Cain Murders Abel^(A)

4 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore ^[a]Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” ² Then she bore again, this time his brother ^[b]Abel. Now ^(B)Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. ³ And ^[c]in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit ^(C)of the ground to the Lord. ⁴ Abel also brought of ^(D)the firstborn of his flock and of ^(E)their fat. And the Lord ^(F)respected Abel and his offering, ⁵ but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

⁶ So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? ⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is ^[d]for you, but you should rule over it.”

⁸ Now Cain ^[e]talked with Abel his ^[f]brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and ^(G)killed him.

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

He said, ^(H)“I do not know. Am I ^(I)my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰ And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood ^(J)cries out to Me from the ground. ¹¹ So now ^(K)you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”

¹³ And Cain said to the Lord, “My ^[g]punishment is greater than I can bear! ¹⁴ Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; ^(L)I shall be ^(M)hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that ^(N)anyone who finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵ And the Lord said to him, ^[h]“Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him ^(O)sevenfold.” And the Lord set a ^(P)mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.

The Family of Cain

¹⁶ Then Cain ^(Q)went out from the ^(R)presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of ^[i]Nod on the east of Eden. ¹⁷ And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, ^(S)and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch. ¹⁸ To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech.

¹⁹ Then Lamech took for himself ^(T)two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. ²⁰ And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. ²¹ His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and ^[j]flute. ²² And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.

²³ Then Lamech said to his wives:

A New Son

²⁵ And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and ^(V)named him ^[m]Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” ²⁶ And as for Seth, ^(W)to him also a son was born; and he named him ^[n]Enosh. Then men began ^(X)to call on the name of the Lord.

Abram Inherits Canaan

13 Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and ^(A)Lot with him, ^(B)to the ^[a]South. ^2 (C)Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. ³ And he went on his journey ^(D)from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ to the ^(E)place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram ^(F)called on the name of the Lord.

⁵ Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶ Now ^(G)the land was not able to ^[b]support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. ⁷ And there was ^(H)strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. ^(I)The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land.

⁸ So Abram said to Lot, ^(J)“Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. ^9 (K)Is not the whole land before you? Please ^(L)separate from me. ^(M)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.”

¹⁰ And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all ^(N)the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord ^(O)destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) ^(P)like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward ^(Q)Zoar. ¹¹ Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. ¹² Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot ^(R)dwelt in the cities of the plain and ^(S)pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. ¹³ But the men of Sodom ^(T)were exceedingly wicked and ^(U)sinful against the Lord.

¹⁴ And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot ^(V)had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—^(W)northward, southward, eastward, and westward; ¹⁵ for all the land which you see ^(X)I give to you and ^(Y)your ^[c]descendants forever. ¹⁶ And ^(Z)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. ¹⁷ Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”

^18 (AA)Then Abram moved his tent, and went and ^(AB)dwelt by ^[d]the terebinth trees of Mamre, ^(AC)which are in Hebron, and built an ^(AD)altar there to the Lord.

Joseph Dreams of Greatness

37 Now Jacob dwelt in the land ^(A)where his father was a ^[a]stranger, in the land of Canaan. ² This is the history of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought ^(B)a bad report of them to his father.

³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was ^(C)the son of his old age. Also he ^(D)made him a tunic of many colors. ⁴ But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they ^(E)hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

⁵ Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. ⁶ So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: ^7 (F)There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

⁸ And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹ Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, ^(G)the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”

¹⁰ So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and ^(H)your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” ¹¹ And ^(I)his brothers envied him, but his father ^(J)kept the matter in mind.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

¹² Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in ^(K)Shechem. ¹³ And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.”

So he said to him, “Here I am.”

¹⁴ Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of ^(L)Hebron, and he went to Shechem.

¹⁵ Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”

¹⁶ So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. ^(M)Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”

¹⁷ And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in ^(N)Dothan.

¹⁸ Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, ^(O)they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹ Then they said to one another, “Look, this ^[b]dreamer is coming! ^20 (P)Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”

²¹ But ^(Q)Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” ²² And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.

²³ So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they ^(R)stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. ²⁴ Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.

^25 (S)And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of ^(T)Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, ^(U)balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. ²⁶ So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and ^(V)conceal his blood? ²⁷ Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and ^(W)let not our hand be upon him, for he is ^(X)our brother and ^(Y)our flesh.” And his brothers listened. ²⁸ Then ^(Z)Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, ^(AA)and sold him to the Ishmaelites for ^(AB)twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹ Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he ^(AC)tore his clothes. ³⁰ And he returned to his brothers and said, “The lad ^(AD)is no more; and I, where shall I go?”

³¹ So they took ^(AE)Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. ³² Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?”

³³ And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A ^(AF)wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” ³⁴ Then Jacob ^(AG)tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and ^(AH)mourned for his son many days. ³⁵ And all his sons and all his daughters ^(AI)arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For ^(AJ)I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.

³⁶ Now ^(AK)the ^[c]Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

Imprisoned Apostles Freed

^17 (A)Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with ^[a]indignation,

^18 (A)and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison.