Knowledge, not eternal life

3 The snake was the most intelligent^[a] of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say that you shouldn’t eat from any tree in the garden?”

² The woman said to the snake, “We may eat the fruit of the garden’s trees ³ but not the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, ‘Don’t eat from it, and don’t touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴ The snake said to the woman, “You won’t die! ⁵ God knows that on the day you eat from it, you will see clearly and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ The woman saw that the tree was beautiful with delicious food and that the tree would provide wisdom, so she took some of its fruit and ate it, and also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then they both saw clearly and knew that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made garments for themselves.

⁸ During that day’s cool evening breeze, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden; and the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God in the middle of the garden’s trees. ⁹ The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ The man^[b] replied, “I heard your sound in the garden; I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

¹¹ He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree, which I commanded you not to eat?”

¹² The man said, “The woman you gave me, she gave me some fruit^[c] from the tree, and I ate.”

¹³ The Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?!”

And the woman said, “The snake tricked me, and I ate.”

¹⁴ The Lord God said to the snake,

¹⁵ I will put contempt

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

¹⁷ To the man he said, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and you ate from the tree that I commanded, ‘Don’t eat from it,’

²⁰ The man named his wife Eve^[d] because she is the mother of everyone who lives. ²¹ The Lord God made the man and his wife leather clothes and dressed them. ²² The Lord God said, “The human being^[e] has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.” Now, so he doesn’t stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever, ²³ the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to farm the fertile land from which he was taken. ²⁴ He drove out the human. To the east of the garden of Eden, he stationed winged creatures wielding flaming swords to guard the way to the tree of life.

Cain and Abel

4 The man Adam knew his wife Eve intimately. She became pregnant and gave birth to Cain, and said, “I have given life to^[f] a man with the Lord’s help.” ² She gave birth a second time to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel cared for the flocks, and Cain farmed the fertile land.

³ Some time later, Cain presented an offering to the Lord from the land’s crops ⁴ while Abel presented his flock’s oldest offspring with their fat. The Lord looked favorably on Abel and his sacrifice ⁵ but didn’t look favorably on Cain and his sacrifice. Cain became very angry and looked resentful. ⁶ The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why do you look so resentful? ⁷ If you do the right thing, won’t you be accepted? But if you don’t do the right thing, sin will be waiting at the door ready to strike! It will entice you, but you must rule over it.”

⁸ Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”^[g] When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

⁹ The Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

Cain said, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s guardian?”

¹⁰ The Lord said, “What did you do? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. ¹¹ You are now cursed from the ground that opened its mouth to take your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you farm the fertile land, it will no longer grow anything for you, and you will become a roving nomad on the earth.”

¹³ Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. ¹⁴ Now that you’ve driven me away from the fertile land and I am hidden from your presence, I’m about to become a roving nomad on the earth, and anyone who finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to him, “It won’t happen;^[h] anyone who kills Cain will be paid back seven times.” The Lord put a sign on Cain so that no one who found him would assault him. ¹⁶ Cain left the Lord’s presence, and he settled down in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Cain’s descendants

¹⁷ Cain knew his wife intimately. She became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain built a city and named the city after his son Enoch.

¹⁸ Irad was born to Enoch. Irad fathered Mehujael, Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. ¹⁹ Lamech took two wives, the first named Adah and the second Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the ancestor of those who live in tents and own livestock. ²¹ His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the ancestor of those who play stringed and wind instruments. ²² Zillah also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the ancestor of^[i] blacksmiths and all artisans of bronze and iron. Tubal-cain’s sister was Naamah.

²³ Lamech said to his wives,

²⁵ Adam knew his wife intimately again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth^[j] “because God has given me another child in place of Abel, whom Cain killed.” ²⁶ Seth also fathered a son and named him Enosh. At that time, people began to worship in the Lord’s name.

Adam’s descendants

5 This is the record of Adam’s descendants. On the day God created humanity, he made them to resemble God ² and created them male and female. He blessed them and called them humanity^[k] on the day they were created. ³ When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of a son in his image, resembling him, and named him Seth. ⁴ After Seth’s birth, Adam lived 800 years; he had other sons and daughters. ⁵ In all, Adam lived 930 years, and he died.

Ancient heroes

6 When the number of people started to increase throughout the fertile land, daughters were born to them. ² The divine beings saw how beautiful these human women were, so they married the ones they chose. ³ The Lord said, “My breath^[m] will not remain in humans forever, because they are flesh. They will live one hundred twenty years.” ⁴ In those days, giants^[n] lived on the earth and also afterward, when divine beings and human daughters had sexual relations and gave birth to children. These were the ancient heroes, famous men.

Great flood

⁵ The Lord saw that humanity had become thoroughly evil on the earth and that every idea their minds thought up was always completely evil. ⁶ The Lord regretted making human beings on the earth, and he was heartbroken. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will wipe off of the land the human race that I’ve created: from human beings to livestock to the crawling things to the birds in the skies, because I regret I ever made them.” ⁸ But as for Noah, the Lord approved of him.

⁹ These are Noah’s descendants. In his generation, Noah was a moral and exemplary man; he^[o] walked with God. ¹⁰ Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ¹¹ In God’s sight, the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence. ¹² God saw that the earth was corrupt, because all creatures behaved corruptly on the earth.

¹³ God said to Noah, “The end has come for all creatures, since they have filled the earth with violence. I am now about to destroy them along with the earth, ¹⁴ so make a wooden ark.^[p] Make the ark with nesting places and cover it inside and out with tar. ¹⁵ This is how you should make it: four hundred fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. ¹⁶ Make a roof^[q] for the ark and complete it one foot from the top.^[r] Put a door in its side. In the hold below, make the second and third decks.

¹⁷ “I am now bringing the floodwaters over the earth to destroy everything under the sky that breathes. Everything on earth is about to take its last breath. ¹⁸ But I will set up my covenant with you. You will go into the ark together with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives. ¹⁹ From all living things—from all creatures—you are to bring a pair, male and female, into the ark with you to keep them alive. ²⁰ From each kind of bird, from each kind of livestock, and from each kind of everything that crawls on the ground—a pair from each will go in with you to stay alive. ²¹ Take some from every kind of food and stow it as food for you and for the animals.”

²² Noah did everything exactly as God commanded him.

7 The Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark with your whole household, because among this generation I’ve seen that you are a moral man. ² From every clean animal, take seven pairs, a male and his mate; and from every unclean animal, take one pair, a male and his mate; ³ and from the birds in the sky as well, take seven pairs, male and female, so that their offspring will survive throughout the earth. ⁴ In seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will wipe off from the fertile land every living thing that I have made.”

⁵ Noah did everything the Lord commanded him.

⁶ Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters arrived on earth. ⁷ Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark to escape the floodwaters. ⁸ From the clean and unclean animals, from the birds and everything crawling on the ground, ⁹ two of each, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, just as God commanded Noah. ¹⁰ After seven days, the floodwaters arrived on the earth. ¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day—on that day all the springs of the deep sea erupted, and the windows in the skies opened. ¹² It rained on the earth forty days and forty nights. ¹³ That same day Noah, with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s wife, and his sons’ three wives, went into the ark. ¹⁴ They and every kind of animal—every kind of livestock, every kind that crawls on the ground, every kind of bird^[s]— ¹⁵ they came to Noah and entered the ark, two of every creature that breathes. ¹⁶ Male and female of every creature went in, just as God had commanded him. Then the Lord closed the door behind them.^[t]

¹⁷ The flood remained on the earth for forty days. The waters rose, lifted the ark, and it rode high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters rose and spread out over the earth. The ark floated on the surface of the waters. ¹⁹ The waters rose even higher over the earth; they covered all of the highest mountains under the sky. ²⁰ The waters rose twenty-three feet high, covering the mountains. ²¹ Every creature took its last breath: the things crawling on the ground, birds, livestock, wild animals, everything swarming on the ground, and every human being. ²² Everything on dry land with life’s breath in its nostrils died. ²³ God wiped away every living thing that was on the fertile land—from human beings to livestock to crawling things to birds in the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those with him in the ark were left. ²⁴ The waters rose over the earth for one hundred fifty days.

8 God remembered Noah, all those alive, and all the animals with him in the ark. God sent a wind over the earth so that the waters receded. ² The springs of the deep sea and the skies^[u] closed up. The skies held back the rain. ³ The waters receded gradually from the earth. After one hundred fifty days, the waters decreased; ⁴ and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day, the ark came to rest on the Ararat mountains. ⁵ The waters decreased gradually until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the mountain peaks appeared.

⁶ After forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made. ⁷ He sent out a raven, and it flew back and forth until the waters over the entire earth had dried up. ⁸ Then he sent out a dove to see if the waters on all of the fertile land had subsided, ⁹ but the dove found no place to set its foot. It returned to him in the ark since waters still covered the entire earth. Noah stretched out his hand, took it, and brought it back into the ark. ¹⁰ He waited seven more days and sent the dove out from the ark again. ¹¹ The dove came back to him in the evening, grasping a torn olive leaf in its beak. Then Noah knew that the waters were subsiding from the earth. ¹² He waited seven more days and sent out the dove, but it didn’t come back to him again. ¹³ In Noah’s six hundred first year, on the first day of the first month, the waters dried up from the earth. Noah removed the ark’s hatch and saw that the surface of the fertile land had dried up. ¹⁴ In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day, the earth was dry.

¹⁵ God spoke to Noah, ¹⁶ “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you all the animals of every kind—birds, livestock, everything crawling on the ground—so that they may populate the earth, be fertile, and multiply on the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah went out of the ark with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹ All the animals, all the livestock,^[v] all the birds, and everything crawling on the ground, came out of the ark by their families.

God’s promise for the earth

²⁰ Noah built an altar to the Lord. He took some of the clean large animals and some of the clean birds, and placed entirely burned offerings on the altar. ²¹ The Lord smelled the pleasing scent, and the Lord thought to himself, I will not curse the fertile land anymore because of human beings since the ideas of the human mind are evil from their youth. I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done.

God’s covenant with all life

9 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fertile, multiply, and fill the earth. ² All of the animals on the earth will fear you and dread you—all the birds in the skies, everything crawling on the ground, and all of the sea’s fish. They are in your power. ³ Everything that lives and moves will be your food. Just as I gave you the green grasses, I now give you everything. ⁴ However, you must not eat meat with its life, its blood, in it.

⁷ As for you, be fertile and multiply. Populate the earth and multiply in it.” ⁸ God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ⁹ “I am now setting up my covenant with you, with your descendants, ¹⁰ and with every living being with you—with the birds, with the large animals, and with all the animals of the earth, leaving the ark with you.^{[w] 11} I will set up my covenant with you so that never again will all life be cut off by floodwaters. There will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹² God said, “This is the symbol of the covenant that I am drawing up between me and you and every living thing with you, on behalf of every future generation. ¹³ I have placed my bow in the clouds; it will be the symbol of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember the covenant between me and you and every living being among all the creatures. Floodwaters will never again destroy all creatures. ¹⁶ The bow will be in the clouds, and upon seeing it I will remember the enduring covenant between God and every living being of all the earth’s creatures.” ¹⁷ God said to Noah, “This is the symbol of the covenant that I have set up between me and all creatures on earth.”

Shem’s blessing and Canaan’s curse

¹⁸ Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth came out of the ark. Now Ham was Canaan’s father. ¹⁹ These were Noah’s three sons, and from them the whole earth was populated. ²⁰ Noah, a farmer, made a new start and planted a vineyard. ²¹ He drank some of the wine, became drunk, and took off his clothes in his tent. ²² Ham, Canaan’s father, saw his father naked and told his two brothers who were outside. ²³ Shem and Japheth took a robe, threw it over their shoulders, walked backward, and covered their naked father without looking at him because they turned away. ²⁴ When Noah woke up from his wine, he discovered what his youngest son had done to him. ²⁵ He said,

²⁸ After the flood, Noah lived 350 years. ²⁹ In all, Noah lived 950 years; then he died.

Noah’s descendants

10 These are the descendants of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, to whom children were born after the flood. ² Japheth’s sons: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ³ Gomer’s sons: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴ Javan’s sons: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.^{[y] 5} From these the island-nations were divided into their own countries, each according to their languages and their clans within their nations.

²¹ Children were also born to Shem the father of all Eber’s children and Japheth’s older brother.

³² These are the clans of Noah’s sons according to their generations and their nations. From them the earth’s nations branched out after the flood.

Origin of languages and cultures

11 All people^[ab] on the earth had one language and the same words. ² When they traveled east,^[ac] they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. ³ They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them hard.” They used bricks for stones and asphalt for mortar. ⁴ They said, “Come, let’s build for ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves so that we won’t be dispersed over all the earth.”

⁵ Then the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the humans built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “There is now one people and they all have one language. This is what they have begun to do, and now all that they plan to do will be possible for them. ⁷ Come, let’s go down and mix up their language there so they won’t understand each other’s language.” ⁸ Then the Lord dispersed them from there over all of the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ Therefore, it is named Babel, because there the Lord mixed up^[ad] the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord dispersed them over all the earth.

Shem’s descendants

¹⁰ These are Shem’s descendants.

Abram’s family moves to Canaan

12 The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your land, your family, and your father’s household for the land that I will show you. ² I will make of you a great nation and will bless you. I will make your name respected, and you will be a blessing.

⁴ Abram left just as the Lord told him, and Lot went with him. Now Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. ⁵ Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all of their possessions, and those who became members of their household in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, ⁶ Abram traveled through the land as far as the sacred place at Shechem, at the oak of Moreh. The Canaanites lived in the land at that time. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I give this land to your descendants,” so Abram built an altar there to the Lord who appeared to him. ⁸ From there he traveled toward the mountains east of Bethel, and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshipped in the Lord’s name. ⁹ Then Abram set out toward the arid southern plain, making and breaking camp as he went.

Abram and Sarai visit Egypt

¹⁰ When a famine struck the land, Abram went down toward Egypt to live as an immigrant since the famine was so severe in the land. ¹¹ Just before he arrived in Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know you are a good-looking woman. ¹² When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife,’ and they will kill me but let you live. ¹³ So tell them you are my sister so that they will treat me well for your sake, and I will survive because of you.”

¹⁴ When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw how beautiful his wife was. ¹⁵ When Pharaoh’s princes saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s household. ¹⁶ Things went well for Abram because of her: he acquired flocks, cattle, male donkeys, men servants, women servants, female donkeys, and camels. ¹⁷ Then the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai. ¹⁸ So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, “What’s this you’ve done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister,’ so that I made her my wife? Now, here’s your wife. Take her and go!” ²⁰ Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning Abram, and they expelled him with his wife and everything he had.

Abram and Lot separate

13 Abram went up from Egypt toward the arid southern plain with his wife, with everything he had, and with Lot. ² Abram was very wealthy in livestock, silver, and gold. ³ Abram traveled, making and breaking camp, from the arid southern plain to Bethel and to the sacred place there, where he had first pitched his tent between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ that is, to the place at which he had earlier built the altar. There he worshipped in the Lord’s name. ⁵ Now Lot, who traveled with Abram, also had flocks, cattle, and tents. ⁶ They had so many possessions between them that the land couldn’t support both of them. They could no longer live together. ⁷ Conflicts broke out between those herding Abram’s livestock and those herding Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land.

⁸ Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have disputes between me and you and between our herders since we are relatives. ⁹ Isn’t the whole land in front of you? Let’s separate. If you go north, I will go south; and if you go south, I will go north.” ¹⁰ Lot looked up and saw the entire Jordan Valley. All of it was well irrigated, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as far as Zoar (this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah). ¹¹ So Lot chose for himself the entire Jordan Valley. Lot set out toward the east, and they separated from each other. ¹² Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot settled near the cities of the valley and pitched his tent close to Sodom. ¹³ The citizens of Sodom were very evil and sinful against the Lord.

¹⁴ After Lot separated from him, the Lord said to Abram, “From the place where you are standing, look up and gaze to the north, south, east, and west, ¹⁵ because all the land that you see I give you and your descendants forever. ¹⁶ I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth. If someone could count the bits of dust on the earth, then they could also count your descendants. ¹⁷ Stand up and walk around through the length and breadth of the land because I am giving it to you.” ¹⁸ So Abram packed his tent and went and settled by the oaks of Mamre in Hebron. There he built an altar to the Lord.

Abram rescues Lot

14 While Amraphel was king of Shinar, Ellasar’s King Arioch, Elam’s King Chedorlaomer, and Goiim’s King Tidal ² declared war on Sodom’s King Bera, Gomorrah’s King Birsha, Admah’s King Shinab, Zeboiim’s King Shemeber, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar. ³ These latter kings formed an alliance in the Siddim Valley (that is, the Dead Sea^[ag]). ⁴ For twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they revolted. ⁵ In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings of his alliance came and attacked the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, ⁶ and the Horites in the mountains of Seir as far as El-paran near the desert. ⁷ Then they turned back, came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and attacked the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.

⁸ Then the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bera (that is, Zoar) took up battle positions in the Siddim Valley ⁹ against King Chedorlaomer of Elam, King Tidal of Goiim, King Amraphel of Shinar, and King Arioch of Ellasar, four kings against five.

¹⁰ Now the Siddim Valley was filled with tar pits. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah retreated, they fell into them; and the rest fled to the mountains. ¹¹ They took everything from Sodom and Gomorrah, including its food supplies, and left. ¹² They also took Lot, Abram’s nephew who lived in Sodom, and everything he owned, and took off. ¹³ When a survivor arrived, he told Abram the Hebrew, who lived near the oaks of the Amorite Mamre, who was the brother of Eshcol and Aner, Abram’s treaty partners.

¹⁴ When Abram heard that his relative had been captured, he took all of the loyal men born in his household, three hundred eighteen, and went after them as far as Dan. ¹⁵ During the night, he and his servants divided themselves up against them, attacked, and chased them to Hobah, north of Damascus. ¹⁶ He brought back all of the looted property, together with his relative Lot and Lot’s property, wives, and people.

Abram blessed by Melchizedek

¹⁷ After Abram returned from his attack on Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom came out to the Shaveh Valley (that is, the King’s Valley) to meet him. ¹⁸ Now Melchizedek the king of Salem and the priest of El Elyon^[ah] had brought bread and wine, ¹⁹ and he blessed him,

Abram gave Melchizedek one-tenth of everything. ²¹ Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and take the property for yourself.”

²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I promised the Lord, El Elyon, creator of heaven and earth, ²³ that I wouldn’t take even a thread or a sandal strap from anything that was yours so that you couldn’t say, ‘I’m the one who made Abram rich.’ ²⁴ The only exception is that the young men may keep whatever they have taken to eat, and the men who went with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre—may keep their share.”

God’s covenant with Abram

15 After these events, the Lord’s word came to Abram in a vision, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your protector.^[ai] Your reward will be very great.”

² But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you possibly give me, since I still have no children? The head of my household is Eliezer, a man from Damascus.”^{[aj] 3} He continued, “Since you haven’t given me any children, the head of my household will be my heir.”

⁴ The Lord’s word came immediately to him, “This man will not be your heir. Your heir will definitely be your very own biological child.” ⁵ Then he brought Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you think you can count them.” He continued, “This is how many children you will have.” ⁶ Abram trusted the Lord, and the Lord recognized Abram’s high moral character.

⁷ He said to Abram, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.”

⁸ But Abram said, “Lord God, how do I know that I will actually possess it?”

⁹ He said, “Bring me a three-year-old female calf, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a dove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ He took all of these animals, split them in half, and laid the halves facing each other, but he didn’t split the birds. ¹¹ When vultures swooped down on the carcasses, Abram waved them off. ¹² After the sun set, Abram slept deeply. A terrifying and deep darkness settled over him.

¹³ Then the Lord said to Abram, “Have no doubt that your descendants will live as immigrants in a land that isn’t their own, where they will be oppressed slaves for four hundred years. ¹⁴ But after I punish the nation they serve, they will leave it with great wealth. ¹⁵ As for you, you will join your ancestors in peace and be buried after a good long life. ¹⁶ The fourth generation will return here since the Amorites’ wrongdoing won’t have reached its peak until then.”

¹⁷ After the sun had set and darkness had deepened, a smoking vessel with a fiery flame passed between the split-open animals. ¹⁸ That day the Lord cut a covenant with Abram: “To your descendants I give this land, from Egypt’s river to the great Euphrates, ¹⁹ together with the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

Hagar and the Ishmaelites’ origins

16 Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to have children. Since she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar, ² Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from giving birth, so go to my servant. Maybe she will provide me with children.” Abram did just as Sarai said. ³ After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took her Egyptian servant Hagar and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. ⁴ He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when she realized that she was pregnant, she no longer respected her mistress. ⁵ Sarai said to Abram, “This harassment is your fault. I allowed you to embrace my servant, but when she realized she was pregnant, I lost her respect. Let the Lord decide who is right, you or me.”

⁶ Abram said to Sarai, “Since she’s your servant, do whatever you wish to her.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she ran away from Sarai.

⁷ The Lord’s messenger found Hagar at a spring in the desert, the spring on the road to Shur, ⁸ and said, “Hagar! Sarai’s servant! Where did you come from and where are you going?”

She said, “From Sarai my mistress. I’m running away.”

⁹ The Lord’s messenger said to her, “Go back to your mistress. Put up with her harsh treatment of you.” ¹⁰ The Lord’s messenger also said to her,

¹¹ The Lord’s messenger said to her,

¹³ Hagar named the Lord who spoke to her, “You are El Roi”^[am] because she said, “Can I still see after he saw me?”^{[an] 14} Therefore, that well is called Beer-lahai-roi;^[ao] it’s the well between Kadesh and Bered. ¹⁵ Hagar gave birth to a son for Abram, and Abram named him Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael for Abram.

God’s covenant with Abraham

17 When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai.^[ap] Walk with me and be trustworthy. ² I will make a covenant between us and I will give you many, many descendants.” ³ Abram fell on his face, and God said to him, ⁴ “But me, my covenant is with you; you will be the ancestor of many nations. ⁵ And because I have made you the ancestor of many nations, your name will no longer be Abram^[aq] but Abraham.^{[ar] 6} I will make you very fertile. I will produce nations from you, and kings will come from you. ⁷ I will set up my covenant with you and your descendants after you in every generation as an enduring covenant. I will be your God and your descendants’ God after you. ⁸ I will give you and your descendants the land in which you are immigrants, the whole land of Canaan, as an enduring possession. And I will be their God.”

⁹ God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants in every generation. ¹⁰ This is my covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Circumcise every male. ¹¹ You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it will be a symbol of the covenant between us. ¹² On the eighth day after birth, every male in every generation must be circumcised, including those who are not your own children: those born in your household and those purchased with silver from foreigners. ¹³ Be sure you circumcise those born in your household and those purchased with your silver. Your flesh will embody my covenant as an enduring covenant. ¹⁴ Any uncircumcised male whose flesh of his foreskin remains uncircumcised will be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”

¹⁵ God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you will no longer call her Sarai. Her name will now be Sarah. ¹⁶ I will bless her and even give you a son from her. I will bless her so that she will become nations, and kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷ Abraham fell on his face and laughed. He said to himself, Can a 100-year-old man become a father, or Sarah, a 90-year-old woman, have a child? ¹⁸ To God Abraham said, “If only you would accept Ishmael!”

¹⁹ But God said, “No, your wife Sarah will give birth to a son for you, and you will name him Isaac.^[as] I will set up my covenant with him and with his descendants after him as an enduring covenant. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I’ve heard your request. I will bless him and make him fertile and give him many, many descendants. He will be the ancestor of twelve tribal leaders, and I will make a great nation of him. ²¹ But I will set up my covenant with Isaac, who will be born to Sarah at this time next year.” ²² When God finished speaking to him, God ascended, leaving Abraham alone.

²³ Abraham took his son Ishmael, all those born in his household, and all those purchased with his silver—that is, every male in Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that same day, just as God had told him to do. ²⁴ Abraham was 99 years old when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, ²⁵ and his son Ishmael was 13 years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. ²⁶ That same day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. ²⁷ All the men of his household, those born in his household and those purchased with silver from foreigners, were circumcised with him.

Isaac’s birth announced

18 The Lord appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre while he sat at the entrance of his tent in the day’s heat. ² He looked up and suddenly saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them, he ran from his tent entrance to greet them and bowed deeply. ³ He said, “Sirs, if you would be so kind, don’t just pass by your servant. ⁴ Let a little water be brought so you may wash your feet and refresh yourselves under the tree. ⁵ Let me offer you a little bread so you will feel stronger, and after that you may leave your servant and go on your way—since you have visited your servant.”

They responded, “Fine. Do just as you have said.”

⁶ So Abraham hurried to Sarah at his tent and said, “Hurry! Knead three seahs^[at] of the finest flour and make some baked goods!” ⁷ Abraham ran to the cattle, took a healthy young calf, and gave it to a young servant, who prepared it quickly. ⁸ Then Abraham took butter, milk, and the calf that had been prepared, put the food in front of them, and stood under the tree near them as they ate.

⁹ They said to him, “Where’s your wife Sarah?”

And he said, “Right here in the tent.”

¹⁰ Then one of the men said, “I will definitely return to you about this time next year. Then your wife Sarah will have a son!”

Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. ¹¹ Now Abraham and Sarah were both very old. Sarah was no longer menstruating. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, I’m no longer able to have children and my husband’s old.

¹³ The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Me give birth? At my age?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too difficult for the Lord? When I return to you about this time next year, Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵ Sarah lied and said, “I didn’t laugh,” because she was frightened.

But he said, “No, you laughed.”

Abraham pleads for Sodom

¹⁶ The men got up from there and went over to look down on Sodom. Abraham was walking along with them to send them off ¹⁷ when the Lord said, “Will I keep from Abraham what I’m about to do? ¹⁸ Abraham will certainly become a great populous nation, and all the earth’s nations will be blessed because of him. ¹⁹ I have formed a relationship with him so that he will instruct his children and his household after him. And they will keep to the Lord’s path, being moral and just so that the Lord can do for Abraham everything he said he would.” ²⁰ Then the Lord said, “The cries of injustice from Sodom and Gomorrah are countless, and their sin is very serious! ²¹ I will go down now to examine the cries of injustice that have reached me. Have they really done all this? If not, I want to know.”

²² The men turned away and walked toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing in front of the Lord.^{[au] 23} Abraham approached and said, “Will you really sweep away the innocent^[av] with the guilty?^{[aw] 24} What if there are fifty innocent people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not save the place for the sake of the fifty innocent people in it? ²⁵ It’s not like you to do this, killing the innocent with the guilty as if there were no difference. It’s not like you! Will the judge of all the earth not act justly?”

²⁶ The Lord said, “If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will save it because of them.”

²⁷ Abraham responded, “Since I’ve already decided to speak with my Lord, even though I’m just soil and ash, ²⁸ what if there are five fewer innocent people than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city over just five?”

The Lord said, “If I find forty-five there, I won’t destroy it.”

²⁹ Once again Abraham spoke, “What if forty are there?”

The Lord said, “For the sake of forty, I will do nothing.”

³⁰ He said, “Don’t be angry with me, my Lord, but let me speak. What if thirty are there?”

The Lord said, “I won’t do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹ Abraham said, “Since I’ve already decided to speak with my Lord, what if twenty are there?”

The Lord said, “I won’t do it, for the sake of twenty.”

³² Abraham said, “Don’t be angry with me, my Lord, but let me speak just once more. What if there are ten?”

And the Lord said, “I will not destroy it because of those ten.” ³³ When the Lord finished speaking with Abraham, he left; but Abraham stayed there in that place.

Lot leaves Sodom

19 The two messengers entered Sodom in the evening. Lot, who was sitting at the gate of Sodom, saw them, got up to greet them, and bowed low. ² He said, “Come to your servant’s house, spend the night, and wash your feet. Then you can get up early and go on your way.”

But they said, “No, we will spend the night in the town square.” ³ He pleaded earnestly with them, so they went with him and entered his house. He made a big meal for them, even baking unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴ Before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom—everyone from the youngest to the oldest—surrounded the house ⁵ and called to Lot, “Where are the men who arrived tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may have sex with them.”

⁶ Lot went out toward the entrance, closed the door behind him, ⁷ and said, “My brothers, don’t do such an evil thing. ⁸ I’ve got two daughters who are virgins. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them whatever you wish. But don’t do anything to these men because they are now under the protection of my roof.”

⁹ They said, “Get out of the way!” And they continued, “Does this immigrant want to judge us? Now we will hurt you more than we will hurt them.” They pushed Lot back and came close to breaking down the door. ¹⁰ The men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house with them and slammed the door. ¹¹ Then the messengers blinded the men near the entrance of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, so that they groped around trying to find the entrance.

¹² The men said to Lot, “Who’s still with you here? Take away from this place your sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and everyone else you have in the city ¹³ because we are about to destroy this place. The Lord has found the cries of injustice so serious that the Lord sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴ Lot went to speak to his sons-in-law, married to his daughters, and said, “Get up and get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

¹⁵ When dawn broke, the messengers urged Lot, “Get up and take your wife and your two daughters who are here so that you are not swept away because of the evil in this city.” ¹⁶ He hesitated, but because the Lord intended to save him, the men grabbed him, his wife, and two daughters by the hand, took him out, and left him outside the city.

¹⁷ After getting them out, the men said, “Save your lives! Don’t look back! And don’t stay in the valley. Escape to the mountains so that you are not swept away.”

¹⁸ But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please. ¹⁹ You’ve done me a favor and have been so kind to save my life. But I can’t escape to the mountains since the catastrophe might overtake me there and I’d die. ²⁰ This city here is close enough to flee to, and it’s small. It’s small, right? Let me escape there, and my life will be saved.”

²¹ He said to Lot, “I’ll do this for you as well; I won’t overthrow the city that you have described. ²² Hurry! Escape to it! I can’t do anything until you get there.” That is why the name of the city is Zoar.^[ax]

Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed

²³ As the sun rose over the earth, Lot arrived in Zoar; ²⁴ and the Lord rained down burning asphalt from the skies onto Sodom and Gomorrah. ²⁵ The Lord destroyed these cities, the entire valley, everyone who lived in the cities, and all of the fertile land’s vegetation. ²⁶ When Lot’s wife looked back, she turned into a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Abraham set out early for the place where he had stood with the Lord, ²⁸ and looked out over Sodom and Gomorrah and over all the land of the valley. He saw the smoke from the land rise like the smoke from a kiln.

Origin of Moab and Ammon

²⁹ When God destroyed the cities in the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot away from the disaster that overtook the cities in which Lot had lived. ³⁰ Since Lot had become fearful of living in Zoar, he and his two daughters headed up from Zoar and settled in the mountains where he and his two daughters lived in a cave. ³¹ The older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there are no men in the land to sleep with us as is the custom everywhere. ³² Come on, let’s give our father wine to drink, lie down with him, and we’ll have children from our father.” ³³ That night they served their father wine, and the older daughter went in and lay down with her father, without him noticing when she lay down or got up. ³⁴ The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Since I lay down with our father last night, let’s serve him wine tonight too, and you go in and lie down with him so that we will both have children from our father.” ³⁵ They served their father wine that night also, and the younger daughter lay down with him, without him knowing when she lay down or got up. ³⁶ Both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. ³⁷ The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the ancestor of today’s Moabites. ³⁸ The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-ammi.^[ay] He is the ancestor of today’s Ammonites.

Abraham and Sarah visit Gerar

20 Abraham traveled from there toward the land of the arid southern plain, and he settled as an immigrant in Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur. ² Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She’s my sister.” So King Abimelech of Gerar took her into his household.

³ But God appeared to Abimelech that night in a dream and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of this woman you have taken. She is a married woman.”

⁴ Now Abimelech hadn’t gone near her, and he said, “Lord, will you really put an innocent nation to death? ⁵ Didn’t he say to me, ‘She’s my sister,’ and didn’t she—even she—say, ‘He’s my brother’? My intentions were pure, and I acted innocently when I did this.”

⁶ God said to him in the dream, “I know that your intentions were pure when you did this. In fact, I kept you from sinning against me. That’s why I didn’t allow you to touch her. ⁷ Now return the man’s wife. He’s a prophet; he will pray for you so you may live. But if you don’t return her, know that you and everyone with you will die!”

⁸ Abimelech got up early in the morning and summoned all of his servants. When he told them everything that had happened, the men were terrified. ⁹ Then Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? What sin did I commit against you that you have brought this terrible sin to me and my kingdom, by doing to me something that simply isn’t done?” ¹⁰ Abimelech said to Abraham, “What were you thinking when you did this thing?”

¹¹ Abraham said, “I thought to myself, No one reveres God here and they will kill me to get my wife. ¹² She is, truthfully, my sister—my father’s daughter but not my mother’s daughter—and she’s now my wife. ¹³ When God led me away from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is the loyalty I expect from you: in each place we visit, tell them, “He is my brother.”’”

¹⁴ Abimelech took flocks, cattle, male servants, and female servants, and gave them to Abraham; and Abimelech returned his wife Sarah. ¹⁵ Abimelech said, “My land is here available to you. Live wherever you wish.” ¹⁶ To Sarah, he said, “I’ve given your brother one thousand pieces of silver. It means that neither you nor anyone with you has done anything wrong. Everything has been set right.” ¹⁷ Abraham prayed to God; and God restored Abimelech, his wife, and his women servants to health, and they were able to have children. ¹⁸ Because of the incident with Abraham’s wife Sarah, the Lord had kept all of the women in Abimelech’s household from having children.

Isaac’s birth

21 The Lord was attentive to Sarah just as he had said, and the Lord carried out just what he had promised her. ² She became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Abraham when he was old, at the very time God had told him. ³ Abraham named his son—the one Sarah bore him—Isaac.^{[az] 4} Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old just as God had commanded him. ⁵ Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born. ⁶ Sarah said, “God has given me laughter. Everyone who hears about it will laugh with me.”^{[ba] 7} She said, “Who could have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse sons? But now I’ve given birth to a son when he was old!”

Hagar and Ishmael evicted

⁸ The boy grew and stopped nursing. On the day he stopped nursing, Abraham prepared a huge banquet. ⁹ Sarah saw Hagar’s son laughing, the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham. ¹⁰ So she said to Abraham, “Send this servant away with her son! This servant’s son won’t share the inheritance with my son Isaac.”

¹¹ This upset Abraham terribly because the boy was his son. ¹² God said to Abraham, “Don’t be upset about the boy and your servant. Do everything Sarah tells you to do because your descendants will be traced through Isaac. ¹³ But I will make of your servant’s son a great nation too, because he is also your descendant.” ¹⁴ Abraham got up early in the morning, took some bread and a flask of water, and gave it to Hagar. He put the boy in her shoulder sling and sent her away.

She left and wandered through the desert near Beer-sheba. ¹⁵ Finally the water in the flask ran out, and she put the boy down under one of the desert shrubs. ¹⁶ She walked away from him about as far as a bow shot and sat down, telling herself, I can’t bear to see the boy die. She sat at a distance, cried out in grief, and wept.

¹⁷ God heard the boy’s cries, and God’s messenger called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “Hagar! What’s wrong? Don’t be afraid. God has heard the boy’s cries over there. ¹⁸ Get up, pick up the boy, and take him by the hand because I will make of him a great nation.” ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. She went over, filled the water flask, and gave the boy a drink. ²⁰ God remained with the boy; he grew up, lived in the desert, and became an expert archer. ²¹ He lived in the Paran desert, and his mother found him an Egyptian wife.

Abraham’s treaty with the Philistines

²² At that time Abimelech, and Phicol commander of his forces, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything that you do. ²³ So give me your word under God that you won’t cheat me, my children, or my descendants. Just as I have treated you fairly, so you must treat me and the land in which you are an immigrant.”

²⁴ Abraham said, “I give you my word.” ²⁵ Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized.

²⁶ Abimelech said, “I don’t know who has done this, and you didn’t tell me. I didn’t even hear about it until today.” ²⁷ Abraham took flocks and cattle, gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them drew up a treaty.^{[bb] 28} Abraham set aside, by themselves, seven female lambs from the flock. ²⁹ So Abimelech said to Abraham, “What are these seven lambs you’ve set apart?”

³⁰ Abraham said, “These seven lambs that you take from me will attest that I dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore, the name of that place is Beer-sheba^[bc] because there they gave each other their word. ³² After they drew up a treaty^[bd] at Beer-sheba, Abimelech, and Phicol commander of his forces, returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and he worshipped there in the name of the Lord, El Olam.^{[be] 34} Abraham lived as an immigrant in the Philistines’ land for a long time.

Binding of Isaac

22 After these events, God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!”

Abraham answered, “I’m here.”

² God said, “Take your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him up as an entirely burned offering there on one of the mountains that I will show you.” ³ Abraham got up early in the morning, harnessed his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, together with his son Isaac. He split the wood for the entirely burned offering, set out, and went to the place God had described to him.

⁴ On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place at a distance. ⁵ Abraham said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will walk up there, worship, and then come back to you.”

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the entirely burned offering and laid it on his son Isaac. He took the fire and the knife in his hand, and the two of them walked on together. ⁷ Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father?”

Abraham said, “I’m here, my son.”

Isaac said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the entirely burned offering?”

⁸ Abraham said, “The lamb for the entirely burned offering? God will see to it,^[bf] my son.” The two of them walked on together.