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    NIV, Encountering the Spirit Bible: Discover the Power of the Holy Spirit
    NIV, Encountering the Spirit Bible: Discover the Power of the Holy Spirit
    NIV, Encountering the Spirit Bible: Discover the Power of the Holy Spirit
    Ebook3,622 pages37 hours

    NIV, Encountering the Spirit Bible: Discover the Power of the Holy Spirit

    By Jack Hayford and Zondervan

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    About this ebook

    Discover the Power of the Holy Spirit
    Understand the Holy Spirit in a whole new way as you spend 52 weeks studying different aspects of the Spirit’s activity throughout the Bible. As you study, you'll grow in your own walk with the living Spirit, who brings the power of God into your daily life. Through 52 studies that lead you to all parts of the Bible, you'll come to uncover the mystery, power and influence of the Spirit and discover how he still works powerfully today in the lives of his followers.
    The Encounter Bible Series introduces you to the three-in-one God as each volume dives deeply into a study of each person of the Trinity: God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. As you read these devotional study notes alongside the text of the NIV Bible, you’ll begin to gain a fuller understanding of the God of the Bible.
    Features:
    • Full text of the NIV
    • 52 weeks of devotional readings about the Holy Spirit, including discussion questions and options for deeper study
    • Topical index

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZondervan
    Release dateFeb 19, 2013
    ISBN9780310421283
    NIV, Encountering the Spirit Bible: Discover the Power of the Holy Spirit
    Author

    Jack Hayford

    JACK HAYFORD wrote or collaborated on over 100 books and composed over 600 songs. He was the founding pastor of The Church On The Way in Van Nuys, California, where he served as the senior pastor for more than three decades. Pastor Jack also served as the Chancellor Emeritus of The King's University and an apostolic elder at Gateway Church in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.

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      Book preview

      NIV, Encountering the Spirit Bible - Jack Hayford

      NIV

      Encountering the Spirit Bible

      God’s Divine Character Revealed

      Table of Contents

      Cover Page

      OLD TESTAMENT

      NEW TESTAMENT

      Articles and Resources

      Copyright

      How to Use the Encountering the Spirit (NIV), eBook Edition

      Following is a guide to navigating this eBook on your digital device. Although functionality and capability of digital devices vary widely, the following notes will help you find the many helpful features of this eBook no matter which device you’re using.

      Footnotes

      All footnotes found in this Bible are represented as links. Use your reading device to select and activate a link.

      A number located inside brackets ([1]) links to a footnote.

      Navigation

      To navigate throughout this eBook edition Bible, use your reading device to access the Table of Contents. The Table of Contents provides instant access to every book of the Bible, and will point you toward all of the additional study resources contained within this eBook edition Bible.

      If you have further questions, we recommend that you refer to your specific eReader’s instruction manual or customer support guide.

      The Old Testament

      Genesis by Chapters

      Genesis

      Genesis 1

      The Beginning

      ¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

      ³And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. ⁴God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

      ⁶And God said, Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water. ⁷So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸God called the vault sky. And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

      ⁹And God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear. And it was so. ¹⁰God called the dry ground land, and the gathered waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good.

      ¹¹Then God said, Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. And it was so. ¹²The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

      ¹⁴And God said, Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth. And it was so. ¹⁶God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

      ²⁰And God said, Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky. ²¹So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²²God blessed them and said, Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth. ²³And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

      ²⁴And God said, Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind. And it was so. ²⁵God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

      ²⁶Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[1] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

      ²⁷So God created mankind in his own image,

      in the image of God he created them;

      male and female he created them.

      ²⁸God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.

      ²⁹Then God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food. And it was so.

      ³¹God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

      The Holy Spirit’s Divine Nature

      THE HOLY SPIRIT IS … ALL-POWERFUL

      1 minute

      Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Genesis 1:2

      From formlessness, emptiness and darkness, God—with his Son and the Holy Spirit—created the universe, the world around us. Such power is beyond our human comprehension. We can see that power in the created world—the restlessness of the oceans and rivers, the strength of the wind and the sun, the movement of the moon and the planets and the stars.

      And to all who call Jesus their Lord and Savior, God sends the Holy Spirit to live within them, to guide and protect them. As we face the challenges of life, we can simply ask the Holy Spirit to give us the strength we need, for he is all-powerful.

      If you have more time, read Genesis 1:1–31 and do one or both of these exercises.

      5 minutes

      PRAYER OF RESPONSE

      Powerful God, you invite us to call you Father and get to know you personally. But let us never lose our awe of your power and might.

      10 minutes

      FURTHER STUDY

      Go here for additional verses on The Holy Spirit’s Divine Nature. Look up some of the verses to learn more on this topic.

      WORD TO TAKE WITH YOU TODAY: Power.

      Genesis 2

      ¹Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

      ²By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. ³Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

      Adam and Eve

      ⁴This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

      ⁵Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth[2] and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, ⁶but streams[3] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. ⁷Then the LORD God formed a man[4] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

      ⁸Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. ⁹The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

      ¹⁰A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. ¹¹The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹²(The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin[5] and onyx are also there.) ¹³The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.[6] ¹⁴The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

      ¹⁵The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. ¹⁶And the LORD God commanded the man, You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.

      ¹⁸The LORD God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.

      ¹⁹Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

      But for Adam[7] no suitable helper was found. ²¹So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs[8] and then closed up the place with flesh. ²²Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib[9] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

      ²³The man said,

      "This is now bone of my bones

      and flesh of my flesh;

      she shall be called ‘woman,’

      for she was taken out of man."

      ²⁴That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

      ²⁵Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

      Genesis 3

      The Fall

      ¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?

      ²The woman said to the serpent, We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ 

      ⁴You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman. ⁵For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

      ⁶When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

      ⁸Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ⁹But the LORD God called to the man, Where are you?

      ¹⁰He answered, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.

      ¹¹And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?

      ¹²The man said, The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.

      ¹³Then the LORD God said to the woman, What is this you have done?

      The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

      ¹⁴So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,

      "Cursed are you above all livestock

      and all wild animals!

      You will crawl on your belly

      and you will eat dust

      all the days of your life.

      ¹⁵And I will put enmity

      between you and the woman,

      and between your offspring[10] and hers;

      he will crush[11] your head,

      and you will strike his heel."

      ¹⁶To the woman he said,

      "I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;

      with painful labor you will give birth to children.

      Your desire will be for your husband,

      and he will rule over you."

      ¹⁷To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

      "Cursed is the ground because of you;

      through painful toil you will eat food from it

      all the days of your life.

      ¹⁸It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

      and you will eat the plants of the field.

      ¹⁹By the sweat of your brow

      you will eat your food

      until you return to the ground,

      since from it you were taken;

      for dust you are

      and to dust you will return."

      ²⁰Adam[12] named his wife Eve,[13] because she would become the mother of all the living.

      ²¹The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. ²²And the LORD God said, The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever. ²³So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. ²⁴After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[14] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

      Genesis 4

      Cain and Abel

      ¹Adam[15] made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.[16] She said, With the help of the LORD I have brought forth[17] a man. ²Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

      Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. ³In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. ⁴And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

      ⁶Then the LORD said to Cain, Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.

      ⁸Now Cain said to his brother Abel, Let’s go out to the field.[18] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

      ⁹Then the LORD said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel?

      I don’t know, he replied. Am I my brother’s keeper?

      ¹⁰The LORD said, What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. ¹¹Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹²When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.

      ¹³Cain said to the LORD, My punishment is more than I can bear. ¹⁴Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.

      ¹⁵But the LORD said to him, "Not so[19]; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. ¹⁶So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod,[20] east of Eden.

      ¹⁷Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. ¹⁸To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

      ¹⁹Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. ²⁰Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. ²¹His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. ²²Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of[21] bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

      ²³Lamech said to his wives,

      "Adah and Zillah, listen to me;

      wives of Lamech, hear my words.

      I have killed a man for wounding me,

      a young man for injuring me.

      ²⁴If Cain is avenged seven times,

      then Lamech seventy-seven times."

      ²⁵Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth,[22] saying, God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him. ²⁶Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.

      At that time people began to call on[23] the name of the LORD.

      Genesis 5

      From Adam to Noah

      ¹This is the written account of Adam’s family line.

      When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. ²He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them Mankind[24] when they were created.

      ³When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. ⁴After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ⁵Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.

      ⁶When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father[25] of Enosh. ⁷After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. ⁸Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.

      ⁹When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. ¹⁰After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹¹Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.

      ¹²When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. ¹³After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁴Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.

      ¹⁵When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. ¹⁶After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁷Altogether, Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.

      ¹⁸When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. ¹⁹After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁰Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.

      ²¹When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. ²²After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. ²³Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. ²⁴Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

      ²⁵When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. ²⁶After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁷Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.

      ²⁸When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. ²⁹He named him Noah[26] and said, He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed. ³⁰After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. ³¹Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.

      ³²After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

      Genesis 6

      Wickedness in the World

      ¹When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, ²the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. ³Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with[27] humans forever, for they are mortal[28]; their days will be a hundred and twenty years."

      ⁴The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

      ⁵The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. ⁷So the LORD said, I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them. ⁸But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

      Noah and the Flood

      ⁹This is the account of Noah and his family.

      Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. ¹⁰Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

      ¹¹Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. ¹²God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. ¹³So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. ¹⁴So make yourself an ark of cypress[29] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. ¹⁵This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[30] ¹⁶Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[31] high all around.[32] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. ¹⁷I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. ¹⁸But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. ²⁰Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."

      ²²Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

      Genesis 7

      ¹The LORD then said to Noah, Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. ²Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, ³and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. ⁴Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.

      ⁵And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.

      ⁶Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. ⁷And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, ⁹male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

      ¹¹In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. ¹²And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

      ¹³On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. ¹⁴They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. ¹⁵Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. ¹⁶The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

      ¹⁷For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. ²⁰The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.[33],[34] ²¹Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. ²²Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. ²³Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

      ²⁴The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

      Genesis 8

      ¹But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. ²Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. ³The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, ⁴and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

      ⁶After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark ⁷and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. ⁸Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. ⁹But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. ¹⁰He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. ¹¹When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. ¹²He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

      ¹³By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. ¹⁴By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

      ¹⁵Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. ¹⁷Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.

      ¹⁸So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.

      ²⁰Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. ²¹The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though[35] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

      ²²"As long as the earth endures,

      seedtime and harvest,

      cold and heat,

      summer and winter,

      day and night

      will never cease."

      Genesis 9

      God’s Covenant With Noah

      ¹Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. ²The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. ³Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

      ⁴"But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. ⁵And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.

      ⁶"Whoever sheds human blood,

      by humans shall their blood be shed;

      for in the image of God

      has God made mankind.

      ⁷As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it."

      ⁸Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ⁹I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you ¹⁰and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. ¹¹I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.

      ¹²And God said, This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.

      ¹⁷So God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.

      The Sons of Noah

      ¹⁸The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) ¹⁹These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.

      ²⁰Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded[36] to plant a vineyard. ²¹When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. ²²Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. ²³But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.

      ²⁴When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵he said,

      "Cursed be Canaan!

      The lowest of slaves

      will he be to his brothers."

      ²⁶He also said,

      "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Shem!

      May Canaan be the slave of Shem.

      ²⁷May God extend Japheth’s[37] territory;

      may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,

      and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth."

      ²⁸After the flood Noah lived 350 years. ²⁹Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.

      Genesis 10

      The Table of Nations

      ¹This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.

      The Japhethites

      ²The sons[38] of Japheth:

      Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshek and Tiras.

      ³The sons of Gomer:

      Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.

      ⁴The sons of Javan:

      Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites and the Rodanites.[39] ⁵(From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)

      The Hamites

      ⁶The sons of Ham:

      Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan.

      ⁷The sons of Cush:

      Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteka.

      The sons of Raamah:

      Sheba and Dedan.

      ⁸Cush was the father[40] of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth. ⁹He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD. ¹⁰The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in[41] Shinar.[42] ¹¹From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir,[43] Calah ¹²and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city.

      ¹³Egypt was the father of

      the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, ¹⁴Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites.

      ¹⁵Canaan was the father of

      Sidon his firstborn,[44] and of the Hittites, ¹⁶Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, ¹⁷Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, ¹⁸Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.

      Later the Canaanite clans scattered ¹⁹and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, as far as Lasha.

      ²⁰These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

      The Semites

      ²¹Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was[45] Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.

      ²²The sons of Shem:

      Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.

      ²³The sons of Aram:

      Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshek.[46]

      ²⁴Arphaxad was the father of[47] Shelah,

      and Shelah the father of Eber.

      ²⁵Two sons were born to Eber:

      One was named Peleg,[48] because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.

      ²⁶Joktan was the father of

      Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

      ³⁰The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.

      ³¹These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

      ³²These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.

      Genesis 11

      The Tower of Babel

      ¹Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. ²As people moved eastward,[49] they found a plain in Shinar[50] and settled there.

      ³They said to each other, Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly. They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. ⁴Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.

      ⁵But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶The LORD said, If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.

      ⁸So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹That is why it was called Babel[51]—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

      From Shem to Abram

      ¹⁰This is the account of Shem’s family line.

      Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father[52] of Arphaxad. ¹¹And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

      ¹²When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. ¹³And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.[53]

      ¹⁴When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. ¹⁵And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

      ¹⁶When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. ¹⁷And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

      ¹⁸When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. ¹⁹And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

      ²⁰When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. ²¹And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

      ²²When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. ²³And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

      ²⁴When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. ²⁵And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

      ²⁶After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

      Abram’s Family

      ²⁷This is the account of Terah’s family line.

      Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. ²⁸While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. ²⁹Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah. ³⁰Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.

      ³¹Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there.

      ³²Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.

      Genesis 12

      The Call of Abram

      ¹The LORD had said to Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

      ²"I will make you into a great nation,

      and I will bless you;

      I will make your name great,

      and you will be a blessing.[54]

      ³I will bless those who bless you,

      and whoever curses you I will curse;

      and all peoples on earth

      will be blessed through you."[55]

      ⁴So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. ⁵He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

      ⁶Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring[56] I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

      ⁸From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.

      ⁹Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

      Abram in Egypt

      ¹⁰Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. ¹¹As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, I know what a beautiful woman you are. ¹²When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. ¹³Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.

      ¹⁴When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. ¹⁵And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. ¹⁶He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

      ¹⁷But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai. ¹⁸So Pharaoh summoned Abram. What have you done to me? he said. Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? ¹⁹Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go! ²⁰Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

      Genesis 13

      Abram and Lot Separate

      ¹So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. ²Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.

      ³From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier ⁴and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the LORD.

      ⁵Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. ⁷And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.

      ⁸So Abram said to Lot, Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. ⁹Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.

      ¹⁰Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) ¹¹So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: ¹²Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. ¹³Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.

      ¹⁴The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. ¹⁵All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring[57] forever. ¹⁶I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. ¹⁷Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you."

      ¹⁸So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the LORD.

      Genesis 14

      Abram Rescues Lot

      ¹At the time when Amraphel was king of Shinar,[58] Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goyim, ²these kings went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ³All these latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Dead Sea Valley). ⁴For twelve years they had been subject to Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

      ⁵In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim ⁶and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran near the desert. ⁷Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazezon Tamar.

      ⁸Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboyim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim ⁹against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. ¹⁰Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills. ¹¹The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. ¹²They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.

      ¹³A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brother[59] of Eshkol and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram. ¹⁴When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan. ¹⁵During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. ¹⁶He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.

      ¹⁷After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

      ¹⁸Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, ¹⁹and he blessed Abram, saying,

      "Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

      Creator of heaven and earth.

      ²⁰And praise be to God Most High,

      who delivered your enemies into your hand."

      Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

      ²¹The king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.

      ²²But Abram said to the king of Sodom, With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, ²³that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ ²⁴I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. Let them have their share.

      Genesis 15

      The LORD’s Covenant With Abram

      ¹After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:

      "Do not be afraid, Abram.

      I am your shield,[60]

      your very great reward.[61]"

      ²But Abram said, "Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[62] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus? ³And Abram said, You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."

      ⁴Then the word of the LORD came to him: This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir. ⁵He took him outside and said, Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them. Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring[63] be."

      ⁶Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

      ⁷He also said to him, I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.

      ⁸But Abram said, Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?

      ⁹So the LORD said to him, Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.

      ¹⁰Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. ¹¹Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

      ¹²As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. ¹³Then the LORD said to him, Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. ¹⁴But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. ¹⁵You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.

      ¹⁷When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. ¹⁸On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[64] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— ¹⁹the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."

      Genesis 16

      Hagar and Ishmael

      ¹Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; ²so she said to Abram, The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.

      Abram agreed to what Sarai said. ³So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. ⁴He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

      When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. ⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.

      ⁶Your slave is in your hands, Abram said. Do with her whatever you think best. Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

      ⁷The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. ⁸And he said, Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?

      I’m running away from my mistress Sarai, she answered.

      ⁹Then the angel of the LORD told her, Go back to your mistress and submit to her. ¹⁰The angel added, I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.

      ¹¹The angel of the LORD also said to her:

      "You are now pregnant

      and you will give birth to a son.

      You shall name him Ishmael,[65]

      for the LORD has heard of your misery.

      ¹²He will be a wild donkey of a man;

      his hand will be against everyone

      and everyone’s hand against him,

      and he will live in hostility

      toward[66] all his brothers."

      ¹³She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: You are the God who sees me, for she said, "I have now seen[67] the One who sees me." ¹⁴That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[68]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

      ¹⁵So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. ¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

      Genesis 17

      The Covenant of Circumcision

      ¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty[69]; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. ²Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."

      ³Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, ⁴"As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. ⁵No longer will you be called Abram[70]; your name will be Abraham,[71] for I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. ⁷I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁸The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."

      ⁹Then God said to Abraham, As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. ¹⁰This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹²For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. ¹³Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.

      ¹⁵God also said to Abraham, As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.

      ¹⁷Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety? ¹⁸And Abraham said to God, If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!

      ¹⁹Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.[72] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. ²⁰And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. ²¹But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year." ²²When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.

      ²³On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. ²⁴Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, ²⁵and his son Ishmael was thirteen; ²⁶Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day. ²⁷And every male in Abraham’s household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.

      Genesis 18

      The Three Visitors

      ¹The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. ²Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

      ³He said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord,[73] do not pass your servant by. ⁴Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. ⁵Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant."

      Very well, they answered, do as you say.

      ⁶So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. Quick, he said, "get three seahs[74] of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread."

      ⁷Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. ⁸He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood

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