No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this.<n id="1" /> What did our ancestor<n id="2" /> do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth.<n id="3" />

You have said, &#8216;It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped<n id="1" /> by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all?<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">God said, &#8220;Let the land produce vegetation:<n id="1" /> plants yielding seeds according to their kinds,<n id="2" /> and<n id="3" /> trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.&#8221; It was so.

<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>

Then God said, &#8220;I now<n id="1" /> 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.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">Now<n id="1" /> no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field<n id="2" /> had yet sprouted, for the <sc>Lordsc> God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.<n id="3" />

The <sc>Lordsc> God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil,<n id="1" /> every tree that was pleasing to look at<n id="2" /> and good for food. (Now<n id="3" /> the tree of life<n id="4" /> and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil<n id="5" /> were in the middle of the orchard.)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.

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> God said to the serpent,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Because you have done this,p> <p class="poetry">cursed<n id="2" /> are you above all the wild beastsp> <p class="poetry">and all the living creatures of the field!p> <p class="poetry">On your belly you will crawl<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and dust you will eat<n id="4" /> all the days of your life.p>

And the <sc>Lordsc> God said, &#8220;Now<n id="1" /> that the man has become like one of us,<n id="2" /> knowing<n id="3" /> good and evil, he must not be allowed<n id="4" /> to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">And Adam had marital relations<n id="1" /> with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth, saying, &#8220;God has given<n id="2" /> me another child<n id="3" /> in place of Abel because Cain killed him.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">God said, &#8220;No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac.<n id="1" /> I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual<n id="2" /> covenant for his descendants after him.

<p class="bodytext">Abraham took his son Ishmael and every male in his household (whether born in his house or bought with money)<n id="1" /> and circumcised them<n id="2" /> on that very same day, just as God had told him to do.

When God made me wander<n id="1" /> from my father&#8217;s house, I told her, &#8216;This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me:<n id="2" /> Every place we go, say about me, &#8220;He is my brother.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;p>

But God said to Abraham, &#8220;Do not be upset<n id="1" /> about the boy or your slave wife. Do<n id="2" /> all that Sarah is telling<n id="3" /> you because through Isaac your descendants will be counted.<n id="4" />

&#8220;Do not harm the boy!&#8221;<n id="1" /> the angel said.<n id="2" /> &#8220;Do not do anything to him, for now I know<n id="3" /> that you fear<n id="4" /> God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.&#8221;p>

&#8220;Listen, sir,<n id="1" /> you are a mighty prince<n id="2" /> among us! You may bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb to prevent you<n id="3" /> from burying your dead.&#8221;p>

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, &#8220;If God is with me and protects me on this journey I am taking and gives me food<n id="1" /> to eat and clothing to wear,

Then Leah said, &#8220;God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons.&#8221; So she named him Zebulun.<n id="1" />p>

If the God of my father &#8211; the God of Abraham, the one whom Isaac fears<n id="1" /> &#8211; had not been with me, you would certainly have sent me away empty-handed! But God saw how I was oppressed and how hard I worked,<n id="2" /> and he rebuked you last night.&#8221;p>