Creation
God made the heavens and the earth, and the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. He spoke light into existence, formed Day and Night and named them, and made everything in 6 days. He blessed the birds, made man in His image and gave him dominion over the earth and its creatures and blessed him, and He saw it was good. When the heavens and earth were finished, he rested on the seventh day and blessed it and made it holy.
The Lord God formed man from dust, breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and set him in a garden He planted in Eden, telling him to eat of any tree but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He sought a helper for him, but finding none worthy from among the beasts, put Adam to sleep and formed a woman from one of his ribs.
God addresses the first sin
The Lord God was walking in garden of Eden in the cool of the day when the man and his wife hid themselves from His presence. He called, "Where are you?" The man said, "“I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, / cursed are you above all livestock / and above all beasts of the field; / on your belly you shall go, / and dust you shall eat / all the days of your life. / I will put enmity between you and the woman, / and between your offspring and her offspring; / he shall bruise your head, / and you shall bruise his heel.”
To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; / in pain you shall bring forth children. / Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, / but he shall rule over you.”
And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife / and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, / ‘You shall not eat of it,’ / cursed is the ground because of you; / in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; / thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; / and you shall eat the plants of the field. / By the sweat of your face / you shall eat bread, / till you return to the ground, / for out of it you were taken; / for you are dust, / and to dust you shall return.”
Then the Lord God made for Adam and Eve garments of skins and clothed them.
He said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—" so He sent man out of the garden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove man out, and at the east of the garden of Eden He placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life
(Genesis 3:8-24)
God warns Cain to rule over sin and provides another offspring for Eve
Adam and Eve's sons brought offerings to the Lord. Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering but none for Cain and his offering. When Cain became angry, the Lord said, "Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it."
When Cain killed Abel, the Lord said, "Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
God appointed for Eve another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him. This was Seth. In the days of Seth's son Enosh, people began to call upon the name of the Lord.
God addresses the earth's corruption
The Lord observed the sons of God taking wives from among the daughters of man, and He said, "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years." He saw the wickedness of man, the continually evil thoughts of his heart, his violence, and the corruption of the earth, and He regretted making man on the earth, grieving his heart. He said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them."
Noah was a righteous man and found favor in the Lord's eyes. God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.” Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.
(Genesis 6)
God kills all flesh with a flood, except for righteous Noah and those who were with him in the ark
The Lord told Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth.For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground."
Noah obeyed, and the Lord shut him, his household, and the creatures inside the ark. In 7 days, all the fountains of the great deep and the windows of the heavens were opened. Rain fell upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights. Water covered the earth, covering mountains 15 cubits deep, and prevailed 150 days on the earth. All flesh died. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.
God rescinds the flood waters and resolves to never again curse the ground because of man nor strike down every living creature as He had done
God remembered Noah and all the beasts and livestock in the ark and made a wind blow over the earth. The fountains of the deep and windows of the heavens were closed, and the rain was restrained, so that the waters receded continually. On the 27th day of the 2nd month of Noah's 601 year, the earth had dried out.
God told Noah, "Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." Noah obeyed. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings of every clean animal and some of every clean bird. When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."
(Genesis 8)
God establishes a covenant with Noah
God blessed Noah and his sons, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it."
“Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
When Noah became drunk of his own vineyard, and his nakedness was seen by Ham but covered respectfully by Shem and Japheth, Noah delivered curses and blessings. He cursed Canaan, Ham's son, to be a servant of servants to his brothers. Noah blessed the Lord, the God of Shem, and set him over Canaan, while praying God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in Shem's tents.
(Genesis 9)
God establishes a covenant with Abram.
The Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” When Abram came through Canaan to Shechem, to the oak of Moreh, the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." On his journey, Abram built two altars to the Lord. (Genesis 12:1-9)
The Lord strikes Pharaoh with plagues
Pharaoh was told Sarai was Abram's sister, so he brought her into his house. The Lord afflicted Pharaoh with great plagues because of Sarai, so Pharaoh returned Sarai and sent Abram away. (Genesis 12:10-20)
God further defines how He will bless Abram
Abram called upon the Lord when he passed by his old altar at Bethel. When Abram and Lot split ways, the Lord told Abram, "Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you." (Genesis 13)
Abrahamic covenant formally established, and 400 years of oppression ending with judgment and great possessions is predicted
After Abram was blessed by Melchizedek, the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not fear, Abram, / I am a shield to you; / Your reward shall be very great.” Abram replied that he had no heir but Eliezer of Damascus. Then the Lord told him, "This man will not be your heir; but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them. ... So shall your descendants be.” Abram believed Him, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
And He said, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” Abram asked, “Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?” So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Abram obeyed and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. He also drove away the birds of prey as they came down upon the carcasses.
A deep sleep, terror, and great darkness fell upon Abram. Then God told Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the wrongdoing of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
Then when the sun had set, it was very dark, and a smoking oven and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the offered pieces. The Lord made a covenant with Abram that day, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, / From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: / the land of the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Rephaim, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.”
The Lord sees Hagar
Hagar fled to the wilderness from her harsh mistress Sarai when pregnant with Ishmael.
The angel of the Lord found her by a spring on the way to Shur and said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She answered, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” He said, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.”
He also said, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude. ... Behold, you are pregnant / and shall bear a son. / You shall call his name Ishmael, / because the Lord has listened to your affliction. / He shall be a wild donkey of a man, / his hand against everyone / and everyone's hand against him, / and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”
Hagar called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, "You are a God of seeing," for "Truly here I have seen him who looks after me."
The well was called Beer-lahai-roi, and it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
God appeared to Abraham to establish His covenant and the sign of circumcision in the flesh of the foreskin
When Abram was 99, God Almighty appeared to him to make His covenant with him.
"I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
He established circumcision in the flesh of the foreskin as the sign of the covenant.
“As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
He blessed Ishmael to father 12 princes and a great nation, but God shall establish his covenant with Sarah's son Isaac and his offspring after him.
"As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”
Then God went up from Abraham, and Abraham obeyed in circumcising every male in his house.
The Lord prophesies Isaac's birth
The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre. Three men stood before him, and he ran to meet them and bowed himself to the earth. “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.”
Abraham returned with curds and milk and a prepared calf and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree while they ate. They asked, "Where is Sarah your wife?" He said, "She is in the tent." The Lord said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son." Sarah was listening at the door and laughed, as the way of women had ceased with her. The Lord asked Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
The Lord on His way to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah
The men set out from there, looking down toward Sodom, as Abraham set them on their way. The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”
The men went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood before the Lord and drew near to ask, "Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
The Lord returns to Sarah for Isaac's conception
The Lord visited Sarah as He had said and did to her as He had promised. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, and Abraham circumcised him at 8 days. Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me."
(Genesis 21)
The Lord provides for Hagar and Ishmael
When Sarah demanded Hagar and Ishmael be cast out for Hagar's son laughing at Isaac's weaning feast, God told Abraham, "Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring."
When Hagar ran out of water in the wilderness of Beersheba, God heard Ishmael. The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said, "What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation." God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. God was with the boy, and he grew up.
(Genesis 21)
Abraham and Abimelech's covenant
Abimelech and Phicol acknowledged that God was with Abraham in all that he does. When they had a dispute over a well, they made a covenant, and then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called upon the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God before sojourning in Philistia.
(Genesis 21)
After Isaac confirms he would not withhold his only son from God, He reaffirms His covenant
God tested Abraham. He called, "Abraham!" And Abraham said, "Here I am." God said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." Abraham went early in the morning, and on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. When Isaac and Abraham went up without the young men and donkey, Abraham told Isaac, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”
At the place, Abraham built the altar and bound Isaac on top of the wood, taking the knife to slaughter him. Then the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw a ram behind him, caught in a thicket by his horns. He offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son and called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” Abraham rejoined his young men and departed.
(Genesis 22)
The Lord's steadfast love to Abraham in finding a wife for Isaac
The Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. When he had his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, find a wife for Isaac, Abraham insisted upon keeping Isaac in the land promised to his offspring. He said the Lord would send his angel before him in his journey to find a wife.
When the servant arrived in Nahor in Mesopotamia, he said, "O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.” Rebekah allowed him and his camels to drink from her water jar when asked, drawing as much water as they needed. She also was from Abraham's household, the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor. The servant bowed his head and worshiped the Lord.
When her family was asked for Rebekah, Laban and Bethuel said, "The thing has come from the Lord; we cannot speak to you bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master's son, as the Lord has spoken.” The servant bowed himself to the earth before the Lord. He left with her in the morning, and Isaac took her as his wife.
(Genesis 24)