The <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> took him outside and said, &#8220;Gaze into the sky and count the stars &#8211; if you are able to count them!&#8221; Then he said to him, &#8220;So will your descendants be.&#8221;p>

so that I may make you solemnly promise<n id="1" /> by the <sc>Lordsc>, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire<n id="2" /> a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living.

I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them<n id="1" /> all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">So his father Isaac said to him,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Indeed,<n id="1" /> your home will bep> <p class="poetry">away from the richness<n id="2" /> of the earth,p> <p class="poetry">and away from the dew of the sky above.p>

and had a dream.<n id="1" /> He saw<n id="2" /> a stairway<n id="3" /> erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens. The angels of God were going up and coming down it

He was afraid and said, &#8220;What an awesome place this is! This is nothing else than the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">because of the God of your father,p> <p class="poetry">who will help you,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">because of the sovereign God,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">who will bless you<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">with blessings from the sky above,p> <p class="poetry">blessings from the deep that lies below,p> <p class="poetry">and blessings of the breasts and womb.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then God said, &#8220;Let us make<n id="1" />p> <p class="bodytext">humankind<n id="2" /> in our image, after our likeness,<n id="3" /> so they may rule<n id="4" /> over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth,<n id="5" /> and over all the creatures that move<n id="6" /> on the earth.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">God blessed<n id="1" /> them and said<n id="2" /> to them, &#8220;Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it!<n id="3" /> Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.&#8221;<n id="4" />

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 &#8211; everything that has the breath of life in it &#8211; I give<n id="1" /> every green plant for food.&#8221; It was so.p>

The <sc>Lordsc> God formed<n id="1" /> out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would<n id="2" /> name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

So the <sc>Lordsc> said, &#8220;I will wipe humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth &#8211; everything from humankind to animals,<n id="1" /> including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them.&#8221;p>

I am about to bring<n id="1" /> floodwaters<n id="2" /> on the earth to destroy<n id="3" /> from under the sky all the living creatures that have the breath of life in them.<n id="4" /> Everything that is on the earth will die,

<p class="bodytext">In the six hundredth year of Noah&#8217;s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month &#8211; on that day all the fountains of the great deep<n id="1" /> burst open and the floodgates of the heavens<n id="2" /> were opened.

So the <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> destroyed<n id="2" /> every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky.<n id="3" /> They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived.<n id="4" />

Every living creature of the earth and every bird of the sky will be terrified of you.<n id="1" /> Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea are under your authority.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">But God heard the boy&#8217;s voice.<n id="1" /> The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, &#8220;What is the matter,<n id="2" /> Hagar? Don&#8217;t be afraid, for God has heard<n id="3" /> the boy&#8217;s voice right where he is crying.

I will indeed bless you,<n id="1" /> and I will greatly multiply<n id="2" /> your descendants<n id="3" /> so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession<n id="4" /> of the strongholds<n id="5" /> of their enemies.

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc>, the God of heaven, who took me from my father&#8217;s house and the land of my relatives,<n id="1" /> promised me with a solemn oath,<n id="2" /> &#8216;To your descendants I will give this land.&#8217; He will send his angel<n id="3" /> before you so that you may find<n id="4" /> a wife for my son from there.