Category:Book of Genesis

Note: This page contains the first twenty-five chapters of the Book of Genesis, Chapters 26 - 34 are on this page, and Chapters 35 - 50 are on this page.

''This book is so called from its treating of the GENERATION, that is, of the creation and the beginning of the world. The Hebrews call it BERESITH, from the Word with which it begins. It contains not only the history of the Creation of the world; but also an account of its progress during the space of 2369 years, that is, until the death of JOSEPH.''





Genesis Chapter 1
God created Heaven, Earth, and everything within them in six days.

1:1. In the beginning God created Heaven and earth.



1:2. The earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; the spirit of God moved over the waters.

'''1:3. God said: "Let light be made." And light was made.'''

1:4. God saw that the light was good; and He divided the light from the darkness.

1:5. He called the light Day and the darkness Night, and there was evening and morning followed--after the first day.

1:6. Then God said, "Let there be a firmament made amid the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."

A firmament. . .By this name is here understood the whole space between the earth, and the highest stars. The lower part of which divided the waters that are upon the earth, from those that are above in the clouds.



1:7. God made a firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament, from those that were above the firmament, and it was so.

1:8. God called the firmament Heaven, and the evening came and morning followed--the second day.

'''1:9. God also said, "Let the waters that are under Heaven be gathered together into one place, and let dry land appear." And it was done.'''

'''1:10. God called the dry land Earth, and the accumulations of water He called Seas. God saw that it was good.'''

'''1:11. Then He said, "Let the earth bring forth green herbs, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the earth." And it was so done.'''

'''1:12. The earth brought forth the green herbs, and such as yielded seed according to its kind, and the tree that bore fruit, having seed each one according to its kind. God saw that it was good.'''

1:13. The evening came and morning followedthe third day.

1:14. Then God said, "Let there be lights made in the firmament of Heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years:

1:15. "to shine in the firmament of Heaven, and to give light upon the earth," and it was so done.

1:16. God made two great lights -- a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night -- and the stars,

1:17. and He set them in the firmament of Heaven to shine upon the earth



'''1:18. to rule the day and the night, and to divide the light and the darkness. God saw that it was good.'''

1:19. The evening came and morning followed--the fourth day.

1:20. God also said: let the waters bring forth the creeping creature having life, and the fowl that may fly over the earth under the firmament of Heaven.

'''1:21. God created the great whales, and every living and moving creature, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged fowl according to its kind. God saw that it was good.'''



1:22. He blessed them, saying, "Increase and multiply, and fill the waters of the sea: and let the birds be multiplied upon the earth."

1:23. The evening came and morning followed--the fifth day.

'''1:24. Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures in their kinds, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, according to their kinds." And it was so done.'''

'''1:25. God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and cattle, and every thing that creeps on the earth after its kind. God saw that it was good.'''

1:26. Then He said, "Let us make man in our image and likeness, and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts, the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moves upon the earth.

1:27. God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

1:28. Then God blessed them, saying, "Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth."

1:29. God also said, "Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed upon the earth, and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kinds, to be your food,

'''1:30. "and to all beasts of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to all that move upon the earth, and wherein there is life, that they may have to feed upon." And it was so done.'''

'''1:31. God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good. The evening came and morning followed--the sixth day.'''



Genesis Chapter 2
'God rested on the seventh day and blessed it. The earthly paradise, in which God placed man. He commanded him not to eat of the tree of knowledge, and formed a woman from his rib.'

2:1. So the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the furniture of them.

2:2. On the seventh day God ended His work which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.



2:3. God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because in it He had rested from all His work which He created and made.

2:4. These are the generations of Heaven and earth, when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made Heaven and earth,

2:5. every plant of the field before it sprung up in the earth, and every herb of the ground before it grew, for the Lord God had not rained upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the earth.

2:6. But a spring rose out of the earth, watering all the surface of the earth.

2:7. The Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

2:8. The Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning, in which He placed the man whom He had formed.



2:9. Then the Lord God brought forth from the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of; the tree of life, also in the midst of paradise; and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The tree of life. . .So called because it had that quality, that by eating of the fruit of it, man would have been preserved in a constant state of health, vigor, and strength, and would not have died at all. The tree of knowledge. . .To which the deceitful serpent falsely attributed the power of imparting a superior kind of knowledge, beyond that which God was pleased to give.

2:10. A river went out of the place of pleasure to water paradise, which from there is divided into four heads.



2:11. The name of the one is Pishon: that is it which encompassed all the land of Havilah, where there is gold,

2:12. and the gold of that land is excellent; bdellium and the onyx stone are found there.

2:13. The name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that which encompassed all the land of Ethiopia.

'''2:14. The name of the third river is Tigris: the same passed along by the Assyrians. The fourth river is Euphrates.'''

2:15. The Lord God took the man and put him into the paradise of pleasure to dress it and to keep it,

2:16. and He commanded him, saying, "Of every tree of paradise you shall eat,



2:17. "but you shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for the day you shall eat of it, you shall die the death."

2:18. The Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make his complement.

2:19. The Lord God had formed all the beasts of the earth and all the fowls of the air out of the ground, and He brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: for whatever Adam called any living creature became its name.

2:20. Adam called all the beasts by their names, and all the fowls of the air, and all the cattle of the field: but no complement was found for Adam.

2:21. Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam: and when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it.

Human ribs have a special ability to regenerate if the periosteum is left intact (www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/570).

2:22. The Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman, and brought her to Adam.

2:23. Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.

2:24. Wherefore a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh.

2:25. Adam and his wife were not clothed, yet were not ashamed.

Genesis Chapter 3
'The serpent's craft. The fall of our first parents. Their punishment. The promise of a Redeemer.'

'''3:1. Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. He said to the woman: Why has God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?'''

3:2. The woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat:

3:3. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die.

3:4. The serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death.

3:5. For God knows that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.

3:6. The woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband, who did eat.

3:7. The eyes of them both were opened: and when they perceived themselves to not be clothed, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons. 3:8. When they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise at the afternoon air, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God, amidst the trees of paradise.

3:9. The Lord God called Adam, and said to him: Where are you?

3:10. He said: I heard Your voice in paradise; and I was afraid, because I was not clothed, and I hid myself.

3:11. The Lord God said to him: Who has told you that you were not clothed, but that you have eaten of the tree whereof I commanded you that you should not eat?

3:12. Adam said: "The woman, whom You gave me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I ate."

'''3:13. The Lord God said to the woman: Why have you done this? She answered: The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'''

3:14. The Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this thing, you are cursed among all the cattle and beasts of the earth: upon your breast shall you go, and earth shall you eat all the days of your life.

3:15. I will put enmities between you and the woman, and your seed and her seed: she shall crush your head, and you shall lie in wait for her heel.

She shall crush. . .Ipsa, the woman; so diverse of the fathers read this place, conformably to the Latin: others read it ipsum, viz., the seed. The sense is the same: for it is by her seed, Jesus Christ, that the woman crushes the serpent's head.

3:16. To the woman also he said: I will multiply your sorrows, and your conceptions: in sorrow shalt you bring forth children, and you shalt be under your husband's power, and he shall have dominion over you.

3:17. To Adam he said: Because you have hearkened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded you, that you should not eat, cursed is the earth in your work: with labor and toil shalt you eat thereof all the days of your life.

3:18. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, and you shalt eat the herbs of the earth.

3:19. In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread till you return to the earth out of which you were taken: for dust you are, and into dust you shall return.

3:20. Adam called the name of his wife Eve: because she was the mother of all the living.

3:21. The Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins, and clothed them.

3:22. The Lord God said: Behold Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and evil: now therefore lest perhaps he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.

Behold Adam, etc. . .This was spoken by way of reproaching him with his pride, in affecting a knowledge that might make him like to God.

3:23. The Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken.

3:24. He cast out Adam: and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Genesis Chapter 4
The history of Cain and Abel.

4:1. Adam and Eve, his wife, conceived and brought forth Cain, saying: I have gotten a man through God.

'''4:2. Again she brought forth his brother Abel. Abel was a shepherd, and Cain a husbandman.'''

4:3. It came to pass after many days, that Cain offered, of the fruits of the earth, gifts to the Lord.



4:4. Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat: and the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offerings.

Had respect. . .That is, showed his acceptance of his sacrifice (as coming from a heart full of devotion): and that, as we may suppose, by some visible token, such as sending fire from Heaven upon his offerings.

4:5. But to Cain and his offerings he had no respect: and Cain was exceeding angry, and his countenance fell.

'''4:6. The Lord said to him: Why are you angry? and why is your countenance fallen?'''

'''4:7. If you do well, shall you not receive? but if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door? but the lust thereof shall be under you, and you shall have dominion over it.'''

'''4:8. Cain said to Abel his brother: Let us go forth abroad. When they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and slew him.'''

'''4:9. The Lord said to Cain: Where is your brother Abel? And he answered: I do not know: am I my brother's keeper?'''

'''4:10. The Lord said to him: What have you done? the voice of your brother's blood cries to Me from the earth.'''

4:11. Now therefore cursed shall you be upon the earth, which has opened her mouth and received the blood of your brother at your hand.

4:12. When you shall till it, it shall not yield to you its fruit: a fugitive and a vagabond shall you be upon the earth.

4:13. Cain said to the Lord: My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon.

4:14. Behold You cast me out this day from the face of the earth, and from Your face I shall be hid, and I shall be a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth: every one therefore that finds me, shall kill me.

Every one that finds me shall kill me. . .His guilty conscience made him fear his own brothers and nephews; of whom, by this time, there might be a good number upon the earth; which had now endured near 130 years; as may be gathered from Gen. 5.3, compared with chap. 4.25, though in the compendious account given in the Scriptures, only Cain and Abel are mentioned.

'''4:15. The Lord said to him: No, it shall not so be: but whoever shall kill Cain, shall be punished sevenfold. The Lord set a mark upon Cain, that whoever found him should not kill him.'''

Set a mark, etc. . .The more common opinion of the interpreters of holy writ supposes this mark to have been a trembling of the body; or a horror and consternation in his countenance.



4:16. Cain went out from the face of the Lord, and dwelt as a fugitive on the earth at the east side of Eden.

4:17. Cain and his wife, conceived and brought forth Henoch, and he built a city, and called the name thereof by the name of his son Henoch.

4:18. Henoch begot Irad, and Irad begot Maviael, and Maviael begot Mathusael, and Mathusael begot Lamech,

4:19. Who took two wives: the name of the one was Ada, and the name of the other Sella.

4:20. Ada brought forth Jabel: who was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of herdsmen.

4:21. His brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of them that play upon the harp and the organs.

'''4:22. Sella also brought forth Tubalcain, who was a hammerer and artificer in every work of brass and iron. The sister of Tubalcain was Noema.'''

4:23. Lamech said to his wives Ada and Sella: Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech: for I have slain a man to the wounding of myself, and a stripling to my own bruising.

I have slain a man, etc. . .It is the tradition of the Hebrews, that Lamech in hunting slew Cain, mistaking him for a wild beast; and that having discovered what he had done, he beat so unmercifully the youth, by whom he was led into that mistake, that he died of the blows.

4:24. Sevenfold vengeance shall be taken for Cain: but for Lamech seventy times sevenfold.

4:25. Adam also knew his wife again: and she brought forth a son, and called his name Seth, saying: God hath given me another seed for Abel, whom Cain slew.

4:26. But to Seth also was born a son, whom he called Enos: this man began to call upon the name of the Lord.

Began to call upon, etc. . .Not that Adam and Seth had not called upon God, before the birth of Enos; but that Enos used more solemnity in the worship and invocation of God.

Genesis Chapter 5
'The genealogy, age, and death of the Patriarchs, from Adam to Noah. The translation of Henoch.'

'''5:1. This is the book of the generation of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him to the likeness of God.'''

5:2. He created them male and female; and blessed them: and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

5:3. Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son to his own image and likeness, and called his name Seth.

5:4. The days of Adam, after he begot Seth, were eight hundred years: and he begot sons and daughters.

5:5. All the time that Adam lived, came to nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.

5:6. Seth also lived a hundred and five years, and begot Enos.



5:7. Seth lived after he begot Enos, eight hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

5:8. All the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.

5:9. Enos lived ninety years, and begot Cainan.

5:10. After whose birth he lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and begot sons and daughters.



5:11. All the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years, and he died.

5:12. Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Malaleel.

5:13. Cainan lived after he begot Malaleel, eight hundred and forty years, and begot sons and daughters.

5:14. All the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died.

5:15. Malaleel lived sixty-five years and begot Jared.

5:16. Malaleel lived after he begot Jared, eight hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.

5:17. All the days of Malaleel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died.

5:18. Jared lived a hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Henoch.

5:19. Jared lived after he begot Henoch, eight hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

5:20. All the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died.

5:21. Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah.

5:22. Enoch walked with God: and lived after he begot Methuselah, three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

5:23. All the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.

5:24. He walked with God, and was seen no more: because God took him.

5:25. Methuselah lived a hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech.

5:26. Methuselah lived after he begot Lamech, seven hundred and eighty-two years, and begot sons and daughters.

5:27. All the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died.

5:28. Lamech lived a hundred and eighty-two years, and begot a son.

5:29. He named him Noah, saying: This same shall comfort us from the works and labors of our hands on the earth, which the Lord hath cursed.

5:30. Lamech lived after he begot Noah, five hundred and ninety-five years, and begot sons and daughters.

'''5:31. All the days of Lamech came to seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died. Noah, when he was five hundred years old, begot Sem, Cham, and Japheth.'''

Genesis Chapter 6


'Man's sin is the cause of the deluge. Noah is commanded to build the ark.'

6:1. After that men began to be multiplied upon the earth, and daughters were born to them,

6:2. The sons of God seeing the daughters of men, that they were fair, took to themselves wives of all which they chose.

The sons of God. . .The descendants of Seth and Enos are here called sons of God from their religion and piety: whereas the ungodly race of Cain, are called the children of men. The unhappy consequence of the former marrying with the latter, ought to be a warning to Christians to be very circumspect in their marriages.

6:3. God said: My spirit shall not remain in man forever, because he is flesh, and his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.

His days shall be, etc. . .The meaning is, that man's days, which before the flood were usually 900 years, should now be reduced to 120 years. Or rather, that God would allow men this term of 120 years, for their repentance and conversion, before he would send the deluge.

'''6:4. Now giants were upon the earth in those days. For after the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, and they brought forth children, these are the mighty men of old, men of renown.'''

Giants. . .It is likely the generality of men before the flood were of a gigantic stature in comparison with what men now are. But these here spoken of are called giants, as being not only tall in stature, but violent and savage in their dispositions, and mere monsters of cruelty.

6:5. God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times,

'''6:6. He regretted that he had made man on the earth. Being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart.'''

He regretted, etc. . .God, who is unchangeable, is not capable of repentance, grief, or any other passion. But these expressions are used to declare the enormity of the sins of men, which was so provoking as to determine their Creator to destroy these his creatures, whom before he had so much favored.

6:7. He said: I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for I regret that I have made them.



6:8. But Noah found grace before the Lord.

6:9. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just and perfect man in his generations, he walked with God.



6:10. He begot three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

6:11. The earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity.

6:12. When God had seen that the earth was corrupted (for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth),

6:13. He said to Noah: The end of all flesh is come before me, the earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the earth.

6:14. Make an ark of gopher wood: you shall make little rooms in the ark, and you shall pitch it within and without.

'''6:15. Thus shall you make it. The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits: the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.'''

Three hundred cubits, etc. . .The ark, according to the dimensions here set down, contained four hundred and fifty thousand square cubits; which was more than enough to contain all the kinds of living creatures, with all necessary provisions: even supposing the cubits here spoken of to have been only a foot and a half each, which was the least kind of cubits.

6:16. You shall make a window in the ark, and in a cubit shall you finish the top of it: and the door of the ark you shall set in the side: with lower, middle chambers, and third stories shall you make it.

'''6:17. Behold, I will bring the waters of a great flood upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life under Heaven. All things that are in the earth shall be consumed.'''

6:18. I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall enter into the ark, you and your sons, and your wife, and the wives of your sons with you.

6:19. Of every living creature of all flesh, you shall bring two of a sort into the ark, that they may live with you: a male and a female.

6:20. Of fowls according to their kind, and of beasts in their kind, and of every thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind: two of every sort shall go in with you, that they may live.

6:21. You shall take unto you of all food that may be eaten, and you shall lay it up with you: and it shall be food for you and them.

6:22. Noah did all things which God commanded him.

Genesis Chapter 7


'Noah with his family go into the ark. The deluge overflows the earth.'

7:1. The Lord said to him: Go in, you and all your house, into the ark: for you I have seen just before Me in this generation.

7:2. Of all clean beasts take seven and seven, the male and the female.

Of all clean. . .The distinction of clean and unclean beasts appears to have been made before the law of Moses, which was not promulgated till the year of the world 2514.

'''7:3. But of the beasts that are unclean two and two, the male and the female. Of the fowls also of the air seven and seven, the male and the female: that seed may be saved upon the face of the whole earth.'''



7:4. For yet a while, and after seven days, I will rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights: and I will destroy every substance that I have made, from the face of the earth.

7:5. Noah did all things which the Lord had commanded him.

7:6. He was six hundred years old, when the waters of the flood overflowed the earth.

7:7. Noah went in and his sons, his wife and the wives of his sons with him into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.



7:8. Of beasts clean and unclean, and of fowls, and of every thing that moves upon the earth,

7:9. Two and two went in to Noah into the ark, male and female, as the Lord had commanded Noah.

7:10. After the seven days were passed, the waters of the flood overflowed the earth.

7:11. In the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the floodgates of Heaven were opened:



7:12. The rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

7:13. In the selfsame day Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, his sons: his wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, went into the ark.

7:14. They and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle in their kind, and every thing that moves upon the earth, according to its kind, and every fowl according to its kind, all birds, and all that fly,

7:15. went in to Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein was the breath of life.

7:16. They that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in on the outside.

7:17. The flood was forty days upon the earth: and the waters increased, and lifted up the ark on high from the earth.

7:18. For they overflowed exceedingly: and filled all on the face of the earth: and the ark was carried upon the waters.

7:19. The waters prevailed beyond measure upon the earth: and all the high mountains under the whole Heaven were covered.

7:20. The water was fifteen cubits higher than the mountains which it covered.

7:21. All flesh was destroyed that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle, and of beasts, and of all creeping things that creep upon the earth: and all men.

7:22. All things wherein there is the breath of life on the earth, died.

7:23. He destroyed all the substance that was upon the earth, from man even to beast, and the creeping things and fowls of the air: and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained, and those who were with him in the ark.

7:24. The waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.

Genesis Chapter 8
'The deluge ceases. Noah goes out of the ark, and offers a sacrifice. God's covenant to him.'

8:1. God remembered Noah, and all the living creatures, and all the cattle which were with him in the ark, and brought a wind upon the earth, and the waters were abated:

8:2. The fountains also of the deep, and the floodgates of Heaven, were shut up, and the rain from Heaven was restrained.

8:3. The waters returned from off the earth going and coming: and they began to be abated after a hundred and fifty days.

8:4. The ark rested in the seventh month, the seven and twentieth day of the month, upon the mountains of Armenia.

8:5. The waters were going and decreasing until the tenth month: for in the tenth month, the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.

8:6. After that forty days were passed, Noah opening the window of the ark, which he had made, sent forth a raven:

8:7. Which went forth and did not return, till the waters were dried up upon the earth.

Did not return. . .The raven did not return into the ark; but (as it may be gathered from the Hebrew) went to and fro; sometimes going to the mountains, where it found carcasses to feed on: and other times returning, to rest upon the top of the ark.

8:8. He sent forth also a dove after him, to see if the waters had now ceased upon the face of the earth.

8:9. But she not finding where her foot might rest, returned to him into the ark: for the waters were upon the whole earth: and he put forth his hand, and caught her, and brought her into the ark.

8:10. Having waited yet seven other days, he again sent forth the dove out of the ark.

'''8:11. She came to him in the evening carrying a bough of an olive tree, with green leaves, in her mouth. Noah therefore understood that the waters were ceased upon the earth.'''

8:12. He stayed yet other seven days: and he sent forth the dove, which returned not any more unto him.

8:13. Therefore in the six hundredth and first year, the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were lessened upon the earth, and Noah opening the covering of the ark, looked, and saw that the face of the earth was dried.

8:14. In the second month, the seven and twentieth day of the month, the earth was dried.



8:15. God spoke to Noah, saying:

8:16. Go out of the ark, you and your wife, your sons and the wives of your sons with you.

8:17. All living things that are with you of all flesh, as well in fowls as in beasts, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, bring out with you, and go ye upon the earth: increase and multiply upon it.

8:18. So Noah went out, he and his sons: his wife, and the wives of his sons with him.

8:19. All living things, and cattle, and creeping things that creep upon the earth, according to their kinds went out of the ark.

8:20. Noah built an altar unto the Lord: and taking of all cattle and fowls that were clean, offered holocausts upon the altar.

Holocausts,. . .or whole burnt offerings. In which the whole victim was consumed by fire upon God's altar, and no part was reserved for the use of priest or people.

8:21. The Lord smelled a sweet savor, and said: I will no more curse the earth for the sake of man: for the imagination and thought of man's heart are prone to evil from his youth: therefore I will no more destroy every living soul as I have done.

Smelled, etc. ... A figurative expression, denoting that God was well pleased with the sacrifices which his servant offered.

8:22. All the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, night and day, shall not cease.

Genesis Chapter 9


'God blesses Noah: forbids blood, and promises never more to destroy the world by water. The blessing of Shem and Japheth.'

'''9:1. God blessed Noah and his sons. He said to them: Increase, and multiply, and fill the earth.'''

9:2. Let the fear and dread of you be upon all the beasts of the earth, and upon all the fowls of the air, and all that move upon the earth: all the fishes of the sea are delivered into your hand.

9:3. Every thing that moves, and lives shall be meat for you: even as the green herbs have I delivered them all to you:

9:4. Saving that flesh with blood you shall not eat.

9:5. For I will require the blood of your lives at the hand of every beast, and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man, and of his brother, will I require the life of man.

9:6. Whosoever shall shed man's blood, his blood shall be shed: for man was made to the image of God.

9:7. But increase you and multiply, and go upon the earth and fill it.

9:8. Thus also said God to Noah, and to his sons with him:

9:9. Behold I will establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you:

9:10. With every living soul that is with you, as well in all birds, as in cattle and beasts of the earth, that are come forth out of the ark, and in all the beasts of the earth.

9:11. I will establish my covenant with you, and all flesh shall be no more destroyed with the waters of a flood, neither shall there be from henceforth a flood to waste the earth.

9:12. God said: This is the sign of the covenant which I give between me and you, and to every living soul that is with you, for perpetual generations.

9:13. I will set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be the sign of a covenant between me and between the earth.

9:14. When I shall cover the sky with clouds, my bow shall appear in the clouds:

9:15. I will remember my covenant with you, and with every living soul that bears flesh: and there shall no more be waters of a flood to destroy all flesh.

9:16. The bow shall be in the clouds, and I shall see it, and shall remember the everlasting covenant, that was made between God and every living soul of all flesh which is upon the earth.

9:17. God said to Noah: This shall be the sign of the covenant, which I have established, between me and all flesh upon the earth.

9:18. The sons of Noah, who came out of the ark, were Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.

9:19. These three are the sons of Noah: and from these was all mankind spread over the whole earth.

9:20. Noah, a husbandman, began to till the ground, and planted a vineyard.

9:21. Drinking of the wine, he was overcome by wine, and was uncovered in his tent.

Drunk. . .Noah by the judgment of the fathers was not guilty of sin, in being overcome by wine: because he knew not the strength of it.

9:22. Which when Ham the father of Canaan had seen, to wit, that his father was uncovered, he told it to his two brethren without.

9:23. But Shem and Japheth put a cloak upon their shoulders, and going backward, covered their father: and their faces were turned away, and they saw not that their father was uncovered.

9:24. Noah awaking from the wine, when he had learned what his younger son had done to him,

9:25. He said: Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.



Cursed be Canaan. . .The curses, as well as the blessings, of the patriarchs, were prophetical: And this in particular is here recorded by Moses, for the children of Israel, who were to possess the land of Canaan. But why should Canaan be cursed for his father's faults? The Hebrews answer, that he being then a boy, was the first that saw his grandfather's being uncovered, and told his father Ham of it; and joined with him in laughing at it: which drew upon him, rather than upon the rest of the children of Ham, this prophetical curse.

9:26. Noah said: Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, be Canaan his servant.

9:27. May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan be his servant.

9:28. Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.

9:29. All his days were in the whole nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

Genesis Chapter 10
The genealogy of the children of Noah, by whom the world was peopled after the flood.

10:1. These are the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them sons were born after the flood.

10:2. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Thubal, and Mosoch, and Thiras.

10:3. The sons of Gomer: Ascenez and Riphath and Thogorma.

10:4. The sons of Javan: Elisa and Tharsis, Cetthim and Dodanim.

10:5. By these were divided the islands of the Gentiles in their lands, every one according to his tongue and their families in their nations.

The islands. . .So the Hebrews called all the remote countries, to which they went by ships from Judea, to Greece, Italy, Spain, etc.

10:6. The Sons of Ham: Chus, and Mesram, and Phuth, and Canaan.

'''10:7. The sons of Chus: Saba, and Hevila, and Sabatha, and Regma, and Sabatacha. The sons of Regma: Saba, and Dadan.'''

10:8. Now Chus begot Nimrod: he began to be mighty on the earth.

'''10:9. He was a stout hunter before the Lord. Hence came a proverb: Even as Nimrod the stout hunter before the Lord.'''

A stout hunter. . .Not of beasts but of men: whom by violence and tyranny he brought under his dominion. Such he was, not only in the opinion of men, but before the Lord, that is, in his sight who cannot be deceived.



10:10. The beginning of his kingdom was Babylon, and Arach, and Achad, and Chalanne in the land of Sennaar.

10:11. Out of that land came forth Assur, and built Nineveh, and the streets of the city, and Chale.

10:12. Resen also between Nineveh and Chale: this is the great city.

10:13. Mesraim begot Ludim, and Anamim and Laabim, Nephthuim.

10:14. Phetrusim, and Chasluim; of whom came forth the Philistines, and the Capthorim.

10:15. Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, the Hethite,

10:16. The Jebusite, and the Amorrhite, and the Gergesite.

10:17. The Hevite and Aracite: the Sinite,

10:18. The Aradian, the Samarite, and the Hamathite: and afterwards the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad.



10:19. The limits of Canaan were from Sidon as one comes to Gerara even to Gaza, until thou enter Sodom and Gomorrha, and Adama, and Seboim even to Lesa.

10:20. These are the children of Ham in their kindreds and tongues, and generations, and lands, and nations.

10:21. Of Shem also the father of all the children of Heber, the elder brother of Japheth, sons were born.

10:22. The sons of Shem: Elam and Assur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.

10:23. The sons of Aram: Us, Hull, Gether; and Mes.

10:24. But Arphaxad begot Sale, of whom was born Heber.

10:25. To Heber were born two sons: the name of the one was Phaleg, because in his days was the earth divided: and his brother's name Jectan.

10:26. Which Jectan begot Elmodad, Saleph, Asarmoth, Jare,

10:27. Aduram, Uzal, Decla,

10:28. Ebal, Abimael, Saba,

'''10:29. Ophir, Hevila, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Jectan.'''

10:30. Their dwelling was from Messa as we go on as far as Sephar, a mountain in the east.

10:31. These are the children of Shem according to their kindreds and tongues, and countries in their nations.

'''10:32. These are the families of Noah, according to their people and nations. By these were the nations divided on the earth after the flood.'''

Genesis Chapter 11
'The tower of Babel. The confusion of tongues. The genealogy of Shem down to Abram.'

11:1. The earth was of one tongue, and of the same speech.

11:2. When they removed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Sennaar, and dwelt in it.

'''11:3. Each one said to his neighbor: Come let us make brick, and bake them with fire. They had brick instead of stones, and slime instead of mortar:'''

11:4. They said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to Heaven; and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands.

11:5. The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of Adam were building.

11:6. He said: Behold, it is one people, and all have one tongue: and they have begun to do this, neither will they leave off from their designs, until they accomplish them in deed.

11:7. Come ye, therefore, let us go down, and there confound their tongue, that they may not understand one another's speech.

11:8. So the Lord scattered them from that place into all lands, and they ceased to build the city.

11:9. Therefore the name thereof was called Babel, because there the language of the whole earth was confounded: and from thence the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all countries.



Babel. . .That is, confusion.

11:10. These are the generations of Shem: Shem was a hundred years old when he begot Arpachshad, two years after the flood.

11:11. Shem lived after he begot Arpachshad, five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:12. Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and begot Salah.

11:13. Arpachshad lived after he begot Salah, three hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:14. Salah also lived thirty years, and begot Eber.



11:15. Salah lived after he begot Eber, four hundred and three years: and begot sons and daughters.

11:16. Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Phaleg.

11:17. Eber lived after he begot Phaleg, four hundred and thirty years: and begot sons and daughters.

11:18. Phaleg also lived thirty years, and begot Reu.

11:19. Phaleg lived after he begot Reu, two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:20. Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Sarug.

11:21. Reu lived after he begot Sarug, two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:22. Sarug lived thirty years, and begot Nachor.

11:23. Sarug lived after he begot Nachor, two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:24. Nachor lived nine and twenty years, and begot Terah.

11:25. Nachor lived after he begot Terah, a hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:26. Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, and Nachor, and Aran.

'''11:27. These are the generations of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nachor, and Aran. Aran begot Lot.'''

11:28. Aran died before Terah his father, in the land of his nativity in Ur of the Chaldees.

11:29. Abram and Nachor married wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai: and the name of Nachor's wife, Melcha, the daughter of Aran, father of Melcha and father of Jescha.

11:30. Sarai was barren, and had no children.

11:31. Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Aran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, the wife of Abram his son, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan: and they came as far as Haran, and dwelt there.

11:32. The days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and he died in Haran.

Genesis Chapter 12
'The call of Abram, and the promise made to him. He sojourns in Canaan, and then by occasion of a famine, goes down to Egypt.'

12:1. The Lord said to Abram: Go forth out of your country, and from your kindred, and out of your father's house, and come into the land which I shall show you.

12:13. Say, therefore, that you are my sister: that I may be well used for you, and that my soul may live for your sake.

12:14. When Abram had come into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was exceedingly beautiful.

12:15. The princes told Pharaoh, and praised her before him: and the woman was taken into the house of Pharaoh.

'''12:16. They used Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, and donkeys, men servants, maid servants, and camels.'''

12:17. But the Lord scourged Pharaoh and his house with most grievous stripes for Sarai, Abram's wife.

'''12:18. Pharaoh called Abram, and said to him: What is this that you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?'''

'''12:19. For what cause did you say she was your sister, that I might take her as wife? Now therefore there is your wife; take her and go your way.'''

12:20. Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning Abram: and they led him away with his wife and all that he had.

Genesis Chapter 13


'Abram and Lot part from each other. God's promise to Abram.'

13:1. Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him into the south.

13:2. He was very rich in possession of gold and silver.

13:3. He returned by the way, that he came, from the south to Bethel, to the place where before he had pitched his tent between Bethel and Hai,

13:4. In the place of the altar which he had made before, and there he called upon the name of the Lord.



13:5. But Lot also, who was with Abram, had flocks of sheep, and herds of beasts, and tents.

13:6. Neither was the land able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, and they could not dwell together.

'''13:7. Whereupon also there arose a strife between the herdsmen of Abram and of Lot. At that time the Canaanite and the Pherezite dwelled in that country.'''

13:8. Abram therefore said to Lot: Let there be no quarrel, I beseech you, between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen: for we are brethren.

13:9. Behold the whole land is before you: depart from me, I ask you: if you will go to the left hand, I will take the right: if you choose the right hand, I will pass to the left.

13:10. Lot lifting up his eyes, saw all the country about the Jordan, which was watered throughout, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, as the paradise of the Lord, and like Egypt as one comes to Segor. 13:11. Lot chose to himself the country about the Jordan, and he departed from the east: and they were separated one brother from the other.

13:12. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan: and Lot abode in the towns, that were about the Jordan, and dwelt in Sodom.

13:13. The men of Sodom were very wicked, and sinners before the face of the Lord beyond measure.

13:14. The Lord said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him: Lift up your eyes, and look from the place wherein thou now art, to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west.

13:15. All the land which you see, I will give to you, and to your seed forever.

13:16. I will make your seed as the dust of the earth: if any man be able to number the dust of the earth, he shall be able to number your seed also.

13:17. Arise and walk through the land in the length, and the breadth thereof: for I will give it to you.

13:18. So Abram removing his tent, came, and dwelt by the vale of Mambre, which is in Hebron: and he built there an altar to the Lord.

Genesis Chapter 14


The expedition of the four kings; the victory of Abram; he is blessed by Melchizedek.

14:1. It came to pass at that time, that Amraphel, king of Sennaar, and Arioch, king of Pontus, and Chodorlahomor, king of the Elamites, and Thadal, king of nations,

14:2. Made war against Bara, king of Sodom, and against Bersa, king of Gomorrah, and against Sennaab, king of Adama, and against Semeber, king of Seboim, and against the king of Bala, which is Segor.

14:3. All these came together into the woodland vale, which now is the salt sea.



14:4. For they had served Chodorlahomor twelve years, and in the thirteenth year they revolted from him.

14:5. In the fourteenth year came Chodorlahomor, and the kings that were with him: and they smote the Raphaim in Astarothcarnaim, and the Zuzim with them, and the Emim in Save of Cariathaim.

14:6. The Chorreans in the mountains of Seir, even to the plains of Pharan, which is in the wilderness.

14:7. They returned, and came to the fountain of Misphat, the same is Cades: and they smote all the country of the Amalecites, and the Amorrhean that dwelt in Asasonthamar.

14:8. The king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrha, and the king of Adama, and the king of Seboim, and the king of Bala, which is Segor, went out: and they set themselves against them in battle array, in the woodland vale:

14:9. To wit, against Chodorlahomor king of the Elamites, and Thadal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Sennaar, and Arioch king of Pontus: four kings against five.



'''14:10. Now the woodland vale had many pits of slime. The king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrha turned their backs, and were overthrown there: and they that remained, fled to the mountain.'''

Of slime. Bituminis. . .This was a kind of pitch, which served for mortar in the building of Babel, Genesis 11:3, and was used by Noah in pitching the ark.

14:11. They took all the substance of the Sodomites, and Gomorrhites, and all their victuals, and went their way:

14:12. Lot also, the son of Abram's brother, who dwelt in Sodom, and his substance.

14:13. Behold one, that had escaped, told Abram the Hebrew, who dwelt in the vale of Mambre the Amorrhite, the brother of Escol, and the brother of Aner: for these had made a league with Abram.

14:14. Which when Abram had heard, to wit, that his brother Lot was taken, he numbered of the servants born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, well appointed: and pursued them to Dan.

14:15. Dividing his company, he rushed upon them in the night, and defeated them: and pursued them as far as Hoba, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

14:16. He brought back all the substance, and Lot his brother, with his substance, the women also, and the people.

14:17. The king of Sodom went out to meet him, after he returned from the slaughter of Chodorlahomor, and of the kings that were with him in the vale of Save, which is the king's vale.

14:18. But Melchizedek, the king of Salem, bringing forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the most high God,

14:19. Blessed him, and said: Blessed be Abram by the most high God, who created Heaven and earth.

'''14:20. Blessed be the most high God, by Whose protection, the enemies are in your hands. He gave him the tithes of all.'''

14:21. The king of Sodom said to Abram: Give me the persons, and the rest take to yourself.

14:22. He answered him: I lift up my hand to the Lord God the Most High, the possessor of Heaven and earth,

14:23. That from the very woof thread unto the shoe latchet, I will not take of any things that are yours, lest you say: I have enriched Abram.

14:24. Except such things as the young men have eaten, and the shares of the men that came with me, Aner, Escol, and Mambre: these shall take their shares.



Genesis Chapter 15
'God promises seed to Abram. His faith, sacrifice and vision.'



15:1. Now when these things were done, the word of the Lord came to Abram by a vision, saying: Fear not, Abram, I am your protector, and your reward is exceedingly great.

'''15:2. Abram said: Lord God, what will you give me? I shall go without children: and the son of the steward of my house is this Damascus Eliezer.'''

15:3. Abram added: But to me you have not given seed: and lo my servant born in my house, shall be my heir.

15:4. Immediately the word of the Lord came to him, saying: He shall not be your heir: but he that shall come out of your body, him shall you have for your heir.

'''15:5. The Lord brought him forth abroad, and said to him: Look up to Heaven and number the stars if you can. The Lord said to him: So shall your seed be.'''

15:6. Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice.

15:7. The Lord said to him: I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land, and that you might possess it.

15:8. But he said: Lord God, whereby may I know that I shall possess it?

15:9. The Lord answered, and said: Take Me a cow of three years old, a she-goat of three years, a ram of three years, a turtle also, and a pigeon.

15:10. Abram took all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid the two pieces of each one against the other: but the birds he did not divide.

15:11. The fowls came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

15:12. When the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a great and darksome horror seized upon him.

'''15:13. It was said unto Abram: Know beforehand that your seed shall be a stranger in a land not their own, and they shall bring them under bondage, and afflict them four hundred years.'''

15:14. But I will judge the nation which they shall serve, and after this they shall come out with great substance.

15:15. You shall go to your fathers in peace, and be buried in a good old age.

15:16. But in the fourth generation they shall return hither: for as yet the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full until this present time.

15:17. When the sun had set, there arose a dark mist, and there appeared a smoking furnace, and a lamp of fire passing between those divisions.

15:18. That day God made a covenant with Abram, saying: To your seed will I give this land, from the river to Egypt even to the great river Euphrates.

15:19. The Cineans, the Cenezites, the Cedmonites,

15:20. the Hethites, the Pherezites, the Raphaim also,

15:21. the Amorrhites, the Canaanites, the Gergesites, and the Jebusites.

Genesis Chapter 16
Abram marries Hagar, who brings forth Ishmael. Hagar was previously spelled Agar. Ishmael was previously Ismael.

16:1. Now Sarai, the wife of Abram, had brought forth no children: but having a handmaid, an Egyptian, named Hagar,

'''16:2. She said to her husband: Behold, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: go in unto my handmaid, it may be I may have children of her at least. When he agreed to her request,'''

16:3. she took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, ten years after they first dwelt in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband to wife.

'''16:4. He went to her. But she perceiving that she was with child, despised her mistress.'''

'''16:5. Sarai said to Abram: You dealt unjustly with me: I gave my handmaid to you, and she perceiving herself to be with child, despises me. The Lord judge between me and me.'''

'''16:6. Abram made answer, and said to her: Behold your handmaid is in your own hand, use her as it pleases you. When Sarai afflicted her, she ran away.'''



16:7. The angel of the Lord having found her, by a fountain of water in the wilderness, which is in the way to Sur in the desert,

'''16:8. He said to her: Hagar, handmaid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going? She answered: I flee from the face of Sarai, my mistress.'''

16:9. The angel of the Lord said to her: Return to your mistress, and humble yourself under her hand.

16:10. Again he said: I will multiply your seed exceedingly, and it shall not be numbered for multitude.

16:11. Again: Behold, said he, you are with child, and you shall bring forth a son: and you shall name him Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction.

16:12. He shall be a wild man: his hand will be against all men, and all men's hands against him: and he shall pitch his tents over against all his brethren.

'''16:13. She called the name of the Lord that spoke unto her: You are the God who has seen me. For she said: Truly, here have I seen Him that sees me and remained alive.'''

'''16:14. Therefore she called that well, the well of Him that lives and sees me--Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.'''

Kadesh and Bered were previously known as Cades and Barad.

16:15. Hagar brought forth a son to Abram: who called his name Ishmael.

16:16. Abram was four score and six years old when Hagar brought him forth Ishmael.

Genesis Chapter 17


The Covenant of circumcision.

17:1. After he began to be ninety and nine years old, the Lord appeared to him: and said unto him: I am the Almighty God: walk before me, and be perfect.

17:2. I will make my covenant between Me and you: and I will multiply you exceedingly.

17:3. Abram fell flat on his face.

17:4. God said to him: I AM, and My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.



17:5. Neither shall your name be Abram anymore: but you shall be called Abraham: because I have made you a father of many nations.

Abram. . .in the Hebrew, signifies a high father: but Abraham, the father of the multitude; Sarai signifies my Lady or Princess, but Sara absolutely Lady or Princess.

17:6. I will make you increase exceedingly, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come out of you.

17:7. I will establish my covenant between Me and you, and between your seed after you in their generations, by a perpetual covenant: to be a God to you, and to your seed after you.

17:8. I will give to you, and to your seed, the land of your sojournment, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual possession, and I will be their God.

17:9. Again God said to Abraham: And you therefore shall keep My covenant, and your seed after you in their generations.

17:10. This is My covenant which you shall observe between Me and you, and your seed after you: All the male-kind of you shall be circumcised.

17:11. You shall mark the flesh of your skin, that it may be for a sign of the covenant between me and you.

17:12. To an infant of eight days old shall this be done among you, every manchild in your generations: he that is born in the house, as well as the bought servant, and whoever is not of your stock:

17:13. My covenant shall be in your flesh for a perpetual covenant.

17:14. The male whose flesh is not marked, that soul shall be destroyed out of his people: because he has broken my covenant.

17:15. God said also to Abraham, "Sarai your wife you shall not call Sarai, but Sarah.

17:16. "I will bless her, and of her I will give you a son, whom I will bless, and he shall become nations, and kings of people shall spring from him."

17:17. Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, saying in his heart, "Shall a son, do you think, be born to him that is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah that is ninety years old bring forth?"

17:18. He said to God, "O that Ishmael may live before you."

17:19. God said to Abraham, "Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac, and I will establish My covenant with him for a perpetual covenant, and with his seed after him.



17:20. "As for Ishmael, I have also heard you. Behold, I will bless him, and increase, and multiply him exceedingly; he shall beget twelve chiefs, and I will make him a great nation.

17:21. "But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bring forth to you at this time in the next year."

17:22. When He had left off speaking with him, God went up from Abraham.

17:23. Abraham took Ishmael, his son, all that were born in his house, and all whom he had bought, every male among the men of his house, and he did the very same day as God had commanded him.

17:24. Abraham was ninety and nine years old, when he did as God had commanded him.

17:25. Ishmael his son was a full thirteen years old at the time.

17:26. The same day did Abraham and Ishmael, his son, do as God had commanded.

17:27. All the men of his house, as well as they that were born in his house, as the bought servants and strangers, did the very same day as God had commanded Abraham.

Genesis Chapter 18
'Angels are entertained by Abraham. They foretell the birth of Isaac. Abraham's supplication for the men of Sodom.'



18:1. The Lord appeared to him in the vale of Mambre as he was sitting at the door of his tent, in the very heat of the day.

18:2. When he had lifted up his eyes, there appeared to him three men standing near to him, and as soon as he saw them, he ran to meet them from the door of his tent, and adored down to the ground.

18:3. Then he said, "Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass away from your servant.

18:4. "But I will fetch a little water, and you may wash your feet and rest under the tree.



'''18:5. "I will set a morsel of bread, and strengthen ye your heart, afterwards you shall pass on: for therefore are you come aside to your servant." They said, "Do as you have spoken."'''

18:6. Abraham made haste into the tent to Sarah, and said to her, "Make haste, temper together three measures of flour, and make cakes upon the hearth."

18:7. He himself ran to the herd, and took from there a calf, very tender and very good, and gave it to a young man, who made haste and boiled it.

18:8. He took also butter and milk, and the calf which he had boiled, and set them before them: but he stood by them under the tree.

'''18:9. When they had eaten, they said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" He answered, "She is in the tent."'''

'''18:10. He said to him, "I will return and come to you at this time, life accompanying, and Sarah, your wife, shall have a son." Which when Sarah heard, she laughed behind the door of the tent.'''

18:11. Now they were both old, and far advanced in years, and it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.

18:12. She laughed secretly, saying, "After I am grown old, and my husband is an old man***?"

18:13. The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I, who am an old woman, bear a child indeed?'

18:14. "Is there anything difficult for God? According to appointment I will return to you at this same time, life accompanying, and Sarah shall have a son."

'''18:15. Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. But the Lord said, "Nay; you did laugh."'''

18:16. When the men rose up from there, they turned their eyes towards Sodom, and Abraham walked with them, bringing them on the way.

18:17. Then the Lord said, "Can I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,

18:18. "seeing he shall become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth shall be blessed?

18:19. "For I know that he will command his children, and his household after him, to keep the way of the Lord, and do judgment and justice: that for Abraham's sake, the Lord may bring to effect all the things he has spoken to him."

18:20. Then the Lord said, "The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha is multiplied, and their sin has become exceedingly grievous.



18:21. "I will go down and see whether they have done according to the cry that has come to me; or whether it be not so, that I may know."

I will go down, etc. . .The Lord here accommodates His discourse to the way of speaking and acting among men; for He knows all things, and needs not go anywhere for information. Note here, that two of the three angels went away immediately for Sodom; while the third, who represented the Lord, remained with Abraham.

18:22. They turned themselves from there, and went their way to Sodom, but Abraham as yet stood before the Lord.

18:23. Then coming close, he said, "Will You destroy the just with the wicked?

18:24. "If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish with all the rest? Will You not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just, if they be therein?



18:25. "Far be it from You to do this thing, and to slay the just with the wicked, and for the just to be in like case as the wicked; this is not like You, You who judge all the earth, will not make this judgment."

18:26. The Lord said to him, "If I find in Sodom fifty just within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake."

18:27. Abraham replied, "Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes.

'''18:28. "What if there be five less than fifty just persons? will You for five and forty destroy the whole city?" He said, "I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five."'''

'''18:29. Again he said to Him, "But if forty be found there, what will You do?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of forty."'''

'''18:30. "Lord," he said, "do not be angry, I beseech You, if I speak; what if thirty shall be found there?" He answered, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there."'''

'''18:31. "Seeing," he said, "I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord; what if twenty be found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty."'''

'''18:32. "I beseech you," he said, "be not angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more; what if ten shall be found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of ten."'''

18:33. The Lord departed after He had left speaking with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Genesis Chapter 19
Lot, entertaining Angels in his house, is delivered from Sodom, which is destroyed; his wife for looking back is turned into a statue of salt.



'''19:1. The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city. Seeing them, he rose up and went to meet them, and worshipped prostrate to the ground,'''



'''19:2. and said, "I beseech you, my lords, turn in to the house of your servant, and lodge there; wash your feet, and in the morning you shall go on your way." They said, "No, but we will abide in the street."'''

19:3. He pressed them very much to come into his home, and when they had come into his house, he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

19:4. But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house, both young and old, all the people together.

'''19:5. They called Lot, and said to him, "Where are the men that came in to you at night? Bring them out hither,that we may abuse them.

19:6. Lot went out to them, and shut the door after him, and said,

19:7. "Do not so, I beseech you, my brethren, do not commit this evil.

19:8. "I have two daughters who, as yet, have not known man; I will bring them out to you, and you may do as you want, so that you do no evil to these men, because they have come in under the shadow of my roof."



'''19:9. But they said, "Stand back from there." They then spoke again, "You came in as a stranger, was it to be a judge? Therefore we will afflict you more than them." They pressed very violently upon Lot, and they were even at the point of breaking open the doors.'''

19:10. Behold the men put out their hand, and grabbed Lot back into the house, and shut the door.

19:11. They struck those outside with blindness from the least to the greatest, so that they could not find the door.

19:12. Then they said to Lot, "Do you have any of yours here? Son-in-law, or sons, or daughters? All that are yours bring them out of this city,

19:13. "for we will destroy this place, because their cry has grown loud before the Lord, who has sent us to destroy them.

'''19:14. So Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law that were to have his daughters, and said, "Arise; get out of this place, because the Lord will destroy this city." He seemed to them to speak as it were in jest.'''

19:15. When it was morning, the angels pressed him, saying, "Arise, take your wife and the two daughters that you have, lest you also perish in the wickedness of the city."

19:16. Because he lingered, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters, because the Lord spared him,

'''19:17. and they brought him forth, and set him outside the city. There they spoke to him, saying, "Save your life; do not look back, nor stay in any of the country nearby: but save yourself in the mountain, lest you be also consumed.'''



19:18. Lot said to them, "I beseech you, my Lord,

19:19. "because your servant has found grace before you, and you have magnified your mercy, which you have shown to me, in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil seize me, and I die.

19:20. "There is this city here at hand, to which I may flee; it is a little one, and I shall be saved in it: is it not a little one, and my soul shall live?"

19:21. He said to him, "Behold, also in this, I have heard your prayers, not to destroy the city for which you have spoken.

'''19:22. "Make haste, and be saved there, because I cannot do anything until you go into the little city." Therefore the name of that city was called Segor.'''

Segor. . .That is, a little one.

19:23. The sun had risen upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor.

19:24. The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire (from the Lord out of Heaven).

19:25. He destroyed these cities, and all the country around, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth.



19:26. His wife looking behind her, was turned into a statue of salt.

His wife. . .As a standing memorial to the servants of God to proceed in virtue, and not to look back to vice or its allurements.

'''19:27. Abraham got up early in the morning, and in the place where he had stood before with the Lord,...and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace. '''

19:28. He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah, and the whole land of that country, and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace.

19:29. Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, he delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt.



19:30. Lot went up out of Segor, and abode in the mountain, and his two daughters with him (for he was afraid to stay in Segor) and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him.

***

19:37. The elder bore a son, and she called his name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

19:38. The younger also bore a son, and she called his name Ammon; that is, the son of my people: he is the father of the Ammonites unto this day.

Genesis Chapter 20
Abraham sojourned in Gerara: Sarah is taken into king Abimelech's house, but by God's commandment is restored untouched.

20:1. Abraham removed from thence to the south country, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerara.

Kadesh and Shur were previously named Cades and Sur.

'''20:2. Regarding Sarah his wife, he said, "She is my sister." So Abimelech the king of Gerara sent, and took her.'''

20:3. God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and He said to him, "Lo, you shall die for the woman that you have taken, for she has a husband."



20:4. Now Abimelech had not touched her, and he said, "Lord, will you slay a nation that is ignorant and just?

20:5. "Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister,' and she say, 'He is my brother?' in the simplicity of my heart, and cleanness of my hands have I done this."

20:6. God said to him, "I know that you did it with a sincere heart, and therefore I withheld you from sinning against Me, and I did not allow you to touch her.

20:7. "Now therefore restore the man his wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for you, and you shall live, but if you will not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all that are yours."

20:8. Abimelech immediately rising up in the night, called all his servants, and spoke all these words in their hearing, and all the men were exceedingly afraid.

20:9. Abimelech called also for Abraham, and said to him, "What have you done to us? What have we offended you in, that you have brought upon me and upon my kingdom a great sin? You have done to us what you ought not to have done."

20:10. He expostulated with him again, and said, "What did you see that caused you to do this?

20:11. Abraham answered, "I thought to myself, 'Perhaps there is not the fear of God in this place, and they will kill me for the sake of my wife,'

20:12. Howbeit, otherwise, also she is truly my sister, the daughter of my father, and not the daughter of my mother, and I took her as my wife.

20:13. After God brought me out of my father's house, I said to her, "You shall do me this kindness: in every place to which we shall come, you shall say that I am your brother."



20:14. Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and servants and handmaids and gave them to Abraham, and restored to him, Sarah, his wife,

20:15. and said, "The land is before you, dwell wherever it shall please you."

20:16. To Sara he said, "Behold I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver, this shall serve you for a covering of your eyes to all that are with you, and to wherever you shall go, and remember you were taken."

20:17. When Abraham had prayed, God healed Abimelech and his wife, and his handmaids, and they bore children,

20:18. For the Lord had closed up every womb of the house of Abimelech, on account of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

Genesis Chapter 21
'Isaac is born. Hagar and Ishmael are cast forth.'

21:1. The Lord visited Sarah, as He had promised, and fulfilled what He had spoken.

21:2. She conceived and bore a son in her old age, at the time that God had foretold her.

21:3. Abraham called the name of his son, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.

Isaac. . .This word signifies laughter.



21:4. He circumcised him the eighth day, as God had commanded him,

21:5. when he was a hundred years old, for at this age of his father, was Isaac born.

21:6. Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; whoever shall hear of it will laugh with me."

21:7. She spoke again, "Who would believe that Abraham should hear that Sarah nursed a son, whom she bore to him in his old age?"

21:8. The child grew, and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day of his weaning.

21:9. When Sarah had seen the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, teasing Isaac, her son, she said to Abraham,

21:10. "Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son Isaac."

21:11. Abraham took this grievously for his son.

21:12. God said to him, "Let it not seem grievous to you for the boy, and for your bondwoman; in all that Sarah has said to you, hearken to her voice: for in Isaac shall your seed be called.



21:13. "But I will make the son also of the bondwoman a great nation, because he is your seed."

'''21:14. So Abraham rose up in the morning, and taking bread and a bottle of water, put it upon her shoulder, and delivered the boy, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Bersabee.'''

21:15. When the water in the bottle was spent, she cast the boy under one of the trees that were there.



21:16. She went her way, and sat over against him a great way off, as far as a bow can carry, for she said, "I will not see the boy die," and sitting over against, she lifted up her voice and wept.



21:17. God heard the voice of the boy, and an angel of God called to Hagar from Heaven, saying, "What are you doing, Hagar? Fear not; for God has heard the voice of the boy, from the place wherein he is.

21:18. "Arise, take up the boy, and hold him by the hand, for I will make him a great nation."

21:19. God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and went and filled the bottle, and gave the boy to drink.

21:20. God was with him, and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became a young man, an archer.

21:21. He dwelt in the wilderness of Pharan, and his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.

21:22. At the same time Abimelech, and Phicol the general of his army, said to Abraham, "God is with you in all that you do.

21:23. "Swear therefore by God, that you will not hurt me, nor my posterity, nor my stock: but according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me, and to the land wherein you have lived a stranger.

21:24. Abraham said, "I will swear."

21:25. Then he reproved Abimelech regarding a well of water, which his servants had taken away by force.

21:26. Abimelech answered, "I did not know who did this thing, you did not tell me, and I did not hear of it till today."



21:27. Then Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech, and both of them made a league.



21:28. Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock.

21:29. Abimelech said to him, "What mean these seven ewe lambs which you have set apart?"

21:30. But he said: Thou shalt take seven ewe lambs at my hand: that they may be a testimony for me, that I dug this well.

21:31. Therefore that place was called Beersheba; because both of them took an oath there.

Beersheba. . .That is, the well of oath.

21:32. They made a league for the well of oath.

'''21:33. Abimelech and Phicol, the general of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines. But Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and there called upon the name of the Lord God eternal.'''

21:34. He was a sojourner in the land of the Philistines many days.

Genesis Chapter 22
'The faith and obedience of Abraham is proved in his readiness to sacrifice his son Isaac. He is stayed from the act by an angel. Former promises are renewed to him. His brother Nachor's issue.'

'''22:1. After these things, God tempted Abraham, and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. He answered: Here I am.'''

God tempted, etc. . .God tempts no man to evil, James 1.13; but by trial and experiment makes known to the world, and to ourselves, what we are, as here by this trial the singular faith and obedience of Abraham was made manifest.



22:2. He said to him: Take your only begotten son Isaac, whom you love, and go into the land of vision; and there you shall offer him for a holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will show you.

22:3. So Abraham rising up in the night, saddled his donkey, and took with him two young men, and Isaac his son: and when he had cut wood for the holocaust, he went his way to the place which God had commanded him.



22:4. On the third day, lifting up his eyes, he saw the place afar off.

22:5. He said to his young men: Stay you here with the donkey; I and the boy will go with speed as far as yonder, and after we have worshipped, will return to you.

'''22:6. He took the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he himself carried in his hands fire and a sword. As they two went on together,'''

'''22:7. Isaac said to his father: My father. He answered: What will you, son? Behold, says he, fire and wood: where is the victim for the holocaust?'''

'''22:8. Abraham said: God will provide Himself a victim for a holocaust, my son. So they went on together.'''

22:9. They came to the place which God had shown him, where he built an altar, and laid the wood in order upon it; and when he had bound Isaac his son, he laid him on the altar upon the pile of wood.



22:10. He put forth his hand, and took the knife, to sacrifice his son.

'''22:11. Behold, an angel of the Lord from Heaven called to him, saying: Abraham, Abraham. He answered: Here I am.'''

22:12. He said to him: Lay not your hand upon the boy, neither do anything to him: now I know that you fear God, and have not spared your only begotten son for My sake.

22:13. Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind his back a ram, amongst the briers, sticking fast by the horns, which he took and offered for a holocaust instead of his son.



'''22:14. He called the name of that place, The Lord sees. Whereupon, even to this day, it is said: In the mountain the Lord will see.'''

22:15. The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from Heaven, saying:

22:16. By my own self have I sworn, says the Lord: because you have done this thing, and have not spared your only begotten son for My sake:



22:17. I will bless you, and I will multiply your seed as the stars of Heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea shore; your seed shall possess the gates of their enemies.

22:18. In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.

22:19. Abraham returned to his young men, and they went to Beersheba together, and he dwelt there.

22:20. After these things, it was told Abraham, that Melcha also had borne children to Nachor his brother.

22:21. Hus, the firstborn, and Buz, his brother, and Camuel the father of the Syrians,

22:22. Cased, Azau, Pheldas, Jedlaph,

22:23. and Bathuel, of whom was born Rebecca: these eight did Melcha bear to Nachor, Abraham's brother.

22:24. His concubine, named Roma, bore Tabee, and Gaham, and Tahas, and Maacha.

Genesis Chapter 23
Sara's death and burial in the field bought of Ephron.

23:1. Sara lived a hundred and twenty-seven years.



23:2. She died in Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), in the land of Chanaan: and Abraham came to mourn and weep for her.

23:3. After he rose up from the funeral obsequies, he spoke to the children of Heth, saying:

23:4. I am a stranger and sojourner among you: give me the right of a burial place with you, that I may bury my dead.

23:5. The children of Heth answered, saying:

23:6. My lord, hear us, you art a prince of God among us: bury your dead in our principal sepulchres: and no man shall have power to hinder you from burying your dead in his sepulchre.

23:7. Abraham rose up, and bowed down to the people of the land, to wit, the children of Heth:

Bowed down to the people. . .Adoravit, literally adored. But this word here, as well as in many other places in the Latin scriptures, is used to signify only an inferior honor and reverence paid to men, expressed by a bowing down of the body.

23:8. and said to them: If it please your soul that I should bury my dead, hear me, and intercede for me to Ephron the son of Seor.



23:9. That he may give me the double cave, which he has in the end of his field: For as much money as it is worth he shall give it me before you, for a possession of a burial place.

'''23:10. Now Ephron dwelt in the midst of the children of Heth. Ephron made answer to Abraham in the hearing of all that went in at the gate of the city, saying:'''

23:11. Let it not be so, my lord, but do hearken to what I say: The field I deliver to you, and the cave that is therein; in the presence of the children of my people, bury your dead.



23:12. Abraham bowed down before the people of the land.

23:13. He spoke to Ephron, in the presence of the people: I beseech you to hear me: I will give money for the field; take it, and so will I bury my dead in it.

23:14. Ephron answered:



'''23:15. My lord, hear me. The ground which you desire is worth four hundred shekels of silver: this is the price between me and you: but what is this? Bury your dead.'''

23:16. When Abraham had heard this, he weighed out the money that Ephron had asked, in the hearing of the children of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, of common current money.

23:17. The field that before was Ephron's, wherein was the double cave, looking towards Mambre, both it and the cave, and all the trees thereof, in all its limits round about,

23:18. and was conveyed to Abraham for possession, in the sight of the children of Heth, and of all that went in at the gate of his city.

23:19. So Abraham buried Sara, his wife, in the double cave of the field, that looked towards Mambre, this is in Hebron in the land of Canaan.

23:20. The field was conveyed to Abraham, and the cave that was in it, for a possession to bury in, by the children of Heth.

Genesis Chapter 24
Abraham's servant, sent by him into Mesopotamia, brings from thence Rebekah, who is married to Isaac.

24:1. Now Abraham was old, and advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed him in all things.

24:2. He said to the elder servant of his house, who was ruler over all he had, "Put your hand under my thigh,

24:3. "That I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you do not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:

24:4. "But that you go to my own country and kindred, and take a wife from there for my son Isaac."

24:5. The servant answered, "If the woman will not come with me into this land, must I bring your son back again to the place from where you came out?"

24:6. Abraham replied, "Beware you never bring my son back there again.



24:7. "The Lord God of heaven, who took me out of my father's house, and out of my native country, who spoke to me, and swore to me, saying, 'To your seed will I give this land,' He will send his angel before you, and you shall take from there a wife for my son.

24:8. "But if the woman will not follow you, you shall not be bound by the oath; only do not bring my son back there again."

24:9. The servant, therefore, put his hand under the thigh of Abraham, his lord, and swore to him upon his word.



24:10. Then he took ten camels of his master's herd, and departed, carrying something of all his goods with him, and he set forward and went on to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nachor.

24:11. When he had made the camels lie down outside the town, near a well of water, in the evening, at the time when women are wont to come out to draw water, he said,

24:12. "O Lord, the God of my master, Abraham, meet me today, I beseech you, and show kindness to my master, Abraham.

24:13. "Behold, I stand near the spring of water, and the daughters of the inhabitants of this city will come out to draw water,

24:14. "Now, therefore, the maid to whom I shall say, 'Let down your pitcher that I may drink," and she shall answer, 'Drink, and I will give your camels drink also,' let it be the same whom you have provided for your servant Isaac, and by this I shall understand that you have shown kindness to my master."

24:15. He had not yet ended these words within himself, and behold Rebekah came out, the daughter of Bathuel, son of Melcha, wife of Nachor the brother of Abraham, having a pitcher on her shoulder,

24:16. An exceeding comely maid, and a most beautiful virgin, and not known to man, and she went down to the spring, and filled her pitcher, and was coming back.

24:17. The servant ran to meet her, and said, "Give me a little water to drink of your pitcher."

'''24:18. She answered, "Drink, my lord." She quickly let down the pitcher upon her arm, and gave him a drink.'''

24:19. When he had drunk, she said, "I will draw water for your camels also, until they all drink."

24:20. Pouring out the pitcher into the troughs, she ran back to the well to draw water, and having drawn, she gave to all the camels.

24:21. But he musing, beheld her with silence, desirous to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.

24:22. After the camels had drunk, the man took out golden earrings, weighing two shekels; and as many bracelets, of ten shekels weight.

24:23. He said to her, "Whose daughter are you? tell me: is there any place in your father's house to lodge?"



24:24. She answered, "I am the daughter of Bathuel, the son of Melcha, whom she bore to Nachor."

24:25. Moreover, she said to him, "We have good store of both straw and hay, and a large place to lodge in."

24:26. The man bowed himself down, and adored the Lord,

24:27. saying, "Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not taken away his mercy and truth from my master, and has brought me the straight way into the house of my master's brother."

24:28. Then the maid ran, and told in her mother's house all that she had heard.

24:29. Rebekah had a brother, named Laban, who went out in haste to the man, to the well.



24:30. When he had seen the earrings and bracelets in his sister's hands, and had heard all that she related, saying, "Thus and thus the man spoke to me," he came to the man who stood by the camels, and near to the spring of water,

24:31. and said to him, "Come in, blessed of the Lord; why do you stand outside? I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels."

24:32. He brought him into his lodging, and he unharnessed the camels, and gave straw and hay, and water to wash his feet, and the feet of the men that had come with him.

'''24:33. Bread was set before him, but he said, "I will not eat until I tell my message." He answered him, "Speak."'''

24:34. He said, "I am the servant of Abraham."

24:35. "The Lord has blessed my master wonderfully, and he has become great, and He has given him sheep and oxen, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys.

24:36. "Sarah, my master's wife, has borne my master a son in her old age, and he has given him all that he had.

24:37. "My master made me swear, 'You shall not take a wife for my son of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell,

24:38. "'but shall go to my father's house, and shall take a wife of my own kindred for my son.'



24:39. "But I answered my master, 'What if the woman will not come with me?'

24:40. "'The Lord,' he said, 'in whose sight I walk, will send his angel with you, and will direct your way: and you shall take a wife for my son of my own kindred, and of my father's house.

24:41. "'But you shall be released from the oath, when you go to my kindred, and they will not give you one.'

24:42. "I came today to the well of water, and said, 'O Lord God of my master, Abraham, if you have prospered my journey, in which I now walk,

24:43. "'behold, I stand by the well of water, and the virgin that shall come out to draw water, who shall hear me say, 'Give me a little water to drink from your pitcher,'

24:44. "'and shall say to me, 'You may drink, and I will also draw water for your camels,' let the same be the woman whom the Lord has prepared for my master's son.'

24:45. "While I pondered these things secretly with myself, Rebecca appeared, coming with a pitcher, which she carried on her shoulder, and she went down to the well and drew water. I said to her, 'Give me a little to drink.'

24:46. "She speedily let down the pitcher from her shoulder, and said to me, 'You may drink, and to your camels I will also give drink.' I drank, and she watered the camels.

24:47. "Then I asked her, 'Whose daughter are you?' She answered, 'I am the daughter of Bathuel, the son of Nachor, whom Melcha bore to him.' So I put earrings on her to adorn her face, and I put bracelets on her hands,

24:48. "and falling down, I adored the Lord, blessing the Lord God of my master, Abraham, who has brought me the straight way to take the daughter of my master's brother for his son.



24:49. "Wherefore, if you do according to mercy and truth with my master, tell me; but if it please you otherwise, tell me that also, that I may go to the right hand, or to the left."

24:50. Laban and Bathuel answered, "The word has proceeded from the Lord; we cannot speak any other thing to you but His pleasure.

24:51. "Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go your way, and let her be the wife of your master's son, as the Lord has spoken."

24:52. Which when Abraham's servant heard, falling down to the ground, he adored the Lord.

'''24:53. Then bringing forth vessels of silver and gold, and garments, he gave them to Rebekah for a present. He offered gifts also to her brothers, and to her mother.'''

'''24:54. A banquet was made, and they ate and drank together, and lodged there. In the morning, the servant arose, and said, "Let me depart, that I may go to my master."'''

24:55. Her brother and mother answered, "Let the maid stay at least ten days with us, and afterwards she shall depart."

24:56. "Do not hold me back," he said, "because the Lord has prospered my journey; send me away, that I may go to my master."

24:57. They said, "Let us call the maid, and ask her will.

Let us call the maid, and ask her will. . .Not as to her marriage, as she had already consented, but of her quitting her parents and going to her husband.

'''24:58. They called her, and when she had come, they asked, "Will you go with this man?" She said, "I will go."'''

24:59. So they sent her away with her nurse, Abraham's servant, and his company,

24:60. wishing prosperity to their sister, and saying, "You are our sister; may you increase to thousands of thousands, and may your seed possess the gates of their enemies."



24:61. So Rebecca and her maids, being set upon camels, followed the man, who with speed returned to his master.

24:62. At the same time, Isaac was walking along the way to the well which is called Of the living and the seeing, for he dwelt in the south country.

24:63. He had gone forth to meditate in the field, the day being now well spent, and when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw camels coming afar off.

24:64. Rebecca also, when she saw Isaac, lighted off the camel,

'''24:65. and said to the servant, "Who is that man who comes towards us along the field?" He said to her, "That man is my master." But she quickly took her cloak, and covered herself.'''

24:66. Then the servant told Isaac all that he had done,



'''24:67. who brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother, and took her to be his wife. He loved her so much, that it moderated the sorrow which was occasioned by his mother's death.'''

Genesis Chapter 25
'Abraham's children by Keturah; his death and that of Ishmael. Isaac has the twins Esau and Jacob. Esau sells his first birthright to Jacob.'

25:1. Abraham married another wife named Keturah,

25:2. who bore him Zamram, and Jecsan, and Madan, and Madian, and Jesboc, and Sue.

'''25:3. Jecsan also begot Saba, and Dadan. The children of Dadan were Assurim, and Latusim, and Loomim.'''

25:4. But of Madian was born Epha, and Opher, and Henoch, and Abida, and Eldaa: all these were the children of Keturah.

25:5. Abraham gave all his possessions to Isaac,

25:6. and to his other children he gave gifts, and separated them from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, to the east country.

25:7. The days of Abraham's life were a hundred and seventy-five years.

25:8. He died in a good old age, and having lived a long time, and being full of days, was gathered to his people.



25:9. Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the double cave, which was situated in the field of Ephron the son of Seor the Hethite, over against Mambre,

25:10. which he had bought of the children of Heth; there was he buried, with Sarah his wife.

25:11. After his death, God blessed Isaac his son, who dwelt by the well named “of the living and seeing.”

25:12. These are the generations of Ishmael the son of Abraham, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's servant, bore unto him,

'''25:13. and these are the names of his children according to their calling and generations. The firstborn of Ishmael was Nabajoth, then Cedar, Adbeel, Mabsam,'''

25:14. Masma, Duma, Massa,

25:15. Hadar, Thema, Jethur, Naphis, and Cedma.

25:16. These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names by their castles and towns, twelve princes of their tribes.

25:17. The years of Ishmael's life were a hundred and thirty-seven, and aging he died, and was gathered unto his people.



'''25:18. He dwelt from Hevila as far as Sur, which looks towards Egypt, to them that go towards the Assyrians. He died in the presence of all his brethren.'''

25:19. These also are the generations of Isaac the son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac,

25:20. who when he was forty years old, took to wife Rebecca the daughter of Bathuel the Syrian of Mesopotamia, sister to Laban.

25:21. Isaac besought the Lord for his wife, because she was barren, and He heard him, and made Rebecca to conceive.

'''25:22. But the children struggled in her womb, and she said, "If it were to be so with me, what need was there to conceive?" And she went to consult the Lord.'''



25:23. He answered, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples shall be divided out of your womb, and one people shall overcome the other, and the elder shall serve the younger."

25:24. When her time came to be delivered, behold twins were found in her womb.

'''25:25. He that came forth first was red, and hairy like a skin: and his name was called Esau. Immediately the other coming forth, held his brother's foot in his hand, and therefore he was called Jacob.'''

25:26. Isaac was sixty years old when the children were born unto him.



25:27. When they were grown up, Esau became a skillful hunter, and a husbandman: but Jacob, a plain man, dwelt in tents.

25:28. Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his hunting: and Rebecca loved Jacob.

25:29. Jacob boiled pottage: to whom Esau, coming faint out of the field,

'''25:30. said: Give me of this red pottage, for I am exceedingly faint. For which reason his name was called Edom.'''

25:31. Jacob said to him: Sell me your first birthright.

25:32. He answered: Lo I die, what will the first birthright avail me?

'''25:33. Jacob said: Swear therefore to me. Esau swore to him, and sold his first birthright.'''

25:34. So taking bread and the pottage of lentils, he ate, and drank, and went on his way; making little account of having sold his first birthright.

Click here for Chapters 26 - 34 of the Book of Genesis. Chapters 35 - 50 of the Book of Genesis are on this page.