468 passages · Humanity
A crafty serpent asks the woman whether God really forbade eating from any tree. She restates the command, and the serpent contradicts it, saying God is withholding godlike knowledge.
The woman eats the fruit and gives some to her husband, who eats. Their eyes are opened, they realize they are naked, sew fig leaves, and hide from 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.
Adam names his wife Eve, and God clothes them in skins. He then sends them out of the garden and posts cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life.
Eve bears Cain and Abel. Both bring offerings, and God favors Abel's but not Cain's. God warns the angry Cain that sin is crouching at his door but that he can master it.
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's line builds a city and produces herdsmen, musicians, and metalworkers. Lamech takes two wives and boasts of killing a man, claiming far greater vengeance than Cain.
As people multiply, the 'sons of God' take wives from the daughters of men. God limits human days to 120 years, and the Nephilim and mighty men of old are mentioned.
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.
Noah plants a vineyard, becomes drunk, and lies uncovered. Ham tells his brothers, while Shem and Japheth cover their father without looking.
Waking, Noah curses Canaan, Ham's son, as a servant to his brothers, and blesses the Lord, the God of Shem. He asks that Japheth's territory expand and that Canaan serve them.
The whole world speaks one language. People settle in Shinar, make bricks, and decide to build a city and tower to make a name for themselves and avoid being scattered.
Because of famine, Abram goes to Egypt and asks Sarai to say she is his sister. Pharaoh takes her, but the Lord afflicts his household, and Pharaoh sends Abram away with his wife and goods.
Two angels arrive at Sodom and Lot insists they stay with him. The men of the city surround the house demanding the visitors, and Lot offers his daughters instead. The angels pull him in and strike the crowd with blindness.
Living in a cave, Lot's daughters fear they will have no children. They get their father drunk and each conceive a son, Moab and Ben-ammi, ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites.
Abimelech, alarmed, asks why Abraham brought guilt on his kingdom. Abraham explains he feared no one there feared God and says Sarah is his half-sister.
Afraid he will be killed because of Rebekah's beauty, Isaac claims she is his sister. King Abimelech sees them together, confronts him, and orders that no one harm the couple.
Old and nearly blind, Isaac asks Esau to hunt and prepare a meal so he can bless him. Rebekah overhears and tells Jacob to bring goats so that he can get the blessing instead.
Jacob worries he will be found out and cursed, but Rebekah says she will take the curse. She cooks the meal and dresses Jacob in Esau's clothes with goatskins on his hands and neck.
Jacob claims to be Esau. Isaac is suspicious but touches him, smells his clothes, and gives the blessing promising rich land, rule over his brothers, and blessing for those who bless him.
Esau returns with his meal and Isaac realizes he has been tricked, trembling. Esau cries out for a blessing too, and Isaac gives a lesser one predicting a life of hardship and eventual rebellion.
Esau resolves to kill Jacob after Isaac dies. Rebekah warns Jacob to flee to her brother Laban in Haran, and she tells Isaac she wants Jacob to marry from her relatives, not from Hittite women.
Jacob agrees to work seven years for Rachel, but Laban gives him Leah on the wedding night. Laban explains local custom and Jacob agrees to work seven more years for Rachel.
Shechem assaults Dinah, then wants her as his wife. His father Hamor asks Jacob's family to intermarry and settle among them, and Shechem offers any price.
Jacob's sons say they can agree only if every Shechemite male is circumcised. Hamor and Shechem persuade the men of the city, pointing to the benefit of gaining Jacob's wealth, and all males are circumcised.
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.
Jacob sends Joseph to check on his brothers, who are grazing flocks, and he finds them at Dothan. They plan to kill him, but Reuben persuades them to throw him in an empty pit.
At Judah's suggestion, the brothers sell Joseph to traders bound for Egypt. They dip his robe in goat's blood and show it to Jacob, who believes Joseph is dead and mourns deeply, while Joseph is sold to Potiphar in Egypt.
Judah leaves his brothers, marries a Canaanite woman, and has three sons. Tamar marries the eldest, Er, and after Er dies she is given to Onan, who also dies, and Judah sends Tamar home to wait for Shelah.