but with Cain and his offering he was not pleased. ¹  So Cain became very angry, ²  and his expression was downcast. ³ 

God said to Noah and his sons, ¹ 

You must go instead to my country and to my relatives ¹  to find ²  a wife for my son Isaac.”

but you must go to the family of my father and to my relatives to find ¹  a wife for my son.’

May the sovereign God ¹  bless you! May he make you fruitful and give you a multitude of descendants! ²  Then you will become ³  a large nation. ⁴ 

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

To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase ¹  your labor pains; ²  with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, ³  but he will dominate ⁴  you.”

By the sweat of your brow ¹  you will eat food until you return to the ground, ²  for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” ³ 

But Abel brought ¹  some of the firstborn of his flock – even the fattest ²  of them. And the Lord was pleased with ³  Abel and his offering,

Make a roof for the ark and finish it, leaving 18 inches ¹  from the top. ²  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, ¹  who quickly prepared it. ² 

Then Shechem said to Dinah’s ¹  father and brothers, “Let me find favor in your sight, and whatever you require of me ²  I’ll give. ³ 

All the men who assembled at the city gate ¹  agreed with ²  Hamor and his son Shechem. Every male who assembled at the city gate ³  was circumcised.

So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. ¹  Purify yourselves and change your clothes. ² 

May the sovereign God ¹  grant you mercy before the man so that he may release ²  your other brother ³  and Benjamin! As for me, if I lose my children I lose them.” ⁴ 

Now, do not be upset and do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here, ¹  for God sent me ²  ahead of you to preserve life!

When they had brought them outside, they ¹  said, “Run ²  for your lives! Don’t look ³  behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! ⁴  Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”

“Do not harm the boy!” ¹  the angel said. ²  “Do not do anything to him, for now I know ³  that you fear ⁴  God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin ¹  on me by making me a foul odor ²  among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I ³  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? ¹  Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow down to you?” ²