723 passages · God
God calls out to the man, who admits fear and hiding. When asked if he ate, the man blames the woman, and she blames the serpent.
God pronounces consequences: the serpent is cursed with a coming conflict, the woman will face pain and strained relations, and the man will toil against a cursed ground until he returns to dust.
Cain lures Abel to the field and kills him. When God asks where Abel is, Cain answers evasively, and God declares that Abel's blood cries out and Cain will be a wanderer.
Cain protests his punishment is too great. God places a mark on him so no one will kill him, and Cain settles in Nod, east of Eden.
God sees that human hearts are wholly evil and regrets making man, grieved. He resolves to blot out life from the earth, but Noah finds favor in his eyes.
The deep's fountains burst open and the heavens' floodgates open, with rain for forty days. All those on the ark enter, and the Lord shuts Noah in.
The waters swell, lift the ark, and cover the mountains. Every living thing on dry land dies, and only Noah and those with him survive.
The Lord comes down, sees the project, and confuses their language. The people are scattered across the earth and stop building, and the place is named Babel.
As the men leave, the Lord reflects that he has chosen Abraham to teach his household justice. He says the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and he will go see for himself.
Abraham asks whether God will sweep away the righteous with the wicked and bargains down from fifty righteous to ten. The Lord agrees each time to spare the city, and then leaves.
The Lord rains sulfur and fire on Sodom, Gomorrah, and the plain. Lot's wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt, and Abraham sees smoke rising the next morning.
While the men are in pain, Simeon and Levi kill every male in the city and take Dinah back, and the other brothers loot it. Jacob fears retaliation, but they say their sister should not be treated like a prostitute.
The brothers bow to Joseph without recognizing him. He accuses them of being spies, and they describe their family; he demands they prove it by bringing their youngest brother, and jails them three days.
Joseph softens the demand: one brother stays while the rest take grain home. The brothers, unaware he understands, admit guilt over Joseph; Joseph weeps and has Simeon bound.
The brothers return and fall before Joseph. Judah admits God has exposed their guilt and offers all of them as slaves, but Joseph insists only Benjamin will stay.
Jacob rebukes Reuben for defiling his bed and condemns Simeon and Levi for their violent anger, saying they will be scattered in Israel.
The LORD tells Moses to meet Pharaoh at the Nile and again demand that Israel be released. If he refuses, the Nile will turn to blood.
Aaron strikes the Nile and all Egypt's water turns to blood, killing the fish and making the water undrinkable. The magicians imitate it, Pharaoh is unmoved, and seven days pass.
The LORD warns of frogs in every part of Egypt, and Aaron stretches out his staff. Frogs cover the land, though Pharaoh's magicians can also produce them.
Moses tosses soot from a furnace into the air and festering boils break out on people and animals. Even the magicians cannot stand before Moses, and the LORD hardens Pharaoh's heart.
Moses stretches his staff toward heaven and thunder, lightning, and the worst hail in Egypt's history destroy people, animals, and plants in the fields. Goshen alone is untouched.
An east wind brings locusts that cover the land and eat everything left by the hail. Pharaoh confesses his sin and asks for forgiveness, and a west wind blows the locusts into the Red Sea, but the LORD hardens his heart.
A darkness thick enough to feel covers Egypt for three days while Israelites have light. Pharaoh offers to let all but the livestock go, Moses refuses, and Pharaoh orders Moses out and says he will die if he returns.
The LORD says one more plague will make Pharaoh drive Israel out. He tells the people to ask their neighbors for silver and gold, and gives them favor with the Egyptians.
Moses declares that at midnight every firstborn in Egypt will die and a great cry will rise, but Israel will be unharmed. He leaves in anger, and the text notes that Pharaoh's heart remains hardened.
At midnight the LORD strikes down every firstborn in Egypt, and Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron by night and tells Israel to go. The Egyptians urge them to hurry and give them silver, gold, and clothing.
At daybreak Moses stretches out his hand again and the waters cover the whole Egyptian army. Israel sees the Egyptians dead on the shore, and the people fear the LORD and believe in him and Moses.
The text sets the death penalty for deliberate murder, but provides a refuge for accidental killing. It also covers striking or cursing parents and kidnapping.
The laws set compensation for injuries in a fight and limits on harming servants. Harm to a pregnant woman is addressed, and eye for eye, tooth for tooth sets a limit on the penalty.
The laws cover an ox that kills a person and owner responsibility if the animal was known to be dangerous. They also address a pit left uncovered and one ox killing another.