So now, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your little children.” Then he consoled them and spoke kindly ¹  to them.

He named him Noah, ¹  saying, “This one will bring us comfort ²  from our labor and from the painful toil of our hands because of the ground that the Lord has cursed.”

Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel ¹  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. ² 

A fugitive ¹  came and told Abram the Hebrew. ²  Now Abram was living by the oaks ³  of Mamre the Amorite, the brother ⁴  of Eshcol and Aner. (All these were allied by treaty ⁵  with Abram.) ⁶ 

So Sarai said to Abram, “Since ¹  the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with ²  my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” ³  Abram did what ⁴  Sarai told him.

Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old ¹  must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants.

Then she went and sat down by herself across from him at quite a distance, about a bowshot ¹  away; for she thought, ²  “I refuse to watch the child die.” ³  So she sat across from him and wept uncontrollably. ⁴ 

(Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth.) Ephron the Hethite ¹  replied to Abraham in the hearing ²  of the sons of Heth – before all who entered the gate ³  of his city –

So Abraham agreed to Ephron’s price ¹  and weighed ²  out for him ³  the price ⁴  that Ephron had quoted ⁵  in the hearing of the sons of Heth – 400 pieces of silver, according to the standard measurement at the time. ⁶ 

Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She replied, ‘The daughter of Bethuel the son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to Nahor.’ ¹  I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.

Then I bowed down and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right path to find the granddaughter ¹  of my master’s brother for his son.

Then he moved away from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over it, so Isaac ¹  named it ²  Rehoboth, ³  saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will prosper in the land.”

Isaac ¹  said, “Bring some of the wild game for me to eat, my son. ²  Then I will bless you.” ³  So Jacob ⁴  brought it to him, and he ate it. He also brought him wine, and Isaac ⁵  drank.

Isaac began to shake violently ¹  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. ²  He will indeed be blessed!”

When Laban heard this news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he rushed out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob ¹  told Laban how he was related to him. ² 

Then Leah said, “God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. ¹ 

Let us go up at once ¹  to Bethel. Then I will make ²  an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distress ³  and has been with me wherever I went.” ⁴ 

Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let’s not lay a hand on him, ¹  for after all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers agreed. ² 

So when the Midianite ¹  merchants passed by, Joseph’s brothers pulled ²  him ³  out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The Ishmaelites ⁴  then took Joseph to Egypt.

Judah recognized them and said, “She is more upright ¹  than I am, because I wouldn’t give her to Shelah my son.” He did not have sexual relations with her ²  again.