1 In the beginning, God[fn] created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty and darkness covered the surface of the depth waters and God’s spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and light came into existence,[ref] 4 and God observed that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God named the light daytime, and the darkness he named nighttime. Then evening came, and later morning came, and that was the end of the first day.

6 Then God said, “Let there be a large space in the middle of the waters, and let it separate the two lots of waters.”[ref] 7 So God made the large space and separated between the waters that were underneath from the waters that were above it. Everything happened exactly as he commanded, 8 and he named the space sky. Then evening came, and later morning came, and that was the end of the second day.

9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered to one place, and let the dry ground appear.” Everything happened exactly as he commanded, 10 and he named the ground that appeared land, and he named the gathered waters seas, and he saw that what he had done was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the land sprout vegetation: every plant yielding seed, every fruit tree bearing its own fruit that has its seed inside it, on the earth.” Everything happened exactly as he commanded, 12 so the land started producing vegetation, every plant producing its own seed, and every tree bearing fruit that has its seed inside it. And God saw that what he had done was good. 13 Then evening came, and later morning came, and that was the end of the third day.

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the sky to separate daytime from nighttime, so they’ll be signs, and for indicating seasons, and for tracking days and years. 15 They must function as lights in the sky that shine light on the earth.” Everything happened exactly as he commanded, 16 so God made the two large lights, the larger, brighter light to rule the day, and the smaller light to rule the night, and he also made the stars. 17 He put those lights in the sky to shine light on the earth, 18 and to oversee the daytime and the nighttime, and to distinguish between the light and the darkness. And God saw that what he had done was good. 19 Then evening came, and later morning came, and that was the end of the fourth day.

20 Then God said, “Let the waters be full of with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly in the sky above the earth.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every kind of living creature that moves which the waters swarm with, and every kind of winged bird. And God saw that what he had done was good, 22 and he blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” 23 Then evening came, and later morning came, and that was the end of the fifth day.

24 Then God said, “Let the land bring forth every kind of living creature: livestock and every crawling creature and every kind of living thing on the earth.” Everything happened exactly as he commanded, 25 so he made every kind of creature of the earth, and every kind of livestock, and every kind of crawling creature on the ground. And God saw that what he had done was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds in the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every creature moving on the earth.”[ref] 27 Then God created humankind in his image, yes, created in the image of God—male and female he created them.[ref] 28 Then God blessed them and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and take control of it. You’re in charge of the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 Then God said, “Look, I’ve given you every plant throughout the whole earth that yields seed, and every tree that has fruit with a seed or seeds inside it. They will be yours for food, 30 and to every living thing on the earth, and to every bird in the sky, and to everything moving on the earth that has living breath in it, I’ve given every green plant for food.” Everything happened exactly as he commanded, 31 and he saw everything that he’d made, and wow, it was very good. Then evening came, and later morning came, and that was the end of the sixth day.

2 So the heavens and the earth were completed, along with everything in them. 2 By the seventh day God had finished his work, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he’d done.[ref] 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and declared it to be different from the other days, because on that first Saturday, he rested from all his work of creating.

4 What follows tells[fn] more details about the history of what God did when he created the heavens and the earth:

During the time when Yahweh God[fn] made the earth and the heavens, 5 there weren’t yet any bushes growing on the earth, and no plants had yet sprung up in the fields, because Yahweh God had not yet made it rain, and nor were there any people yet to till the ground. 6 However, a mist came up from the ground and watered the entire surface of the land.

7 Then Yahweh God formed the first man out of the dust on the ground and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living person.[ref]

8 Now in the east, Yahweh God had planted a garden in Eden, and he put the man there that he had formed. 9 He also caused all kinds of trees to grow there—some that are pleasant to look at and good for food. In the middle of the garden was the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil[ref]

10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and then from there it split into four rivers. 11 The first river was named Pishon, and it winds around through the entire region of Havilah, where there’s gold. 12 The gold from there is very pure, and there’s also a type of fragrant resin and onyx gemstones there. 13 The second river was named Gihon, and it winds through the entire region of Cush. 14 The third river was named Tigris, and it flowed east of the Asshur region, and then the fourth river was named Frat.

15 Yahweh God took the man and put him in the garden at Eden to cultivate and maintain it 16 and instructed him, “You can eat as much fruit as you want from any tree in the garden, 17 but you mustn’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because the day you eat its fruit you’ll certainly die.”

18 Then Yahweh God said, “It’s not good for the man to be alone, so I’ll make a suitable helper for him.”

19 Now Yahweh God had formed every living thing of the field and every bird of the sky from the ground, so he brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that would become its name. 20 The man gave names to all the various livestock and to the birds of the sky and to every living creature in the fields, but none of them was a suitable companion to help him.

21 So Yahweh God caused the man to go into a deep sleep, and then while he was sleeping, he removed one of his ribs and closed up over its place with flesh. 22 Then Yahweh God used the rib which he had taken from the man to form into a woman, and he brought her to the man, 23 and the man said:

“Now this is bone from my bones

and flesh from my flesh.

She’ll be named ‘woman’

because she came from a man.”

24 So that’s why a man leaves his father and mother, and becomes united to his wife, and the two of them become one being.[ref]

25 At that time, both the man and his wife were naked, but they had no sense of shame.

3 Now the snake was the craftiest of all the animals that Yahweh God had created, and one day he asked the woman, “Did God really command you to not eat fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”[ref]

2 “No,” answered the woman, “we can eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden, 3 except from the tree that is in the centre. He commanded us to not eat that fruit or even touch it, because if we do, we will die!”

4 But the serpent said to the woman, “It’s not definite that you’ll die. 5 Actually, God knows that as soon as you eat fruit from that tree, you’ll understand new things, so that you will know what’s right and what’s wrong just like God does.”

6 The woman saw that the tree’s fruit looked good to eat and that the tree itself was very attractive, plus she wanted to eat the fruit so that it would make her wise. So she picked some of the fruit and ate it and she also gave some of it to her husband who was there with her, and he ate it too. 7 Immediately they both had new understanding and they felt their nakedness. So they sewed some fig leaves together and made skirts for themselves.

8 Late that afternoon, during the cool time of the day, the man and his wife heard Yahweh God’s voice as he walked in the garden, but they hid from him behind some trees in the garden, 9 so Yahweh God called out to the man, “Adam, where are you?”

10 “I heard you walking in the garden,” he replied, “but I was scared because I was naked, so I hid myself.”

11 “Who told you that you’re naked?” Yahweh God asked. “Have you eaten the fruit that I told you not to eat?”

12 “The woman that you put here beside me,” answered the man, “she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.”

13 Then Yahweh God asked the woman, “What did you do?”[ref]

“The snake tricked me, so I ate some of the fruit,” the woman replied.

14 Then Yahweh God said to the snake,

“Because you’ve done this you’ll be cursed more than all the livestock,

and more than every living thing in the fields.

Now you’ll move along on your belly,

and you’ll eat dust all the rest of your life.

15 I’ll put hostility between you and the woman

between your descendants and hers.

He will crush your head

and you’ll strike his heel.”[ref]

16 To the woman God said,

“I’ll sharply increase your pain in childbirth.

You’ll produce children in pain.

Your desire will be for your husband

and he will rule over you.”

17 Then God said to the man,[ref]

“Because you did what your wife told you

and ate from that tree

that I’d told you not to eat from,

then the ground will be cursed because of you.

You’ll have to work hard to get food from it

all the rest of your life.

18 It’ll produce thorns and thistles for you

although you’ll eat the crops of the fields.

19 You’ll eat bread with sweat drops on your nose

until you return to the ground

because you were taken out of the ground.

Yes, you were created from dust,

and you’ll return back to dust.”

20 Then the man named his wife ‘Havvah’ (which means ‘living’) because she would become the mother of all future people. 21 Then Yahweh God made clothes from animal skins for Adam and his wife and he dressed them.

22 Then Yahweh God said, “See, the man has become like one of us, being aware of good and evil. But now, he mustn’t be allowed to reach out his hand and also take fruit from the tree of life and eat it and live forever.”[ref] 23 So Yahweh God expelled them out of the garden in Eden to work the soil from which Adam had been taken.

24 After he expelled them, he placed sentries on the east side of the garden in Eden, as well as a fiery sword that swung around in every direction to guard the path to the tree of life.

4 Then Adam slept with his wife, and she conceived and in due course gave birth to Kayin (Cain). “Yahweh has enabled me to produce a man,” she said. 2 Eventually she also gave birth to Kayin’s brother, Abel. Abel became a shepherd, while Kayin became a crop farmer. 3 Some months later, Kayin brought some of what he’d grown in the ground as an offering to Yahweh, 4 and also Abel brought the best portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. Now Yahweh was pleased with Abel and his offering,[ref] 5 but he didn’t even look towards Kayin and his offering. Kayin got very angry and his face showed his displeasure. 6 Then Yahweh said to Kayin, “Why are you so angry? And why are you frowning like that? 7 If you do what’s right, won’t you be honoured? But if you don’t do what’s right, sin is crouching in the doorway wanting to have you, but you have the control over it.”

8 One day, Kayin spoke to his brother Abel when they were out in the field, and then Kayin attacked him and killed him.[ref]

9 Later Yahweh asked Kayin, “Where’s your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied, “It’s not my job to look after my brother.”

10 “What have you done?” Yahweh asked. “Your brother’s blood is calling out to me from the ground.[ref] 11 So now you’re cursed and banished from the soil that your brother’s blood soaked into as a result of your actions. 12 Whenever you till and plant the ground, it will no longer produce good yields for you. You’ll be a fugitive and wandering refugee on the earth.”

13 “My punishment is more than I can bear,” Kayin complained to Yahweh. 14 “Look, you’re now driving me away from the ground I’ve been cultivating to somewhere where you won’t be able to see me. I’ll be a wandering refugee on the earth, and anyone who finds me will kill me.”

15 “Very well,”, replied Yahweh and declared, “If anyone kills Kayin, then that person will receive a seven times greater sentence.” Then Yahweh marked Kayin so that no one who found him would kill him, 16 and Kayin left Yahweh’s presence and settled in the land of Nod to the east of Eden.

17 Then Kayin slept with his wife and and she conceived and gave birth to Hanoch (Enoch). Then Kayin founded a town and named it Hanoch after his son. 18 Eventually Hanoch fathered Irad, and Irad fathered Mehuyael, and Mehuyael father Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lemech (Lamech). 19 Lemech had two wives: the first was named Adah and the second was Tsillah (Zillah). 20 Adah gave birth to Yaval (Jabal) who became the ancestor of people who live in tents and rear cattle. 21 His brother’s name was Yuval (Jubal) and he became the ancestor of people who play stringed and wind instruments. 22 Tsillah gave birth to Tuval-Kayin (Tubal-Cain) who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. His sister was named Naamah. 23 Then Lemech said to his wives:

“Adah and Tsillah, listen to me.

My wives, take notice of my words;

I killed a man who had wounded me;

I killed a young man who hurt me.

24 If killers of Kayin would be sentenced seven times as much,

then anyone who kills me should be sentenced seventy-seven times as much.”

25 Then Adam slept with his wife again and she bore a son and named him Shet (Seth) (which means ‘given’) because she had said, “God has given me another son in place of Abel who was killed by Kayin.” 26 Eventually Shet also had a son and named him Enosh. That was when people began using Yahweh’s name in worship.

5 This is the list of Adam’s descendants. When God had created humankind, he made them in his own likeness.[ref] 2 He created them as male and female, and he blessed them and named them ‘humans’.[ref] 3 When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son who was like him in many ways, and he named him Shet (Seth). 4 After Shet’s birth, Adam lived another 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 5 So Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.

6 When Shet was 105 years old, he had a son named Enosh. 7 After Enosh’s birth, Seth lived another 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 So Shet lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.

9 When Enosh was 90 years old, he had a son named Kenan. 10 After Kenan’s birth, Enosh lived another 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 So Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.

12 When Kenan was 70 years old, he had a son named Mahalalel. 13 After Mahalalel’s birth, Kenan lived another 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 So Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.

15 When Mahalalel was 65 years old, he had a son named Yared (Jared). 16 After Yared’s birth, Mahalalel lived another 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17 So Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.

18 When Yared was 162 years old, he had a son named Hanoch (Enoch). 19 After Hanoch’s birth, Yared lived another 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 So Yared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.

21 When Hanoch was 65 years old, he had a son named Metushalah (Methuselah). 22 After Metushalah’s birth, Hanoch walked with God for 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 So Hanoch lived a total of 365 years. 24 Hanoch walked with God, and then he was not there, because God took him away.[ref]

25 When Metushalah was 187 years old, he had a son named Lemek (Lamech). 26 After Lemek’s birth, Metushalah lived another 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27 So Metushalah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.

28 When Lemek was 182 years old, he had a son 29 and he named him Noah (which sounds like the Hebrew word for ‘relief’) because he said, “This son will give us relief from the difficult work that we have to do because Yahweh has cursed the ground.” 30 After Noah’s birth, Lemek lived another 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31 So Lemek lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.

32 After Noah was 500 years old, he had sons whose names were Yafet (Japheth), Shem, and Ham.[fn]

6 When people began to multiply on the earth’s surface, and they were having daughters,[ref] 2 God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives. 3 Then Yahweh said, “My Spirit won’t tolerate people forever, because they are physical beings, therefore their remaining time will be 120 years.” 4 The NEFILIM were on the earth in those days and also after that, when the sons of God went to the daughters of humankind and they bore children for them. INVESTIGATE They were the mighty warriors of long ago—those famous men.[ref]

5 Then Yahweh saw that the humankind’s wickedness on the earth was extensive, and that every inclination of their inner thoughts was only evil all day long.[ref] 6 So Yahweh regretted that he had made humankind on the earth and he was deeply saddened, 7 so he said, “This humankind that I created, I will completely destroy them from the surface of the ground, along with the animals, and crawling creatures and the birds of the sky, because I regret that I made them.” 8 However, Yahweh noticed Noah and was pleased with him.

9 This is the account of Noah: He was a man who obeyed God, blameless among the people of his time and he walked around with God.[ref] 10 Noah had three sons: Yafet (Japheth), Shem, and Ham.

11 Now God noticed that humankind was corrupt and very violent. 12 Yes, God looked at the earth, and wow, all the living creatures on the earth had corrupted their behaviour.

13 So God told Noah, “I’ve decided to put an end to all people on earth because the earth is filled with violence because of them. So listen, I myself am going to destroy all of them, along with the earth. 14 Make yourself a wooden chest[fn] out of cypress. Build rooms inside it, and seal it both inside and outside with resin. 15 These are the dimensions for it: 140m long, 23m wide, and 14m high. 16 It must have a roof, but the last half a metre between the sides and the roof should remain open. Put the door in its side, and build lower, middle, and upper decks. 17 You see, I’m going to flood the earth with water to destroy every creature that breathes. Everything that’s on the earth will die. 18 But I’ll make an agreement with you, so you must go into this chest along with your wife and sons and their wives, 19 and you must take a pair, male and female, of everything that lives into the chest to keep alive with you. 20 Pairs of every kind of bird and animal, including every kind of creature that moves on the ground, will come to you so that you keep them alive, 21 and you must take with you some of every different kind of food and store it in there for you and them to eat. 22 So Noah did that exactly as God had specified.[ref]

7 Then Yahweh said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, because I’ve seen that you’re the only one who obeys me in this generation. 2 Take in seven male and female pairs of every kind of ‘clean’ animal, and one male and female pair of the ‘unclean’ animals, 3 as well as seven male and female pairs of every kind of flying bird in order to preserve their kinds on the earth. 4 Seven days from now I’ll send forty days and nights of rain on the earth, and I’ll eliminate every living thing that I’ve made that’s still on the ground. 5 So Noah did everything that Yahweh had instructed him to do.

6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood covered the earth, 7 and he went into the wooden chest along with his wife, his three sons and their wives, in order to escape from the floodwaters.[ref] 8 ‘Clean’ and ‘unclean’ animals, the birds, and everything that lived on the ground 9 came to Noah in male and female pairs and went into the chest, just like God had instructed Noah. 10 Then when the seven days were up, water started to flood the earth.

11 When Noah was 600 years old (and around the beginning of May), deep underwater geysers in the ocean started spouting out water, and the skies began to drop heavy rain[ref] 12 that continued day and night for forty days. 13 That was the very day that Noah and Yafet and Shem and Ham and their wives had all entered the wooden chest. 14 They had with them every kind of living creature, including every kind of livestock and every other kind of creature that lives on the land, and every kind of bird and everything else that flies. 15 They had come to Noah in order to enter the chest—two by two of every creature with the breath of life. 16 So pairs of males and females of every creature entered just as God had instructed Noah, then Yahweh closed the door and they were shut in.

17 Then the flood came onto the earth for forty days, and the water rose so that the wooden chest was lifted up right off the land. 18 The water continued to rise and get deeper on the earth, and the chest floated along on top of the water. 19 Eventually the water on the earth got so deep that all the high mountains everywhere under the sky were under water—20 in fact the water rose over seven metres above the tops of them. 21 By then every living creature that lived on the earth had drowned—birds, livestock, animals, every creature that swarms upon the earth, and all humankind. 22 Everything that had the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils, everything that lived on dry land, died. 23 That’s how Yahweh completely annihilated every living creature off the earth, including humankind and livestock and crawling creatures and even the birds. Everything was annihilated except for Noah and those with him in the floating chest, 24 and the earth remained in full flood for 150 days.

8 Then God considered Noah and and all the living things and all the livestock that were with him in the floating chest, and he caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters started to subside 2 and the underwater geysers and the rain was stopped. 3 Then the water steadily receded from the earth and after five months the water had gone down enough 4 that by October the wooden chest was left sitting on one of the Ararat mountains. 5 The water continued to recede until December when the tops of the mountains became visible.

6 Then after another forty days, Noah opened a window near the top of the chest 7 and he released a raven which kept flying out and returning until the land started to dry out. 8 Then Noah also released a dove to see if the land was really out of the water, 9 but the dove didn’t find anywhere to land so it returned to the window because the surface of the earth was still wet, and he stretched out his arm and brought the dove back inside. 10 Noah waited another week and then he released the dove again 11 and it returned to him in the evening and wow, it had a fresh, green olive leaf in its beak. So now Noah knew that the land was out of the water. 12 Then he waited another week, and released the dove again, but this time it didn’t come back to him.

13 So it was when Noah was 601 years old (in the month of WHAT MONTH on the first day of the Jewish new year) the land was still drying out. So Noah made an opening in the top of the wooden chest and saw that the land surface there was almost dry. 14 By the end of the next month, the land was fully dry.

15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Leave the wooden chest along with your sons and each of your wives. 17 Take out all the living creatures that are with you, including the birds and livestock, and everything that crawls (CHECK FOR WORD CONSISTENCY) on the ground, so that they’ll proliferate and increase their numbers all over the earth. 18 So Noah went outside, along with his sons and each of their wives. 19 Every living creature, every crawling thing and every bird, everything moving on the earth, went outside kind by kind.

20 Then Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and he took some of every kind of clean animal and every kind of clean bird, and he offered them as burnt offerings on the altar. 21 When Yahweh smelt the pleasant aroma, he said to himself, “I’ll never curse the ground because of humankind again, even though the humankind’s hearts are inclined from their youth to do evil things. And I’ll never again destroy every living thing again like I’ve just done.

22 As long as the earth continues to exist,

seedtime and harvest time,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night,

will never stop happening.

9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.[ref] 2 Now every living creature on the earth will be afraid and terrified of you, including every bird that flies in the sky, along with every creature that moves on land, and all the fish in the ocean. I have put them all under your authority. 3 From now on every creature that is alive and moves can be eaten as food—just like I previously provided you green plants for food, now I provide you everything for food—4 the only exception is meat with it’s life blood still in it.[ref] 5 Also, I will certainly require blood as payment for people’s lives: if anyone murders another person, I require that the murderer must die, and even if an animal kills a human being, I require that it must die. 6 Yes, if anyone sheds human blood, the others must shed the murderer’s blood, because God made human beings in his image.[ref] 7 So then, be fruitful and multiply—have children on the earth and become numerous.[ref]

8 Then God said to Noah and his sons, 9 “Now listen, I am making an agreement with you and your future descendants, 10 and it’s also with every living creature that is with you: with the birds, the livestock, and every living thing on the earth with you, from all that came out of the wooden chest to every future living thing on the earth. 11 My agreement that I’m establishing with you is that all living things will never die from a flood again. That’s right, I will never use a flood again to destroy everything on the earth.” 12 Then God added, “This is how I’ll show everyone that I’ve made this agreement with you and with all the living creatures that are with you, along with all future generations: 13 I’ll place my rainbow among the clouds, and it’ll be a sign of the agreement between me and all life on the earth. 14 So whenever I cause clouds to form in the sky and a rainbow is visible in the clouds, 15 then I’ll remember my agreement that’s between me and you and every kind of living creature, and a flood will never again destroy everything living. 16 So whenever a rainbow appears among the clouds, I’ll see it and remember my permanent agreement with every living creature that lives and will live on the earth.” 17 Then God said to Noah, “The rainbow is the sign of the agreement that I have established between me and every living thing on the earth.”

18 Noah’s sons who came out of the wooden chest after the flood were Yafet (Japheth), Shem, and Ham. (Ham became Canaan’s father). 19 They were Noah’s three sons and from them the whole earth became populated.

20 After a while, Noah, who was a farmer, planted some grape vines, 21 and in due course he drank some of his wine and got drunk, and he fell asleep naked in his tent. 22 Then Ham (Canaan’s father) saw his father’s nakedness then went outside and told his brothers what he’d seen. 23 So Shem and Yafet took a robe, and holding it between their shoulders they walked backwards into the tent and covered their father’s nakedness. (Their faces were towards the tent entrance, so they didn’t see his nakedness.) 24 Eventually, Noah woke up from his drunken sleep and found out what his youngest son (Ham) had done to him 25 and said, “May Canaan be cursed and become a slave of slaves to his brothers!” 26 Then he added, “Praise Yahweh who’s Shem’s God. May Canaan become Shem’s slave. 27 May God expand Yafet’s territory and may he live in Shem’s tents. May Canaan also become a slave of Yafet.”

28 After the flood, Noah lived another 350 years, 29 and so he was 950 years old when he died.

10 These are the generations of Noah’s sons, Yafet (Japheth), Shem, and Ham, and their descendants born to them after the flood:

Yafet’s (Japheth’s) descendants

2 Yafet’s (Japheth’s) sons were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Yavan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 Gomer’s sons were Ashkenaz, Rifath, and Togarmah. 4 Yavan’s sons were Elishah and Tarshish, and Kittim[fn] and Dodanim. 5 From all those descendants, people spread out into areas near the coast, each group with their own language, and with all the clans making up their nations.

Ham’s descendants

6 Ham’s sons were Cush, Egypt (Hebrew: Mitsrayim), Put, and Canaan. 7 Cush’s sons were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtekah. Then Raamah’s sons were Sheba and Dedan. 8 Cush was also the father of Nimrod who became a mighty warrior on the earth. 9 Nimrod also became a terrific hunter noticed by Yahweh, so people said, “Like Nimrod, a terrific hunter noticed by Yahweh.” 10 His kingdom began in the cities of Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, all in the Shinar region. 11 From that area he extended to Asshur[fn] where he built the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, 12 and Resen, between Nineveh and the large city of Calah.

13 Mitsrayim fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naftuhim, 14 Pathrusim, and Casluhim (who the Philistines came from), and Caftorim.

15 Canaan fathered Tsidon his firstborn, then Het,[fn] 16 Yebusi, Emori, Girgashi. 17 Hivi, Arqi, Sini, 18 Arvadi, Tsemari, and Hamati. Later on, the Canaan clans spread in all directions 19 and their border went from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 20 Those are Ham’s descendants according to their clans, languages, regions, and nations.

Shem’s descendants

21 Shem (the younger brother of Yafet) also had some sons and became the ancestor of all the descendants of Eber. 22 Shem’s sons were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. 23 Aram’s sons were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24 Arpachshad fathered Shelah, then Shelah fathered Eber. 25 Eber’s two sons were Peleg and Yoktan. (Peleg’s name means ‘division’, because it was during his lifetime that the earth was divided.[fn]) 26 Yoktan fathered Almodad, Shelef, Hazarmaveth, Yerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Yobab. (All of those were the sons of Yoktan.) 30 They lived in the area from Mesha then to Sefar in the eastern hills. 31 Those are Shem’s descendants according to their clans, languages, regions, and nations.

32 All of those are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their generations and nations, and from them the nations spread out across the earth after the flood.

11 Now the whole world had a single language and the same words, 2 and as they migrated from the east, they discovered a plain in the Shinar region and settled there. 3 Then they said to each other, “Come on, let’s make bricks and cure them with fire.” So they had bricks instead of stones, and they had tar for mortar.

4 Then they said, “Come on, let’s build a city for ourselves and a tower with its top in the sky, and let’s make a reputation for ourselves, so that we don’t get scattered all over the whole earth.” 5 Then Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower that the humans were building 6 and he said, “Look, they’re just one people group, and they all speak the same language. This is only the beginning of what they can do together—soon they’ll be capable of doing anything they plan to do. 7 Come on then, let’s go down and confuse their language so that they won’t be able to understand each other’s words.” 8 So then they stopped building the city and Yahweh caused them to scatter over the whole world. 9 That’s why they named the city ‘Babel’ (meaning ‘mixed-up’) because it was there that Yahweh mixed up everyone’s language and then scattered them over the whole world.

10 This is the record of Shem’s descendants: Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he had a son named Arpakshad. 11 After Arpakshad was born, Shem lived another 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

12 When Arpakshad was thirty-five years old, he had a son named Shalah. 13 After Shalah was born, Arpakshad lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

14 When Shalah was thirty years old, he had a son named Eber. 15 After Eber was born, Shelah lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

16 When Eber was thirty-four years old, he had a son named Peleg. 17 After Peleg was born, Eber lived another 430 years and had other sons and daughters

18 When Peleg was thirty years old, he had a son named Reu. 19 After Reu was born, Peleg lived another 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

20 When Reu was thirty-two years old, he had a son named Serug. 21 After Serug was born, Reu lived another 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

22 When Serug was thirty years old, he had a son named Nahor. 23 After Nahor was born, Serug lived another 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

24 When Nahor was twenty-nine years old, he had a son named Terah. 25 After Terah was born, Nahor lived another 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

26 After Terah was seventy years old, he had sons whose names were Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

27 This is the record of Terah’s descendants: Terah’s sons were Abram, Nahor, and Haran and Haran had a son named Lot. 28 While his father was still alive, Haran died in the land where he was born, in the city of Ur where the Chaldeans lived. 29 Meanwhile Abram married Sarai and Nahor married Milcah. (Milcah and her sister Iscah were the daughters of Nahor’s brother Haran.) 30 However, Sarai wasn’t able to get pregnant so they didn’t have any children.

31 Then one day, Terah gathered his son Abram and his grandson Lot (who was Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai (who was Abram’s wife), and they all left from the city of Ur (where the Chaldeans lived), to travel to the region of Canaan, but when they arrived at the city of Haran, they decided to live there. 32 Then when Terah was 205 years old, he died there in Haran.

12 Then Yahweh said to Abram, “You must leave your land and your relatives and your father’s house and go to the land that I’ll show you.[ref] 2 I’ll bless you and make you into a great nation. I’ll make you famous and you’ll be a blessing to others. 3 I’ll bless everyone who blesses you, but I’ll curse anyone who curses you. All the families on the earth will be blessed because of you.[ref]

4 So Abram left there just as Yahweh had told him, and Lot also went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left the city of Haran. 5 He took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and all their possessions that they had accumulated and the people who they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan.

When they arrived in the Canaan region, 6 they continued travelling as far as the city of Shekem, to Moreh’s oak tree. (The Canaanites were still living in that region at that time.) 7 Then Yahweh came to Abram and told him, “I’ll give this land to your descendants.” So Abram built an altar there and made a burnt offering to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.[ref] 8 Then from there he went on to the hills to the east of Beyt-el (Bethel) and pitched his tents, with Beyt-el on the west and Ai on the east. He built an altar to Yahweh there, and sacrificed and prayed to Yahweh 9 before continuing south down toward the Negev desert.

10 One time when there was a drought causing a severe food shortage, Abram and his household travelled west across to Egypt to stay there. 11 Just before they arrived in Mitsrayim, Abram said to his wife Sarai, “Listen, you’re a very beautiful woman, 12 so when the Egyptians see you they’ll say, ‘This is his wife,’ and they’ll kill me but let you live. 13 Please tell them that you’re my sister so they’ll treat me well because of you and let me live.”[ref] 14 So that’s what happened when they entered Mitsrayim—the Egyptians indeed noticed that Sarai was very beautiful, 15 and when Far’oh’s (Pharaoh’s) officials saw her, so they told him about her beauty, and she was taken into Far’oh’s palace. 16 He treated Abram well (thinking he was the brother), so he was given flocks and herds, male and female donkeys, male and female slaves, and camels.

17 But Yahweh directed terrible plagues onto Far’oh and his household because of his taking Abram’s wife Sarai. 18 So Far’oh called for Abram and said, “What’s this you’ve done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she’s your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister,’ so that I took her in as a wife? Now then, here’s your wife. Take her and get out of here.” 20 Then Far’oh commanded his officers, and they sent Abram and his wife away and everything that belonged to him.

13 Then Abram left Egypt with his wife and everything that belonged to him, and their nephew Lot. They returned to the Negev 2 and now Abram had become very wealthy, with both livestock, and silver and gold. 3 Then they continued north through the Negev as far as Beyt-el, to the place where his tents had been at the beginning—between Beyt-el and Ai—4 to the place where he’d previously built an altar,[ref] and Abram sacrificed and prayed to Yahweh there.

5 Now Lot, who was travelling with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, 6 but the land couldn’t support them all while they stayed together. Because the needs of their combined assets were so demanding, they couldn’t all thrive in one place 7 and that led to strife between Abram’s and Lot’s herdsmen. Also, the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.

8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have quarrelling between you and I, or between yours herdsmen and mine, because we’re relatives. 9 Isn’t the whole land available to you? So let’s separate. If you go to the left then I’ll go right, or if you go to the right then I’ll go left.” 10 Lot looked all around and saw that all the plain of the Jordan river valley was well-watered through towards Tso’ar, just like Yahweh’s garden had been before he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and like the land of Egypt.[ref] 11 Lot chose all of the Jordan plain for himself, and so he travelled to the east and they separated from each other. 12 So Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot settled in the cities of the plain and moved his tents as far as Sodom. 13 However, the people of Sodom were extremely wicked, constantly disobeying Yahweh.

14 After Lot had left, Yahweh told Abram, “Look all around you towards the north, the south, the east, and the west, 15 because all that land that you can see, I’ll give it to you and to your descendants to have forever.[ref] 16 I’ll make your descendants as numerous as dust particles. Your descendants will only be able to be counted if someone’s able to all the dust particles on the earth. 17 So, go and start walking throughout the land—through its length and its width, because I’m giving it all to you.” 18 So Abram moved his tents and went and settled by the terebinth trees at Mamre (near Hebron), and he built an altar to Yahweh there.

14 At the time when Amraphel was king of Shinar, Arioch was king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer was king of Elam, and Tidal was king of the Goyim, 2 they went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (also known as Tso’ar). 3 Those latter five kings joined forces in the Siddim valley (also known as the Salt Sea valley). 4 They had been subject to King Kedorlaomer for twelve years, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

5 Then in the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him went and attacked the Rephaim in Ashteroth-Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-Kiriathaim, 6 and the Horites in the hill country of Se’ir as far as El Paran, which is near the wilderness. 7 Then those four kings turned back and went to En Mishpat (also called Kadesh) and they attacked the entire territories of the Amalekites and also the Amorites, who were living in Hazezon Tamar.

8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (also called Zoar) went out into the Siddim Valley and arranged their troops for battle 9 against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar—five kings defending themselves against the four. 10 Now the Siddim Valley had many tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into the pits, but the rest fled up into the hills. 11 Then the four attacking kings took all the peoples’ possessions from Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food and left.

12 Abram’s nephew Lot and all his possessions also got taken because he was living in the city of Sodom, 13 but someone who escaped came and reported this news to Abram the Hebrew. At that time, Abram was still living by the terebinth trees of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and the brother of Aner, and the three of them had formed an alliance together. 14 When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken captive, he led out his 318 trained men who’d all been born in his house, and he pursued his enemies as far as the town of Dan. 15 During the night, Abram split in his slaves into groups and they attacked the four kings and their soldiers and pursued them to Hobah (north of Damascus). 16 They were able to bring back all the possessions, as well as his nephew Lot and his possessions, and also the women and the other people who’d been captured.

17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and his allied kings, the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram in Shaveh valley (also called the king’s valley) . 18 Then Melchizedek the king of Salem brought out bread and wine—he was a priest to the most high God.[ref] 19 Melchizedek blessed Abram, saying:

“May Abram be blessed by the most high God,

the owner of heaven and earth.

20 Praise the most high God,

who enabled you to defeat your enemies.”

Then Abram gave to Melchizedek a tenth of everything he had recovered.

21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give my people back to me, but keep the possessions for yourself.”

22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I promise by Yahweh, most high God, the owner of heaven and earth, 23 that I won’t take anything of yours, not even the strap of a sandal, so that you won’t be able to say that it was you who made me wealthy. 24 I’ll take nothing, except what the young fighters have eaten, and the share of the other men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their share.”

15 After those events, Yahweh spoke to Abram in a vision, telling him, “Don’t be afraid, Abram, because I’ll protect you and I’ll generously and richly reward you.”

2 “My master Yahweh,” replied Abram, “what will you give me, since we have no children and it’s Eliezer (my chief slave from Damascus) who’ll inherit all my possessions?” 3 Then he continued, Yes, you haven’t given me a child so wow, my heir is a slave from my household!”

4 Then listen, Yahweh’s word came to Abram saying, “That man won’t be your heir, but on the contrary, it’ll be your biological son.” 5 Then Yahweh took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and see if you can count the stars.” Then he said to him, “Your descendants will be like that.”[ref]

6 Abram believed in Yahweh, and Yahweh considered that faith of Abram’s as an act of obedience.[ref]

7 Then Yahweh told Abram, “I’m Yahweh who brought you out of Ur (where the Chaldeans lived) so I could give you this land to possess it.”

8 “My master Yahweh,” Abram asked, “how will I know that I will possess it?”

9 “Bring me a three-year-old heifer,” Yahweh replied, “and a three-year-old she-goat and a three-year-old ram and a turtledove and a young pigeon.” 10 So Abram brought all those to Yahweh, and then he cut the animals (but not the birds) in half down the middle and laid the halves opposite to each other. 11 Then some birds of prey flew down to the carcasses, but Abram shooed them away.

12 Later as the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and it suddenly became completely dark and he became terrified,[ref] 13 and Yahweh said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that doesn’t belong to them, and they will serve the the rulers of that land and those rulers will persecute them for 400 years.[ref] 14 But just as certain, I’ll punish the nation that they serve and after that they’ll come out with many possessions.[ref] 15 And as for you, you’ll go to your ancestors in peace—you’ll be buried at a good old age. 16 Then in the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, because the Amorites’ sins won’t be complete until then.”

17 Then the sun went down and darkness came, and wow, there was a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch that passed between those animal halves. 18 On that day Yahweh made an agreement with Abram, saying, “I’ve given this land to your descendants, from Egypt’s river to the famous Euphrates River.[ref] 19 That includes the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

16 Now Abram’s wife Sarai hadn’t been able to give him any children, but she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar, 2 so Sarai said to Abram, “Listen, Yahweh has prevented me from having children so please sleep with my slave. Perhaps I can have a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai had suggested. 3 So Sarai, the wife of Abram, took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife for him. 4 So he slept with Hagar and she got pregnant, but once she realised that she began to despise her mistress.

5 So Sarai complained to Abram, “This is all your fault. I let you sleep with my slave, but now that she’s pregnant she looks down on me. May Yahweh judge between me and you.”

6 “Listen,” Abram replied, “She’s your slave to do what she’s told. Do whatever you think best.” So Sarai started mistreating Hagar, and so she ran away.

7 Then Yahweh’s messenger found her in the wilderness at a spring—the spring beside the road to Shur, 8 and asked her, “Hagar, Sarai’s slave, where have you come from and where are you going?”

“I am running away from Sarai, my mistress,” she replied.

9 Then Yahweh’s messenger instructed her, “Return to your mistress and do whatever she tells you,” 10 then added, “I’ll give you so many descendants that they won’t even be able to be counted because there’ll be so many.” 11 Then the messenger told her,

“Listen here: you’re pregnant and will give birth to a son,

and you’ll name him ‘Ishma’el’ (which means ‘God hears’)

because Yahweh has heard your cries of misery.

12 He’ll be a wild donkey of a man

and he’ll be hostile to everyone

and everyone will be against him.

He’ll live right in front of his brothers.”

13 Then Hagar realised that it was Yahweh who had spoken to her and said, “You’re ‘The God who sees me’,” because she thought, “Did I really just see the back of the God who sees me?” 14 So that’s why that well between Kadesh and Bered is now called ‘The well of the living one who sees me’.

15 Then Hagar gave birth to a son for Abram, and Abram named him Ishma’el.[ref] 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishma’el for him.

17 Many years later when Abram was nintey-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to him and said, “I’m the all-powerful God. Obey me and don’t disobey 2 and I’ll establish my agreement with you and will cause you to have very many descendants.” 3 Then Abram knelt down with his face to the ground and God told him, 4 “Listen, my agreement with you is that you’ll become the father of many nations, 5 so you’ll no longer be called ‘Abram’, but now your name will be ‘Abraham’ (which means ‘father of many nations’) because I’m making you the father of many nations.[ref] 6 I’ll make you and your descendants very fruitful so that they form nations and some of them will become kings.

7 I’ll establish my agreement with you and your future descendants for all the following generations. It will be an agreement that never ends, that I’ll be the your God and God of your future descendants.[ref] 8 I’ll give this land that you’re staying in—the entire region of Canaan—to you and your descendants as a permanent possession, and I’ll be their God.”[ref]

9 Then God told Abraham, “For your part,, you and your descendants after you throughout all their generations must follow the requirements of our agreement. 10 This is the agreement that you and all your future descendants are to follow: every male among you must be circumcised.[ref] 11 This removal of the foreskin will be a physical mark confirming the agreement between me and you. 12 All male babies must be circumcised when they’re eight days old. This includes all those born in your own house, as well as any that have been bought from foreigners even if they’re not your biological descendants. 13 Yes, they definitely must be circumcised either way if they’re born in your house or purchased as slaves. This way, my agreement will be manifested in your physical bodies as a never-ending agreement. 14 Any males who isn’t circumcised must be excluded from his people because he will have broken my agreement.”

15 God also told Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, don’t call her Sarai anymore, because from now on her name will be ‘Sarah’ 16 and I will bless her, and I’ll also give you a son from her. Yes, I’ll bless her and she’ll become the mother of nations—kings of peoples will come from her.”

17 Abraham fell to his knees and he laughed and said to himself, “How can a hundred year old man father a child? And what about Sarah who’s ninety-nine years old having a baby!” 18 Then Abraham said to God, “If only you’d bless Ishma’el as my heir.”

19 “No,” God replied, “It’ll be your wife Sarah who gives you a son, and you’ll name him ‘Yitshak’ (or ‘Isaac’, meaning ‘one who laughs’). I’ll establish my agreement with him as a never-ending commitment to him and his descendants. 20 But as for Ishma’el, I’ve heard your request. Listen, I’ll bless him and make him fruitful and give him very many descendants. He’ll father twelve rulers and I’ll make him into a great nation, 21 however, my agreement will be established with Yitshak, who Sarah will give birth to by this time next year.” 22 Then having finished speaking with Abraham, God went up away from him.

23 Then Abraham took every male from his household and circumcised them that very day, just as God had instructed him. That included his son Ishma’el, all those born in his house, and everyone bought with his money. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised 25 and his son Ishma’el was thirteen years old when Abraham circumcised him. 26 So it was, on that same day, both Abraham and his son Ishma’el were circumcised 27 and all the other males in his household, whether born there or bought from foreigners, were circumcised with him.

18 Then one day Yahweh appeared again to Abraham at the oak trees on Mamre’s land, while Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the hottest part of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and was surprised to see three men standing a short distance away. He ran from the tent opening to meet them and bowed respectfully,[ref] 3 and said, “My masters, if I’ve found favour in your eyes, please don’t just carry on past your slave. 4 Let me get some water so that you can wash your feet and rest here under this tree. 5 I’ll go and get some food so that you can refresh yourselves before you leave, since you’ve come to your slave.”

“Alright, do as you have said,” they answered.

6 So Abraham hurried into the tent and told Sarah, “Quickly, grind three measures of fine flour and knead it and make some bread.” 7 He ran to the herd and selected a tender and choice calf and took it to a slave who hurried to prepare it. 8 Then he took yogurt and milk and the calf had been prepared, and he set the meal down in front of the visitors, standing there under the tree by them while they ate.

9 Then they asked him, “Where’s your wife Sarah?”

See, over there in the tent,” he replied.

10 “I’ll definitely return to you here in the spring next year,” the visitor continued. “You see, your wife Sarah will have a son then.”[ref]

Now Sarah was at the opening of the tent listening, but the visitor was facing the other direction. 11 Abraham and Sarah were pretty old at this stage and Sarah had passed the age of being able to have children, 12 so when she’d heard that, she laughed to herself and said, “Now that my body’s worn out, will I have the pleasure of a child? Even my master’s too old.”[ref]

13 Then Yahweh spoke to Abraham, “Why is it that Sarah laughed, saying, ‘Will I really have a child when I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for Yahweh? I’ll return here to you next year in the spring and Sarah will have a son.”[ref]

15 But Sarah was afraid and denied it by saying, “I didn’t laugh.”

“No, because you did laugh,” he said.

16 Then the three men got up to leave and looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to see them off. 17 Then Yahweh said to himself, “Should I hide what I’m about to do from Abraham? 18 His descendants are certainly going to become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him and them, 19 because I’m aware that he’ll command his children and his household after him, and they’ll follow Yahweh’s path by their right and just behaviour, so that Yahweh will bring about for Abraham what he’s said to him.”

20 Then Yahweh said, “Because there’s so many people crying out about Sodom and Gomorrah, and because their sin is very grievous, 21 I’ll go down there now and see if what I’ve heard about them is true, and if not, I’ll also find that out.”

22 Then the other two men left and starting descending toward Sodom, and Abraham was still standing there in front of Yahweh, 23 so he went closer to Yahweh and asked, “Will you really destroy obedient people along with those who’re evil? 24 What if there were fifty people in the city who’ve obeyed you? Would you really destroy the city and all its people and not save it for the sake of those fifty? 25 Surely you wouldn’t do anything like that—killing the good people along with the evil ones, so that they all just get treated the same? Certainly you wouldn’t do that? Wouldn’t the one who judges the entire world be more fair?”

26 “If I find fifty godly people in Sodom,” Yahweh answered, “then I’ll spare the whole city for their sake.”

27 “Listen, I’ve been bold enough to question my master, even though I’m just dust and ashes,” Abraham said again. 28 “Suppose they’re five short of the fifty? Would you destroy the whole city because of five?”

“I won’t destroy it if I find forty-five there,” he replied.

29 Abraham continued to make his request, “Suppose there’s forty there?”

“I won’t do it for the sake of the forty,” he agreed.

30 My master, don’t get angry but let me speak,” Abraham said, “suppose thirty are found there?”

“I won’t do it if I find thirty-five there,” he said.

31 “Listen, I’ve taken it upon myself to speak to my master,” Abraham asked again, “suppose twenty are found there?”

“I won’t do it for the sake of the twenty,” he agreed.

32 “My master, don’t get angry and let me speak one last time,” Abraham added, “suppose ten are found there?”

“I won’t do it for the sake of the ten,” Yahweh conceded 33 and then he left and Abraham returned home.

19 So the two messengers arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting at the city gate. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and knelt down in front of them with his face to the ground. 2 Then he said, “Listen, my masters: Come with me to your slave’s home and wash your feet and stay the night. Then you can get up early and continue on your way.”

But they said, “No, rather we’ll just spend the night in the street.” 3 However, Lot insisted, so they followed him off the main road and went into his house. Then he prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

4 However, before they went to bed, the men of Sodom surrounded the house—there were young and old from all parts of the city—5 and they called out to Lot, “Where are the men who came to your place tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can ‘use’ them.”[ref]

6 So Lot went out to them at the entrance of the house and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “My brothers, don’t do this evil. 8 Listen, I’ve got two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you and you can treat them however you like. But don’t do anything to these men, because they’ve entered my house and so I’m responsible for them.”

9 But they insisted, “Stand back!” Then they said to each other, “This guy came to stay with us, and now he’s judging us. We’ll treat you worse than them!” Then they started pushing hard against Lot and came closer to break down the door. 10 But the two visitors reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house and shut the door again. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the entrance of the house with blindness—all of them from the lowly to the prominent men—so that they gave up trying to find the door.[ref]

12 Then the men said to Lot, “Who else belongs to you here, a son-in-law or your sons or your daughters or anyone else who belongs to you in the city? Take them out from this place, 13 because we’re about to destroy it. The people have repeatedly cried out to Yahweh, so he’s sent us to destroy the city.”

14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his future sons-in-law who were engaged to his daughters, and he told them, “Hurry, get out of this place, because Yahweh is going to destroy the city!” But they thought he was just joking.

15 At dawn the next day, the two messengers urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who’re here, so that all of you won’t be swept away in the punishment of the city.” 16 When Lot hesitated, because of Yahweh’s mercy for him, the men grabbed his hand and his wife’s hand and the hands of their daughters, and led them out beyond the edge of the city.[ref] 17 At that point one of them told Lot, “Flee for your lives! Don’t turn around and look behind you and don’t stop anywhere down in the plain. Escape up to the hills so you don’t get swept away!”

18 But Lot argued, “Not right now, my masters. 19 Listen, you’ve been kind to me and show us mercy by saving my life, but I won’t be able to make it to the hills because the disaster will overtake me and I’ll die. 20 Listen, there’s a small town nearby that I could flee to. Let me escape there. It’s only small. Then my life would be saved.”

21 “Ok then,” the man replied, “I’ll also grant your request about this so I won’t overthrow the town that you’re talking about. 22 Hurry up, escape there, because I am not able to do a thing until you go there.”

That’s why they renamed the town to ‘Zoar’ (which means ‘small’).

23 The sun had already risen by the time Lot and family reached Zoar. 24 Then Yahweh rained burning sulfur down onto Sodom and Gomorrah,[ref] 25 and he destroyed those cities and all their inhabitants as well, as all of the plain including all the vegetation. 26 But Lot’s wife who was following him looked back and she turned into a pillar of salt.[ref]

27 Meanwhile, Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before Yahweh, 28 and he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and the land of the plain. From there he saw, wow, that smoke was rising from the land like a furnace chimney. 29 So it was that when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham and had Lot removed out of the middle of the destruction when he destroyed the cities that Lot had been living in.

30 Then Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled up in the hills, because he was afraid to stay in Zoar. So he lived in a cave up there with his two daughters. 31 Then the older girl said to the younger, “Dad’s old and there isn’t a single man up here to marry us like happens to other women in the world. 32 So let’s get Dad drunk and then we can lie with him, so that at least we can have some descendants through our father.” 33 So then, they got their father to drink wine that evening, and the oldest daughter went and lay with her father, but he wasn’t aware of her coming or going.

34 Then the next day, the older girl said to the younger, Listen, last night I lay with my father. Let’s get him drunk again tonight then you go lie with him so that we’ll give life to descendants through our father.” 35 So that next evening also, they got their father to drink wine and the younger girl went and lay with him, but again he wasn’t aware of her coming or going. 36 In that way, both of Lot’s daughters got themselves pregnant through their father. 37 Then the eldest daughter gave birth to a son and she named him Moab (which means ‘from my father’). (He’s the ancestor of the Moabites to this day.) 38 The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and she named him Ben-Ammi (which means ‘son of my people’). (He’s the ancestor of Ammonites to this day.)

20 Then Abraham travelled from there to the Negev region and he settled between Kadesh and Shur, staying in Gerar for a while. 2 Abraham had told people his wife Sarah was his sister, so Abimelech the king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.[ref] 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream in the night and told him, “Listen, you’re as good as dead because of that woman you took because she is married to a husband.”

4 Now Abimelech hadn’t gone near to her, so he said, “My master, would you destroy a nation even though it’s innocent? 5 Didn’t Abraham himself tell me that she was his sister? And she herself also said that he was her brother. I did this with a clear conscience and with clean hands.”

6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience and indeed I kept you from sinning against me. I didn’t allow you to touch her for that reason. 7 So now, return that man’s wife because he’s a prophet, and he’ll pray for you and you’ll live. But if you don’t return her, be certain that you and all your people will surely die.”

8 So King Abimelech got up early in the morning and called for all of his slaves to come, and he explained the entire situation to them and they were very scared. 9 Then he sent for Abraham and asked him, “What have you done to us? What did I do to you that you would cause all this trouble for me and my people? What you did to me should never have happened.” 10 Then he asked again, “What were you thinking when you did that?”

11 “Because I thought that there’s probably no one around here who obeys God,” replied Abraham “so they might kill me because of my wife. 12 Besides that, Sarah actually is my half-sister. We have the same father, but different mothers, and then it was her that I took as a wife. 13 Later when God got me to leave my father’s home, I said to her, ‘You could do this one kindness do for me: Everywhere we go, just tell them that he’s your brother.’ ”

14 Then King Abimelech returned Sarah his wife to him and also gave him flocks and herds, and male and female slaves, 15 and he told him, “Look, my land is in front of you. Settle wherever looks good to you.” 16 Then he said to Sarah, “Listen, I’ve given 1,000 pieces of silver to your brother. That’s for you to demonstrate that you did nothing wrong, so that you’re completely cleared.”

17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his slave women so that they could have children, 18 because Yahweh had made every woman in Abimelech’s household barren because of what had been happening to Abraham’s wife, Sarah.

21 In due course, Yahweh visited Sarah just as he’d said and he did for her exactly what he’d said, 2 so that Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age at the very time of the year that God had told him.[ref] 3 Abraham named their son Yitshak, 4 and he circumcised him when he was eight days old, just as God had commanded him.[ref] 5 Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Yitshak was born, 6 and Sarah said, “God has brought laughter to me. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7 And she continued, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would breastfeed children, yet I have given him a son in his old age.”

8 The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a large feast on the day Yitshak was weaned.

9 But Sarah noticed that Ishma’el (the son of Hagar the Egyptian who she had given birth to for Abraham) was mocking, 10 so Sarah said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, because that slave woman’s son won’t be inheriting anything along with my son Yitshak.”[ref] 11 Now this stressed out Abraham who also cared for that son, 12 but God told him, “Don’t get distressed because of the boy and your slave woman. Listen to what Sarah’s telling you, because it’s in Yitshak that your descendants will be called yours.[ref] 13 But I’ll also make the descendants of the slave woman’s son into a nation, because he’s also your son.”

14 Abraham got up early the next morning, and got some bread and a skin of water and helped Hagar put them on her shoulder. Then he gave her the child and sent her away, and she left and wandered in the wilderness around Beersheba. 15 But when the water from the skin was gone, she threw the child under one of the bushes, 16 and she went and she went a short distance away (about as far as a bow can shoot an arrow) and sat down there, because she said, “I don’t want to watch my child die.” And as she sat at a distance, she sobbed loudly.

17 Now God heard the boy’s voice, so one of God’s messengers called Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What’s the matter, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, because God has heard the boy’s voice over there. 18 Get up and get the boy and hold on to him by the hand, because I’ll make his descendants into a great nation.” 19 Then God enabled her to see a well, so she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

20 As the boy grew up, God kept watch over him, and he lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow and arrow. 21 He settled in the Paran wilderness, and in due course his mother found an Egyptian girl for him to marry.

22 One day King Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “We can see that God is with you in everything you do. [ref] 23 So then, swear to me here by God that you won’t treat me or my children or my descendants badly, and that’ll you’ll be kind to this country just as I showed kindness to you.”

24 “I swear it,” Abraham replied.

25 But Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that had been taken over by Abimelech’s slaves. 26 “I don’t know who did that,” Abimelech responded, “and you hadn’t told me about it, so I’ve only just heard about it today.” 27 Then Abraham gave some sheep and cattle to Abimelech to confirm their agreement together, 28 and then he separated seven female lambs from the rest of the flock. 29 “Why did you pen those seven lambs,” Abimelech asked.

30 “Because I want you to take them,” Abraham insisted. “I want them to be the verification that it was me who dug this well.” 31 So that’s why the place was named ‘Beersheba’ (which means ‘Well of the seven’ or ‘Well of the oath’), because that’s where the two of them made their agreement.

32 So the agreement was made at Beersheba, then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, got up and returned home to the Philistine region. 33 Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree there at Beersheba, and he prayed to Yahweh, the God of eternity. 34 Then Abraham continued his stay in the Philistine region for quite some time.

22 Several years later, God decided to test Abraham, calling him, “Abraham.”[ref]

“Here I am,” he replied.

2 “Take your son Yitshak who you love, your only son,” God commanded him, “and go to the Moriah region and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I’ll point out to you.”[ref]

3 So Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. Then he took two of his young men with him and his son Yitshak, and he cut some firewood for the burnt offering. Then they left to go to the place that God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up ahead and he could see the place from a distance, 5 so he said to his young men, “Stay here by yourselves with the donkey while the boy and I go over there to worship God, then we’ll come back to you here.”

6 So Abraham took the firewood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Yitshak, and he carried the fire pot and the knife. Then the two of them went on together, 7 and Yitshak asked his father Abraham his father, “My father?”

“Yes, son?”, he replied.

“We’ve got the fire and the wood,”, he continued, “but where’s the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8 “God will provide the lamb for the burnt offering himself, my son,” Abraham answered, and then the two of them continued on together.

9 Then they came to the place that God had told him, and Abraham built an altar there and arranged the firewood on it. Then he tied up his son Yitshak and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.[ref] 10 Then Abraham took the knife and raised his arm to kill his son, 11 but one of Yahweh’s messengers called to him from the sky and said, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am.” he answered.

12 “Don’t lift up your hand against the boy,” the messenger continued. “And don’t do anything to him, because now I know that you respect and obey God, since you haven’t withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

13 Then Abraham raised his head and looked around, and wow, there was a ram was behind him, caught by its horns in the thicket. So Abraham went and grabbed the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham named that place ‘Yahweh will provide’, and to this day it’s still said, “Yahweh will provide on his mountain.”

15 Then the Yahweh’s messenger called Abraham from the sky a second time 16 saying, “I, Yahweh, make this declaration by my authority and truth that because you did that and didn’t withhold your only son,[ref] 17 I’ll bless you tremendously and I’ll cause your descendants to be as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the beach, and your descendants will be victorious over their enemies.[ref] 18 Because you obeyed what I said, all the nations of the earth will be blessed through your descendants.”[ref] 19 Then Abraham returned to his young men and they all continued on home together to Beersheba, and Abraham continued living there.

20 Some time later, Abraham heard the news, Look, your brother Nahor’s wife Milcah has also given birth to sons: 21 Uz his eldest son, and Buz his brother and Kemuel, the father of Aram, 22 and Kesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.” 23 Those are the eight sons that Milcah gave birth to for Abraham’s brother Nahor, and Bethuel went on to father Rebekah. 24 In addition, Nahor’s slave-wife Reumah also gave birth to four sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

23 Sarah went on to be 127 years old 2 when she died in the city of Kiriath Arba (now called Hebron) in the Canaan region. Abraham went in by her bed to weep and mourn for her.

3 After a time, Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and he spoke to Het’s sons, requesting, 4 “I’m a foreigner and just staying among you. Give me property for a burial place on your land so that I can bury my dead wife.”[ref]

5 Het’s sons replied to Abraham, telling him, 6 “My master, listen to us. You’re a mighty prince among us. Go ahead and bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. We’ve all agreed not to prevent you from burying your dead in any of our cemeteries.”

7 Then Abraham stood and bowed to the Het’s sons who were the owners of the land, 8 and asked them, “Since you’re all allowing me to bury my dead, listen to me and intercede for me with Zohar’s son Efron, 9 so that he’ll sell me Machpelah’s cave which belongs to him and which is at the end of his field. I’ll pay full price if he’ll give it to me to use as a burial place.”

10 Now Efron (the Hittite) was sitting there among Het’s sons, so he responded to Abraham while the other land-owners were listening, along with everyone else at the city gate, 11 “No, my master. Listen to me: I’ll give you the field and the cave that’s in it. I give it to you in front of all these others, then you can bury your dead.”

12 Then Abraham bowed before the people of the land, 13 and he told Efron while all the others were listening, “But if you would, please listen to me. I’ll pay the value of the field. Accept it from me, then I’ll bury my dead there.”

14 Efron responded to Abraham, 15 “My master, listen to me. That land’s worth 400 shekels of silver, but that’s nothing between me and you. Just go ahead and bury your dead.” 16 So Abraham accepted Efron’s words and weighed out for Efron the price that he had mentioned in the hearing of Het’s sons: 400 shekels of silver (the currency among the merchants).

17 So Efron’s field that was in Machpelah which faced Mamre (including the field and the cave that was in it, and all the trees that were in the field that was within all of its surrounding borders) was deeded 18 to Abraham as the new owner as witnessed by Het’s son and everyone else who had come to the city gate. 19 Then after that, Abraham laid the body of his wife Sarah to rest in the cave in Machpelah’s field facing Mamre (also called Hebron, in the Canaan region). 20 So the field was deeded as property to Abraham by Het’s sons, including the cave in it for a burial place.

24 Abraham was now getting very old, and Yahweh had blessed him in every way. 2 Then Abraham said to his oldest slave of his household who was in charge of everything that belonged to him, “Please put your hand under my thigh, 3 and I want you to vow by Yahweh, the God of the heavens and the God of the earth, that you won’t select a wife for my son Yitshak from any of the Canaanite women in this area where we’re living. 4 Rather, you should go back to my country and to my relatives, and find a wife for him there.”

5 “Suppose the woman isn’t willing to come back with me to this place?” the slave asked. “Should I take your son back to the country that you came from?”

6 “Make sure that you don’t take my son back there,” Abraham answered. 7 “Yahweh, the God of the heavens, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my relatives, and who spoke to me and who promised me, saying, ‘I’ll give this land to your descendants,’ he’ll send his messenger ahead of you, and you’ll be guaranteed to bring back a wife for my son from there. 8 If it turned out that the woman isn’t willing to come back with you, then you’re released from this vow to me. But still in that case, don’t take my son back there!” 9 Then the slave put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and promised his that he’d follow those instructions..

10 Then the slave took ten of his master’s camels and loaded them with all kinds of good things from his master, and with his own slaves, he travelled to the city of Nahor in the Aram Naharaim region. 11 Then on that first evening, he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well. It was the time that women come out to fetch water, 12 and he prayed, “Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, please cause it to happen right in front of me today that you show kindness toward my master Abraham. 13 See, I’m standing by this well, and the young women from the city will be coming out here to fetch water. 14 Let it be that if I say to a young woman, ‘Please let me have a drink from your water jar,’ and she says, ‘Sure, and I’ll also get more for your camels,’ let her be the one you have appointed for your slave Yitshak. And by finding her, I’ll know that you’ve shown kindness toward my master.”

15 Now before he’d even finished speaking, then wow, Rebekah arrived with her empty water jar on her shoulder. (She was Bethuel’s daughter—Bethuel being the son of Abraham’s brother Nahor and his wife Milcah.) 16 The young woman was very beautiful and a virgin who hadn’t slept with a man. She went down to the well and filled her jar and came back up. 17 The slave ran to meet her and said, “Can I have a small drink of water from your jar.”

18 “Drink, my master,” she said and quickly lowered her jar to her hands and gave him a drink, 19 and after she’d finished giving him a drink, she said, “I’ll also get water for your camels until they have finished drinking.” 20 Then she hurried and emptied her jar into the trough and ran back to the well to draw more water, and she drew enough water for all his camels 21 while Abraham’s slave watched her silently to determine whether Yahweh had made his journey successful or not.

22 Then when the camels had finished drinking, the slave took out an expensive gold nose ring and two solid gold bracelets for her arms. 23 “Tell me, whose daughter are you?” he asked her. “Is there room at your father’s house for us to stay?”

24 “I’m Bethuel’s daughter. He’s the son of Nahor and Milcah,” she answered. 25 “We’ve got plenty of both straw and fodder for the camels, and there’s also a room where you could stay.”

26 Then the slave bowed down and worshipped Yahweh 27 and said, “Praised be Yahweh, my master Abraham’s God, who hasn’t relented from his kindness and faithfulness toward my master. As for me, Yahweh has led me on the road to the home of my master’s relatives.”

28 Then the young woman ran home and told her mother’s household what had happened. 29 Now Rebekah had a brother named Lavan (Laban), and he ran out to the man at the well. 30 He had seen the nose ring and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and when he’d heard his sister Rebekah’s words saying, “This is what the man said to me,” then he went to the man, and indeed, he was there standing by the camels at the spring 31 and he invited him, “Come, you who’re blessed by Yahweh. Why are you standing out here? I’ve already prepared the house and a place for the camels.”

32 So Abraham’s slave went to the house. Then he unloaded the camels and gave them straw and fodder, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.[fn] 33 Then food was set out for them to eat, but Abraham’s slave said, “I won’t eat until I have said what I have to say.”

“Speak then,” Lavan responded.

34 “I’m one of Abraham’s slaves,” he said, 35 and Yahweh has blessed my master a lot, so that he has become wealthy. Yahweh has given him cattle, sheep and goats, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys. 36 And my master’s wife Sarah gave birth to a son for my master despite her old age, and my master has given him everything that he owns. 37 My master made promises, saying, ‘You mustn’t get a wife for my son from Canaanite women whose land I am living in, 38 but rather you must go to my father’s house and to my clan, and find a wife for my son there.’ 39 Then I asked my master, ‘Suppose the woman refuses to come with me?’ 40 And he replied, ‘The God Yahweh that I obey, he’ll send his messenger with you and make your journey succeed, so that you’ll find a wife for my son from my clan, and from my father’s house. 41 Then you’ll be free of your promise: When you go to my clan, and if they won’t allow her to return with you, then you’ll be clear from this promise.’

42 “Then today I came to the well, and I said, ‘Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, if it’s what you want, make my journey succeed that I have come on. 43 Listen, I’m standing by this well, so let it be that the young woman who comes out to fetch water and I say to her, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar,” 44 and she replies to me, “Sure, drink, and I will also get water for your camels,” let her be the wife that Yahweh has chosen for the my master’s son.’ 45 Before I’d finished speaking in my heart, then wow, Rebekah was coming out with her jar on her shoulder. And she went down to the well and drew water, and I asked her, ‘Can I have a drink.’ 46 So she hurried and lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll also water your camels.’ So I drank and she also watered the camels. 47 Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, a son of Nahor and his wife Milcah.’ Then I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her arms. 48 Then I bowed down and worshipped and praised my master Abraham’s God Yahweh, who led me on the right way to find the daughter of my master’s brother for his son. 49 And now if you all want to show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me. But if not, tell me, so that I can decide what to do next.”

50 Then Lavan and Bethuel answered, “This matter has come from Yahweh, so we’re not able to tell you bad or good. 51 But listen, Rebekah’s right here. Take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as Yahweh has indicated.” 52 Now when Abraham’s slave heard their reply, he bowed down to the ground before Yahweh. 53 Then he brought out silver and gold jewelry, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. And he gave valuable things to her brother and her mother.

54 Then Abraham’s slave and the men with him ate and drank and stayed there overnight. Then in the morning they got up, and he said, “Let me leave now and return back to my master.”

55 But Rebekah’s brother and her mother said, “Let the girl stay with us a few days, at least ten. After that she can go.”

56 “Don’t detain me,” he told them, “since Yahweh has made my journey successful. Send me off so that I can return to my master.”

57 “Let’s call for the young woman and find out what she wants to do.” they responded. 58 So they called for Rebekah and asked her, “Are you prepared to leave now with this man?”

“Yes, I’ll go.” she answered.

59 So they got ready to send off their sister Rebekah with Abraham’s slave and his men, along with her childhood nurse. 60 They prayed a blessed for Rebekah, saying

“Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands,

and may your descendants defeat all of their enemies.”

61 Then Rebekah got up with her maids, and they mounted the camels and went with the man. So the slave took Rebekah and left.

62 Meanwhile Yitshak was living in the Negev region, and had just returned from visiting Be’er-Lahai-Roi. 63 Late on afternoon, he went out to a field to meditate, and when he looked up, he saw some camels approaching. 64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Yitshak, and dismounted from her camel, 65 asking the slave, “Who’s that man in the field who is coming to meet us?”

“He’s my master,” the slave replied, so she took the veil and covered herself.

66 Then the slave reported everything that he’d done to Yitshak. 67 Then Yitshak brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother, and he took Rebekah as his wife. And Yitshak loved her and he was comforted after his mother’s death.

25 Then Abraham married another woman named Keturah, 2 and she gave birth to Zimran, Yokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Yokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan, and the descendants of Dedan were the Asshurim, the Letushim, and the Leummim. 4 Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of those were Keturah’s descendants.

5-7 5-7Abraham went on to live to be 175 years old. He gave valuable gifts to all the sons of his slave wives, then he forced them to move to the east to ensure that they would be removed from his son Yitshak. Then he left everything else he owned to Yitshak.

8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, elderly and satisfied, and he joined his ancestors in death. 9 His sons Yitshak and Ishmael buried him in Machpelah’s cave (in the field of Efron, Zohar the Hittite’s son, which faced Mamre)—10 the field that Abraham had bought from Het’s sons. So Abraham’s body was laid there alongside that of his wife Sarah.[ref] 11 After his death, God blessed his son Yitshak who lived near Be’er-Lahai-Roi.

12 Now these are the generations of Ishma’el the son of Abraham, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s female slave, had given birth to for Abraham. 13 These are the names of Ishma’el’s sons, by their names according to their births: Ishma’el’s firstborn was Nevayot, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedermah. 16 Those were Ishma’el’s sons, and those are their names by their settlements and by their camps—twelve rulers according to their tribes. 17 Ishma’el went on to live to be 137 years old, before breathing his last and dying and joining those who’d gone before. 18 His descendants settled from Havilah to Shur (which is near Egypt as you go toward Asshur). He fell in the face of all his brothers.[fn]

19 These are the generations of Abraham’s son Yitshak: Abraham fathered Yitshak 20 and Yitshak was forty years old when he married Rebekah. (She was the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, the sister of Lavan the Aramean.) 21 In due course, Yitshak prayed to Yahweh on his wife’s behalf because she was barren. Yahweh answered his prayer and his wife Rebekah got pregnant, 22 but the twins kept jostling each other within her womb, so she asked, “Why’s this happening to me?” She also asked Yahweh about it 23 and he responded,[ref]

“There’s two nations inside your womb—

two different peoples will come from within you.

One group will become stronger than the other,

and the older will serve the younger.”

24 When the time came to give birth, she gave birth to twin boys. 25 The firstborn came out quite red and covered with hair like a fur coat, so they named him ‘Esaw’ (which means ‘hairy’). 26 Then his brother was born and his hand grabbed Esaw’s heel, so he was named ‘Yacob’ (which means ‘heel-grabber’). Yitshak was sixty years old when they were born.

27 As the boys grew up, Esaw got good at hunting, a man of the outdoors, but Yacob was a quiet man who stayed around the tents. 28 Yitshak liked the taste of game meat so he loved Esaw, but Rebekah loved Yacob.

29 One day, Yacob was cooking some stew when Esaw arrived home from being out, and he was very hungry 30 and asked Yacob, “Can I have some of that red stuff because I’m starving.” (Esaw’s nickname became ‘Edom’, meaning ‘red’, because of that.)

31 “Well, today,” Yacob answered, “sell me your future inheritance.”

32 “Listen, I’m dying of starvation,” said Esaw, “so what use would a future inheritance be to me?”

33 “Well now, make a vow to me,” insisted Yacob.[ref]

So Esaw promised him, effectively selling his future inheritance to Yacob, 34 and Yacob gave him some of the lentil stew and some bread. So Esaw ate and drank and left again, thus despising his own inheritance as firstborn son.

26 Then there was a famine in the region (a different one from the earlier famine that was in the days of Abraham) so Yitshak moved to Gerar, the region of Abimelech, the Philistines king. 2 Then Yahweh appeared to Yitshak and told him, “Don’t go down to Egypt—stay in the area that I’ll tell you. 3 Stay as a guest in this region, and I’ll be with you and bless you, because I’ll give all this land to you and to your descendants, and I’ll confirm the oath that I made to your father Abraham.[ref] 4 I’ll multiply your descendants to be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I’ll give all this region to them. And all the nations on the earth will be blessed through your descendants, 5 because Abraham obeyed me by keeping my requirements, my commands, my decrees, and my laws.”

6 So Yitshak settled there in Gerar. 7 Then the men of the place asked about his wife, and he said, “She’s my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She’s my wife.” He was thinking, “What if the men in this place kill me because Rebekah is so beautiful to look at.”[ref] 8 Then when he’d been in that area for quite a while, the Philistine King Abimelech looked down from a window and saw that to his surprise, Yitshak was laughing together with his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelech called for Yitshak and said, “Hey, she’s really your wife! So how could you say, ‘She’s my sister’?”

“Because I said to myself, ‘I might die because of her.’,” Yitshak replied.

10 “What’s this that you’ve done to us?” continued Abimelech. “One of my people might easily have slept with your wife and you would have brought condemnation onto us!” 11 Then King Abimelech ordered all the people, “Whoever touches this man or his wife will certainly be killed.”

12 Then Yitshak planted a crop in that land and Yahweh blessed him and gave him one hundred times as much as he’d planted. 13 Hence he became wealthier and that repeated until eventually he was very powerful. 14 He also owned sheep and goats, and cattle, and many slaves. Because the Philistines now envied him, 15 they blocked up all the wells that his father’s slaves had dug when his father Abraham had been alive, and they filled them with dirt.

16 Then King Abimelech told Yitshak, “You all need to leave this area because you’ve become more powerful than us.” 17 So Yitshak left that place and set up camp in the Gerar Valley and settled there. 18 Then he returned and dug out the water wells that they had dug in the days of Abraham his father and that the Philistines had blocked up after Abraham’s death, and he called them similar names to the ones that his father had called them.

19 Then Yitshak’s slaves dug in the valley and found an underground spring with flowing water there. 20 But the herdsmen from Gerar quarrelled with Yitshak’s herdsmen, saying, “The water belongs to us.” So he named the well ‘Esek’ (which means ‘dispute’), because they disputed with him.

21 Yitshak’s men dug another well, but they quarrelled over it too, so he named it ‘Sitnah’ (which means ‘opposition’). 22 Then he moved from there and dug another well, and they didn’t quarrel over it, so he named it ‘Rehoboth’ (which means ‘space’), and he said, “Because now Yahweh has made space for us and we’ll be productive in this area.”

23 Then from there Yitshak moved down to Beer-Sheba, 24 and Yahweh appeared to him during that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Don’t be afraid, because I’m with you and I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my slave Abraham.” 25 So Yitshak built an altar there and he prayed to Yahweh. He set up his tents there and his slaves dug a well there.

26 Then King Abimelech came to Yitshak from Gerar along with his friend Ahuzzath and Phicol the commander of his army[ref] 27 and Yitshak asked them, “Why have you come here since you hate me and you forced me away from you?”

28 “We have clearly seen that Yahweh has been with you,” they answered, “so we said, ‘There should be an agreement between us’—between us and you. So let us make an agreement with you, 29 that you won’t do anything evil against us, just as we did not touch you, and just as we did only did good to you and sent you away in peace. Now you are blessed by Yahweh.” 30 Then Yitshak prepared a feast for them, and they all ate and drank together. 31 The visitors got up early the next morning and make promises to each other. Then Yitshak sent them on their way, and they left from there in peace.

32 That very day, Yitshak’s slaves came and updated him about the well that they had just been digging and told him, “We’ve found water.” 33 So Yitshak named the well ‘Shibah’ (which sounds like the Hebrew word meaning ‘promise’), so that’s why that city is named ‘Beersheba’ (meaning ‘well of the promise’) to this day.

34 When Esau was forty years old, he married two Hittite women: Be’eri’s daughter Judith and Elon’s daughter Basemat, 35 but this brought grief to his parents Yitshak and Rebekah.

27 When Yitshak grew old and could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.”

“I’m here,” Esau replied.

2 “Please listen,” Yitshak continued, “I’m old and don’t know how long I’ve got before I die. 3 So please take your weapons—your quiver, and your bow—and go out into the fields and hunt game for me 4 and cook me a tasty meal in the way that I love it, and bring it to me so I can eat it, so that I can bless you before I die.”

5 Now Rebekah had been listening while Yitshak spoke to Esau. Then Esau went out to the fields to hunt game and bring it back. 6 Meanwhile Rebekah said to her son Yacob, “Listen, I heard your father speaking to your brother Esau, saying, 7 ‘Get some game meat for me and prepare me a tasty meal so that I can eat it, and then I can bless you in Yahweh’s presence before I die.’ 8 So now Yacob, listen to what I tell you: 9 Go out to the flock and get me two of the best young goats so that I can prepare a tasty meal from them that your father loves. 10 Then you can take it in to your father, and after he’s eaten it he’ll bless you before he dies.”

11 “Look,” Yacob said to his mother, “My brother Esau is very hairy, whereas my skin is smooth. 12 What if my father touches me? Then he’ll think of me as a deceiver and he’ll curse me rather than bless me.”

13 “Let your curse be on me, my son,” his mother replied, “Just do what I said and go get the young goats for me.” 14 So he went and slaughtered them and brought them to his mother. Then she prepared tasty food the way his father loved it. 15 She then got Esau’s best clothes that were in the house and got her younger son Yacob to put them on, 16 then she tied the skins of the young goats over his hands and around the smooth part of his neck.

17 Then she handed the tasty food and the bread to Yacob, 18 and he went in to his elderly father and said, “My father.”

“I’m here,” he said, “Which son are you?” 19 “I’m your oldest son Esau,” Yacobreplied to his father. “I’ve done what you told me. Please get up, and come and sit up and eat some of my game, so that you’ll bless me.” 20 “How did you find it so quickly, my son?” Yitshak asked.

“Because your God Yahweh helped me when I went out hunting,” Yacob answered.

21 Then Yitshak said to Yacob, “Please come close so that I can touch you, my son, and to be sure whether you’re really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Yacob went close to his father and Yitshak felt his skin and said to himself, “It’s Yacob’s voice, but these are definitely Esau’s hands.” 23 So he didn’t recognise that it was Yacob, because his hands were hairy like Easu’s hands, so he was about to bless him 24 but asked once more, “Are you really my son Esau?”

“Yes, I am,” Yacob answered.

25 So Yitshak told him, “Bring the food here and I’ll eat some of my son’s game, so that my I can then bless you.” So Yacob took it to him and he ate, and then he brought wine to him and he drank. 26 Then Yitshak asked Yacob, “My son, please come close and kiss me.” 27 So he went close and kissed him. His dad noticed the smell of his clothes, so he blessed him saying,[ref]

“Ah yes, the smell of my son

is like the pleasant smell of a field

that Yahweh has blessed.

28 May God give you dew from the sky

and riches from the land,

to produce plenty of grain and wine.

29 May peoples serve you,

and may nations bow down to you.

Be master over your brothers,

and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.

May those who curse you be cursed,[ref]

and may those who bless you be blessed.”

30 Then just as Yitshak had finished blessing Yacob, and as Yacob had only just gone out from his father’s presence, his brother Esau his brother returned from his hunting. 31 Then he too prepared some tasty food and brought it in to his father and said, “Let my father get up and eat from the game that his son hunted so that you can bless me.”

32 But Yitshak asked him, “Which son are you?”

“I’m your oldest son Esau.” he answered.

33 Then Yitshak started to trembled badly and he said, “Then who was it that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all just before you came in, and I blessed that man and indeed, he’ll be blessed.”

34 When Esau heard that, then he let out a very loud and exceedingly bitter wail, and then begged his father, “Bless me too, my father.”

35 But Yitshak replied, “Your brother came in and deceived me and he’s taken your blessing!”

36 “Yes, his name Yacob (meaning ‘deceiver’) suits him exactly!”[ref] said Esau. “First he took my inheritance and man, now he’s also taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you at least saved a blessing for me?”

37 But Yitshak replied, “Listen, I’ve made him master over you, and I’ve given all his brothers to him as slaves. And I’ve sustained him with grain and wine. So then, what else can I do for you, my son?”

38 “Did you only have one blessing that you could give, my father? Esau asked. “Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau sobbed loudly.[ref]

39 Then his father Yitshak responded and said to him,[ref]

“Listen, you and your descendants will live

away from the most fertile land on the earth[fn]

in a place that doesn’t get dew from the sky.

40 You and your descendants will live by your sword,[ref]

and you’ll serve your brother.

But when you become restless

you’ll all break away from serving them.

41 From that time onwards, Esau hated Yacob because of the blessing that their father had blessed him with, and Esau said to himself, “My father’s funeral can’t be that far away—after that I’ll kill my brother Yacob.”

42 But Rebekah got to hear about Esau’s plans, so she sent for her younger son Yacob and told him, “Listen, your brother Esau is coping with what happened by planning to kill you. 43 So my son, listen to what I’m saying: for your own sake, pack up and flee to my brother Lavan’s place in Haran 44 and stay with him for a while until your brother cools down. 45 When he’s no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, then I’ll send for you from there so you can return here. I don’t want to lose both of you on the same day?”

46 Then Rebekah told her husband Yitshak, “I’m quite disgusted with those daughters of Het. If Yacob chooses a wife like Het’s daughters from this culture around us here, I wouldn’t be able to bear it.”

28 So Yitshak called for Yacob and blessed him, and instructed him, “Don’t take a wife from the Caananite girls. 2 Pack up and go to Paddan Aram—to the home of your mother’s father Bethuel and get yourself a wife from there—from the daughters of your mother’s brother Lavan. 3 And may the powerful God bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become a community of peoples. 4 May he give the same blessing of Abraham to you—to you and to your offspring with you—so that you will own the land where you’ve been staying and which God gave to Abraham.”[ref] 5 Then Yitshak sent Yacob away, and he went to Paddan Aram—to Lavan, the son of Bethuel the Aramean and the brother of Yacob and Esau’s mother Rebekah.

6 Now Esau noticed that Yitshak had blessed Yacob and sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife for himself from there. He’d also noticed that when Yitshak had blessed him, he’d instructed him not to take a wife from the Canaanite girls, 7 and that Yacob had listened to his parents and travelled to Paddan Aram. 8 As a result, Esau realised that his father wasn’t happy about the Canaanite girls 9 so he went to Ishma’el and he took Mahalath as an additional wife. She was the daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, and was the sister of Nevayot.

10 Meanwhile, Yacob had left Beersheba and was enroute to Haran. 11 One night after he’d stopped when the sun had gone down, he laid down in that place and used one of the stones there to put under his head for a pillow. 12 While he was sleeping, he had a dream, and wow, a stairway was set up on the earth and its top reached to the heavens, and look, God’s messengers were ascending and descending on it.[ref] 13 And look, Yahweh was standing above it and he said, “I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your grandfather and the God of Yitshak. I will give the land that you are lying on to you and to your descendants[ref] 14 and they will be as numerous as dust particles, and you’ll all spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.[ref] 15 So listen, I’m with you and I’ll watch over you everywhere you go. I’ll bring you back to this land because I won’t leave you until I’ve done what I told you.”

16 Then Yacob woke up and said to himself, “Yahweh is certainly here in this place, but I didn’t realise it.” 17 So he was afraid and said to himself, “This place is spine-chilling—it’s nothing other than God’s house, and it’s heaven’s gateway.”

18 Then in the morning Yacob got up early, and he took the stone that he’d put under his head and stood it up longways as a pillar, and he poured oil over the top of it. 19 He named that place ‘Beyt-el’ (which means ‘God’s house’), even though that town had been named Luz before then. 20 Then Yacob made a promise to God, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this road that I’m walking on, and give me bread to eat and clothes to wear, 21 and if I’m able to return safely to my father’s home, then I’ll make Yahweh my God, 22 and this stone that I’ve stood up as a pillar will be God’s house, and I’ll give you a tenth of everything that you give to me.”

29 Then Yacob got on the road again and went to the land of the eastern peoples. 2 Close to his destination, he looked ahead, and wow, there was a well in the field, and what’s more, three flocks of sheep and goats were lying there near it, because the flocks were watered from that well but the stone over the mouth of the well was large and heavy. 3 Once all the flocks were gathered there, then they would roll the stone from over the mouth of the well and water the animals. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

4 So Yacob asked the farmers, “My brothers, where are you from?”

“We’re from Haran,” they replied.

5 “Do you know Nahor’s grandson Lavan?” Yacob asked.

“Yes, we know him,” they replied.

6 “Is he doing well?” Yacob asked.

“Yes, he’s fine,” they said, “and here comes his daughter Rahel with their flock.”

7 “Look, it’s still broad daylight,” Yacob told them. “It’s not time for the livestock to be brought it. Water the flock, and go pasture them.”

8 “We can’t,” they said, “until all the flocks are gathered here and they roll the stone off the top of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”

9 He was still talking with them when Rahel came with her father’s flock, because she was the one who looked after them. 10 When Yacob saw Rahel (the daughter of his mother’s brother, Lavan) with Lavan’s flock, he went over and rolled the stone off the top of the well and watered the sheep and goats. 11 Then he gave Rahel a kiss and happily cried out loud. 12 Then he told Rahel that he was a relative of her father and that he was a son of Rebekah.

Then she ran and told her father, 13 and when Lavan heard the news about his sister’s son Yacob, he ran out to meet him. Then he embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then Yacob told Lavan everything that had happened up until then, 14 and Lavan told him, “You are indeed a close relative.”

After Yacob had stayed with Lavan and worked for him for a whole month, 15 Lavan said to him, “Should you work for me for nothing just because you’re my relative? Tell me, what should I pay you?”

16 Now Lavan had two daughters: the older one was named Le’ah, and the younger one was named Rahel (Rachel). 17 Le’ah had pretty eyes, but Rahel was extremely beautiful in every way.

18 Now Yacob was in love with Rahel, so he answered, “I’ll work for you for seven years so I can marry your younger daughter Rahel.”

19 “Ok, stay with me then,” said Lavan. “It’s better for me to give her to you than to give her to some other man.”

20 So Yacob worked seven years for Rahel, but it only seemed like a few days to him because of his love for her, 21 then he said to Lanan, “Give me my wife to marry now because I’ve worked the agreed seven years.” 22 So Lavan invited all the local people and held a wedding reception, 23 but that evening Lavan brought his other daughter Le’ah to Yacob, and he slept with her. 24 (Lavan also gave his female slave Zilpah to Le’ah to be her personal slave.) 25 But in the morning, Yacob saw that wow, it was Leah! “Hey, what’s this that you’ve done to me?” Yacob demanded of Lavan. “Wasn’t it Rahel that I worked for you for? So why did you deceive me?”

26 “It’s not our custom here,” Lavan answered, “for the younger daughter to marry before the older one. 27 Stay with just this one for the marriage week, and then we’ll also give you the younger one in return for another seven year’s work.”

28 So Yacob agreed and spent the week with Le’ah, then Lavan also gave him his daughter Rahel to be his wife. 29 (Lavan also gave his female slave Bilhah to Rahel to be her personal slave.)

30 So Yacob also slept with Rahel, but he also loved her more than Le’ah. Then he worked for Lavan for another seven years.

31 Now Yahweh saw that Le’ah was spurned, so he allowed her to conceive, but Rahel was unable to get pregnant. 32 So Leah got pregnant and gave birth to a son, and she named him ‘Reuben’ (which means ‘Look, a son’) because she said, “Because Yahweh has looked on my misery, surely my husband will love me now.” 33 Then she got pregnant again and gave birth to a second son, and she said, “Because Yahweh heard that I am hated, then he also gave me this son.” So she called his name ‘Simeon’ (which means ‘he hears’). 34 Then she got pregnant again and gave birth to a third son, and she said, “This time now my husband will hold me close to him, because I’ve given him three sons.” That’s why she named the baby ‘Levi’ (which means ‘hold close’). 35 Then Le’ah got pregnant again and gave birth to a fourth son, and she said, “This time I will praise Yahweh.” That’s why she named him ‘Yehudah’ (which means ‘praise’). Then she stopped getting pregnant.

30 Now Rahel realised that she wasn’t producing any children for Yacob, so she envied her sister Le’ah, and she demanded from Yacob, “Give me children, and if you don’t, I’ll die!”

2 But Yacob’s anger flared up against Rahel and he asked, “Am I in the place of God who’s kept you from getting pregnant?”

3 Rahel answered, “Listen, here’s my slave Bilhah. Sleep with her so that she’ll have children on my behalf and I’ll also be able to have a family through her.” 4 Then she gave Bilhah to him as a slave wife and Yacob slept with her, 5 so then Bilhah got pregnant and produced a son for Yacob. 6 Rahel said, “God has vindicated me, and indeed he’s listened to my request and given me a son!” That’s why she named him ‘Dan’ (which means ‘he judged (in my favour)’). 7 Later on, Rahel’s slave Bilhah got pregnant again and gave birth to a second son for Yacob 8 so Rahel said, “I’ve had a difficult battle with my sister but I’ve succeeded in the end!” So she named the baby ‘Naftali’ (which means ‘my struggle’).

9 Now when Le’ah noticed that she wasn’t getting pregnant any more, she gave her female slave Zilpah to Yacob as a slave wife. 10 Then eventually Le’ah’s slave Zilpah produced a son for Yacob, 11 and Le’ah said, “What good fortune!” So she named him ‘Gad’ (which means ‘fortunate’). 12 Then Le’ah’s slave Zilpah produced a second son for Yacob, 13 and Le’ah said, “How blessed I am because women will call me blessed.” So she named him ‘Asher’ (which means ‘blessed’).

14 One day during the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants[fn] in the field and brought them home to Le’ah his mother. Then Rahel asked Le’ah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

15 “Is it a small matter you have taken my husband?” Le’ah snapped back. “And would you also take my son’s mandrakes?”

“Well, he can sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” Rahel answered. 16 So that evening when Yacob came home from the field, Leah went out to meet him and told him, “You must come to me tonight because I’ve hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.

17 God listened to Le’ah and she got pregnant and produced a fifth son for Yacob, 18 saying, “God has given me my reward because I gave my slave to my husband to sleep with.” So she named him ‘Yissakar’ (which means ‘reward’). 19 Then Le’ah got pregnant again and produced a sixth son for Yacob, 20 saying, “God has given me a nice present. This time my husband will honour me because I have produced six sons for him.” So she called his name ‘Zebulun’ (which might mean ‘honour’). 21 Later on, Le’ah had a daughter and named her Dinah.

22 Then God paid attention to Rahel and listened to her and enabled her to conceive, 23 so she got pregnant and produced a son, and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24 She named him ‘Yosef’ (which means ‘may he give another’), saying, “May Yahweh add another son to me.”

25 Sometime after Rahel had given birth to Yosef, Yacob said to Lavan, “Send me off now, so that I can return to my place and to my land. 26 Let me take my wives that I worked for you for, and take my children so that I can leave, because you yourself know how long and hard I’ve worked for you.”

27 But Lavan replied, “Please stay, if I’ve found favour in your eyes because I’ve learned by divination that Yahweh has blessed me because of you.” 28 Then he added, “Tell me how much you want and I’ll pay you that.”

29 “You yourself know how well I’ve served you and how your livestock have prospered with me.” Yacob replied. 30 Before I came, you didn’t have much, but now you have plenty because Yahweh has blessed you wherever I was involved. But now, when will I also do something for my own household?”

31 “What should I give you?” Lavan asked.

“You don’t have to give me anything,” Yacob replied. “If you’ll do this one thing for me, I’ll continue taking care of your flocks: 32 Let me look through all your flocks today and separate out from them all the lambs that are speckled, spotted, or dark-coloured, and all the young goats that are spotted or speckled. They will be my pay. 33 So in the future, you’ll be able to see that I’ve been honest because you’ll be able to see it for yourself: any goat that’s not speckled and spotted, and any sheep that’s not dark-coloured, if it’s in my flock then it must have been stolen.”

34 “Ok then, let’s do it your way.” Lavan agreed. 35 But that very day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, any that had white on it, and all the dark-coloured ones among the lambs. Then he gave them to his sons to look after, 36 and they took them a three-day journey away from where Yacob was, so Yacob was left just tending the rest of Lavan’s flocks.

37 Then Yacob got some freshly cut branches of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them by exposing the white that was inside the branches. 38 Then he put the branches that he had peeled in the water troughs where the flocks would see them when they came to drink, and they mated when they came to drink. 39 Thus the flocks would mate by the striped branches, and they would bear young who were streaked, speckled, and spotted.

40 Then Yacob separated out those young animals into a separate flock, and he made the older flocks look at the streaked and all the dark-coloured animals in Lavan’s flocks. So he kept his own flocks by themselves and didn’t mix them with Lavan’s flocks.

41 So whenever the strong animals were ready to mate, then Yacob put the branches in the troughs in front of the flocks so that they would mate by the branches, 42 but when the animals were weak, he didn’t put them in. So the weak animals went to Lavan and the strong ones to Yacob 43 so he became very wealthy, and he owned large flocks as well as male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.

31 One day, Yacob overheard the words of Lavan’s sons who were saying, “Yacob has taken everything that belonged to our father, and from what originally belonged to our father he has gained all this wealth.” 2 Then Yacob also noticed that Lavan’s attitude towards him had changed, and he wasn’t in favour of him like he’d been in the past. 3 Then Yahweh told Yacob, “Go back to the land of your ancestors and to your relatives, and I’ll be with you.”

4 So Yacob sent for Rahel and Le’ah to come to him out in the field where he was with his flocks 5 and he told them, “I’ve noticed your father’s attitude and that he’s not positive toward me like he was a few days ago, but my father’s God has been with me. 6 You both know that I’ve served your father with all my strength, 7 but your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times. However, God hasn’t allowed him to harm me. 8 When he told me: ‘The speckled animals will be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore speckled young. But when he told me: ‘The streaked ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked young. 9 In that way, God took your father’s animals away from him and gave them to me.

10 “One day during the season when the flocks were mating, I looked up and saw in a dream that, wow, the male goats that were mounting the flocks were streaked, speckled, and spotted. 11 Then God’s messenger said to me in the dream, ‘Yacob!’ and I said, ‘I’m listening.’ 12 Then he told me, ‘Please look up and observe that all the male goats that are mounting the flocks are streaked, speckled, and spotted, because I have seen everything that Lavan is doing to you. 13 I’m the God of Beyt-el, where you anointed a pillar—where you vowed a vow to me. Now pack up and depart from this land, and return to the land where you were born.’ ”[ref]

14 Then Rahel and Le’ah replied, “Yes, we’re not expecting any portion or inheritance from our father’s property. 15 Doesn’t he just treat us like foreigners now? Yes, he sold us and then he frittered away all the money that should have been ours, 16 so all the wealth that God took from our father belonged to us and to our children anyway. So yes, go ahead and do everything that God’s told you to do.”

17 So Yacob packed up and put his wives and children on the camels. 18 Then he drove all his livestock and all his property that he had acquired—the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan Aram—to go back to Isaac his father in the Canaan region. 19 Now Lavan had gone off for several days to shear his sheep, so Rahel stole the idols that belonged to her father, 20 and Yacob deceived Lavan (the Syrian) by not telling him that they all were leaving. 21 So Yacob took his household and everything that belonged to them and crossed the Euphrates River and headed upward toward the hill-country of Gilead.

22 Three days later, Lavan was informed that Yacob had fled with his family, 23 so he took some of his relatives with him and chased after Yacob and his family for seven days until they overtook them in the hill-country of Gilead. 24 But that night God appeared to Lavan the Syrian in a dream and told him, “Watch yourself that you don’t say anything to Yacob, either good or bad.” 25 When Lavan had caught up to Yacob, Yacob had pitched their tents in the hills, so Lavan with his relatives also pitched theirs on the Gilead hills.

26 Then Lavan said to Yacob, “What have you done? You’ve deceived me and carried away my daughters like prisoners of war. 27 Why did you flee secretly and deceive me and not tell me? I would have sent you all off with music and singing and a cheery party. 28 You didn’t let me kiss my grandchildren goodbye and my daughters, instead you made a foolish decision. 29 I have the right and the ability to punish you, but last night your father’s God told me, ‘Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Yacob.’ 30 So now, you probably left because you miss your father’s place badly, but why did you steal my gods?”

31 “We left like that,” Yacob answered Lavan, “because I was afraid, because I said that perhaps you would use force to take your married daughters from me. 32 As for your idols, whoever you find your gods with will be put to death. Look through everything we have and take back anything that belongs to you, with our relatives as witnesses.” (Now Yacob didn’t know that Rahel had stolen them.)

33 So Lavan inspected Yacob’s and Le’ah’s tents, and the tent of the two slave women, but he didn’t find anything. Then he came out of Le’ah’s tent and went into Rahel’s tent. 34 Now Rahel had taken the idols and put them in the camel’s saddle which she was now sitting on, so although Lavan searched throughout her entire tent, he didn’t find them, 35 and she said to her father, “Don’t let my master be upset that I’m not able to stand up in your presence, because I have the regular female concern at the moment.” So he searched, but he didn’t find the idols.

36 So Yacob got very angry and he argued with Lavan, demanding from him, “What’s my crime? What’s my sin, that you’ve hotly chased after me? 37 Since you’ve searched through all our things, what things from your house have you found? Put it here in front of my relatives and your relatives, and let them judge between the two of us!

38 “I’ve worked for you for twenty years. Your ewes and your female goats didn’t miscarry, and I haven’t eaten rams from your flocks. 39 I didn’t bring dead sheep or goats to you that had been attacked by wild animals—I bore the loss of those myself. You required that I cover anything stolen during the day or during the night. 40 I was always out there—during the day the heat tormented me, and at night the frost so bad that I couldn’t sleep. 41 That’s how it was for me for twenty years in your house. I worked for you for fourteen years for your two daughters, then six more years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times to your advantage. 42 If my father’s God—the God of Abraham and the one Yitshak respected—had not been with me, surely you would have sent me away empty-handed now. God has seen my suffering and my hard work, and last night, he rebuked you.”

43 Then Lavan responded and told Yacob, “These women are my daughters, and the children are my grandchildren, and the flocks are my flocks. Everything that you see here belongs to me. But what can I do today about these daughters of mine or about their children that they gave birth to? 44 So come now, let’s make an agreement, I and you, and let it be a witness between me and you.”

45 So Yacob took a stone and stood it up longways as a pillar, 46 then he instructed his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they fetched stones and made a pile, then they ate there by the pile. 47 Lavan gave the pile the Aramaic name ‘Jegar Sahadutha’ (which means ‘pile that reminds’) while Yacob gave it the Hebrew name ‘Gale’ed’ (which has the same meaning).

48 Then Lavan said, “This pile is a witness of the agreement between me and you today.” (That’s why he’d named it Galeed.) 49 It’s also named ‘Mizpah’ (which means ‘watchtower’), because he said, “May Yahweh watch between me and you when we are hidden one from the other. 50 If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, even though there’s not someone there to see it, listen, God will be a witness between me and you.” 51 Then Lavan said to Yacob, “Look at this pile of stones, and look at the pillar which I set up between me and you. 52 This pile is a witness and the pillar is a witness that I won’t go past these to you, and that you won’t go past these to me to do harm. 53 May Abraham’s God and the gods of their ancestor Nahor judge between us.” Then Yacob swore by the one respected by his father Yitshak, 54 and Yacob offered a sacrifice on the hill. Then he called his relatives to eat bread and they ate bread and spent the night on the hill. 55 In the morning, Lavan got up early and gave his grandchildren and his daughters a kiss, and he blessed them. Then he left and returned to his place.

32 Then Yacob continued on his way with his family and flocks, and some of God’s messengers met him 2 and when he saw them, Yacob said, “This must be God’s army camp.” So he named that place ‘Mahanaim’ (which means ‘two camps’).

3 Then Yacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the Se’ir region in the country of Edom, 4 instructing them, “This is what you’ll say to my master, to Esau: ‘This is what your servant Yacob says, “I have been staying with Uncle Lavan and have remained there until now. 5 Now I have cattle and donkeys, flocks, and male and female slaves. And I’ve sent these messengers to speak with my master, so that I’ll find favour in your eyes.” ’ ”

6 In due course the messengers returned to Yacob, saying, “We went to your brother Esau and now he’s coming to meet you along with his four hundred men!” 7 This made Yacob very scared and distressed, so he divided the people who were with him and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two groups, 8 reasoning, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the camp that’s left can escape.”

9 Then he prayed, “Yahweh, God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father Yitshak, who said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your relatives, and I will cause things to prosper with you,’ 10 I’m unworthy of all the kindnesses and of all the faithfulness that you have shown me your slave, because I crossed this Jordan River with only my staff, but now I’ve become two camps. 11 Please save me from my brother Esau, because I’m afraid that he’ll come and attack me and the mothers with the children. 12 But you said,[ref] ‘I will surely cause things to prosper with you, and I’ll make your descendants as numerous as the sand grains on the beach which are too many to be counted.’ ”

13 Then he stayed there for that night and he selected gifts for his brother Esau from what he had with him: 14 two hundred female and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milk camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female and ten male donkeys. 16 Then he handed them over to his slaves, each herd by itself, and he told them, “Go ahead of me one by one, and keep a space between each herd.” 17 And he instructed the first one, saying, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going? And who do those animals belong to?’ 18 then you should answer, ‘They belong to your servant Yacob. They are a gift sent to my master Esau. In fact, he’s coming along behind us.’ ” 19 Then Yacob also instructed the second and third slaves, as well as everyone who followed behind the herds, telling them, “Say the same thing to Esau when you find him, 20 and also say, ‘Look, your servant Yacob is behind us.’ ” Yacob was thinking, “I’ll cheer him up with the gifts that are going ahead of me, and after that, when I see him in person, perhaps he’ll accept me.” 21 So the gifts went ahead of him, and he himself stayed in the camp for that night.

22 Then during that night, Yacob got up and took his two wives and their two female slaves and his eleven sons and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok Stream. 23 After crossing the stream, he also sent across everything else that belonged to him. 24 Then Yacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until dawn.[ref] 25 When the man realised he wasn’t gaining on him, he touched Yacob on the socket of his hip so that it became dislocated as they wrestled with each other. 26 Then the man said, “Release me now, because it’s already dawning.”

“I won’t release you until you bless me,” Yacob responded. 27 “What’s your name?” the man asked.

“Yacob,” he replied.

28 “You won’t be called Yacob anymore,” the man said, “but you’ll be ‘Yisra’el’ (or ‘Israel’, which means ‘he struggled with God’), because you have struggled with God and with men, and you won.”[ref]

29 “Please tell me your name,” Yacob requested.[ref]

“Why would you want to know my name?” the man replied, then he blessed Yacob there.

30 So Yacob named the place ‘Penu’el’ (also spelt ‘Peni’el’, which means ‘God’s face’), because he said, “I saw God face to face, yet my life was preserved.” 31 And the sun rose above him as he passed through Penu’el, and he was limping because of his hip. 32 That’s why Israelis don’t eat the muscle of the tendon that is on the hip socket to this day, because the man touched the socket of Yacob’s hip on the muscle of the tendon.

33 Then Yacob raised his head and looked ahead, and wow, Esau was coming towards him along with his four hundred men. Then Yacob quickly divided the children among Le’ah and Rahel and their two female slaves, 2 and he put the slave women and their children first, and then Le’ah and her children after them, and finally Rahel and Yosef after them. 3 Then he himself went ahead of them, and he bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. 4 But Esau ran forward to meet him and embraced him and threw his arms around his neck and kissed him, and they both cried together. 5 Then Esau looked up and saw the women and the children, and asked, “Who are these others with you?”

“The children that God has graciously given to your servant,” Yacob replied. 6 Then the two female slaves approached with their children, and they bowed down. 7 Next Le’ah also approached with her children, and they bowed down. Then after that, Yosef and Rahel approached, and they bowed down.

8 Then Esau asked, “What were all these groups that I met?”

“To win my master’s favour,” Yacob replied.

9 “I’ve got plenty, my brother,” said Esau. “Keep what belongs to you.”

10 “No, please,” Yacob insisted. “If I’ve won your favour, then take my gifts. Because indeed, I’ve seen you face-to-face, which is like seeing God’s face, and you’ve received me favourably. 11 Please take my gifts that were brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have way more than I need.”

And he urged him, so Esau took it 12 and said, “Ok, let’s get moving and go, and I’ll go ahead of you.”

13 But Yacob replied, “My master knows that the children are tender plus I have flocks and herds with young animals. If they drive them harder today, then all the flocks will die. 14 Please let my master go on before his servant, and I’ll lead them on at my gentle pace—at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children—until I come to my master’s place in Se’ir.”

15 “At least let me leave some of my men with you all,” said Esau.

“Why do that?” contradicted Yacob. “May my master allow me to decide.” 16 So Esau and his men started heading home to Se’ir, 17 but Yacob travelled to Succot where he built a house for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That’s why he named the place ‘Succot’ (which means ‘shelters’).