Bible in 90 Days

Origin of the World and Humankind^[a]

Creation and the Fall

Chapter 1

Origin of the Universe.^{[b] 1} In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.^{[c] 2} The earth was formless and barren, and darkness covered the abyss while the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.

³ God said, “Let there be light!” And there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ And he called the light day, and he called the darkness night. This was the evening and the morning of the first day.

⁶ God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters to separate one set of waters from the other.”^{[d] 7} God separated the firmament from the waters, those waters that are under the firmament from those that are above the firmament. And it was so. ⁸ God called the firmament the heavens. This was the evening and the morning of the second day.

⁹ God said, “Let the waters that are under the heavens be gathered into one place and let a dry place appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry place the land, and the gathered waters he called the sea. And God saw that it was good.

¹¹ God said, “Let the land bring forth plants, those that produce seeds and fruit trees that have seeds inside of the fruit they bear, each according to its own kind. And it was so. ¹² The land brought forth plants, each according to its kind, and trees that have fruit with seeds inside of them, each according to its kind.” God saw that they were good. ¹³ This was the evening and the morning of the third day.

¹⁴ God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; let them be markers to separate seasons and days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light to the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night, and he also made the stars. ¹⁷ God placed them in the firmament of the heavens to light the earth ¹⁸ and to rule over the day and the night and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ This was the evening and the morning of the fourth day.

²⁰ God said, “Let the waters be filled with living creatures and let birds fly above the earth in the firmament of the heavens.” ²¹ God created the great sea creatures and all the other creatures that fill the waters, each according to its kind, and all the birds that fly in the sky, each according to its kind. ²² God blessed them saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the sea, and let the birds multiply upon the earth.” ²³ And this was the evening and the morning of the fifth day.

²⁴ God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures each according to its kind: cattle and reptiles and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵ God made the savage beasts according to their kind and the cattle according to their kind and all of the reptiles according to their kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶ And God said, “Let us^[e] make man in our image and likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the wild animals and reptiles that crawl upon the earth.”

²⁷ God created mankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth; subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the seas and over the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.”

²⁹ And God said, “Behold, I give you every plant that produces seeds upon the earth and every tree that has fruit with its seed inside of it: these shall be your food. ³⁰ And I give all green plants to every wild animal and to all the birds of the air and to all creatures that move upon the surface of the earth and that have the breath of life in them.” And it was so.

³¹ God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. This was the evening and the morning of the sixth day.

Chapter 2

¹ This is how the heavens and the earth and everything in them were made.

^2 [f]God completed his work on the seventh day and on the seventh day he rested from all of his work. ³ God blessed the seventh day and he consecrated it, for on it he rested from all the work he had done when he created all things.

⁴ This was the origin of the heavens and the earth when they were first created.

Origin of Human Beings.^[g] When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, ⁵ there were not yet any plants of the field nor had any herbs sprouted in the field, for the Lord God had not yet made it rain upon the earth and there was no one to till the soil. ⁶ He made a mist rise out of the ground to water the whole surface of the earth. ⁷ Then the Lord God formed man^[h] out of the dust of the earth and he breathed his breath of life into his nostrils and man became a living creature.

⁸ And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden,^[i] in the east, and he put the man he had formed there. ⁹ The Lord God made all sorts of beautiful and nourishing trees sprout out of the earth, among which was the tree of life^[j] in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰ A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; then it divided into four tributaries. ^11 [k]The first river was called the Pishon. It waters the whole land of Havilah where one can find gold, ¹² and the gold of that land is good. One can also find bdellium and onyx in that land. ¹³ The second river is the Gihon. It flows in the land of Ethiopia. ¹⁴ The third river is the Tigris. It flows to the east of the land of Asshur. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden so that he might work it and care for it. ¹⁶ The Lord God told the man, “You can eat of any of the trees in the garden, ¹⁷ but you must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you were to eat from it, you would surely die.”

^18 [l]And the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.^[m] I wish to make another creature who will be like him.”

¹⁹ The Lord God therefore formed every sort of wild animal and all the birds of the air, and he brought them before the man to see what he would name them.^[n] Whatever the man called each living creature, that was the name that it would bear. ²⁰ The man gave names to every type of animal, all the birds of the air and all the wild animals, but the man could not find anything that was like him.

²¹ The Lord God therefore caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. He took one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. ²² The Lord God then formed a woman out of the rib that he had taken from the man. He brought her before the man.

²³ The man said,

²⁴ This is why a man leaves his father and his mother^[p] and joins with a wife, and the two become one flesh.

²⁵ Now the man and the woman were naked, but they did not feel any shame.

Chapter 3

Origin of Evil.^{[q] 1} The serpent^[r] was the most clever of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. It said to the woman, “Is it true that God told you not to eat of any of the trees in the garden?”

² The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but as for the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, God said that we must not eat it, nor even touch it, lest we die.”

⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “Certainly you shall not die! ⁵ God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing that which is good and that which is evil.”

⁶ The woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to look at and desirable for imparting wisdom. She took some fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband who was with her, and he also ate it. ⁷ Their eyes were opened and they realized that they were naked. They took fig leaves and sewed them together, making themselves a covering.

⁸ They then heard the Lord God walking in the garden toward the evening. The man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where were you?”

¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you walking in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself.”

¹¹ He said, “Who let you know that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”

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

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

The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me and I ate it.”

¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent,^[s]

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

¹⁷ To the man he said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and you ate from the tree from which I had commanded you not to eat,

²⁰ The man called his wife Eve, for she was the mother of all those who lived.

²¹ The Lord God made clothing for the man and woman out of animal skins and he clothed them. ²² The Lord God said, “Behold, man has become like one of us, for he has knowledge of that which is good and that which is evil. Now, we must prevent him from reaching out and taking the fruit of the tree of life lest he eat it and live forever.” ²³ The Lord God cast him out of the Garden of Eden; henceforth he was to labor tilling the soil from which he had come. ²⁴ When he expelled him, he placed cherubim^[u] to the east of the Garden of Eden with flaming swords to keep watch over the way to the tree of life.

The Reign of Sin^[v]

Chapter 4

Hostility toward One’s Neighbor.^{[w] 1} Adam was intimate with Eve his wife and she conceived and bore a son named Cain. She said, “I have obtained a son from the Lord.” ² Next she bore another child named Abel. Abel was a shepherd of flocks and Cain tilled the soil.

³ Some time later Cain offered the fruit of the earth as a sacrifice to the Lord, ⁴ and Abel offered the firstborn of his flock and their fat offerings. The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering, ⁵ but he was not pleased with Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry and his countenance fell.

⁶ The Lord therefore said to Cain, “Why are you angry and why has your countenance fallen? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be able to hold up your head? But if you do what is wrong, sin is crouching at your door. It seeks to dominate you, but you can overcome it.”

⁸ Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out into the fields.” While they were walking in the fields, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. ⁹ Then the Lord asked Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?” He answered, “I do not know. Am I to be my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰ The Lord told him, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil. ¹¹ Now may you be cursed far from the soil that drank the blood of your brother that you have shed. ¹² When you till the soil, it shall not be fruitful for you. You shall be a fugitive and wanderer upon the earth.”

¹³ Cain told the Lord, “My punishment is too great to bear! ¹⁴ Behold, you are banishing me from the soil this day. I will have to hide far from you. I will be a fugitive and wanderer upon the earth, and whoever meets me will be able to kill me.” ¹⁵ But the Lord told him, “Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.” The Lord placed a mark^[x] upon Cain, so that no one who might meet him would strike him.

¹⁶ Descendants of the Murderer.^[y] Cain left the presence of the Lord and lived in the land of Nod,^[z] which lies to the east of Eden.

¹⁷ Cain was intimate with his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. He became the founder of a city, which he named after his son, Enoch. ¹⁸ To Enoch was born Irad. Irad was the father of Mehujael. Mehujael was the father of Methusael. Methusael was the father of Lamech.

¹⁹ Lamech had two wives: one named Adah and the other named Zillah. ^20 [aa]Adah bore Jabal, who was the forefather of those who live in tents and herd cattle. ²¹ His brother was named Jubal. He was the forefather of those who play the lyre and the flute. ²² Zillah bore Tubalcain, the forger, and forefather of those who forge things made of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

²³ Lamech said to his wives,

²⁵ First Stages of the History of Salvation.^[ab] Adam was once again intimate with his wife, and she bore a son who was named Seth.^[ac] She said, “God has granted me another child to take the place of Abel whom Cain killed.”

²⁶ Seth also had a son who was named Enosh. It was at this time that people began to call upon the name of the Lord.

Chapter 5

¹ This is the book of genealogy for Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God; ² male and female he created them. He blessed them and named them “human.”

³ Adam was one hundred and thirty years old when he had a son in his likeness, who was named Seth. ⁴ After he had Seth, Adam lived another eight hundred years and had other sons and daughters. ⁵ Adam lived for nine hundred and thirty years, and then he died.

⁶ Seth was one hundred and five years old when he had Enosh. ⁷ After he had Enosh, he lived another eight hundred and seven years and had other sons and daughters. ⁸ Seth lived for nine hundred and twelve years, and then he died.

⁹ Enosh was ninety years old when he had Kenan. ¹⁰ After he had Kenan, Enosh lived another eight hundred and fifteen years and had other sons and daughters. ¹¹ Enosh lived for nine hundred and five years, and then he died.

¹² Kenan was seventy years old when he had Mahalalel. ¹³ After he had Mahalalel, he lived another eight hundred and forty years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁴ Kenan lived for nine hundred and ten years, and then he died.

¹⁵ Mahalalel was sixty-five years old when he had Jared. ¹⁶ After he had Jared, he lived another eight hundred and thirty years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁷ Mahalalel lived for eight hundred and ninety-five years, and then he died.

¹⁸ Jared was one hundred and sixty-two years old when he had Enoch. ¹⁹ After he had Enoch, he lived another eight hundred years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁰ Jared lived for nine hundred and sixty-two years, and then he died.

²¹ Enoch was sixty-five years old when he had Methuselah. ²² Enoch walked with God.^[ad] After he had Methuselah, he lived another three hundred years and had other sons and daughters. ²³ Enoch lived for three hundred and sixty-five years. ²⁴ Enoch then walked with God and was no more for he was with God.

²⁵ Methuselah was one hundred and eighty-seven years old when he had Lamech. ²⁶ After he had Lamech, he lived another seven hundred and eighty-two years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁷ Methuselah lived for nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and then he died.

²⁸ Lamech was one hundred eighty-two years old when he had a son. ²⁹ He named him Noah, saying, “This one shall be a consolation for the work and labor that we must endure because the Lord has cursed the soil.” ³⁰ After he had Noah, Lamech lived another five hundred ninety-five years and had other sons and daughters. ³¹ Lamech lived for seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and then he died. ³² Noah was five hundred years old when he had Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Death and Resurrection of God’s Work^[ae]

Chapter 6

Widespread Perversion.^[af]1 When men began to multiply upon the earth, and they began to have daughters, ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married as many of them as they wanted. ³ The Lord therefore said, “My spirit will not remain in them forever, for they are flesh and the length of their lives will be one hundred and twenty years.”

⁴ There were giants upon the earth at this time, as well as afterward. They were the children of the sons of God who married the daughters of men. These were the heroes of times past, men of renown.

⁵ The Lord saw that the wickedness of men upon the earth was great, and that every plan that their hearts conceived was nothing but evil. ⁶ The Lord regretted that he had made man upon the earth and his heart was grieved. ⁷ The Lord said, “I will obliterate man, whom I created, from the earth. Together with man I will eliminate all the cattle and reptiles and the birds of the air, for I regret having made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor with the Lord.

Salvation through the Righteous.^{[ag] 9} This is the story of Noah. Noah was a just and blameless man at that time and he walked with God. ¹⁰ Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ¹¹ But the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and filled with violence. ¹² God saw that the earth was corrupt, for every person on the earth was perverse in what he did.

¹³ God therefore said to Noah, “I have decided to end everything, for they have filled the earth with their violence. Behold, I will destroy the entire creation. ¹⁴ Build an ark^[ah] of gopher wood and divide the ark into compartments and caulk it with bitumen inside and out. ¹⁵ This is how you shall make it: the ark will be three hundred cubits long, fifty wide, and thirty high. ¹⁶ Make a roof on the ark one cubit high.^[ai] Place a door in the side of the ark. Make it with three decks: lower, middle, and higher.

¹⁷ “Behold, I will send a flood. The waters shall cover the earth to destroy the life of everything under the skies that has the breath of life in it. Everything on the earth shall perish. ¹⁸ But I will establish a covenant with you.

“Go into the ark, you and your sons, your wife, and the wives of your sons. ¹⁹ Bring into the ark two of everything that lives, of all flesh. Bring a male and female of each species into the ark to save them. ²⁰ Bring two birds of each species, two animals of each species, and two reptiles of each species with you to save them. ²¹ As for you, gather every type of food and take it with you. It shall nourish both you and them.”

²² Noah did all of this, exactly as God had commanded him.

Chapter 7

¹ The Lord said to Noah, “Enter into the ark with your entire family, for I have seen that you, of all this generation, are just in my sight. ² You are to take seven pairs of each type of clean animal with you, male and female. You are to take one pair of each type of unclean animal with you, male and female. ³ You are also to take seven pairs of birds of the air, male and female, with you, so that you may save every species of animal upon the earth. ⁴ In seven days I will make it begin to rain upon the earth, and it will rain for forty days and forty nights. I will destroy from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”

⁵ Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him to do.

End of the Sinful World.^{[aj] 6} Noah was six hundred years old when the flood began and the waters covered the earth. ⁷ Noah went into the ark with his sons, his wife, and the wives of his sons to escape from the waters of the flood. ⁸ The clean animals and the unclean animals, the birds, and the creatures that creep on the ground^{[ak] 9} entered the ark two by two, male and female, along with Noah, just as the Lord had commanded. ¹⁰ After seven days, the waters of the flood covered the earth; ¹¹ this happened in the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month. On that very day the springs of the great abyss and the floodgates of the heavens opened.^{[al] 12} The rains fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.

¹³ That day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth entered the ark along with the wife of Noah and the three wives of his sons. ¹⁴ They entered along with all living creatures according to their kind, all cattle according to their kind, all creeping creatures according to their kind, and all birds according to their kind. ¹⁵ They went into the ark with Noah, two by two, every creature that had breath in it. ¹⁶ Those that came, male and female of every type of flesh, entered the ark as God had commanded. The Lord closed the door after them.

¹⁷ The flood lasted for forty days. The waters rose and lifted the ark off the earth as they increased. ¹⁸ The waters continued to swell and increased greatly on the earth until the ark floated upon the waters. ¹⁹ The waters rose more and more on the earth and covered all the highest mountains that are under the heavens. ²⁰ The waters were fifteen cubits over the tops of the mountains that they covered.

²¹ Every living creature that moves upon the earth, every bird, cattle, wild animal, and creature that crawls upon the earth, and every single person on dry land died. ²² Every creature on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.

²³ This is how every living creature on earth was slain, every human being and every animal, every reptile and every bird of the air. They were blotted out of the earth, and only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived.^[am]

²⁴ The waters covered the earth for one hundred and fifty days.

Chapter 8

The New Creation.^{[an] 1} God remembered Noah and all the wild and farm animals that were with him in the ark. God made a wind blow upon the earth, and the waters began to recede. ² The springs of the abyss and the windows of the heavens were closed, and the rains from the heavens ceased. ³ The waters slowly receded from the earth. At the end of one hundred and fifty days they had greatly diminished. ⁴ In the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on Mount Ararat.^{[ao] 5} The waters continued to recede until the tenth month. In the tenth month, the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains came into view.

⁶ After forty days had gone by, Noah opened the window that he had made in the ark ⁷ and released a raven to see if the waters had completely dried up. It flew back and forth until the waters upon the earth dried up. ⁸ Noah then released a dove, to see if the waters had drained from the surface of the earth, ⁹ but the dove, not finding any place to land, returned to the ark (for the waters still covered the surface of the earth). He reached out and caught the dove and brought it back into the ark.

¹⁰ After waiting another seven days, he once again released the dove from the ark. ¹¹ It returned to him toward the evening. In its beak it had a sprig from an olive tree. Noah understood that the waters had receded from the earth. ¹² He waited another seven days and then released the dove. It did not return to him.

¹³ In the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters dried up upon the earth. Noah removed the covering from the ark and, behold, the surface of the earth was dry. ¹⁴ In the second month, the twenty-seventh day of the month, the entire surface of the earth was dry.

¹⁵ God commanded Noah, ¹⁶ “Leave the ark, you and your wife, your sons and their wives. ¹⁷ Take all the animals of every species with you, birds, cattle, all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth, take them all with you. Let them spread out upon the earth. May they be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.”

¹⁸ Noah left the ark with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives.

¹⁹ All the living creatures and all the wild animals, all the birds and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth, each according to its kind, all left the ark.

²⁰ Noah built an altar to the Lord, took every kind of clean animal and some of every kind of clean bird, and he offered them as burnt offerings upon the altar.

²¹ The Lord smelled the pleasant odor and said to himself, “I will never again curse the land because of humankind, for the instinct of every human heart is evil from its youth. I will never again destroy every living creature.

Chapter 9

¹ God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. ^2 [ap]Fear and dread of you will come upon every wild animal and every bird of the air, everything that crawls upon the earth and all the fish of the sea; they will be under your dominion.

³ “Whatever moves and has life will be used for your food. I give you all these things, just as I have already given you every green plant. ^4 [aq]Only do not eat flesh along with its life, that is, with its blood. ⁵ For your blood, that is, your life, I will require an accounting. I will require it of every living creature, and I will require it of every human in regard to other humans, each person for his brother.

⁷ And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; become numerous upon the earth and have dominion over it.”

Covenant of Mercy.^{[ar] 8} God said to Noah and his sons, ⁹ “As for me, I will establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you, ¹⁰ with every living creature along with you—the birds, tame and wild animals, and with all the animals which left the ark. ¹¹ I will establish my covenant with you: never again will all living creatures be cut off by the waters of a flood, nor will the earth be laid waste by a flood again.”

¹² God said, “This will be a sign of the covenant that I establish between me and you and every living creature for all generations. ¹³ I will place my rainbow in the clouds and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ When I gather the clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds. ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and with every living creature of every kind, that water and flood shall never again destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ The rainbow will be in the clouds and I will look upon it and remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature of every kind that is found upon the earth.”

¹⁷ God said to Noah, “This is a sign of the covenant that I am establishing between myself and every creature upon the earth.”

A World of Diverse Peoples^[as]

¹⁸ The Return of Sin.^[at] The sons of Noah who left the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of the people of Canaan. ¹⁹ These were the three sons of Noah, and from these came all the people on the earth.

²⁰ Now Noah tilled the soil, and he was the first to plant grape vines. ²¹ He drank some of the wine and he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. ²² Ham, the father of the Canaanites, saw his father lying naked, and he mentioned it to his two brothers who were standing outside.^{[au] 23} Shem and Japheth took a robe and, holding it in back of them, walked backward toward him and covered their father with it. Having faced backward, they did not see their father naked.

²⁴ When Noah woke up from his drunken slumber, he learned what his youngest son had done to him. ²⁵ Because of this, he said,

^26 [aw]And he continued,

²⁸ After the flood, Noah lived for three hundred and fifty years. ²⁹ In all, Noah lived for nine hundred and fifty years, and then he died.

Chapter 10

The Human Family.^{[ax] 1} These are the descendants of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth, to whom sons were born after the flood.

² The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meschech, and Tiras.

³ The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

⁴ The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim, and the Rodanim.

⁵ From these came the peoples of the islands and their territories, each clan in the nations with their own language.

⁶ The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

⁷ The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca.

The sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

⁸ Cush gave birth to Nimrod. He was the first of the mighty ones upon the earth. ⁹ He was a great hunter before the Lord, for it is said, “Just like Nimrod, a great hunter before the Lord.” ¹⁰ The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar. ¹¹ From that land he went to Asshur where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, ¹² and Resen between Nineveh and Calah, which is the main city.

¹³ Mizraim gave birth to the Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, ¹⁴ Pathrusim, Casluhim, and Caphtorim (from whom came the Philistines).

¹⁵ Canaan gave birth to Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth, ¹⁶ and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, ¹⁷ the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, ¹⁸ the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites.

Afterward the clans of the Canaanites spread outward. ¹⁹ The boundaries of the Canaanites stretch from Sidon in the area of Gerar up to Gaza, and then go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, up to Lasha.

²⁰ These were the sons of Ham according to their clans and their languages, in their various territories and according to their peoples.

²¹ Shem, the ancestor of all of the sons of Eber and the older brother of Japheth, also had children.

²² The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.

²³ The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

²⁴ Arpachshad gave birth to Shelah, and Shelah gave birth to Eber. ²⁵ Eber had two sons: one named Peleg (for in his days the earth was divided) and the other named Joktan.

²⁶ Joktan gave birth to Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan.

³⁰ They lived in the mountain region in the east, from Mesha on toward Sephar.

³¹ These were the sons of Shem according to their clans and their languages, in their various territories and according to their languages.

³² These were the families of the sons of Noah in their various generations and clans. These divided up to become all the nations on the earth after the flood.

Chapter 11

An Attempt at Unity.^{[ay] 1} The whole world had only one language, everyone using the same words. ² Migrating from the east, men came upon a plain in the land of Shinar where they settled.

³ They said to each other, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them in a fire.” These bricks were what they used instead of stone, and bitumen in place of cement.^{[az] 4} Then they said, “Come, let us build a city and a tower so high that it touches the heavens.^[ba] We shall make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all throughout the earth.”

⁵ But the Lord came down and saw the city and the tower that these men were building. ⁶ The Lord said, “Behold, they are a single people and they have only one language. This is only the beginning of what they will do. Now nothing that they think up will be impossible for them. ⁷ Let us go down and confuse their language so that they will not understand each other when they speak.”

⁸ The Lord scattered them over the whole earth^[bb] and they ceased building their city. ⁹ This is why it is called Babel,^[bc] for there the Lord confused everyone’s language. It was also from there that the Lord scattered people over the whole earth.

¹⁰ Genealogy of Abraham.^[bd] The descendants of Shem are as follow:

Shem was one hundred years old when he had Arpachshad two years after the flood. ¹¹ Shem, after he had Arpachshad, lived another five hundred years and had other sons and daughters.

¹² Arpachshad was thirty-five years old when he had Shelah. ¹³ Arpachshad, after he had Shelah, lived another four hundred and three years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ Shelah was thirty years old when he had Eber. ¹⁵ Shelah, after he had Eber, lived another four hundred and three years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ Eber was thirty-four years old when he had Peleg. ¹⁷ Eber, after he had Peleg, lived another four hundred and thirty years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ Peleg was thirty years old when he had Reu. ¹⁹ Peleg, after he had Reu, lived another two hundred and nine years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰ Reu was thirty-two years old when he had Serug. ²¹ Reu, after he had Serug, lived another two hundred and seven years and had other sons and daughters.

²² Serug was thirty years old when he had Nahor. ²³ Serug, after he had Nahor, lived another two hundred years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁴ Nahor was twenty-nine years old when he had Terah. ²⁵ Nahor, after he had Terah, lived one hundred and nineteen years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁶ Terah was seventy years old when he had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ These are the descendants of Terah.

Terah had Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran had Lot. ²⁸ Haran then died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.^{[be] 29} Abram and Nahor both married. The wife of Abram was Sarai, and the wife of Nahor was Milcah who was a daughter of Haran (the father of Milcah and Iscah). ³⁰ Sarai was barren and did not have any children.

³¹ Then Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law and the wife of Abram his son, and he left Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. They went as far as Haran where they settled.^[bf]

³² Terah lived to be two hundred and five years old. Terah died in Haran.

Origin of the People of God^[bg]

Abraham, Man of Faith^[bh]

Chapter 12

“Leave Your Country [and] Your People.”^[bi]1 The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people, and the house of your father, and go to the land to which I will lead you.

⁴ Abram therefore departed, just as the Lord had ordered him. Lot went along with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵ Abram took his wife Sarai, Lot, the son of his brother, and all the possessions that they had accumulated in Haran, and all the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and left for the land of Canaan. Thus, they arrived in the land of Canaan.

⁶ Abram traveled through the land until he arrived at Shechem near the oak of Moreh. In those days the Canaanites lived in that land. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I will give this land to your descendants.” Abram therefore built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.

⁸ From there he traveled into the mountain region to the east of Bethel and he pitched his tent so that Bethel was to the west and Ai was to his east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹ Then Abram set out again, gradually traveling toward the Negeb.^[bj]

¹⁰ Abram a Refugee in Egypt.^[bk] There was a famine in the land and Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for a time, for the famine was very serious in the land. ¹¹ But, when he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, “Look, I realize that you are a very beautiful woman. ¹² When the Egyptians see you, they will think, ‘She is his wife,’ and they will kill me, leaving you alive. ¹³ Therefore, say that you are my sister, so that they will treat me well and let me live because of you.”

¹⁴ When Abram arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians saw that his wife was very beautiful. ¹⁵ The stewards of Pharaoh saw her and told Pharaoh how beautiful she was. They took the woman and brought her to the house of Pharaoh. ¹⁶ Because of her they treated Abram well. He received flocks and herds, male and female slaves, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with terrible plagues because of Sarai, the wife of Abram. ¹⁸ Therefore, Pharaoh summoned Abram and said to him, “What have you done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I ended up taking her as my wife? Here is your wife; take her and leave!” ²⁰ Then Pharaoh entrusted him to some men who accompanied him to the borders along with his wife and all his belongings.

Chapter 13

Growth in Faith. ¹ From Egypt Abram traveled to the Negeb along with his wife and all his belongings. Lot was with him. ² Abram was very rich, having many animals, silver, and gold.

³ He then gradually made his way from the Negeb to Bethel, up to the place where he had previously encamped between Bethel and Ai. ⁴ This was the place where he had built an altar and called upon the name of the Lord.

⁵ Lot, who traveled with Abram, also had many flocks and herds and tents. ⁶ The area where they were was not rich enough for them to dwell together, for they had too many possessions for them to live in the same camp. ⁷ Because of this a quarrel arose between the herdsmen of Abram and those of Lot. (At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in that land.)

⁸ Abram said to Lot, “Let us not have strife between you and me, between my herdsmen and yours, for we are relatives.^{[bl] 9} Does not the entire land lie before you? You should separate from me. If you wish to go to the left, I will go to the right; if you wish to go to the right, I will go to the left.”

¹⁰ Lot looked around and saw that the Jordan Valley was fertile and there was water everywhere. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) It was as beautiful as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, all the way down to Zoar. ¹¹ So Lot chose the Jordan Valley for himself, and he moved his tents to the east. Thus, they separated from each other. ¹² Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan and Lot dwelt in the cities of the valley and pitched his tents near Sodom. ¹³ The inhabitants of Sodom were perverse and committed many sins against the Lord.

¹⁴ The Lord spoke to Abram after Lot had separated from him saying, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look around to the north and south, to the east and the west. ¹⁵ Everything that you see I will give to you and your descendants forever. ¹⁶ I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth. If one could count all of the dust of the earth, then that person would be able to count all your descendants. ¹⁷ Rise and travel throughout the land, for I will give it to you.”

¹⁸ Abram moved his camp and dwelt near the Oak of Mamre at Hebron. He built an altar to the Lord there.

Chapter 14

Lot’s Captivity and Rescue.^{[bm] 1} When Amraphel was king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, ² there was a war between them and Bera, king of Sodom, Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ³ All the latter kings gathered in the Valley of Siddim, that is, the Dead Sea. ⁴ For twelve years they were vassals of Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled against him.

⁵ In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him arrived and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim ⁶ and the Horites on Mount Seir as far as El-paran, which borders the desert. ⁷ They then changed direction and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kedesh), and they plundered the land of the Amalekites as well the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.

⁸ 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 to the Valley of Siddim and did battle with them, ⁹ with Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, Tidal, king of Goiim, Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Arioch, king of Ellasar. There were four kings against five. ¹⁰ Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pools. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into these pools. The others fled into the mountains. ¹¹ The four kings took all the possessions and provisions of Sodom and Gomorrah and left. ¹² They also captured Lot, the son of the brother of Abram, and all his possessions (for he lived in Sodom).

¹³ One of those who escaped captivity came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew who was camped at the Oak of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner, who were Abram’s allies. ¹⁴ When Abram heard that his relative had been taken prisoner, he organized the armed men who had been born to his household. There were three hundred and eighteen of them. They gave chase as far as Dan. ¹⁵ He divided his forces and his servants, and defeated them during the night, following them all the way to Hobah, to the north of Damascus. ¹⁶ He recovered the booty and also Lot, his relative, and his possessions, as well as the women and the other people.

¹⁷ Meeting with Melchizedek near Jerusalem.^[bn] When Abram returned after defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom met him in the Valley of Shaveh, that is, the Valley of the King.

¹⁸ Melchizedek, the king of Salem,^[bo] offered bread and wine. As a priest of God Most High, ¹⁹ he blessed Abram with these words,

Then Abram gave him a tithe of all he had taken.

²¹ The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people; you take the booty.”

²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have sworn to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of the heavens and the earth,^{[bp] 23} that I would not take anything for myself, not even a thread or a sandal strap, lest you be able to say, ‘I have enriched Abram.’ ²⁴ I want nothing for myself other than what my servants have already eaten. As for the men who have accompanied me, Eshcol, Aner, and Mamre, they can take their own shares.”

Chapter 15

The Covenant Guarantee of the Promise.^{[bq] 1} Some time later the Lord communicated these words to Abram in a vision,

² Abram answered, “My Lord God, what will you give me? I will pass away without children and my heir will be Eliezer of Damascus.” ³ Abram continued, “Behold, you have not given me descendants, and my servant will be my heir.”

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came unto him, “He will not be your heir; your own child will be your heir.” ⁵ Then he led him outside and told him, “Look into the heavens and count the stars, if you can count them. Such,” he continued, “will your descendants be.”

⁶ Abraham believed the Lord, who credited it to him as righteousness.^[br]

⁷ And he said, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to take possession of this land.”

⁸ He answered, “O Lord God, how will I know that I am to possess it?”

⁹ He said, “Take a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰ He took all these animals and split them in two and placed each half opposite the other (except for the birds). ¹¹ Birds of prey landed upon the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.

¹² As the sun was setting, a trance fell upon Abram, and a fearful darkness descended upon him. ¹³ The Lord said to Abram, “Know that your descendants shall be foreigners in a land that is not their own. They shall be made slaves and oppressed for four hundred years. ¹⁴ But I will execute my judgment upon the nation that they will have served. They will leave it with great riches. ¹⁵ As for you, you will go in peace to your fathers, and you will be buried at a happy old age. ¹⁶ In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet come to full measure.”

¹⁷ When the sun set, it was dark, and a smoking brazier and a flaming torch passed between the carcasses of the animals that had been split in two.^{[bs] 18} On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, “To your descendants I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates, ¹⁹ the dwelling place of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

Chapter 16

Abram’s Son Ishmael.^{[bt] 1} Now Sarai, the wife of Abram, did not have any children. She had an Egyptian slave named Hagar. ² Sarai said to Abram, “Behold, the Lord has kept me from having children; sleep with my slave. Maybe I can have children through her.”

Abram did what Sarai had told him to do. ³ Thus, ten years after Abram had begun to live in the land of Canaan, Sarai, the wife of Abram, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. ⁴ He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant.

But once she realized that she was pregnant, she no longer treated her mistress with respect. ⁵ Therefore, Sarai said to Abram, “May this affront fall upon you! I gave you my maid to embrace, but when she realized that she was pregnant, she stopped treating me with respect. Let the Lord judge between you and me.”

⁶ Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your slave is in your hands. Do with her as you see fit.” Sarai then maltreated her so much that Hagar ran away.

⁷ The angel of the Lord^[bu] found her near a spring in the desert. The spring was on the road to Shur. ⁸ The angel said to her, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She answered, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.”

⁹ The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and be obedient to her.” ¹⁰ The angel of the Lord continued, “I will multiply the number of your descendants so much that you will not be able to count them.”

¹¹ The angel of the Lord added,

¹³ Hagar gave a name to the Lord who had spoken to her, “You are the God of the Vision.”^[bv] Therefore, she said, “Here I remained alive after having received this vision.” ¹⁴ Because of this, the well is called Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kedesh and Bered.

¹⁵ Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son. Abram named the son whom Hagar had borne Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.