Genesis 9:1--15:21
God’s Covenant with Humankind through Noah
9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
9:2 Every living creature of the earth and every bird of the sky will be terrified of you. Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea are under your authority.
9:3 You may eat any moving thing that lives. As I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
9:4 But you must not eat meat with its life (that is, its blood) in it.
9:5 For your lifeblood I will surely exact punishment, from every living creature I will exact punishment. From each person I will exact punishment for the life of the individual since the man was his relative.
9:6 “Whoever sheds human blood,
by other humans
must his blood be shed;
for in God’s image
God has made humankind.”
9:7 But as for you, be fruitful and multiply; increase abundantly on the earth and multiply on it.”
9:8 God said to Noah and his sons,
9:9 “Look! I now confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you
9:10 and with every living creature that is with you, including the birds, the domestic animals, and every living creature of the earth with you, all those that came out of the ark with you – every living creature of the earth.
9:11 I confirm my covenant with you: Never again will all living things be wiped out by the waters of a flood; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”
9:12 And God said, “This is the guarantee of the covenant I am making with you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all subsequent generations:
9:13 I will place my rainbow in the clouds, and it will become a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth.
9:14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,
9:15 then I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures of all kinds. Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy all living things.
9:16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”
9:17 So God said to Noah, “This is the guarantee of the covenant that I am confirming between me and all living things that are on the earth.”
The Curse of Canaan
9:18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Now Ham was the father of Canaan.)
9:19 These were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.
9:20 Noah, a man of the soil, began to plant a vineyard.
9:21 When he drank some of the wine, he got drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.
9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers who were outside.
9:23 Shem and Japheth took the garment and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so they did not see their father’s nakedness.
9:24 When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor he learned what his youngest son had done to him.
9:25 So he said,
“Cursed be Canaan!
The lowest of slaves
he will be to his brothers.”
9:26 He also said,
“Worthy of praise is the Lord, the God of Shem!
May Canaan be the slave of Shem!
9:27 May God enlarge Japheth’s territory and numbers!
May he live in the tents of Shem
and may Canaan be his slave!”
9:28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years.
9:29 The entire lifetime of Noah was 950 years, and then he died.
The Table of Nations
10:1 This is the account of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.
10:2 The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
10:3 The sons of Gomer were Askenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
10:4 The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim, and the Dodanim.
10:5 From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to its language, according to their families, by their nations.
10:6 The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
10:7 The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.
10:8 Cush was the father of Nimrod; he began to be a valiant warrior on the earth.
10:9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. (That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.”)
10:10 The primary regions of his kingdom were Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar.
10:11 From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,
10:12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and the great city Calah.
10:13 Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites,
10:14 Pathrusites, Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorites.
10:15 Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, Heth,
10:16 the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites,
10:17 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites,
10:18 Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. Eventually the families of the Canaanites were scattered
10:19 and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon all the way to Gerar as far as Gaza, and all the way to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
10:20 These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and by their nations.
10:21 And sons were also born to Shem (the older brother of Japheth), the father of all the sons of Eber.
10:22 The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
10:23 The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
10:24 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber.
10:25 Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg because in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan.
10:26 Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,
10:27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,
10:28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba,
10:29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.
10:30 Their dwelling place was from Mesha all the way to Sephar in the eastern hills.
10:31 These are the sons of Shem according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and according to their nations.
10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations, and from these the nations spread over the earth after the flood.
The Dispersion of the Nations at Babel
11:1 The whole earth had a common language and a common vocabulary.
11:2 When the people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
11:3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” (They had brick instead of stone and tar instead of mortar.)
11:4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise we will be scattered across the face of the entire earth.”
11:5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people had started building.
11:6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be beyond them.
11:7 Come, let’s go down and confuse their language so they won’t be able to understand each other.”
11:8 So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building the city.
11:9 That is why its name was called Babel – because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.
The Genealogy of Shem
11:10 This is the account of Shem.
Shem was 100 old when he became the father of Arphaxad, two years after the flood.
11:11 And after becoming the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah.
11:13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber.
11:15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg.
11:17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu.
11:19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug.
11:21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor.
11:23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah.
11:25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:26 When Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
The Record of Terah
11:27 This is the account of Terah.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.
11:28 Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans, while his father Terah was still alive.
11:29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah.
11:30 But Sarai was barren; she had no children.
11:31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (the son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and with them he set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came to Haran, they settled there.
11:32 The lifetime of Terah was 205 years, and he died in Haran.
The Obedience of Abram
12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram,
“Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household
to the land that I will show you.
12:2 Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you,
and I will make your name great,
so that you will exemplify divine blessing.
12:3 I will bless those who bless you,
but the one who treats you lightly I must curse,
and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name.”
12:4 So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him to do, and Lot went with him. (Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.)
12:5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they left for the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.
12:6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree of Moreh at Shechem. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.)
12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
12:8 Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord.
12:9 Abram continually journeyed by stages down to the Negev.
The Promised Blessing Jeopardized
12:10 There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay for a while because the famine was severe.
12:11 As he approached Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman.
12:12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive.
12:13 So tell them you are my sister so that it may go well for me because of you and my life will be spared on account of you.”
12:14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
12:15 When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. So Abram’s wife was taken into the household of Pharaoh,
12:16 and he did treat Abram well on account of her. Abram received sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
12:17 But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
12:18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why didn’t 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? Here is your wife! Take her and go!”
12:20 Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram, and so they expelled him, along with his wife and all his possessions.
Abram’s Solution to the Strife
13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot.
13:2 (Now Abram was very wealthy in livestock, silver, and gold.)
13:3 And he journeyed from place to place from the Negev as far as Bethel. He returned to the place where he had pitched his tent at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai.
13:4 This was the place where he had first built the altar, and there Abram worshiped the Lord.
13:5 Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and tents.
13:6 But the land could not support them while they were living side by side. Because their possessions were so great, they were not able to live alongside one another.
13:7 So there were quarrels between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.)
13:8 Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives.
13:9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself now from me. If you go to the left, then I’ll go to the right, but if you go to the right, then I’ll go to the left.”
13:10 Lot looked up and saw the whole region of the Jordan. He noticed that all of it was well-watered (before the Lord obliterated Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, all the way to Zoar.
13:11 Lot chose for himself the whole region of the Jordan and traveled toward the east.
So the relatives separated from each other.
13:12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain and pitched his tents next to Sodom.
13:13 (Now the people of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord.)
13:14 After Lot had departed, the Lord said to Abram, “Look from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west.
13:15 I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants forever.
13:16 And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted.
13:17 Get up and walk throughout the land, for I will give it to you.”
13:18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live by the oaks of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.
The Blessing of Victory for God’s People
14:1 At that time Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations
14:2 went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
14:3 These last five kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).
14:4 For twelve years they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
14:5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who were his allies came and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim,
14:6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is near the desert.
14:7 Then they attacked En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh) again, and they conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazazon Tamar.
14:8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and prepared for battle. In the Valley of Siddim they met
14:9 Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar. Four kings fought against five.
14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them, but some survivors fled to the hills.
14:11 The four victorious kings took all the possessions and food of Sodom and Gomorrah and left.
14:12 They also took Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions when they left, for Lot was living in Sodom.
14:13 A fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner. (All these were allied by treaty with Abram.)
14:14 When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken captive, he mobilized his 318 trained men who had been born in his household, and he pursued the invaders as far as Dan.
14:15 Then, during the night, Abram divided his forces against them and defeated them. He chased them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.
14:16 He retrieved all the stolen property. He also brought back his nephew Lot and his possessions, as well as the women and the rest of the people.
14:17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram in the Valley of Shaveh (known as the King’s Valley).
14:18 Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (Now he was the priest of the Most High God.)
14:19 He blessed Abram, saying,
“Blessed be Abram by the Most High God,
Creator of heaven and earth.
14:20 Worthy of praise is the Most High God,
who delivered your enemies into your hand.”
Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.
14:21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself.”
14:22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand to the Lord, the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, and vow
14:23 that I will take nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal. That way you can never say, ‘It is I who made Abram rich.’
14:24 I will take nothing except compensation for what the young men have eaten. As for the share of the men who went with me – Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre – let them take their share.”
The Cutting of the Covenant
15:1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram! I am your shield and the one who will reward you in great abundance.”
15:2 But Abram said, “O sovereign Lord, what will you give me since I continue to be childless, and my heir is Eliezer of Damascus?”
15:3 Abram added, “Since you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!”
15:4 But look, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but instead a son who comes from your own body will be your heir.”
15:5 The Lord took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars – if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.”
15:6 Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord considered his response of faith as proof of genuine loyalty.
15:7 The Lord said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
15:8 But Abram said, “O sovereign Lord, by what can I know that I am to possess it?”
15:9 The Lord said to him, “Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
15:10 So Abram took all these for him and then cut them in two and placed each half opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in half.
15:11 When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
15:12 When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, and great terror overwhelmed him.
15:13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country. They will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.
15:14 But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions.
15:15 But as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
15:16 In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.”
15:17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch passed between the animal parts.
15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant with Abram: “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River –
15:19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
15:20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
15:21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
Genesis 27:1--28:22
Jacob Cheats Esau out of the Blessing
27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he was almost blind, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son!” “Here I am!” Esau replied.
27:2 Isaac said, “Since I am so old, I could die at any time.
27:3 Therefore, take your weapons – your quiver and your bow – and go out into the open fields and hunt down some wild game for me.
27:4 Then prepare for me some tasty food, the kind I love, and bring it to me. Then I will eat it so that I may bless you before I die.”
27:5 Now Rebekah had been listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau went out to the open fields to hunt down some wild game and bring it back,
27:6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau,
27:7 ‘Bring me some wild game and prepare for me some tasty food. Then I will eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before I die.’
27:8 Now then, my son, do exactly what I tell you!
27:9 Go to the flock and get me two of the best young goats. I’ll prepare them in a tasty way for your father, just the way he loves them.
27:10 Then you will take it to your father. Thus he will eat it and bless you before he dies.”
27:11 “But Esau my brother is a hairy man,” Jacob protested to his mother Rebekah, “and I have smooth skin!
27:12 My father may touch me! Then he’ll think I’m mocking him and I’ll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.”
27:13 So his mother told him, “Any curse against you will fall on me, my son! Just obey me! Go and get them for me!”
27:14 So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother. She prepared some tasty food, just the way his father loved it.
27:15 Then Rebekah took her older son Esau’s best clothes, which she had with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob.
27:16 She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck.
27:17 Then she handed the tasty food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob.
27:18 He went to his father and said, “My father!” Isaac replied, “Here I am. Which are you, my son?”
27:19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I’ve done as you told me. Now sit up and eat some of my wild game so that you can bless me.”
27:20 But Isaac asked his son, “How in the world did you find it so quickly, my son?” “Because the Lord your God brought it to me,” he replied.
27:21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer so I can touch you, my son, and know for certain if you really are my son Esau.”
27:22 So Jacob went over to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s.”
27:23 He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s hands. So Isaac blessed Jacob.
27:24 Then he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” “I am,” Jacob replied.
27:25 Isaac said, “Bring some of the wild game for me to eat, my son. Then I will bless you.” So Jacob brought it to him, and he ate it. He also brought him wine, and Isaac drank.
27:26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here and kiss me, my son.”
27:27 So Jacob went over and kissed him. When Isaac caught the scent of his clothing, he blessed him, saying,
“Yes, my son smells
like the scent of an open field
which the Lord has blessed.
27:28 May God give you
the dew of the sky
and the richness of the earth,
and plenty of grain and new wine.
27:29 May peoples serve you
and nations bow down to you.
You will be lord over your brothers,
and the sons of your mother will bow down to you.
May those who curse you be cursed,
and those who bless you be blessed.”
27:30 Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, when his brother Esau returned from the hunt.
27:31 He also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Esau said to him, “My father, get up and eat some of your son’s wild game. Then you can bless me.”
27:32 His father Isaac asked, “Who are you?” “I am your firstborn son,” he replied, “Esau!”
27:33 Isaac began to shake violently and asked, “Then who else hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it just before you arrived, and I blessed him. He will indeed be blessed!”
27:34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he wailed loudly and bitterly. He said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!”
27:35 But Isaac replied, “Your brother came in here deceitfully and took away your blessing.”
27:36 Esau exclaimed, “‘Jacob’ is the right name for him! He has tripped me up two times! He took away my birthright, and now, look, he has taken away my blessing!” Then he asked, “Have you not kept back a blessing for me?”
27:37 Isaac replied to Esau, “Look! I have made him lord over you. I have made all his relatives his servants and provided him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”
27:38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only that one blessing, my father? Bless me too!” Then Esau wept loudly.
27:39 So his father Isaac said to him,
“Indeed, your home will be
away from the richness of the earth,
and away from the dew of the sky above.
27:40 You will live by your sword
but you will serve your brother.
When you grow restless,
you will tear off his yoke
from your neck.”
27:41 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing his father had given to his brother. Esau said privately, “The time of mourning for my father is near; then I will kill my brother Jacob!”
27:42 When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, she quickly summoned her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you.
27:43 Now then, my son, do what I say. Run away immediately to my brother Laban in Haran.
27:44 Live with him for a little while until your brother’s rage subsides.
27:45 Stay there until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I’ll send someone to bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”
27:46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am deeply depressed because of these daughters of Heth. If Jacob were to marry one of these daughters of Heth who live in this land, I would want to die!”
28:1 So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman!
28:2 Leave immediately for Paddan Aram! Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and find yourself a wife there, among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
28:3 May the sovereign God bless you! May he make you fruitful and give you a multitude of descendants! Then you will become a large nation.
28:4 May he give you and your descendants the blessing he gave to Abraham so that you may possess the land God gave to Abraham, the land where you have been living as a temporary resident.”
28:5 So Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
28:6 Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him off to Paddan Aram to find a wife there. As he blessed him, Isaac commanded him, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman.”
28:7 Jacob obeyed his father and mother and left for Paddan Aram.
28:8 Then Esau realized that the Canaanite women were displeasing to his father Isaac.
28:9 So Esau went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, along with the wives he already had.
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
28:10 Meanwhile Jacob left Beer Sheba and set out for Haran.
28:11 He reached a certain place where he decided to camp because the sun had gone down. He took one of the stones and placed it near his head. Then he fell asleep in that place
28:12 and had a dream. He saw a stairway erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens. The angels of God were going up and coming down it
28:13 and the Lord stood at its top. He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the ground you are lying on.
28:14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using your name and that of your descendants.
28:15 I am with you! I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you!”
28:16 Then Jacob woke up and thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, but I did not realize it!”
28:17 He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is nothing else than the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!”
28:18 Early in the morning Jacob took the stone he had placed near his head and set it up as a sacred stone. Then he poured oil on top of it.
28:19 He called that place Bethel, although the former name of the town was Luz.
28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God is with me and protects me on this journey I am taking and gives me food to eat and clothing to wear,
28:21 and I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will become my God.
28:22 Then this stone that I have set up as a sacred stone will be the house of God, and I will surely give you back a tenth of everything you give me.”
Genesis 1:1-31
The Creation of the World
1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
1:2 Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water.
1:3 God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light!
1:4 God saw that the light was good, so God separated the light from the darkness.
1:5 God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day.
1:6 God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate water from water.
1:7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. 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 water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear.” It was so.
1:10 God called the dry ground “land” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good.
1:11 God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” It was so.
1:12 The land produced vegetation – plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. 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 the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years,
1:15 and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” It was so.
1:16 God made two great lights – the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also.
1:17 God placed the lights in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth,
1:18 to preside over the day and the night, and to separate 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 water swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.”
1:21 God created the great sea creatures and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good.
1:22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”
1:23 There was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.
1:24 God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” It was so.
1:25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.
1:26 Then God said, “Let us make
humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.”
1:27 God created humankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them,
male and female he created them.
1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”
1:29 Then God said, “I now give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
1:30 And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food.” It was so.
1:31 God saw all that he had made – and it was very good! There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.
1 Samuel 8:7-8
8:7 The
Lord said to Samuel, “Do everything the people request of you.
For it is not you that they have rejected, but it is me that they have rejected as their king.
8:8 Just as they have done
from the day that I brought them up from Egypt until this very day, they have rejected me and have served other gods. This is what they are also doing to you.
1 Samuel 10:27
10:27 But some wicked men
said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and did not even bring him a gift. But Saul said nothing about it.
Luke 19:14
19:14 But his citizens
hated
him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man
to be king
over us!’
John 18:40
18:40 Then they shouted back,
“Not this man,
but Barabbas!”
(Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.
)
John 19:15
19:15 Then they shouted out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked, “Shall I crucify your king?” The high priests replied, “We have no king except Caesar!”