Genesis 9-18
New American Standard Bible
Chapter 9
1Then God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every animal of the earth and on every bird of the sky; on everything that crawls on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea. They are handed over to you. 3Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I have given everything to you, as I gave the green plant. 4But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5I certainly will require your lifeblood; from every animal I will require it. And from every person, from every man as his brother I will require the life of a person.
6Whoever sheds human blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made mankind.
7As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.'
8Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,
9Now behold, I Myself am establishing My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you;
10and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, every animal of the earth.
11I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be eliminated by the waters of a flood, nor shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.'
12God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations;
13I have set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall serve as a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.
14It shall come about, when I make a cloud appear over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud,
15and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16When the rainbow is in the cloud, then I will look at it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.'
17And God said to Noah, 'This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.'
18Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan.
19These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.
20Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard.
21He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent.
22Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.
23But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it on both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.
24When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him.
25So he said, 'Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers.'
26He also said, 'Blessed be the Lord, The God of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.
27May God enlarge Japheth, And may he live in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.'
2The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
3The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
4The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
5From these the people of the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.
6The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
7The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.
8Now Cush fathered Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth.
9He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, 'Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.'
10And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
11From that land he went to Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,
12and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.
13Mizraim fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,
14Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines), and Caphtorim.
15Canaan fathered Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth,
16the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgashite,
17the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite,
18the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad.
19The territory of the Canaanite extended from Sidon going toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; and going toward Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
20These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and by their nations.
21Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the older brother of Japheth, children were born.
22The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.
23The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
24Arpachshad fathered Shelah; and Shelah fathered Eber.
25Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.
26Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,
27Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,
28Obal, Abimael, Sheba,
29Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all of these were the sons of Joktan.
30Now their settlement extended from Mesha going toward Sephar, the hill country of the east.
31These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and according to their nations.
Chapter 11
1Now all the earth used the same language and the same words. 2And it came about, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3Then they said to one another, 'Come, let’s make bricks and fire them thoroughly.' And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 4And they said, 'Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let’s make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of all the earth.' 5Now the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the men had built. 6And the Lord said, 'Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they have started to do, and now nothing which they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.' 8So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth; and they stopped building the city. 9Therefore it was named Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
10These are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old when he fathered Arpachshad, two years after the flood;
11and Shem lived five hundred years after he fathered Arpachshad, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
12Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and fathered Shelah;
13and Arpachshad lived 403 years after he fathered Shelah, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
14Shelah lived thirty years, and fathered Eber;
15and Shelah lived 403 years after he fathered Eber, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
16Eber lived thirty-four years, and fathered Peleg;
17and Eber lived 430 years after he fathered Peleg, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
18Peleg lived thirty years, and fathered Reu;
19and Peleg lived 209 years after he fathered Reu, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
20Reu lived thirty-two years, and fathered Serug;
21and Reu lived 207 years after he fathered Serug, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
22Serug lived thirty years, and fathered Nahor;
23and Serug lived two hundred years after he fathered Nahor, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
24Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and fathered Terah;
25and Nahor lived 119 years after he fathered Terah, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
27Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot.
28Haran died during the lifetime of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
29Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.
30Sarai was unable to conceive; she did not have a child.
31Now Terah took his son Abram, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they departed together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran and settled there.
32The days of Terah were 205 years; and Terah died in Haran.
Chapter 12
1Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2And I will make you into a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing; 3And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.'
4So Abram went away as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
5Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the people which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; so they came to the land of Canaan.
6Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time.
7And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, 'To your descendants I will give this land.' So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.
8Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
9Then Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.
10Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a time, because the famine was severe in the land.
11It came about, when he was approaching Egypt, that he said to his wife Sarai, 'See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman;
12and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.
13Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well for me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.'
14Now it came about, when Abram entered Egypt, that the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
15Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.
16Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and he gave him sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
18Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, 'What is this that you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
19Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for myself as a wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go!'
20And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.
2Now Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.
3And he went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
4to the place of the altar which he had made there previously; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
5Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and tents.
6And the land could not support both of them while living together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together.
7And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.
8So Abram said to Lot, 'Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are relatives!
9Is the entire land not before you? Please separate from me; if you choose the left, then I will go to the right; or if you choose the right, then I will go to the left.'
10Lot raised his eyes and saw all the vicinity of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere— this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt going toward Zoar.
11So Lot chose for himself all the vicinity of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. So they separated from each other.
12Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the vicinity of the Jordan, and moved his tents as far as Sodom.
13Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked sinners against the Lord.
14The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, 'Now raise your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward, and eastward and westward;
15for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever.
16I will make your descendants as plentiful as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can count the dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be counted.
17Arise, walk about in the land through its length and width; for I will give it to you.'
18Then Abram moved his tent and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron; and there he built an altar to the Lord.
Chapter 14
1And it came about in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, 2that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). 3All these kings came as allies to the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). 4For twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5And in the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, 6and the Horites on their Mount Seir, as far as El-paran, which is by the wilderness. 7Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and conquered all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, who lived in Hazazon-tamar. 8And the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) came out; and they lined up for battle against them in the Valley of Siddim, 9against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. 10Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell into them. But those who survived fled to the hill country. 11Then they took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply, and departed. 12They also took Lot, Abram’s nephew, and his possessions and departed, for he was living in Sodom.
13Then a survivor came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now he was residing by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, and they were allies with Abram.
14When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, numbering 318, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
15Then he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.
16He brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the other people.
17Then after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).
18And Melchizedek the king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.
20And blessed be God Most High, Who has handed over your enemies to you.' And he gave him a tenth of everything.
21Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, 'Give the people to me and take the possessions for yourself.'
22But Abram said to the king of Sodom, 'I have sworn to the Lord God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth,
23that I will not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, so that you do not say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’
24I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share.'
2But Abram said, 'Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?'
3Abram also said, 'Since You have given me no son, one who has been born in my house is my heir.'
4Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 'This man will not be your heir; but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.'
5And He took him outside and said, 'Now look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.'
6Then he believed in the Lord; and He credited it to him as righteousness.
7And He said to him, 'I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.'
8But he said, 'Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?'
9So He said to him, 'Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.'
10Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.
11And birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
12Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him.
13Then God said to Abram, 'Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.
14But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.
15As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.
16Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the wrongdoing of the Amorite is not yet complete.'
19the land of the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite,
20the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Rephaim,
21the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.'
Chapter 16
1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him a child, but she had an Egyptian slave woman whose name was Hagar. 2So Sarai said to Abram, 'See now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please have relations with my slave woman; perhaps I will obtain children through her.' And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3And so after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. 4Then he had relations with Hagar, and she conceived; and when Hagar became aware that she had conceived, her mistress was insignificant in her sight. 5So Sarai said to Abram, 'May the wrong done to me be upon you! I put my slave woman into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was insignificant in her sight. May the Lord judge between you and me.' 6But Abram said to Sarai, 'Look, your slave woman is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.' So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.
7Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.
8He said, 'Hagar, Sarai’s slave woman, from where have you come, and where are you going?' And she said, 'I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.'
9So the angel of the Lord said to her, 'Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.'
10The angel of the Lord also said to her, 'I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.'
13Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, 'You are a God who sees me'; for she said, 'Have I even seen Him here and lived after He saw me?'
14Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
15So Hagar bore a son to Abram; and Abram named his son, to whom Hagar gave birth, Ishmael.
16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.
Chapter 17
1Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. 2I will make My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.'
6I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
7I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.
8And I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land where you live as a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.'
9God said further to Abraham, 'Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
10This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.
11And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.
12And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, including a slave who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants.
13A slave who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall certainly be circumcised; so My covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.
14But as for an uncircumcised male, one who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.'
15Then God said to Abraham, 'As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her by the name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
16I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.'
17Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, 'Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth to a child?'
18And Abraham said to God, 'Oh that Ishmael might live before You!'
19But God said, 'No, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
20As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.
21But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.'
22When He finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.
23Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, and all the slaves who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on this very same day, as God had said to him.
24Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25And his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26On this very same day Abraham was circumcised, as well as his son Ishmael.
27And all the men of his household, those who were born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Chapter 18
1Now the Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. 2When he raised his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed down to the ground, 3and said, 'My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by. 4Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and make yourselves comfortable under the tree; 5and I will bring a piece of bread, so that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.' And they said, 'So do as you have said.' 6So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, 'Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it, and make bread cakes.' 7Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. 8He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate.
9Then they said to him, 'Where is your wife Sarah?' And he said, 'There, in the tent.'
10He said, 'I will certainly return to you at this time next year; and behold, your wife Sarah will have a son.' And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.
11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing.
12So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, 'After I have become old, am I to have pleasure, my lord being old also?'
13But the Lord said to Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I actually give birth to a child, when I am so old?’
14Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.'
15Sarah denied it, however, saying, 'I did not laugh'; for she was afraid. And He said, 'No, but you did laugh.'
16Then the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off.
17The Lord said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,
18since Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?
19For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.'
20And the Lord said, 'The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.
21I will go down now and see whether they have done entirely as the outcry, which has come to Me indicates; and if not, I will know.'
22Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord.
23Abraham approached and said, 'Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
24Suppose there are fifty righteous people within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?
25Far be it from You to do such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?'
26So the Lord said, 'If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the entire place on their account.'
27And Abraham replied, 'Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am only dust and ashes.
28Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the entire city because of five?' And He said, 'I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.'
29And he spoke to Him yet again and said, 'Suppose forty are found there?' And He said, 'I will not do it on account of the forty.'
30Then he said, 'Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?' And He said, 'I will not do it if I find thirty there.'
31And he said, 'Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?' And He said, 'I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.'
32Then he said, 'Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once: suppose ten are found there?' And He said, 'I will not destroy it on account of the ten.'
33As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his place.
King James Version
Chapter 9
1And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 2And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. 3Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
4But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
5And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
6Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
7And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
8And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
18And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
19These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
20And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
21And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
25And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
26And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
27God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
28And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.
2The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
3And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
4And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
5By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
6And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
7And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.
8And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
9He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.
10And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
11Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,
12And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.
13And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,
14And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.
15And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,
16And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
17And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
18And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
19And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.
20These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.
22The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.
23And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.
24And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.
25And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.
26And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,
27And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,
28And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,
29And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.
30And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east.
31These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
Chapter 11
1And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 4And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
5And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
6And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
7Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
8So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
9Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
10These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:
11And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
12And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:
13And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
14And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:
15And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
16And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:
17And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.
18And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:
19And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.
20And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:
21And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.
22And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:
23And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
24And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:
25And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.
26And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
28And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.
29And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.
30But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.
32And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.
3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
4So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
5And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
6And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
7And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.
8And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.
9And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
10And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
11And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:
12Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.
13Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
14And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
15The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
16And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.
17And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.
18And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
19Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
20And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.
Chapter 13
1And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. 2And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
3And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai;
4Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
5And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.
6And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.
7And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.
8And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.
9Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.
10And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.
11Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
12Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.
13But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.
14And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
15For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
16And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
17Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.
Chapter 14
1And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations; 2That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. 3All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea. 4Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim, 6And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto Elparan, which is by the wilderness. 7And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezontamar.
8And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim;
9With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five.
10And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.
11And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way.
12And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.
13And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram.
14And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
15And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.
16And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.
17And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale.
18And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
19And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
21And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
22And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
23That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
24Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.
2And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
3And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
4And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
5And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
7And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.
8And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
9And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
10And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
11And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.
12And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
13And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
14And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
16But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
17And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
18In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
19The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
20And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
21And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
Chapter 16
1Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. 2And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
3And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
4And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
5And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee.
7And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
8And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.
9And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
10And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
11And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.
12And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
13And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
14Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
15And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
16And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.
Chapter 17
1And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 2And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
3And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
4As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
5Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
6And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
7And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
9And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
10This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
11And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
12And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
13He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
15And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
16And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
17Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
18And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
19And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
20And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
21But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
22And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
23And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.
24And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.
27And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.
Chapter 18
1And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,
3And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:
4Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:
5And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.
6And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.
7And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.
8And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
9And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.
10And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.
11Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
12Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
13And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
14Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
15Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.
16And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.
17And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
18Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
20And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
21I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
22And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord.
23And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
24Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
25That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
Christian Standard Bible
Chapter 9
1God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority. 3Every creature that lives and moves will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything. 4However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it. 5And I will require a penalty for your lifeblood; I will require it from any animal and from any human; if someone murders a fellow human, I will require that person’s life.
8Then God said to Noah and his sons with him,
9"Understand that I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you,
10and with every living creature that is with you—birds, livestock, and all wildlife of the earth that are with you—all the animals of the earth that came out of the ark.
11I establish my covenant with you that never again will every creature be wiped out by floodwaters; there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth."
12And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations:
13I have placed my bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
14Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds,
15I will remember my covenant between me and you and all the living creatures: water will never again become a flood to destroy every creature.
16The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look at it and remember the permanent covenant between God and all the living creatures on earth."
17God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and every creature on earth."
18Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.
19These three were Noah’s sons, and from them the whole earth was populated.
20Noah, as a man of the soil, began by planting a vineyard.
21He drank some of the wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent.
22Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.
23Then Shem and Japheth took a cloak and placed it over both their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father naked.
26He also said: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; Let Canaan be Shem’s slave.
27Let God extend Japheth; let Japheth dwell in the tents of Shem; let Canaan be Shem’s slave.
2Japheth’s sons: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
3Gomer’s sons: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
4And Javan’s sons: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
5From these descendants, the peoples of the coasts and islands spread out into their lands according to their clans in their nations, each with its own language.
6Ham’s sons: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
7Cush’s sons: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And Raamah’s sons: Sheba and Dedan.
8Cush fathered Nimrod, who began to be powerful in the land.
9He was a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord. That is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord."
10His kingdom started with Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
11From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah,
12and Resen, between Nineveh and the great city Calah.
13Mizraim fathered the people of Lud, Anam, Lehab, Naphtuh,
14Pathrus, Casluh (the Philistines came from them), and Caphtor.
15Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth,
16as well as the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,
17the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites,
18the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the Canaanite clans scattered.
19The Canaanite border went from Sidon going toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and going toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim as far as Lasha.
21And Shem, Japheth’s older brother, also had sons. Shem was the father of all the sons of Eber.
22Shem’s sons were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.
24Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber.
25Eber had two sons. One was named Peleg, for during his days the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.
26And Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,
27Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,
28Obal, Abimael, Sheba,
29Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were Joktan’s sons.
30Their settlements extended from Mesha to Sephar, the eastern hill country.
Chapter 11
1The whole earth had the same language and vocabulary. 2As people migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3They said to each other, "Come, let us make oven-fired bricks." (They used brick for stone and asphalt for mortar.) 4And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered throughout the earth."
5Then the Lord came down to look over the city and the tower that the humans were building.
6The Lord said, "If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
7Come, let’s go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another’s speech."
8So from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth, and they stopped building the city.
9Therefore it is called Babylon, for there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth.
10These are the family records of Shem. Shem lived 100 years and fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood.
11After he fathered Arpachshad, Shem lived 500 years and fathered other sons and daughters.
12Arpachshad lived 35 years and fathered Shelah.
13After he fathered Shelah, Arpachshad lived 403 years and fathered other sons and daughters.
14Shelah lived 30 years and fathered Eber.
15After he fathered Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and fathered other sons and daughters.
16Eber lived 34 years and fathered Peleg.
17After he fathered Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and fathered other sons and daughters.
18Peleg lived 30 years and fathered Reu.
19After he fathered Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and fathered other sons and daughters.
20Reu lived 32 years and fathered Serug.
21After he fathered Serug, Reu lived 207 years and fathered other sons and daughters.
22Serug lived 30 years and fathered Nahor.
23After he fathered Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and fathered other sons and daughters.
24Nahor lived 29 years and fathered Terah.
25After he fathered Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and fathered other sons and daughters.
26Terah lived 70 years and fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27These are the family records of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot.
28Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans, during his father Terah’s lifetime.
29Abram and Nahor took wives: Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah.
30Sarai was unable to conceive; she did not have a child.
31Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
32Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran.
Chapter 12
1The Lord said to Abram: Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
4So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
5He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,
6Abram passed through the land to the site of Shechem, at the oak of Moreh. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.)
7The Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.
8From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. He built an altar to the Lord there, and he called on the name of the Lord.
9Then Abram journeyed by stages to the Negev.
10There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for a while because the famine in the land was severe.
11When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "Look, I know what a beautiful woman you are.
12When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me but let you live.
13Please say you’re my sister so it will go well for me because of you, and my life will be spared on your account."
14When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
15Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, so the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s household.
16He treated Abram well because of her, and Abram acquired flocks and herds, male and female donkeys, male and female slaves, and camels.
17But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai.
18So Pharaoh sent for Abram and said, "What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?
19Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and go!"
20Then Pharaoh gave his men orders about him, and they sent him away with his wife and all he had.
Chapter 13
1Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev —he, his wife, and all he had, and Lot with him. 2Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold. 3He went by stages from the Negev to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been, 4to the site where he had built the altar. And Abram called on the name of the Lord there.
5Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and tents.
6But the land was unable to support them as long as they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they could not stay together,
7and there was quarreling between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. (At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land.)
8So Abram said to Lot, "Please, let’s not have quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, since we are relatives.
9Isn’t the whole land before you? Separate from me: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left."
10Lot looked out and saw that the entire plain of the Jordan as far as Zoar was well watered everywhere like the Lord’s garden and the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
11So Lot chose the entire plain of the Jordan for himself. Then Lot journeyed eastward, and they separated from each other.
12Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot lived in the cities on the plain and set up his tent near Sodom.
13(Now the men of Sodom were evil, sinning immensely against the Lord.)
14After Lot had separated from him, the Lord said to Abram, "Look from the place where you are. Look north and south, east and west,
15for I will give you and your offspring forever all the land that you see.
16I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.
17Get up and walk around the land, through its length and width, for I will give it to you."
Chapter 14
1In those days King Amraphel of Shinar, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Chedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goiim 2waged war against King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, and King Shemeber of Zeboiim, as well as the king of Bela (that is, Zoar ). 3All of these came as allies to the Siddim Valley (that is, the Dead Sea ). 4They were subject to Chedorlaomer for twelve years, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, 6and the Horites in the mountains of Seir, as far as El-paran by the wilderness. 7Then they came back to invade En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh ), and they defeated the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.
8Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and lined up for battle in the Siddim Valley
9against King Chedorlaomer of Elam, King Tidal of Goiim, King Amraphel of Shinar, and King Arioch of Ellasar—four kings against five.
10Now the Siddim Valley contained many asphalt pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, but the rest fled to the mountains.
11The four kings took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food and went on.
12They also took Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, for he was living in Sodom, and they went on.
13One of the survivors came and told Abram the Hebrew, who lived near the oaks belonging to Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and the brother of Aner. They were bound by a treaty with Abram.
14When Abram heard that his relative had been taken prisoner, he assembled his 318 trained men, born in his household, and they went in pursuit as far as Dan.
15And he and his servants deployed against them by night, defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah to the north of Damascus.
16He brought back all the goods and also his relative Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the other people.
17After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Shaveh Valley (that is, the King’s Valley ).
18Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest to God Most High.
21Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people, but take the possessions for yourself."
22But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have raised my hand in an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,
23that I will not take a thread or sandal strap or anything that belongs to you, so you can never say, ‘I made Abram rich.’
24I will take nothing except what the servants have eaten. But as for the share of the men who came with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre—they can take their share."
2But Abram said, "Lord God, what can you give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"
3Abram continued, "Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir."
4Now the word of the Lord came to him: "This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir."
5He took him outside and said, "Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "Your offspring will be that numerous."
10So he brought all these to him, cut them in half, and laid the pieces opposite each other, but he did not cut the birds in half.
11Birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12As the sun was setting, a deep sleep came over Abram, and suddenly great terror and darkness descended on him.
13Then the Lord said to Abram, "Know this for certain: Your offspring will be resident aliens for four hundred years in a land that does not belong to them and will be enslaved and oppressed.
14However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will go out with many possessions.
15But you will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age.
16In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
17When the sun had set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the divided animals.
18On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "I give this land to your offspring, from the Brook of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River:
19the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
20Hethites, Perizzites, Rephaim,
21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."
Chapter 16
1Abram’s wife Sarai had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. 2Sarai said to Abram, "Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family." And Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3So Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years. 4He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she saw that she was pregnant, her mistress became contemptible to her. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for my suffering! I put my slave in your arms, and when she saw that she was pregnant, I became contemptible to her. May the Lord judge between me and you."
9The angel of the Lord said to her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her authority."
10The angel of the Lord said to her, "I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count."
11The angel of the Lord said to her, "You have conceived and will have a son. You will name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction.
12This man will be like a wild donkey. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; he will settle near all his relatives."
13So she named the Lord who spoke to her: "You are El-roi," for she said, "In this place, have I actually seen the one who sees me?"
14That is why the well is called Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.
15So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, and Abram named his son (whom Hagar bore) Ishmael.
16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.
Chapter 17
1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, "I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless. 2I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly."
3Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him:
4"As for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations.
5Your name will no longer be Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations.
6I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you.
7I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you.
8And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession, and I will be their God."
9God also said to Abraham, "As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep my covenant.
10This is my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you, which you are to keep: Every one of your males must be circumcised.
11You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you.
12Throughout your generations, every male among you is to be circumcised at eight days old—every male born in your household or purchased from any foreigner and not your offspring.
13Whether born in your household or purchased, he must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as a permanent covenant.
14If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
15God said to Abraham, "As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah will be her name.
16I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her."
17Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, "Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?"
18So Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael were acceptable to you!"
19But God said, "No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring.
20As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father twelve tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation.
21But I will confirm my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year."
22When he finished talking with him, God withdrew from Abraham.
23So Abraham took his son Ishmael and those born in his household or purchased—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him.
24Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised,
25and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised.
26On that same day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised.
27And all the men of his household—whether born in his household or purchased from a foreigner—were circumcised with him.
Chapter 18
1The Lord appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day. 2He looked up, and he saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them, bowed to the ground, 3and said, "My lord, if I have found favor with you, please do not go on past your servant. 4Let a little water be brought, that you may wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree.
6So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, "Quick! Knead three measures of fine flour and make bread."
7Abraham ran to the herd and got a tender, choice calf. He gave it to a young man, who hurried to prepare it.
8Then Abraham took curds and milk, as well as the calf that he had prepared, and set them before the men. He served them as they ate under the tree.
11Abraham and Sarah were old and getting on in years. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.
12So she laughed to herself: "After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I have delight?"
13But the Lord asked Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Can I really have a baby when I’m old?’
14Is anything impossible for the Lord? At the appointed time I will come back to you, and in about a year she will have a son."
16The men got up from there and looked out over Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them off.
17Then the Lord said, "Should I hide what I am about to do from Abraham?
18Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.
19For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. This is how the Lord will fulfill to Abraham what he promised him."
20Then the Lord said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious.
21I will go down to see if what they have done justifies the cry that has come up to me. If not, I will find out."
22The men turned from there and went toward Sodom while Abraham remained standing before the Lord.
23Abraham stepped forward and said, "Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
24What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away instead of sparing the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people who are in it?
25You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won’t the Judge of the whole earth do what is just?"
New Living Translation
Chapter 9
1Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, 'Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. 2All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. 3I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. 4But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.
5And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die.
6If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image.
7Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.'
8Then God told Noah and his sons,
9I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants,
10and with all the animals that were on the boat with you — the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals — every living creature on earth.
11Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.'
12Then God said, 'I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come.
13I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.
14When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds,
15and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life.
16When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.'
17Then God said to Noah, 'Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.'
18The sons of Noah who came out of the boat with their father were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham is the father of Canaan.)
19From these three sons of Noah came all the people who now populate the earth.
20After the flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard.
21One day he drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay naked inside his tent.
22Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers.
23Then Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, and backed into the tent to cover their father. As they did this, they looked the other way so they would not see him naked.
26Then Noah said, 'May the Lord, the God of Shem, be blessed, and may Canaan be his servant!
27May God expand the territory of Japheth! May Japheth share the prosperity of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.'
4The descendants of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.
5Their descendants became the seafaring peoples that spread out to various lands, each identified by its own language, clan, and national identity.
8Cush was also the ancestor of Nimrod, who was the first heroic warrior on earth.
9Since he was the greatest hunter in the world, his name became proverbial. People would say, 'This man is like Nimrod, the greatest hunter in the world.'
10He built his kingdom in the land of Babylonia, with the cities of Babylon, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh.
11From there he expanded his territory to Assyria, building the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah,
12and Resen (the great city located between Nineveh and Calah).
13Mizraim was the ancestor of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites,
14Pathrusites, Casluhites, and the Caphtorites, from whom the Philistines came.
15Canaan’s oldest son was Sidon, the ancestor of the Sidonians. Canaan was also the ancestor of the Hittites,
16Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites,
17Hivites, Arkites, Sinites,
18Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. The Canaanite clans eventually spread out,
19and the territory of Canaan extended from Sidon in the north to Gerar and Gaza in the south, and east as far as Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, near Lasha.
20These were the descendants of Ham, identified by clan, language, territory, and national identity.
26Joktan was the ancestor of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,
27Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,
28Obal, Abimael, Sheba,
29Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were descendants of Joktan.
30The territory they occupied extended from Mesha all the way to Sephar in the eastern mountains.
Chapter 11
1At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. 2As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.
3They began saying to each other, 'Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.' (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.)
4Then they said, 'Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.'
5But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building.
6Look!' he said. 'The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them!
7Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.'
8In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city.
9That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the Lord confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world.
10This is the account of Shem’s family. Two years after the great flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad.
11After the birth of Arphaxad, Shem lived another 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah.
13After the birth of Shelah, Arphaxad lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
14When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber.
15After the birth of Eber, Shelah lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg.
17After the birth of Peleg, Eber lived another 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu.
19After the birth of Reu, Peleg lived another 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug.
21After the birth of Serug, Reu lived another 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor.
23After the birth of Nahor, Serug lived another 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah.
25After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived another 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
27This is the account of Terah’s family. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot.
28But Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, the land of his birth, while his father, Terah, was still living.
29Meanwhile, Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. (Milcah and her sister Iscah were daughters of Nahor’s brother Haran.)
30But Sarai was unable to become pregnant and had no children.
31One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there.
32Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran.
Chapter 12
1The Lord had said to Abram, 'Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.'
4So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
5He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth — his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran — and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan,
6Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.
7Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, 'I will give this land to your descendants. ' And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord.
9Then Abram continued traveling south by stages toward the Negev.
10At that time a severe famine struck the land of Canaan, forcing Abram to go down to Egypt, where he lived as a foreigner.
11As he was approaching the border of Egypt, Abram said to his wife, Sarai, 'Look, you are a very beautiful woman.
12When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife. Let’s kill him; then we can have her!’
13So please tell them you are my sister. Then they will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you.'
14And sure enough, when Abram arrived in Egypt, everyone noticed Sarai’s beauty.
15When the palace officials saw her, they sang her praises to Pharaoh, their king, and Sarai was taken into his palace.
16Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her — sheep, goats, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
17But the Lord sent terrible plagues upon Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
18So Pharaoh summoned Abram and accused him sharply. 'What have you done to me?' he demanded. 'Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?
19Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ and allow me to take her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and get out of here!'
20Pharaoh ordered some of his men to escort them, and he sent Abram out of the country, along with his wife and all his possessions.
Chapter 13
1So Abram left Egypt and traveled north into the Negev, along with his wife and Lot and all that they owned. 2(Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.) 3From the Negev, they continued traveling by stages toward Bethel, and they pitched their tents between Bethel and Ai, where they had camped before. 4This was the same place where Abram had built the altar, and there he worshiped the Lord again.
5Lot, who was traveling with Abram, had also become very wealthy with flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and many tents.
6But the land could not support both Abram and Lot with all their flocks and herds living so close together.
7So disputes broke out between the herdsmen of Abram and Lot. (At that time Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land.)
8Finally Abram said to Lot, 'Let’s not allow this conflict to come between us or our herdsmen. After all, we are close relatives!
9The whole countryside is open to you. Take your choice of any section of the land you want, and we will separate. If you want the land to the left, then I’ll take the land on the right. If you prefer the land on the right, then I’ll go to the left.'
10Lot took a long look at the fertile plains of the Jordan Valley in the direction of Zoar. The whole area was well watered everywhere, like the garden of the Lord or the beautiful land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
11Lot chose for himself the whole Jordan Valley to the east of them. He went there with his flocks and servants and parted company with his uncle Abram.
12So Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot moved his tents to a place near Sodom and settled among the cities of the plain.
13But the people of this area were extremely wicked and constantly sinned against the Lord.
14After Lot had gone, the Lord said to Abram, 'Look as far as you can see in every direction — north and south, east and west.
15I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession.
16And I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted!
17Go and walk through the land in every direction, for I am giving it to you.'
Chapter 14
1About this time war broke out in the region. King Amraphel of Babylonia, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Kedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goiim 2fought against King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (also called Zoar).
3This second group of kings joined forces in Siddim Valley (that is, the valley of the Dead Sea ).
4For twelve years they had been subject to King Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled against him.
5One year later Kedorlaomer and his allies arrived and defeated the Rephaites at Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzites at Ham, the Emites at Shaveh-kiriathaim,
6and the Horites at Mount Seir, as far as El-paran at the edge of the wilderness.
7Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (now called Kadesh) and conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites living in Hazazon-tamar.
8Then the rebel kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela (also called Zoar) prepared for battle in the valley of the Dead Sea.
9They fought against King Kedorlaomer of Elam, King Tidal of Goiim, King Amraphel of Babylonia, and King Arioch of Ellasar — four kings against five.
10As it happened, the valley of the Dead Sea was filled with tar pits. And as the army of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into the tar pits, while the rest escaped into the mountains.
11The victorious invaders then plundered Sodom and Gomorrah and headed for home, taking with them all the spoils of war and the food supplies.
12They also captured Lot — Abram’s nephew who lived in Sodom — and carried off everything he owned.
14When Abram heard that his nephew Lot had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men who had been born into his household. Then he pursued Kedorlaomer’s army until he caught up with them at Dan.
15There he divided his men and attacked during the night. Kedorlaomer’s army fled, but Abram chased them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.
16Abram recovered all the goods that had been taken, and he brought back his nephew Lot with his possessions and all the women and other captives.
22Abram replied to the king of Sodom, 'I solemnly swear to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,
23that I will not take so much as a single thread or sandal thong from what belongs to you. Otherwise you might say, ‘I am the one who made Abram rich.’
24I will accept only what my young warriors have already eaten, and I request that you give a fair share of the goods to my allies — Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre.'
2But Abram replied, 'O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth.
3You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.'
4Then the Lord said to him, 'No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.'
5Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, 'Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!'
9The Lord told him, 'Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.'
10So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half.
11Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.
12As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him.
13Then the Lord said to Abram, 'You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years.
14But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth.
15(As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.)
16After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.'
17After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses.
18So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, 'I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River —
19the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
20Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.'
Chapter 16
1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. 2So Sarai said to Abram, 'The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.' And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. 3So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)
4So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt.
5Then Sarai said to Abram, 'This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong — you or me!'
9The angel of the Lord said to her, 'Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.'
10Then he added, 'I will give you more descendants than you can count.'
11And the angel also said, 'You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the Lord has heard your cry of distress.
12This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.'
13Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, 'You are the God who sees me.' She also said, 'Have I truly seen the One who sees me?'
14So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means 'well of the Living One who sees me'). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered.
15So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael.
16Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born.
Chapter 17
1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, 'I am El-Shaddai — ‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. 2I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.'
3At this, Abram fell face down on the ground. Then God said to him,
4This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations!
5What’s more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations.
6I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them!
7I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
8And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.'
9Then God said to Abraham, 'Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility.
10This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised.
11You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you.
12From generation to generation, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased.
13All must be circumcised. Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant.
14Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.'
15Then God said to Abraham, 'Regarding Sarai, your wife — her name will no longer be Sarai. From now on her name will be Sarah.
16And I will bless her and give you a son from her! Yes, I will bless her richly, and she will become the mother of many nations. Kings of nations will be among her descendants.'
17Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. 'How could I become a father at the age of 100?' he thought. 'And how can Sarah have a baby when she is ninety years old?'
18So Abraham said to God, 'May Ishmael live under your special blessing!'
19But God replied, 'No — Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant.
20As for Ishmael, I will bless him also, just as you have asked. I will make him extremely fruitful and multiply his descendants. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
21But my covenant will be confirmed with Isaac, who will be born to you and Sarah about this time next year.'
22When God had finished speaking, he left Abraham.
23On that very day Abraham took his son, Ishmael, and every male in his household, including those born there and those he had bought. Then he circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins, just as God had told him.
24Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised,
25and Ishmael, his son, was thirteen.
26Both Abraham and his son, Ishmael, were circumcised on that same day,
27along with all the other men and boys of the household, whether they were born there or bought as servants. All were circumcised with him.
Chapter 18
1The Lord appeared again to Abraham near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. One day Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day. 2He looked up and noticed three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran to meet them and welcomed them, bowing low to the ground.
3My lord,' he said, 'if it pleases you, stop here for a while.
4Rest in the shade of this tree while water is brought to wash your feet.
6So Abraham ran back to the tent and said to Sarah, 'Hurry! Get three large measures of your best flour, knead it into dough, and bake some bread.'
7Then Abraham ran out to the herd and chose a tender calf and gave it to his servant, who quickly prepared it.
8When the food was ready, Abraham took some yogurt and milk and the roasted meat, and he served it to the men. As they ate, Abraham waited on them in the shade of the trees.
10Then one of them said, 'I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!' Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent.
11Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children.
12So she laughed silently to herself and said, 'How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master — my husband — is also so old?'
13Then the Lord said to Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’
14Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.'
17Should I hide my plan from Abraham?' the Lord asked.
18For Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.
19I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then I will do for Abraham all that I have promised.'
20So the Lord told Abraham, 'I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant.
21I am going down to see if their actions are as wicked as I have heard. If not, I want to know.'
22The other men turned and headed toward Sodom, but the Lord remained with Abraham.
23Abraham approached him and said, 'Will you sweep away both the righteous and the wicked?
24Suppose you find fifty righteous people living there in the city — will you still sweep it away and not spare it for their sakes?
25Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Why, you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?'
English Standard Version
Chapter 9
1And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.
6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
7And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it."
8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,
9"Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you,
10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth.
11I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."
12And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:
13I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,
15I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."
17God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."
18The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.)
19These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.
20Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.
21He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.
22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.
23Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father 's nakedness.
24When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him,
25he said, "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers."
27May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant."
28After the flood Noah lived 350 years.
29All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.
2The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
3The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
4The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
5From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations.
6The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.
7The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.
8Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man.
9He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord."
10The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
11From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and
12Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.
13Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,
14Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.
15Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth,
16and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,
17the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites,
18the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed.
19And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
20These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.
21To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born.
22The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.
23The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
24Arpachshad fathered Shelah; and Shelah fathered Eber.
25To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother 's name was Joktan.
26Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,
27Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,
28Obal, Abimael, Sheba,
29Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.
30The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east.
31These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.
Chapter 11
1Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." 5And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6And the Lord said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another 's speech." 8So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
10These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood.
11And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah.
13And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
14When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber.
15And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg.
17And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu.
19And Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug.
21And Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor.
23And Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah.
25And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
27Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot.
28Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
29And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram 's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor 's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah.
30Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram 's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.
32The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.
Chapter 12
1Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father 's house to the land that I will show you. 2And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
4So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
5And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother 's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,
6Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
7Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
9And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
10Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
11When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, "I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance,
12and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.
13Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake."
14When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
15And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh 's house.
16And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram 's wife.
18So Pharaoh called Abram and said, "What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
19Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go."
20And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.
Chapter 13
1So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb.
2Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.
3And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
4to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord.
5And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents,
6so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together,
7and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram 's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot 's livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.
8Then Abram said to Lot, "Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen.
9Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left."
10And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
11So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other.
12Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom.
13Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.
14The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, "Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward,
15for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.
16I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.
17Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you."
18So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.
Chapter 14
1In the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, 2these kings made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). 3And all these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). 4Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, 6and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El-paran on the border of the wilderness. 7Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh) and defeated all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who were dwelling in Hazazon-tamar.
8Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out, and they joined battle in the Valley of Siddim
9with Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five.
10Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the hill country.
11So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way.
12They also took Lot, the son of Abram 's brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way.
13Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner. These were allies of Abram.
14When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
15And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus.
16Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his possessions, and the women and the people.
17After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King 's Valley).
18And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.)
19And he blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;
20and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!" And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
21And the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself."
22But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth,
23that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’
24I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share."
Chapter 15
1After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." 2But Abram said, "O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3And Abram said, "Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir." 4And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: "This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir." 5And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 6And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
7And he said to him, "I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess."
8But he said, "O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?"
9He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon."
10And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.
11And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.
13Then the Lord said to Abram, "Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.
14But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
15As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.
16And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete."
17When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
18On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
19the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites."
Chapter 16
1Now Sarai, Abram 's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 2And Sarai said to Abram, "Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram 's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5And Sarai said to Abram, "May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!" 6But Abram said to Sarai, "Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please." Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.
7The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.
8And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai."
9The angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress and submit to her."
10The angel of the Lord also said to her, "I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude."
11And the angel of the Lord said to her, "Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction.
12He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone 's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen."
13So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, "You are a God of seeing," for she said, "Truly here I have seen him who looks after me."
14Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
15And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
Chapter 17
1When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly." 3Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4"Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God."
9And God said to Abraham, "As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.
10This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
11You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
12He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring,
13both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.
14Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
15And God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
16I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."
17Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, "Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?"
18And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you!"
19God said, "No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.
20As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.
21But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year."
22When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.
23Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham 's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him.
24Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised.
27And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Chapter 18
1And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. 2He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth 3and said, "O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. 4Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, 5while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on — since you have come to your servant." So they said, "Do as you have said." 6And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, "Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes." 7And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. 8Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
9They said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" And he said, "She is in the tent."
10The Lord said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him.
11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah.
12So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?"
13The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’
14Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son."
15But Sarah denied it, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. He said, "No, but you did laugh."
16Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way.
17The Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,
18seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him."
20Then the Lord said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave,
21I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know."
22So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord.
23Then Abraham drew near and said, "Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
24Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it?
25Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?"
26And the Lord said, "If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake."
27Abraham answered and said, "Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.
28Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?" And he said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there."
29Again he spoke to him and said, "Suppose forty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of forty I will not do it."
30Then he said, "Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there." He answered, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there."
31He said, "Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it."
32Then he said, "Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there." He answered, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it."
33And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
New International Version
Chapter 9
1Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
4"But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.
5And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.
8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him:
9"I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you
10and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth.
11I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."
12And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:
13I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
14Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,
15I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
16Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."
18The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.)
19These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.
20Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.
21When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.
22Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.
23But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.
26He also said, "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
27May God extend Japheth’s territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth."
Chapter 10
1This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.
8Cush was the father of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth.
9He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; that is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord."
10The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in Shinar.
11From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah
12and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city.
15Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,
16Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites,
17Hivites, Arkites, Sinites,
18Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites. Later the Canaanite clans scattered
19and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, as far as Lasha.
26Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,
27Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,
28Obal, Abimael, Sheba,
29Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.
Chapter 11
1Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
3They said to each other, "Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
4Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
5But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.
6The Lord said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
7Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
8So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
9That is why it was called Babel —because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
10This is the account of Shem’s family line. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad.
11And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah.
13And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
14When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber.
15And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg.
17And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu.
19And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug.
21And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor.
23And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah.
25And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
27This is the account of Terah’s family line. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.
28While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth.
29Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah.
30Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.
2"I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
3I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
4So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.
5He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
6Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
7The Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
10Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
11As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are.
12When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.
13Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you."
14When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.
15And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace.
16He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
17But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai.
18So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?
19Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!"
20Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
Chapter 13
1So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
3From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier
4and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.
5Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.
6But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.
7And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.
8So Abram said to Lot, "Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives.
9Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left."
10Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
11So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:
12Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.
13Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.
14The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.
15All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.
16I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.
17Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you."
Chapter 14
1At the time when Amraphel was king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goyim, 2these kings went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). 3All these latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Dead Sea Valley). 4For twelve years they had been subject to Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim
6and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran near the desert.
7Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazezon Tamar.
8Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboyim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim
9against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five.
10Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills.
11The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away.
12They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.
13A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshkol and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram.
14When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
15During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.
16He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.
22But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,
23that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’
24I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. Let them have their share."
2But Abram said, "Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?"
3And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."
4Then the word of the Lord came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir."
5He took him outside and said, "Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
10Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
11Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
13Then the Lord said to him, "Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.
14But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
15You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
16In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
17When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
18On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—
19the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
20Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."
Chapter 16
1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar;
2so she said to Abram, "The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
3So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.
4He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.
5Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me."
9Then the angel of the Lord told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her."
10The angel added, "I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count."
11The angel of the Lord also said to her: "You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.
12He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers."
13She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me."
14That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi ; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.
16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Chapter 17
1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty ; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."
3Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,
4"As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
5No longer will you be called Abram ; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
6I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
7I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
8The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."
9Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.
10This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
11You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.
12For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring.
13Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.
14Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
15God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.
16I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."
17Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"
18And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!"
19Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
20And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.
21But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year."
22When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
23On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him.
24Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised,
25and his son Ishmael was thirteen;
26Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day.
27And every male in Abraham’s household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.
Chapter 18
1The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
3He said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by.
4Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree.
7Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.
8He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.
10Then one of them said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son." Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.
11Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.
12So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?"
13Then the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’
14Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son."
16When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.
17Then the Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
18Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
19For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him."
20Then the Lord said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
21that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."
22The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.
23Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
24What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?
25Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
New King James Version
Chapter 9
1So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.
6“Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.
7And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it.”
8Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying:
9“And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you,
10and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth.
11Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
14It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud;
15and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
17And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
18Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan.
19These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.
20And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard.
21Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.
22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.
23But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
26And he said: “Blessed be the Lord, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant.
27May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.”
28And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.
2The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
3The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
4The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
5From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.
6The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
7The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.
8Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth.
9He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.”
10And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
11From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah,
12and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city).
13Mizraim begot Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,
14Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines and Caphtorim).
15Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth;
16the Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite;
17the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite;
18the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed.
19And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; then as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
20These were the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands and in their nations.
21And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder.
22The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
23The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
24Arphaxad begot Salah, and Salah begot Eber.
25To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.
26Joktan begot Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,
27Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,
28Obal, Abimael, Sheba,
29Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan.
30And their dwelling place was from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east.
31These were the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations.
Chapter 11
1Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
5But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
6And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.
7Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
8So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.
9Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
10This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood.
11After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
12Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Salah.
13After he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.
14Salah lived thirty years, and begot Eber.
15After he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.
16Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg.
17After he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.
18Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu.
19After he begot Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.
20Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Serug.
21After he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.
22Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor.
23After he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
24Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot Terah.
25After he begot Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.
27This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot.
28And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
29Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.
30But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there.
32So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.
Chapter 12
1Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
5Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
6Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.
7Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
9So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.
10Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land.
11And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance.
12Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.
13Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.”
14So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful.
15The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house.
16He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
18And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
19Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.”
20So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.
Chapter 13
1Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. 2Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
5Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents.
6Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.
7And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land.
8So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren.
9Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”
10And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar.
11Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other.
12Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom.
13But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.
14And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are— northward, southward, eastward, and westward;
15for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.
16And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.
17Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”
Chapter 14
1And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations, 2that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). 3All these joined together in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). 4Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him came and attacked the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim,
6and the Horites in their mountain of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is by the wilderness.
7Then they turned back and came to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and attacked all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who dwelt in Hazezon Tamar.
8And the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and joined together in battle in the Valley of Siddim
9against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five.
10Now the Valley of Siddim was full of asphalt pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled; some fell there, and the remainder fled to the mountains.
11Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way.
12They also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.
13Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner; and they were allies with Abram.
14Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
15He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.
16So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people.
22But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth,
23that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’—
24except only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.”
2But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”
4And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”
5Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
9So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
10Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.
11And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.
13Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.
14And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
15Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.
16But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
18On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—
19the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites,
20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
Chapter 16
1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. 3Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. 4So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.
9The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.”
10Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.”
11And the Angel of the Lord said to her: “Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has heard your affliction.
12 He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
13Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?”
14Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
15So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
Chapter 17
1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. 2And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” 3Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: 4“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. 5No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. 6I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. 8Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
9And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
10This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised;
11and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.
12He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant.
13He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
15Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
16And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.”
17Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
18And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”
19Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
20And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
21But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.”
22Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
23So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him.
24Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael;
27and all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Chapter 18
1Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, 3and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. 4Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
6So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.”
7And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it.
8So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.
10And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.)
11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.
12Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
13And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’
14Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”
16Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way.
17And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing,
18since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”
20And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave,
21I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
22Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord.
23And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
24Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?
25Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
