but with Cain and his offering he was not pleased. So Cain became very angry, and his expression was downcast.

God said to Noah and his sons,

You must go instead to my country and to my relatives to find a wife for my son Isaac.”

but you must go to the family of my father and to my relatives to find a wife for my son.’

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.

Jacob obeyed his father and mother and left for Paddan Aram.

To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.”

By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”

But Abel brought some of the firstborn of his flock – even the fattest of them. And the Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering,

Make a roof for the ark and finish it, leaving 18 inches from the top. Put a door in the side of the ark, and make lower, middle, and upper decks.

Then Abraham ran to the herd and chose a fine, tender calf, and gave it to a servant, who quickly prepared it.

Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Let me find favor in your sight, and whatever you require of me I’ll give.

All the men who assembled at the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem. Every male who assembled at the city gate was circumcised.

So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes.

May the sovereign God grant you mercy before the man so that he may release your other brother and Benjamin! As for me, if I lose my children I lose them.”

Now, do not be upset and do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to preserve life!

When they had brought them outside, they said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”

“Do not harm the boy!” the angel said. “Do not do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin on me by making me a foul odor among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!”

When he told his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him, saying, “What is this dream that you had? Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow down to you?”