together. 7Isaac spoke to his father Abraham. "Father?" he said. "Yes, my son," he replied. "Look," he said, "here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" 8Abraham replied, "My son, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering." And the two of them went on together.
9When they arrived at the place which God had indicated to him, Abraham built an altar there, and arranged the wood. Then he bound his son and put him on the altar on top of the wood. 10Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.
11But the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven. "Abraham, Abraham!" he said. "Here I am," he replied. 12"Do not raise your hand against the boy," the angel said. "Do not harm him, for now I know you fear God. You have not refused me your own beloved son." 13Then looking up, Abraham saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. Abraham took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14Abraham called this place "Yahweh provides", and hence the saying today: "On the mountain Yahweh provides."
15The angel of Yahweh called Abraham a second time from heaven. 16"I swear by my own self, Yahweh declares, that because you have done this, because you have not refused me your own beloved son, 17I will shower blessings on you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will gain possession of the gates of their enemies. 18All nations on earth will bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed my command."
19Abraham went back to his servants, and together they set out for Beersheba, and Abraham settled in Beersheba.
the descendants of nahor
20It happened some time later that Abraham received word that Milcah, too, had now borne sons to his brother Nahor: 21Uz his first-born, Buz his brother, Kemuel father of Aram, 22Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, Bethuel 23(and Bethuel was the father of Rebekah). These were the eight children Milcah gave Nahor, Abraham's brother. 24He had a concubine named Reumah, and she too had children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maacah.
Chapter 23
the tomb of the patriarchs
1The length of Sarah's life was a hundred and twenty-seven years. 2She died at Kiriath-Arba -- now Hebron -- in the land of Canaan, and Abraham proceeded to mourn and bewail her.
3Then rising from beside his dead, Abraham spoke to the Hittites, 4"I am a stranger resident here," he said. "Let me have a burial site of my own here, so that I can remove my dead for burial." 5The Hittites replied to Abraham, 6"Please listen to us, my lord, we regard you as a prince of God; bury your dead in the best of our tombs; not one of us would refuse you his tomb for you to bury your dead."
7At this, Abraham rose and bowed low to the local people, the Hittites, 8and pleaded with them as follows, "If you consent to my removing my dead for burial, you must agree to intercede for me with Ephron son of Zohar, 9for him to let me have the cave he owns at Machpelah, which is on the edge of his field. Let him sell it to me in your presence at its full price, for a burial site of my own." 10Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all the inhabitants of his town. 11"No, my lord, listen to me," he said. "I give you the field and the cave in it; I make this gift in the presence of my kinsmen. Bury your dead."
12Abraham bowed low to the local people 13and, in the hearing of the local people, replied to Ephron as follows, "Be good enough to listen to me. I shall pay the price of the field; accept it from me and I shall bury my dead there." 14Ephron replied to Abraham, 15"Please listen to me, my lord. What is a plot of land for four hundred shekels of silver between me and you? Bury your dead." 16Abraham agreed to Ephron's terms, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver he had stipulated in the hearing of the Hittites, namely four hundred shekels of silver, according to the current commercial rate.
17Thus Ephron's field at Machpelah, facing Mamre -- the field and the cave in it and all the trees anywhere within the boundaries of the field -- passed 18into Abraham's possession in the sight of the Hittites, of all the inhabitants of his town. 19And after this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre -- now Hebron -- in the land of Canaan. 20And so the field and the cave in it passed from the Hittites into Abraham's possession as a burial site of his own.
Chapter 24
the marriage of isaac
1By now Abraham was an old man, well on in years, and Yahweh had blessed Abraham in every way. 2Abraham said to the senior servant in his household, the steward of all his property, "Place your hand under my thigh: 3I am going to make you swear by Yahweh, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not choose a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live 4but will go to my native land and my own kinsfolk to choose a wife for my son Isaac." 5The servant asked him, "What if the girl does not want to follow me to this country? Should I then take your son back to the country from which you come?" 6Abraham replied, "On no account are you to take my son back there. 7Yahweh, God of heaven and God of earth, who took me from my father's home, and from the land of my kinsfolk, and who promised me on oath, "I shall give this country to your descendants' -- he will now send his angel ahead of you, so that you can get a wife for my son from there. 8If then the girl refuses to follow you, you will be quit of this oath to me. Only do not take my son back there." 9And the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham, and swore to him that he would do it.
10The servant took ten of his master's camels and, carrying all kinds of gifts from his master, set out for the city of Nahor in Aram Naharaim. 11In the evening, at the time when women come out to draw water, he made the camels kneel outside the town near the well. 12And he said, "Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, give me success today and show faithful love to my master Abraham. 13While I stand by the spring as the young women from the town come out to draw water, 14I shall say to one of the girls, "Please lower your pitcher and let me drink." And if she answers, "Drink, and I shall water your camels too," let her be the one you have decreed for your servant Isaac; by this I shall know you have shown faithful love to my master."
15He had not finished speaking when out came Rebekah -- who was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor -- with a pitcher on her shoulder. 16The girl was very beautiful, and a virgin; no man had touched her. She went down to the spring, filled her pitcher and came up again. 17Running towards her, the servant said, "Please give me a sip of water from your pitcher." 18She replied, "Drink, my lord," and quickly lowered her pitcher on her arm and gave him a drink. 19When she had finished letting him drink, she said, "I shall draw water for your camels, too, until they have had enough." 20She quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran to the well again to draw, and drew for all the camels. 21All the while, the man stood watching her, not daring to speak, wondering whether Yahweh had made his journey successful or not.
22When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing half a shekel, and put it through her nose, and put two bracelets weighing ten gold shekels on her arms, 23and said, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room at your father's house for us to spend the night?" 24She replied, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son whom Milcah bore to Nahor." 25And she went on, "We have plenty of straw and fodder, and room to spend the night." 26Then the man bowed down and worshipped Yahweh 27saying, "Blessed be Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, for not withholding his faithful love from my master. Yahweh has led me straight to the house of my master's brother."
28The girl ran to her mother's house to tell what had happened. 29Now Rebekah had a brother called Laban, and Laban ran out to the man at the spring. 30As soon as he had seen the ring and the bracelets his sister was wearing, and had heard his sister Rebekah saying, "This is what the man said to me," he went to the man and found him still standing by his camels at the spring. 31He said to him, "Come in, blessed of Yahweh, why stay out here when I have cleared the house and made room for the camels?" 32The man went to the house, and Laban unloaded the camels. He provided straw and fodder for the camels and water for him and his companions to wash their feet.
33They offered him food, but he said, "I will eat nothing before I have said what I have to say." Laban said, "Speak." 34He said, "I am Abraham's servant. 35Yahweh has loaded my master with blessings, and Abraham is now very rich. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, men and women slaves, camels and donkeys. 36Sarah, my master's wife, bore my master a son in his old age, and he has made over all his property to him. 37My master made me take this oath, "You are not to choose a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose country I live. 38Instead, you are to go to my father's home and to my own kinsfolk to choose a wife for my son." 39I said to my master, "Suppose the girl will not agree to come with me?" 40and his reply was, "Yahweh, in whose presence I have walked, will send his angel with you and make your journey successful, for you to choose a wife for my son from my own kinsfolk, from my father's house. 41Then you will be quit of my curse: if you go to my family and they refuse you, you will be quit of my curse." 42Arriving today at the spring I said, "Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, please grant a successful outcome to the course I propose to take. 43While I stand by the spring, if a girl comes out to draw water and I say to her, "Please give me a little water to drink from your pitcher," 44if she replies, "Drink by all means, and I shall draw water for your camels too," let her be the girl whom Yahweh has decreed for my master's son." 45I was still saying this in my mind when Rebekah came out, her pitcher on her shoulder. She came down to the spring and drew water. I said to her, "Please give me a drink." 46Quickly she lowered her pitcher saying, "Drink, and I shall water your camels too." 47I asked her, "Whose daughter are you?" She replied, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, whom Milcah bore to Nahor." Then I put this ring through her nose and these bracelets on her arms. 48I bowed down and worshipped Yahweh, and I blessed Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, who had led me by a direct path to choose the daughter of my master's brother for his son. 49Now tell me whether you are prepared to show constant and faithful love to my master; if not, say so, and I shall know what to do."
50Laban and Bethuel replied, "This is from Yahweh; it is not for us to say yes or no to you. 51Rebekah is there before you. Take her and go; and let her become the wife of your master's son, as Yahweh has decreed." 52On hearing this, Abraham's servant bowed to the ground before Yahweh. 53He brought out silver and gold ornaments and clothes which he gave to Rebekah; he also gave rich presents to her brother and to her mother.
54They ate and drank, he and his companions, and spent the night there. Next morning when they were up, he said, "Let me go back to my master." 55Rebekah's brother and mother replied, "Let the girl stay with us for ten days or so; then she can go." 56But he replied, "Do not delay me, since Yahweh has made my journey successful; let me leave and go back to my master." 57They replied, "Let us call the girl and find out what she has to say." 58They called Rebekah and asked her, "Will you go with this man?" She replied, "I will." 59Accordingly they let their sister Rebekah go, with her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men. 60They blessed Rebekah and said to her:
"Sister of ours,
from you may there spring thousands and tens of thousands!
May your descendants gain possession
of the gates of their enemies!"61And forthwith, Rebekah and her maids mounted the camels, and followed the man. The servant took Rebekah and departed.
62Isaac meanwhile had come back from the well of Lahai Roi and was living in the Negeb. 63While Isaac was out walking towards evening in the fields, he looked up and saw camels approaching. 64And Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac. She jumped down from her camel, 65and asked the servant, "Who is that man walking through the fields towards us?" The servant replied, "That is my master." So she took her veil and covered herself up. 66The servant told Isaac the whole story. 67Then Isaac took her into his tent. He married Rebekah and made her his wife. And in his love for her, Isaac was consoled for the loss of his mother.
Chapter 25
the descendants of keturah
1Abraham married another wife whose name was Keturah; 2and she bore him Zimram, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. 3Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan, and the descendants of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushim and the Leummim. 4The descendants of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaah. All these were sons of Keturah.
5Abraham left all his possessions to Isaac. 6To the sons of his concubines Abraham made grants during his lifetime, sending them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the Land of the East.
The death of Abraham
7The number of years Abraham lived was a hundred and seventy-five. 8When Abraham had breathed his last, dying at a happy ripe age, old and full of years, he was gathered to his people. 9His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah facing Mamre, in the field of Ephron the Hittite son of Zohar. 10This was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites, and Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried there. 11After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac. Isaac settled near the well of Lahai Roi.
the descendants of ishmael
12These are the descendants of Ishmael son of Abraham by Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian slave-girl. 13These are the names of the sons of Ishmael by name and line: Ishmael's first-born was Nebaioth; then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 16These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, according to their settlements and encampments, twelve chiefs of as many tribes.
17The number of years Ishmael lived was one hundred and thirty-seven. When he breathed his last and died, he was gathered to his people. 18He lived in the territory stretching from Havilah-by-Shur just outside Egypt on the way to Assyria, and he held his own against all his kinsmen.
III: the story of isaac jacob
the birth of esau and jacob19This is the story of Isaac son of Abraham. Abraham fathered Isaac. 20Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel the Aramaean of Paddan-Aram, and sister of Laban the Aramaean. 21Isaac prayed to Yahweh on behalf of his wife, for she was barren. Yahweh heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. 22But the children inside her struggled so much that she said, "If this is the way of it, why go on living?" So she went to consult Yahweh, 23and Yahweh said to her:
"There are two nations in your womb,
your issue will be two rival peoples.
One nation will have the mastery of the other,
and the elder will serve the younger."24When the time came for her confinement, there were indeed twins in her womb. 25The first to be born was red, altogether like a hairy cloak; so they named him Esau. 26Then his brother was born, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so they named him Jacob. FOOTNOTE: [Fragments full of word-play: Edom/Esau =red; Seir =hairy; Jacob =heel/supplant.] Isaac was sixty years old at the time of their birth. 27When the boys grew up Esau became a skilled hunter, a man of the open country. Jacob on the other hand was a quiet man, staying at home among the tents. 28Isaac preferred Esau, for he had a taste for wild game; but Rebekah preferred Jacob.
esau gives up his birthright
29Once, when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau returned from the countryside exhausted. 30Esau said to Jacob, "Give me a mouthful of that red stuff there; I am exhausted" -- hence the name given to him, Edom. 31Jacob said, "First, give me your birthright in exchange." 32Esau said, "Here I am, at death's door; what use is a birthright to me?" 33Then Jacob said, "First give me your oath"; he gave him his oath and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34Then Jacob gave him some bread and lentil stew; he ate, drank, got up and went away. That was all Esau cared about his birthright.
Chapter 26
isaac at gerar
1There was a famine in the country -- different from the previous famine which took place in the time of Abraham -- and Isaac went to Abimelech, the Philistine king at Gerar. 2Yahweh had appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the country which I shall point out to you. 3Remain for the present in that country; I shall be with you and bless you, for I shall give all these countries to you and your descendants in fulfilment of the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4I shall make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven, and I shall give them all these countries, and all nations on earth will bless themselves by your descendants 5in return for Abraham's obedience; for he kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws." 6So Isaac stayed at Gerar.
7When the people of the place asked him about his wife he replied, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "She is my wife," thinking, "The people of the place will kill me because of Rebekah, since she is beautiful." 8When he had been there some time, Abimelech the Philistine king happened to look out of the window and saw Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah. 9Abimelech summoned Isaac and said to him, "Surely she must be your wife! How could you have said, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac replied, "Because I thought I might be killed on her account." 10Abimelech said, "What a thing to do to us! One of the people might easily have slept with your wife. We should have incurred guilt, thanks to you." 11Then Abimelech issued this order to all the people: "Whoever touches this man or his wife will be put to death."
12Isaac sowed his crops in that country, and that year he reaped a hundredfold. Yahweh blessed him 13and the man became rich; he prospered more and more until he was very rich indeed. 14He acquired flocks and herds and a large retinue. The Philistines began to envy him.
the wells between gerar and beersheba
15The Philistines had blocked up all the wells dug by his father's servants -- in the days of his father Abraham -- filling them in with earth. 16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, "You must leave us, for you have become much more powerful than we are." 17So Isaac left; he pitched camp in the Valley of Gerar and there he stayed. 18Isaac reopened the wells dug by the servants of his father Abraham and blocked up by the Philistines after Abraham's death, and he gave them the same names as his father had given them.
19But when Isaac's servants, digging in the valley, found a well of spring-water there, 20the herdsmen of Gerar disputed it with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "That water is ours!" So Isaac named the well Esek, because they had disputed with him. 21They dug another well, and there was a dispute over that one too; so he named it Sitnah. 22Then he left there, and dug another well, and since there was no dispute over this one, he named it Rehoboth, saying, "Now Yahweh has made room for us to thrive in the country."
23From there he went up to Beersheba. 24Yahweh appeared to him the same night and said:
"I am the God of your father Abraham.
Do not be afraid, for I am with you.
I shall bless you and multiply your offspring
for my servant Abraham's sake.25There he built an altar and invoked the name of Yahweh. There he pitched his tent, and there Isaac's servants sank a well.
the alliance with abimelech
26Abimelech came from Gerar to see him, with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army. 27Isaac said to them, "Why do you come to me since you hate me, and have made me leave you?" 28"It became clear to us that Yahweh was with you," they replied, "and so we thought, 'It is time to have a treaty sworn between us, between us and you.' So let us make a covenant with you: 29that you will not do us any harm, since we never molested you but were unfailingly kind to you and let you go away in peace. Henceforth, Yahweh's blessing on you!" 30He then made them a feast and they ate and drank.
31Early next morning, they exchanged oaths. Then Isaac bade them farewell and they left him as friends. 32It happened, the same day, that Isaac's servants brought him news about the well they had been digging. "We have found water!" they said to him. 33So he called the well Sheba, and hence the town is named Beersheba to this day.
the hittite wives of esau
34When Esau was forty years old he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35These were a bitter disappointment to Isaac and Rebekah.
Chapter 27
jacob obtains isaac's blessing by fraud
1When Isaac had grown old, and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he summoned his elder son Esau. "Son!" he said, and Esau replied, "Here I am." 2He then said, "Look, I am old and do not know when I may die. 3Now take your weapons, your quiver and bow; go out into the country and hunt me some game. 4Make me the kind of appetising dish I like and bring it to me to eat and I shall give you my special blessing before I die."
5Rebekah was listening while Isaac was talking to his son Esau. So when Esau went into the country to hunt game for his father, 6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I have just heard your father saying to your brother Esau, 7'Bring me some game and make an appetising dish for me to eat and then I shall bless you in Yahweh's presence before I die.' 8Now, son, listen to me and do as I tell you. 9Go to the flock and bring me back two good kids, so that I can make the kind of special dish your father likes. 10Then take it to your father for him to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies."
11Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, "Look, my brother Esau is hairy, while I am smooth-skinned. 12If my father happens to touch me, he will see I am cheating him, and I shall bring a curse down on myself in