Genesis: AESV

Chapter 1

1:1 In the ancient times God^* began creating the heavens and the earth^*. 1:2 Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. The Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

1:3 God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 1:4 God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. 1:5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” There was evening and there was morning, one day.

1:6 God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 1:7 God made the expanse, and divided the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse; and it was so. 1:8 God called the expanse “sky.” There was evening and there was morning, a second day.

1:9 God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;” and it was so. 1:10 God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good. 1:11 God said, “Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed in it, on the earth;” and it was so. 1:12 The earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with its seed in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 1:13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

1:14 God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; 1:15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the earth;” and it was so. 1:16 God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars. 1:17 God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the earth, 1:18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. 1:19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

1:20 God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky.” 1:21 God created the large sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good. 1:22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 1:23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

1:24 God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;” and it was so. 1:25 God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.

1:26 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over every wild beast of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 1:27 God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 1:28 God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 1:29 God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. 1:30 To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so.
1:31 God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

Chapter 2

2:1 The heavens and the earth were finished, and all their vast array. 2:2 On the sixth day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 2:3 God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work which he had created and made.

2:4 This is the history of the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Mar-Yah God made the earth and the heavens. 2:5 No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Mar-Yah God had not caused it to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground, 2:6 but a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground. 2:7 Mar-Yah God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 2:8 Mar-Yah God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 2:9 Out of the ground Mar-Yah God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 2:10 A river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became four heads. 2:11 The name of the first is Pishon: this is the one which flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 2:12 and the gold of that land is good. There is aromatic resin and the onyx stone. 2:13 The name of the second river is Gihon: the same river that flows through the whole land of Cush. 2:14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel: this is the one which flows in front of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 2:15 Mar-Yah God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden to beautify and to keep it. 2:16 Mar-Yah God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 2:17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.”

2:18 Mar-Yah God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” 2:19 Out of the ground Mar-Yah God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 2:20 The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper suitable for him. 2:21 Mar-Yah God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 2:22 He made the rib, which Mar-Yah God had taken from the man, into a woman, and brought her to the man. 2:23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man.” 2:24 Thus a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh. 2:25 They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Chapter 3

3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Mar-Yah God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’”

3:2 The woman said to the serpent, “Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, 3:3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

3:4 The serpent said to the woman, “You will surely not die, 3:5 for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that it was a desirable tree to contemplate, she took of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate. 3:7 The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 3:8 They heard the voice of Mar-Yah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Mar-Yah God among the trees of the garden.

3:9 Mar-Yah God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

3:10 The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

3:11 God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

3:12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

3:13 Mar-Yah God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

3:14 Mar-Yah God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
you are cursed above all livestock,
and above every animal of the field.
On your belly you shall go,
and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will bruise your head,
and you will bruise his heel.”
3:16 To the woman he said,

“I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth.
In pain you will bring forth children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
3:17 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, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground for your sake.
In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
3:18 Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you;
and you will eat the herb of the field.
3:19 By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken.
For you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”

3:20 The man called his wife Chavah, because she was the mother of all living. 3:21 Mar-Yah God made coats of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.

3:22 Mar-Yah God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he put forth his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” 3:23 Therefore Mar-Yah God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 3:24 As a result he drove out the man; and he placed Cherubs at the east of the garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Chapter 4

4:1 The man knew Chavah his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, “I have gotten a man with the help of Mar-Yah.” 4:2 Again she gave birth, to Cain the brother of Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 4:3 As time passed, it happened that Cain brought an offering to Mar-Yah from the fruit of the ground. 4:4 Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of its fat. Mar-Yah respected Abel and his offering, 4:5 but he did not respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell. 4:6 Mar-Yah said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why has the expression of your face fallen? 4:7 If you do well, will it not be lifted up? If you do not do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it.” 4:8 Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let us go into the field.” It happened when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him.

4:9 Mar-Yah said to Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?”

He said, “I do not know. Am I the keeper of my brother?”

4:10 Mar-Yah said, “What have you done? The voice of the blood of your brother cries to me from the ground. 4:11 Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive the blood of your brother from your hand. 4:12 From now on, when you till the ground, it will not yield its strength to you. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth.”

4:13 Cain said to Mar-Yah, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 4:14 Behold, you have driven me out this day from the surface of the ground. I will be hidden from your face, and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth. It will happen that whoever finds me will kill me.”

4:15 Mar-Yah said to him, “Therefore whoever slays Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” Mar-Yah appointed a sign for Cain, lest any finding him should strike him.

4:16 Cain went out from the presence of Mar-Yah, and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. 4:17 Cain knew his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Enoch. He built a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. 4:18 To Enoch was born Irad. Irad became the father of Mehuya'el. Mehuya'el became the father of Methusha'el. Methusha'el became the father of Lamech. 4:19 Lamech took two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 4:20 Adah gave birth to Yabal, who was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 4:21 And the name of his brother was Yubal, who was the father of all who handle the harp and pipe. 4:22 Zillah also gave birth to Tubal-Cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron. The sister of Tubal-Cain was Na'amah. 4:23 Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice.
You wives of Lamech, listen to my speech,
for I have slain a man for wounding me,
a young man for bruising me.
4:24 If Cain will be avenged seven times,
truly Lamech seventy-seven times.”

4:25 Adam knew his wife again. She gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, “for God has appointed me another child instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” 4:26 There was also born a son to Seth, and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the Name of Mar-Yah.

Chapter 5

5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 5:2 He created them male and female, and blessed them, and called their name “Adam,” in the day when they were created. 5:3 Adam lived one hundred thirty years^*, and became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 5:4 The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were seven-hundred years, and he became the father of sons and daughters. 5:5 All the days that Adam lived were nine-hundred and thirty years, then he died.

5:6 Seth lived two-hundred and five years, and became the father of Enosh. 5:7 Seth lived after he became the father of Enosh seven-hundred and seven years, and became the father of sons and daughters. 5:8 All the days of Seth were one-hundred and ninety years, then he died.

5:9 Enosh lived ninety years, and became the father of Kenan. 5:10 Enosh lived after he became the father of Kenan, seven-hundred and fifteen years, and became the father of sons and daughters. 5:11 All the days of Enosh were nine-hundred and five years, then he died.

5:12 Kenan lived one-hundred and seventy years, and became the father of Mahalalel. 5:13 Kenan lived after he became the father of Mahalalel seven-hundred and forty years, and became the father of sons and daughters 5:14 and all the days of Kenan were nine-hundred and ten years, then he died.

5:15 Mahalalel lived one-hundred and sixty-five years, and became the father of Yared. 5:16 Mahalalel lived after he became the father of Yared seven-hundred and thirty years, and became the father of sons and daughters. 5:17 All the days of Mahalalel were eight-hundred and ninety-five years, then he died.

5:18 Yared lived one-hundred and two years, and became the father of Enoch. 5:19 Yared lived after he became the father of Enoch eight-hundred years, and became the father of sons and daughters. 5:20 All the days of Yared were nine-hundred and sixty-two years, then he died.

5:21 Enoch lived one-hundred and sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. 5:22 Enoch walked with God after he became the father of Methuselah two-hundred years, and became the father of sons and daughters. 5:23 All the days of Enoch were three-hundred and sixty-five years. 5:24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not found, for God took him.

5:25 Methuselah lived one-hundred and sixty-seven years, and became the father of Lamech. 5:26 Methuselah lived after he became the father of Lamech eight-hundred and two years, and became the father of sons and daughters. 5:27 All the days of Methuselah were nine-hundred and sixty-nine years, then he died.

5:28 Lamech lived one-hundred and eighty-eight years, and became the father of a son, 5:29 and he named him Noah, saying, “This same will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, because of the ground which Mar-Yah has cursed.” 5:30 Lamech lived after he became the father of Noah five-hundred and sixty-five years, and became the father of sons and daughters. 5:31 All the days of Lamech were seven hundred fifty-three years, then he died.

5:32 Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Yapheth.

Chapter 6

6:1 It happened, when men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, 6:2 and the sons of the great^* saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took for themselves wives of all that they chose. 6:3 Mar-Yah said, “My breath will not remain with man forever, and because he also is flesh; yet will his days be one hundred twenty years.” 6:4 The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in to daughters of men. They bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
6:5 Mar-Yah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6:6 Mar-Yah became unfavourable with His creation of man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. 6:7 Mar-Yah said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground; man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I am grieved concerning that which I have made.” 6:8 But Noah found favour in the eyes of Mar-Yah.

6:9 This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God. 6:10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Yapheth. 6:11 The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 6:12 God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

6:13 God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 6:14 Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch. 6:15 This is how you shall make it. The length of the ship will be three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 6:16 You shall make a roof in the ship, and you shall finish it to a cubit upward. You shall set the door of the ship in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels. 6:17 I, even I, do bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die. 6:18 But I will establish my covenant with you. You shall come into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 6:19 Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 6:20 Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come to you, to keep them alive. 6:21 Take with you of all food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself; and it will be for food for you, and for them.” 6:22 Thus Noah did. According to all that God commanded him, so he did.

Chapter 7

7:1 Mar-Yah said to Noah, “Come with all of your household into the ship, for I have seen your righteousness before me in this generation. 7:2 You shall take seven pairs of every clean animal with you, the male and his female. Of the animals that are not clean, take two, the male and his female. 7:3 Also of the birds of the sky, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive on the surface of all the earth. 7:4 In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. Every living thing that I have made, I will destroy from the surface of the ground.”

7:5 Noah did everything that Mar-Yah commanded him.

7:6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth. 7:7 Noah went into the ship with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, because of the waters of the flood. 7:8 Clean animals, animals that are not clean, birds, and everything that creeps on the ground 7:9 went by pairs to Noah into the ship, male and female, as God commanded Noah. 7:10 It happened after the seven days, that the waters of the flood came on the earth. 7:11 In the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep were burst open, and the windows of the sky were opened. 7:12 The rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

7:13 In the same day Noah, and Shem, Ham, and Yapheth, the sons of Noah, and the wife of Noah, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered into the ship; 7:14 they, and every animal after its kind, all the livestock after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 7:15 They went to Noah into the ship, by pairs of all flesh with the breath of life in them. 7:16 Those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; and Mar-Yah shut him in. 7:17 The flood was forty days on the earth. The waters increased, and lifted up the ship, and it was lifted up above the earth. 7:18 The waters prevailed, and increased greatly on the earth; and the ship floated on the surface of the waters. 7:19 The waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth. All the high mountains that were under the whole sky were covered. 7:20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. 7:21 All flesh died that moved on the earth, including birds, livestock, animals, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 7:22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was on the dry land, died. 7:23 Every living thing was destroyed that was on the surface of the ground, including man, livestock, creeping things, and birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ship. 7:24 The waters prevailed on the earth one hundred fifty days.

Chapter 8

8:1 God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ship; and God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided. 8:2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of the sky were also stopped, and the rain from the sky was restrained. 8:3 The waters receded from the earth continually. After the end of one hundred fifty days the waters decreased. 8:4 The ship rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 8:5 The waters receded continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

8:6 It happened at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made, 8:7 and he sent forth a raven. It went back and forth, until the waters were dried up from the earth. 8:8 He sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground, 8:9 but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him into the ship; for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ship. 8:10 He stayed yet another seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ship. 8:11 The dove came back to him at evening, and, behold, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from the earth. 8:12 He stayed yet another seven days, and sent forth the dove; and she did not return to him any more.

8:13 It happened in the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth. Noah removed the covering of the ship, and looked. He saw that the surface of the ground was dried. 8:14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

8:15 God spoke to Noah, saying, 8:16 “Go out of the ship, you, and your wife, and your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. 8:17 Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply on the earth.”

8:18 Noah went forth, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives with him. 8:19 Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, whatever moves on the earth, after their families, went out of the ship.

8:20 Noah built an altar to Mar-Yah, and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 8:21 Mar-Yah smelled the pleasant aroma. Mar-Yah said in his heart, “I will not again curse the ground any more for the sake of man, because the imagination of the heart of man is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again strike everything living, as I have done. 8:22 While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

Chapter 9

9:1 God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 9:2 The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky. Everything that the ground teems with, and all the fish of the sea are delivered into your hand. 9:3 Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. As the green herb, I have given everything to you. 9:4 But flesh with its life, its blood, you shall not eat. 9:5 I will surely require your blood of your lives. At the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man, even at the hand of the brother of every man, I will require the life of man. 9:6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image. 9:7 Be fruitful and multiply. Bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply in it.”

9:8 God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 9:9 “As for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you, 9:10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ship, even every animal of the earth. 9:11 I will establish my covenant with you: all flesh will not be cut off any more by the waters of the flood, neither will there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth.” 9:12 God said, “This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 9:13 I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. 9:14 It will happen, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud, 9:15 and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 9:16 The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look at it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 9:17 God said to Noah, “This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

9:18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ship were Shem, Ham, and Yapheth. Ham is the father of Canaan. 9:19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these, the whole earth was populated.

9:20 Noah began to be a farmer, and planted a vineyard. 9:21 He drank of the wine and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent. 9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 9:23 Shem and Yapheth took a garment, and laid it on both their shoulders, went in backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned so that they did not see the nakedness of their faither. 9:24 Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had done to him. 9:25 He said,

“Canaan is cursed.
He will be servant of servants to his brothers.”
9:26 He said,

“Blessed be Mar-Yah, God of Shem.
Let Canaan be his servant.
9:27 May God enlarge Yapheth.
Let him dwell in the tents of Shem.
Let Canaan be his servant.”

9:28 Noah lived three hundred fifty years after the flood. 9:29 All the days of Noah were nine hundred fifty years, then he died.

Chapter 10

10:1 Now this is the history of the generations of the sons of Noah and of Shem, Ham, and Yapheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.

10:2 The sons of Yapheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Yavan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 10:3 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 10:4 The sons of Yavan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 10:5 Of these were the islands of the nations divided in their lands, everyone after his language, after their families, in their nations.

10:6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 10:7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. 10:8 Cush became the father of Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one in the earth. 10:9 He was a mighty hunter before Mar-Yah. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Mar-Yah.” 10:10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 10:11 Out of that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, 10:12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (the same is the great city). 10:13 Mizraim became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 10:14 Pathrusim, Casluhim (which the Philistines descended from), and Caphtorim.

10:15 Canaan became the father of Sidon (his firstborn), Heth, 10:16 the Yebusite, the Amorite, the Girgashite, 10:17 the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite, 10:18 the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad. 10:19 The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as you go toward Gerar, to Gaza; as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, to Lasha. 10:20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their languages, in their lands, in their nations.

10:21 To Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Yapheth, to him also were children born. 10:22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. 10:23 The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 10:24 Arpachshad became the father of Shelah. Shelah became the father of Eber. 10:25 To Eber were born two sons. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided. The name of his brother was Yoktan. 10:26 Yoktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Yerah, 10:27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 10:28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 10:29 Ophir, Havilah, and Yobab. All these were the sons of Yoktan. 10:30 Their dwelling was from Mesha, as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. 10:31 These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their languages, in their lands, after their nations.

10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations. Of these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

Chapter 11

11:1 The whole earth was of one language and of one speech. 11:2 It happened, as they travelled east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there. 11:3 They said one to another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 11:4 They said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let us make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”

11:5 Mar-Yah came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. 11:6 Mar-Yah said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do. 11:7 Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand what each other is speaking.” 11:8 Thus Mar-Yah scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city. 11:9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because it was there that Mar-Yah added to the language of all the earth. From there, Mar-Yah scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.

11:10 This is the history of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood. 11:11 Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and became the father of sons and daughters.

11:12 Arpachshad lived one-hundred and thirty-five years and became the father of Cainan. 11:13 Arpachshad lived four-hundred years after he became the father of Cainan, and became the father of sons and daughters. {And Cainan lived one-hundred and thirty years and became the father of Shelah; and Cainan lived three hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Shelah,and fathered sons and daughters.}
11:14 Shelah lived one-hundred and thirty years, and became the father of Eber: 11:15 and Shelah lived three-hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Eber, and became the father of sons and daughters.

11:16 Eber lived one-hundred and thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg. 11:17 Eber lived two-hundred and seventy years after he became the father of Peleg, and became the father of sons and daughters.

11:18 Peleg lived one-hundred and thirty years, and became the father of Reu. 11:19 Peleg lived two-hundred and nine years after he became the father of Reu, and became the father of sons and daughters.

11:20 Reu lived one-hundred and thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug. 11:21 Reu lived two-hundred and seven years after he became the father of Serug, and became the father of sons and daughters.

11:22 Serug lived one-hundred and thirty years, and became the father of Nahor. 11:23 Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and became the father of sons and daughters.

11:24 Nahor lived one-hundred and seventy years, and became the father of Terah. 11:25 Nahor lived one-hundred and twenty years after he became the father of Terah, and became the father of sons and daughters.

11:26 Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

11:27 Now this is the history of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran became the father of Lot. 11:28 Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur-Kasdim. 11:29 Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of the wife of Abram was Sarai, and the name of the wife of Nahor, Milcah, the daughter of Haran who was also the father of Iscah. 11:30 Sarai was barren. She had no child. 11:31 Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, the son of his son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. They went forth from Ur-Kasdim, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there. 11:32 The days of Terah were two hundred five years. Terah died in Haran.

Chapter 12

12:1 Now Mar-Yah said to Abram, “Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from the house of your father, to the land that I will show you. 12:2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you and it will be by you that all of the families of the earth will be blessed.”

12:4 So Abram went, as Mar-Yah had spoken to him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran. 12:5 Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls whom they had gotten in Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. Into the land of Canaan they came. 12:6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanite was then in the land.

12:7 Mar-Yah appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your seed.”

He built an altar there to Mar-Yah, who appeared to him. 12:8 He left from there to the mountain on the east of Beit’el, and pitched his tent, having Beit’el on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to Mar-Yah and called on the name of Mar-Yah. 12:9 Abram travelled, going on still toward the South.

12:10 There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land. 12:11 It happened, when he had come near to enter Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman to look at. 12:12 It will happen, when the Egyptians will see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me, but they will save you alive. 12:13 Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you.”

12:14 It happened that when Abram had come into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 12:15 The sarim of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into the house of Pharaoh. 12:16 He dealt well with Abram for her sake. He had sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. 12:17 Mar-Yah plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, the wife of Abram. 12:18 Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this that you have done to me? Why did not you tell me that she was your wife? 12:19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now therefore, see your wife, take her, and go your way.”

12:20 Pharaoh commanded men concerning him, and they brought him on the way with his wife and all that he had.

Chapter 13

13:1 Abram went up out of Egypt: he, his wife, all that he had, and Lot with him, into the South. 13:2 Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 13:3 He went on his journeys from the South even to Beit’el, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beit’el and Ai, 13:4 to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on the name of Mar-Yah. 13:5 Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. 13:6 The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together: for their substance was great, so that they could not live together. 13:7 There was a strife between the herdsmen of the livestock of Abram and the herdsmen of the livestock of Lot: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite lived in the land at that time. 13:8 Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there be no strife between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are relatives. 13:9 Is the whole land not before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left.”

13:10 Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Yordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before Mar-Yah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Mar-Yah, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar. 13:11 So Lot chose the Plain of the Yordan for himself. Lot travelled east, and they separated themselves the one from the other. 13:12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13:13 Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Mar-Yah.

13:14 Mar-Yah said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 13:15 for all the land which you see, I will give to you, and to your offspring forever. 13:16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then your seed may also be numbered. 13:17 Arise, walk through the land in its length and in its breadth; for I will give it to you.”

13:18 Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to Mar-Yah.

Chapter 14

14:1 It happened in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim, 14:2 that they made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar). 14:3 All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (the same is the Salt Sea). 14:4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year, they rebelled. 14:5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer came, and the kings who were with him, and struck the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, 14:6 and the Horites in their Mount Seir, to Elparan, which is by the wilderness. 14:7 They returned, and came to En Mishpat (the same is Kadesh), and struck all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that lived in Hazazon Tamar. 14:8 The king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar) went out; and they set the battle in array against them in the valley of Siddim; 14:9 against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings against the five. 14:10 Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and those who remained fled to the hills. 14:11 They took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their food, and went their way. 14:12 They took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who lived in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

14:13 One who had escaped came and told Abram, the Hebrew. Now he lived by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner; and these were allies of Abram. 14:14 When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan. 14:15 He divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. 14:16 He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative, Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

14:17 The king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the Valley of the Kings). 14:18 Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High. 14:19 He blessed him, and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth: 14:20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Abram gave him a tenth of all.

14:21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, and take the goods to yourself.”

14:22 Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand to Mar-Yah, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, 14:23 that I will not take a thread nor a sandal strap nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ 14:24 I will accept nothing from you except that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their portion.”

Chapter 15

15:1 After these things the word of Mar-Yah came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

15:2 Abram said, “Mar-Yah, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 15:3 Abram said, “Behold, to me you have given no seed: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir.”

15:4 Behold, the word of Mar-Yah came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but he who will come forth out of your own body will be your heir.” 15:5 Mar-Yah brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So shall your seed be.” 15:6 He believed in Mar-Yah; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness. 15:7 He said to him, “I am Mar-Yah who brought you out of Ur-Kasdim, to give you this land to inherit it.”

15:8 He said, “Mar-Yah, how will I know that I will inherit it?”

15:9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 15:10 He brought him all of these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not divide the birds. 15:11 The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

15:12 When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him. 15:13 He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your seed will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. 15:14 I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth, 15:15 but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a good old age. 15:16 In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.” 15:17 It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 15:18 In that day Mar-Yah made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: 15:19 the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 15:20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 15:21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Yebusites.”

Chapter 16

16:1 Now Sarai, the wife of Abram, bore him no children. She had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. 16:2 Sarai said to Abram, “See now, Mar-Yah has restrained me from bearing. Please go in to my handmaid. It may be that I will obtain children by her.” Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 16:3 Sarai, the wife of Abram, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife. 16:4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. 16:5 Sarai said to Abram, “This wrong is your fault. I gave my handmaid into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. Mar-Yah judge between me and you.”

16:6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your hand. Do to her whatever is good in your eyes.” Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face.

16:7 The angel of Mar-Yah found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. 16:8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid, where did you come from? Where are you going?”

She said, “I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai.”

16:9 The angel of Mar-Yah said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands.” 16:10 The angel of Mar-Yah said to her, “I will greatly multiply your seed, that they will not be numbered for multitude.” 16:11 The angel of Mar-Yah said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because Mar-Yah has heard your affliction. 16:12 He will be like a wild donkey among men. His hand will be against every man, and the hand of every man against him. He will live opposite all of his brothers.”

16:13 She called the name of Mar-Yah who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?” 16:14 Therefore the well was called Be’er Lahai Roi. Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

16:15 Hagar bore a son for Abram. Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16:16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Chapter 17

17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Mar-Yah appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Walk before me, and be blameless. 17:2 I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”
17:3 Abram fell on his face. God talked with him, saying, 17:4 “As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations. 17:5 Neither will your name any more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 17:6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you. 17:7 I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your seed after you. 17:8 I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land where you are travelling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God.”

17:9 God said to Abraham, “As for you, you will keep my covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations. 17:10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your seed after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. 17:11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a token of the covenant between me and you. 17:12 He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your seed. 17:13 He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 17:14 The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”

17:15 God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah. 17:16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless him, and I will make of him many nations, and the kings of the peoples will come from him.”

17:17 Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?” 17:18 Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”

17:19 God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. 17:20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve sarim, and I will make him a great nation. 17:21 But my covenant I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.”

17:22 When he finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. 17:23 Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money; every male among the men of the house of Abraham, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day, as God had said to him. 17:24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 17:25 Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 17:26 In the same day both Abraham and Ishmael, his son, were circumcised. 17:27 All the men of his house, those born in the house, and those bought with money of a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Chapter 18

18:1 Mar-Yah appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. 18:2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth, 18:3 and said, “My lord, if now I have found favour in your sight, please do not go away from your servant. 18:4 Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 18:5 I will get a morsel of bread so you can refresh your heart. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant.”

They said, “Very well, do as you have said.”

18:6 Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly make ready three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.” 18:7 Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it. 18:8 He took butter, milk, and the calf that he had dressed, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree, and they ate.

18:9 They asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?”

He said, “See, in the tent.”

18:10 He said, “I will certainly return to you when the season comes round. Behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him. 18:11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. It had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 18:12 Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”

18:13 Mar-Yah said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child, yet I am old?’ 18:14 Is anything too hard for Mar-Yah? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son.”

18:15 Then Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid.

He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

18:16 The men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way. 18:17 Mar-Yah said, “Will I hide from Abraham what I do, 18:18 seeing that Abraham has surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? 18:19 For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Mar-Yah, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Mar-Yah may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him.” 18:20 Mar-Yah said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, 18:21 I will go down now, and see whether their deeds are as bad as the reports which have come to me. If not, I will know.”

18:22 The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before Mar-Yah. 18:23 Abraham drew near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? 18:24 What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it? 18:25 Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Should not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

18:26 Mar-Yah said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake.” 18:27 Abraham answered, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to Mar-Yah, who am but dust and ashes. 18:28 What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?”

He said, “I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there.”

18:29 He spoke to him yet again, and said, “What if there are forty found there?”

He said, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”

18:30 He said, “Oh do not let Mar-Yah be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?”

He said, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.”

18:31 He said, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to Mar-Yah. What if there are twenty found there?”

He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

18:32 He said, “Oh do not let Mar-Yah be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?”

He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

18:33 Mar-Yah went his way, as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Chapter 19

19:1 The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth, 19:2 and he said, “See now, my lords, please turn aside into the house of your servan, stay the entire night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way.”

They said, “No, but we will stay in the street all night.”

19:3 He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 19:4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. 19:5 They called to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them.”

19:6 Lot went out to them to the door, and shut the door after him. 19:7 He said, “Please, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 19:8 See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only do not do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof.”

19:9 They said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now will we deal worse with you, than with them!” They pressed hard on the man Lot, and drew near to break the door. 19:10 But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. 19:11 They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

19:12 The men said to Lot, “Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring them out of the place: 19:13 for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before Mar-Yah that Mar-Yah has sent us to destroy it.”

19:14 Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up! Get out of this place, for Mar-Yah will destroy the city.”

But he seemed as if one who were joking in the eyes his sons-in-law. 19:15 When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, “Get up! Take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city.” 19:16 But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, the hand of his wife, and the hands of his two daughters, Mar-Yah being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city. 19:17 It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!”

19:18 Lot said to them, “Oh, not so, my lord. 19:19 See now, your servant has found favour in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I cannot escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die. 19:20 See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (is it not a little one?), and my soul will live.”

19:21 He said to him, “Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 19:22 Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

19:23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 19:24 Then Mar-Yah rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulphur and fire from Mar-Yah out of the sky. 19:25 He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground. 19:26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

19:27 Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Mar-Yah. 19:28 He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and looked, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.

19:29 It happened, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

19:30 Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters. 19:31 The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. 19:32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will rape him, that we may preserve the seed of our father..” 19:33 They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down, nor when she arose. 19:34 It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine again, tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve the seed of our father.” 19:35 They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He did not know when she lay down, nor when she got up. 19:36 Thus both of the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 19:37 The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. 19:38 The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.

Chapter 20

20:1 Abraham travelled from there toward the land of the South, and lived between Kadesh and Shur. He lived as a foreigner in Gerar. 20:2 Abraham said about Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. 20:3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken. For she is the wife of a man.”

20:4 Now Abimelech had not come near her. He said, “Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation? 20:5 Did not he tell me, ‘She is my sister?’ She, even she herself, said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands have I done this.”

20:6 God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not allow you to touch her. 20:7 Now therefore, restore the wife of the man. For he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you do not restore her, know for sure that you will die, you, and all who are yours.”

20:8 Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ear. The men were very scared. 20:9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done!” 20:10 Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you have done this thing?”

20:11 Abraham said, “Because I thought, ‘Surely the fear of God is not in this place. They will kill me for my wife’s sake.’ 20:12 Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 20:13 It happened, when God caused me to wander from the house of my father, that I said to her, ‘This is your kindness which you shall show to me. Everywhere that we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

20:14 Abimelech took sheep and cattle, male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored Sarah, his wife, to him. 20:15 Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you. Dwell where it pleases you.” 20:16 To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, it is for you a covering of the eyes to all that are with you. In front of all you are vindicated.”

20:17 Abraham prayed to God. God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his female servants, and they bore children. 20:18 For Mar-Yah had closed up tight all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, the wife of Abraham.

Chapter 21

21:1 Mar-Yah visited Sarah as he had said, and Mar-Yah did to Sarah as he had spoken. 21:2 Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 21:3 Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 21:4 Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 21:5 Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him. 21:6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 21:7 She said, “Who would have said to Abraham, that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”

21:8 The child grew, and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 21:9 Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. 21:10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this handmaid and her son! For the son of this handmaid will not be heir with my son, Isaac.”

21:11 The thing was very grievous in the sight of Abraham on account of his son. 21:12 God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your handmaid. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For from Isaac will your seed be called. 21:13 I will also make a nation of the son of the handmaid, because he is your seed.” 21:14 Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Be’ersheba. 21:15 The water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 21:16 She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, “Do not let me see the death of the child.” She sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. 21:17 God heard the voice of the boy.

The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Do not be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 21:18 Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him in your hand. For I will make him a great nation.”

21:19 God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink. 21:20 God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer. 21:21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.

21:22 It happened at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his army spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do. 21:23 Now, therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with the son of my son. But according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me, and to the land in which you have lived as a foreigner.”

21:24 Abraham said, “I will swear.” 21:25 Abraham complained to Abimelech because of a water well, which the servants of Abimelech had violently taken away. 21:26 Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing. Neither did you tell me, neither did I hear of it, until today.”

21:27 Abraham took sheep and cattle, and gave them to Abimelech. Those two made a covenant. 21:28 Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. 21:29 Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves mean?”

21:30 He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well.” 21:31 Therefore he called that place Be’ersheba, because they both swore there. 21:32 So they made a covenant at Be’ersheba. Abimelech rose up with Phicol, the captain of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. 21:33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Be’ersheba, and called there on the name of Mar-Yah, the Everlasting God. 21:34 Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines many days.

Chapter 22

22:1 It happened after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

He said, “Here I am.”

22:2 He said, “Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.”

22:3 Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him. 22:4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place far off. 22:5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go yonder. We will worship, and come back to you.” 22:6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together. 22:7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, “My father?”

He said, “Here I am, my son.”

He said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

22:8 Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they both went together. 22:9 They came to the place which God had told him of. Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood. 22:10 Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to kill his son.

22:11 The angel of Mar-Yah called to him out of the sky, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

He said, “Here I am.”

22:12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy, neither do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

22:13 Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 22:14 Abraham called the name of that place Mar-Yah Will Provide. As it is said to this day, “On the mountain of Mar-Yah, it will be provided.”

22:15 The angel of Mar-Yah called to Abraham a second time out of the sky, 22:16 and said, “I have sworn by myself, says Mar-Yah, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 22:17 that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your seed greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your seed will possess the gate of his enemies. 22:18 In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

22:19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Be’ersheba. Abraham lived at Be’ersheba.

22:20 It happened after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, “Behold, Milcah, she also has borne children to your brother Nahor: 22:21 Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22:22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Yidlaph, and Beitu’el.” 22:23 Beitu’el became the father of Rivkah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, the brother of Abraham. 22:24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Chapter 23

23:1 Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years. This was the length of the life of Sarah. 23:2 Sarah died in Kiriath Arba (the same is Hebron), in the land of Canaan. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. 23:3 Abraham rose up from before his dead, and spoke to the children of Heth, saying, 23:4 “I am a stranger and a foreigner living with you. Give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

23:5 The children of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, 23:6 “Hear us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the best of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb. Bury your dead.”

23:7 Abraham rose up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth. 23:8 He talked with them, saying, “If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, 23:9 that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he has, which is in the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me among you for a possession of a burying-place.”

23:10 Now Ephron was sitting in the middle of the children of Heth. Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the children of Heth, even of all who went in at the gate of his city, saying, 23:11 “No, my lord, hear me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of the children of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.”

23:12 Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land. 23:13 He spoke to Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, “But if you will, please hear me. I will give the price of the field. Take it from me, and I will bury my dead there.”

23:14 Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, 23:15 “My lord, listen to me. What is a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver between you and me? Therefore bury your dead.”

23:16 Abraham listened to Ephron. Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver that he had named in the audience of the children of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the current merchants’ standard.

23:17 So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all of its borders, were deeded 23:18 to Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city. 23:19 After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre (that is, Hebron), in the land of Canaan. 23:20 The field, and the cave that is in it, were deeded to Abraham for a possession of a burying place by the children of Heth.

Chapter 24

24:1 Abraham was old, and well stricken in age. Mar-Yah had blessed Abraham in all things. 24:2 Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh. 24:3 I will make you swear by Mar-Yah, God of heaven and God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live. 24:4 But you shall go to my country, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

24:5 The servant said to him, “What if the woman is not willing to follow me to this land? Must I bring your son again to the land you came from?”

24:6 Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not bring my son there again. 24:7 Mar-Yah, God of heaven, who took me from the house of my father, and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, ‘I will give this land to your seed.’ He will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 24:8 If the woman is not willing to follow you, then you shall be clear from this my oath. Only you shall not bring my son there again.”

24:9 The servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter. 24:10 The servant took ten camels, of his master’s camels, and departed, having a variety of good things of his master’s with him. He arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. 24:11 He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water. 24:12 He said, “Mar-Yah, God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 24:13 Behold, I am standing by the spring of water. The daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. 24:14 Let it happen, that the young lady to whom I will say, ‘Please let down your pitcher, that I may drink,’ and she will say, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink,’—let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

24:15 It happened, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rivkah came out, who was born to Beitu’el the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, the brother of Abraham, with her pitcher on her shoulder. 24:16 The young lady was very beautiful to look at, a virgin, neither had any man known her. She went down to the spring, filled her pitcher, and came up. 24:17 The servant ran to meet her, and said, “Please give me a drink, a little water from your pitcher.”

24:18 She said, “Drink, my lord.” She hurried, and let down her pitcher on her hand, and gave him drink. 24:19 When she had done giving him drink, she said, “I will also draw for your camels, until they have done drinking.” 24:20 She hurried, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again to the well to draw, and drew for all his camels.

24:21 The man looked steadfastly at her, remaining silent, to know whether Mar-Yah had made his journey prosperous or not. 24:22 It happened, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold, 24:23 and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room in the house of your father for us to lodge in?”

24:24 She said to him, “I am the daughter of Beitu’el the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” 24:25 She said moreover to him, “We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in.”
24:26 The man bowed his head, and worshiped Mar-Yah. 24:27 He said, “Blessed be Mar-Yah, God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, Mar-Yah has led me in the way to the house of my master’s relatives.”

24:28 The young lady ran, and told the house of her mother about these words. 24:29 Rivkah had a brother, and his name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man, to the spring. 24:30 It happened, when he saw the ring, and the bracelets on the hands of his sister, and when he heard the words of Rivkah his sister, saying, “This is what the man said to me,” that he came to the man. Behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. 24:31 He said, “Come in, you blessed of Mar-Yah. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.”

24:32 The man came into the house, and he unloaded the camels. He gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. 24:33 Food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told my message.”

He said, “Speak.”

24:34 He said, “I am a servant of Abraham. 24:35 Mar-Yah has blessed my master greatly. He has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, and camels and donkeys. 24:36 Sarah, the wife of my master, bore a son to my master when she was old. He has given all that he has to him. 24:37 My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, 24:38 but you shall go to the house of my father, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’ 24:39 I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not follow me?’ 24:40 He said to me, ‘Mar-Yah, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you, and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son of my relatives, and of the house of my father. 24:41 Then will you be clear from my oath, when you come to my relatives. If they do not give her to you, you shall be clear from my oath.’ 24:42 I came this day to the spring, and said, ‘Mar-Yah, God of my master Abraham, if now you do prosper my way which I go— 24:43 behold, I am standing by this spring of water. Let it happen, that the maiden who comes forth to draw, to whom I will say, “Give me, I pray you, a little water from your pitcher to drink,” 24:44 and she will tell me, “Drink, and I will also draw for your camels,”—let her be the woman whom Mar-Yah has appointed for the son of my master.’ 24:45 Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rivkah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder. She went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ 24:46 She hurried and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink.’ So I drank, and she also gave the camels a drink. 24:47 I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Beitu’el, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her hands. 24:48 I bowed my head, and worshiped Mar-Yah, and blessed Mar-Yah, God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter for his son. 24:49 Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. If not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.”

24:50 Then Laban and Beitu’el answered, “The thing proceeds from Mar-Yah. We cannot speak to you bad or good. 24:51 Behold, Rivkah is before you. Take her, and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as Mar-Yah has spoken.”

24:52 It happened that when the servant of Abraham heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth to Mar-Yah. 24:53 The servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rivkah. He also gave precious things to her brother and her mother. 24:54 They ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, and stayed all night. They rose up in the morning, and he said, “Send me away to my master.”

24:55 Her brother and her mother said, “Let the young lady stay with us a few days, at least ten. After that she will go.”

24:56 He said to them, “Do not hinder me, seeing Mar-Yah has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.”

24:57 They said, “We will call the young lady, and ask her.” 24:58 They called Rivkah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?”

She said, “I will go.”

24:59 They sent away Rivkah, their sister, with her nurse, the servant of Abraham, and his men. 24:60 They blessed Rivkah, and said to her, “Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your seed possess the gate of those who hate them.”

24:61 Rivkah arose with her ladies. They rode on the camels, and followed the man. The servant took Rivkah, and went his way. 24:62 Isaac came from the way of Be’er Lahai Roi, for he lived in the land of the South. 24:63 Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, there were camels coming. 24:64 Rivkah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel. 24:65 She said to the servant, “Who is the man who is walking in the field to meet us?”

The servant said, “It is my master.”

She took her veil, and covered herself. 24:66 The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 24:67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and took Rivkah, and she became his wife. He loved her. Isaac was comforted after the death of his mother.

Chapter 25

25:1 Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. 25:2 She bore him Zimran, Yokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 25:3 Yokshan became the father of Sheba, and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 25:4 The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 25:5 Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, 25:6 but to the sons of the concubines of Abraham, Abraham gave gifts. He sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, to the east country. 25:7 These are the days of the years of the life of Abraham which he lived: one hundred seventy-five years. 25:8 Abraham gave up the spirit, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people. 25:9 Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre, 25:10 the field which Abraham purchased of the children of Heth. Abraham was buried there with Sarah, his wife. 25:11 It happened after the death of Abraham that God blessed Isaac, his son. Isaac lived by Be’er Lahai Roi.

25:12 Now this is the history of the generations of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, whom Hagar the Egyptian, the handmaid of Sarah, bore to Abraham. 25:13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to the order of their birth: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 25:14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 25:15 Hadad, Tema, Yetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 25:16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments: twelve sarim, according to their nations. 25:17 These are the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred thirty-seven years. He gave up the spirit and died, and was gathered to his people. 25:18 They lived from Havilah to Shur that is before Egypt, as you go toward Assyria. He lived opposite all his relatives.

25:19 This is the history of the generations of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac. 25:20 Isaac was forty years old when he took Rivkah, the daughter of Beitu’el the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife. 25:21 Isaac entreated Mar-Yah for his wife, because she was barren. Mar-Yah was entreated by him, and Rivkah his wife conceived. 25:22 The children struggled together within her. She said, “If it be so, why do I live?” She went to inquire of Mar-Yah. 25:23 Mar-Yah said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb.
Two peoples will be separated from your body.
The one people will be stronger than the other people.
The elder will serve the younger.”

25:24 When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25:25 The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment. They named him Esau. 25:26 After that, his brother came out, and his hand was holding the heel of Esau. He was named Ya’aqub. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

25:27 The boys grew. Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field. Ya’aqub was a quiet man, living in tents. 25:28 Now Isaac loved Esau, because he ate his venison. Rivkah loved Ya’aqub. 25:29 Ya’aqub boiled stew. Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. 25:30 Esau said to Ya’aqub, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom.

25:31 Ya’aqub said, “First, sell me your birthright.”

25:32 Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?”

25:33 Ya’aqub said, “Swear to me first.”

He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Ya’aqub. 25:34 Ya’aqub gave Esau bread and stew of lentils. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.

Chapter 26

26:1 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar. 26:2 Mar-Yah appeared to him, and said, “Do not go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about. 26:3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For to you, and to your seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 26:4 I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and will give to your seed all these lands. In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed, 26:5 because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

26:6 Isaac lived in Gerar. 26:7 The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “My wife,” lest, he thought, “the men of the place might kill me for Rivkah, because she is beautiful to look at.” 26:8 It happened, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rivkah, his wife. 26:9 Abimelech called Isaac, and said, “Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, ‘She is my sister?’”

Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die because of her.’”

26:10 Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have raped your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!”

26:11 Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”

26:12 Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Mar-Yah blessed him. 26:13 The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great. 26:14 He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him. 26:15 Now all the wells which the servants of his father had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth. 26:16 Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

26:17 Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.

26:18 Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them. 26:19 The servants of Isaac dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. 26:20 The herdsmen of Gerar argued with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours.” He called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. 26:21 They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. He called its name Sitnah. 26:22 He left that place, and dug another well. They did not argue over that one. He called it Rehoboth. He said, “For now Mar-Yah has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

26:23 He went up from there to Be’ersheba. 26:24 Mar-Yah appeared to him the same night, and said, “I am God of Abraham your father. Do not be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for the sake of my servant Abraham.”

26:25 He built an altar there, and called on the name of Mar-Yah, and pitched his tent there. There the servants of Isaac dug a well.

26:26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army. 26:27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?”

26:28 They said, “We saw plainly that Mar-Yah was with you. We said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you, 26:29 that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace.’ You are now the blessed of Mar-Yah.”

26:30 He made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 26:31 They rose up some time in the morning, and swore one to another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. 26:32 It happened the same day, that the servants of Isaac came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” 26:33 He called it Shibah. Therefore the name of the city is Be’ersheba to this day.

26:34 When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Yudith, the daughter of Be’eri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 26:35 They grieved the spirits of Isaac and Rivkah.

Chapter 27

27:1 It happened, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, “My son?”

He said to him, “Here I am.”

27:2 He said, “See now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. 27:3 Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and take me venison. 27:4 Make me savoury food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die.”

27:5 Rivkah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. 27:6 Rivkah spoke to Ya’aqub her son, saying, “Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, 27:7 ‘Bring me venison, and make me savoury food, that I may eat, and bless you before Mar-Yah before my death.’ 27:8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you. 27:9 Go now to the flock, and get me from there two good young goats. I will make them savoury food for your father, such as he loves. 27:10 You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”

27:11 Ya’aqub said to Rivkah his mother, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 27:12 What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing.”

27:13 His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me.”

27:14 He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother made savoury food, such as his father loved. 27:15 Rivkah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Ya’aqub, her younger son. 27:16 She put the skins of the young goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck. 27:17 She gave the savoury food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Ya’aqub.

27:18 He came to his father, and said, “My father?”

He said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”

27:19 Ya’aqub said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me.”

27:20 Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?”

He said, “Because Mar-Yah your God gave me success.”

27:21 Isaac said to Ya’aqub, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”

27:22 Ya’aqub went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, “The voice is the voice of Ya’aqub, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 27:23 He did not recognise him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother, Esau’s hands. So he blessed him. 27:24 He said, “Are you really my son Esau?”

He said, “I am.”

27:25 He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of the venison of my son, that my soul may bless you.”

He brought it near to him, and he ate. He brought him wine, and he drank. 27:26 His father Isaac said to him, “Come near now, and kiss me, my son.” 27:27 He came near, and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said,

“Behold, the smell of my son
is as the smell of a field which Mar-Yah has blessed.
27:28 God give you of the dew of the sky,
of the fatness of the earth,
and plenty of grain and new wine.
27:29 Let peoples serve you,
and nations bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers.
Let the sons of your mother bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you.
Blessed be everyone who blesses you.”

27:30 It happened, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Ya’aqub, and Ya’aqub had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 27:31 He also made savoury food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “Let my father arise, and eat the venison of his son, that your soul may bless me.”

27:32 Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?”

He said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

27:33 Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who, then, is he who has taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed.”

27:34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, my father.”

27:35 He said, “Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing.”

27:36 He said, “Is he not rightly named Ya’aqub? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing.” He said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

27:37 Isaac answered Esau, “Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers have I given to him for servants. With grain and new wine have I sustained him. What then will I do for you, my son?”

27:38 Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father.” Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.

27:39 Isaac his father answered him,

“Behold, of the fatness of the earth will be your dwelling,
and of the dew of the sky from above.
27:40 By your sword will you live, and you will serve your brother.
It will happen, when you repent,
that his yoke will be removed from off your neck.”
27:41 Esau hated Ya’aqub because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Ya’aqub.”

27:42 The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rivkah. She sent and called Ya’aqub, her younger son, and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. 27:43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran. 27:44 Stay with him a few days, until the fury of your brother turns away; 27:45 until the anger of your brother turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”

27:46 Rivkah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Ya’aqub takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?”

Chapter 28

28:1 Isaac called Ya’aqub, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 28:2 Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Beitu’el your mother’s father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 28:3 May El Shaddai bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples, 28:4 and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you, and to your seed with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which God gave to Abraham.”

28:5 Isaac sent Ya’aqub away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Beitu’el the Syrian, Rivkah’s brother, Ya’aqub’s and Esau’s mother.

28:6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Ya’aqub and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan,” 28:7 and that Ya’aqub obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan Aram. 28:8 Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please Isaac, his father. 28:9 Esau went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.

28:10 Ya’aqub went out from Be’ersheba, and went toward Haran. 28:11 He came to a certain place, and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. 28:12 He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. 28:13 Behold, Mar-Yah stood above it, and said, “I am Mar-Yah, God of Abraham your father, and God of Isaac. The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed. 28:14 Your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed. 28:15 Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you.”

28:16 Ya’aqub awakened out of his sleep, and he said, “Surely Mar-Yah is in this place, and I did not know it.” 28:17 He was afraid, and said, “How dreadful is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

28:18 Ya’aqub rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on its top. 28:19 He called the name of that place Beit’el, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 28:20 Ya’aqub vowed a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on, 28:21 so that I come again to the house of my father in peace, and Mar-Yah will be God to me, 28:22 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be as a house of God. Of all that you will give me I will surely give the tenth to you.”

Chapter 29

29:1 Then Ya’aqub went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east. 29:2 He looked, and behold, a well in the field, and, behold, three flocks of sheep lying there by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks. The stone on the mouth of the well was large. 29:3 There all the flocks were gathered. They rolled the stone from the mouth of the well, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again on the mouth of the well well in its place. 29:4 Ya’aqub said to them, “My relatives, where are you from?”

They said, “We are from Haran.”

29:5 He said to them, “Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?”

They said, “We know him.”

29:6 He said to them, “Is it well with him?”

They said, “It is well. See, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep.”

29:7 He said, “Behold, it is still the middle of the day, not time to gather the livestock together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.”

29:8 They said, “We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered together, and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well. Then we water the sheep.”

29:9 While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with the sheep of her father, for she kept them. 29:10 It happened, when Ya’aqub saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, the brother of his mother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother’s brother, that Ya’aqub went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. 29:11 Ya’aqub kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. 29:12 Ya’aqub told Rachel that he was her father’s brother, and that he was the son of Rivkah. She ran and told her father.

29:13 It happened, when Laban heard the news of Ya’aqub, the son of his sister, that he ran to meet Ya’aqub, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Ya’aqub told Laban all these things. 29:14 Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” He lived with him for a month. 29:15 Laban said to Ya’aqub, “Because you are my brother, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what will your wages be?”

29:16 Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 29:17 The eyes of Leah were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and attractive. 29:18 Ya’aqub loved Rachel. He said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.”

29:19 Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you, than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me.”

29:20 Ya’aqub served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her.

29:21 Ya’aqub said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her.”

29:22 Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. 29:23 It happened in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him. He went in to her. 29:24 Laban gave Zilpah his handmaid to his daughter Leah for a handmaid. 29:25 It happened in the morning that, behold, it was Leah. He said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did not I serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?”

29:26 Laban said, “It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn. 29:27 Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you will serve with me yet seven other years.”

29:28 Ya’aqub did so, and fulfilled her week. He gave him Rachel his daughter as wife. 29:29 Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah, his handmaid, to be her handmaid. 29:30 He went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.

29:31 Mar-Yah saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. 29:32 Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Reuben. For she said, “Because Mar-Yah has looked at my affliction. For now my husband will love me.” 29:33 She conceived again, and bore a son, and said, “Because Mar-Yah has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this son also.” She named him Simeon. 29:34 She conceived again, and bore a son. Said, “Now this time will my husband be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore was his name called Levi. 29:35 She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, “This time will I praise Mar-Yah.” Therefore she named him Yudah. Then she stopped bearing.

Chapter 30

30:1 When Rachel saw that she bore Ya’aqub no children Rachel envied her sister. She said to Ya’aqub, “Give me children, or else I will die.”

30:2 The anger of Ya’aqub was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in God’s place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

30:3 She said, “Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her.” 30:4 She gave him Bilhah her handmaid as wife, and Ya’aqub went in to her. 30:5 Bilhah conceived, and bore Ya’aqub a son. 30:6 Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son.” Therefore called she his name Dan. 30:7 Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid, conceived again, and bore Ya’aqub a second son. 30:8 Rachel said, “I have besought Mar-Yah, and have pleaded with my sister and I have prevailed.” She named him Naphtali.

30:9 When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her handmaid, and gave her to Ya’aqub as a wife. 30:10 Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, bore Ya’aqub a son. 30:11 Leah said, “How fortunate!” She named him Gad. 30:12 Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, bore Ya’aqub a second son. 30:13 Leah said, “Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy.” She named him Asher.

30:14 Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of the mandrakes of your son.”

30:15 She said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you also take away the mandrakes of my son?” Rachel said, “Therefore he will rape* you tonight for the mandrakes of your son.”

30:16 Ya’aqub came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, “You must come in to me; for I have surely hired you with the mandrakes of my son.”

He lay with her that night. 30:17 God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Ya’aqub a fifth son. 30:18 Leah said, “God has given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband.” She named him Issachar. 30:19 Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Ya’aqub. 30:20 Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons.” She named him Zebulun. 30:21 Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah.

30:22 God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb. 30:23 She conceived, bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” 30:24 She named him Yoseph, saying, “May Mar-Yah add another son to me.”

30:25 It happened, when Rachel had borne Yoseph, that Ya’aqub said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country. 30:26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you.”

30:27 Laban said to him, “If now I have found favour in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that Mar-Yah has blessed me for your sake.” 30:28 He said, “Appoint me your wages, and I will give it.”

30:29 He said to him, “You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me. 30:30 For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Mar-Yah has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?”

30:31 He said, “What shall I give you?”

Ya’aqub said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it. 30:32 I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my hire. 30:33 So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be counted stolen.”

30:34 Laban said, “Behold, let it be according to your word.”

30:35 That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 30:36 He set three days’ journey between himself and Ya’aqub, and Ya’aqub fed the rest of the flocks of Laban.

30:37 Ya’aqub took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. 30:38 He set the rods that he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink. 30:39 The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. 30:40 Ya’aqub separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and did not put them into the flock of Laban. 30:41 It happened, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that Ya’aqub laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods; 30:42 but when the flock were feeble, he did not put them in. So the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Ya’aqub’s. 30:43 The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

Chapter 31

31:1 He heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Ya’aqub has taken away all that was our father’s. From that which was our father’s, has he gotten all this wealth.” 31:2 Ya’aqub saw the expression on Laban’s face, and, behold, it was not toward him as before. 31:3 Mar-Yah said to Ya’aqub, “Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”

31:4 Ya’aqub sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock, 31:5 and said to them, “I see the expression on your father’s face, that it is not toward me as before; but God of my father has been with me. 31:6 You know that I have served your father with all of my strength. 31:7 Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me. 31:8 If he said this, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore speckled. If he said this, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ and then all the flock bore streaked. 31:9 Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock, and given them to me. 31:10 It happened during mating season that I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled. 31:11 The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Ya’aqub,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ 31:12 He said, ‘Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you. 31:13 I am God of Beit’el, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.’”

31:14 Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there y