168 passages · Humanity
Abram returns from Egypt very wealthy and worships at his old altar. He and Lot both have so many possessions that the land cannot support them, and their herdsmen quarrel.
Abram proposes peaceful separation and offers Lot first choice. Lot picks the well-watered Jordan plain and settles near Sodom, whose people are wicked.
The king of Sodom offers Abram the goods in exchange for the people. Abram, swearing by God Most High, refuses to take anything so no one can say he made Abram rich.
Ephron publicly offers the field and cave as a gift, but Abraham insists on paying. Ephron names four hundred shekels, and Abraham weighs out the silver.
Isaac farms, grows very rich, and the Philistines become envious and block his father's wells. After moving and reopening the wells, he moves on until he digs one that is not disputed.
After Joseph's birth, Jacob asks permission to go home. Laban wants him to stay, and Jacob proposes that his wages be the speckled and dark animals. Laban agrees, then removes those animals and moves them away.
Jacob uses peeled branches at the troughs so that the flocks bear streaked and spotted young, and he takes the stronger animals for himself. He becomes very wealthy.
As famine drains Egypt's money, Joseph takes livestock, then land and people, in exchange for food. Pharaoh gains ownership, and a fifth of produce is set aside for him.
A poorer worshiper may bring a turtledove or young pigeon. The priest prepares it at the altar and burns it, and the text again calls it a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
A person too poor for a lamb may bring two birds, one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering. If even that is too much, a tenth of an ephah of fine flour, without oil or frankincense, is accepted.
When the days are complete, the woman brings a lamb and a bird to the priest, who offers them for her cleansing. If she cannot afford a lamb, she brings two birds instead.
A person who cannot afford all these offerings brings one lamb, less flour, and two birds. The ritual is the same, and the passage concludes it is the law for someone who cannot afford full cleansing.
Land sales must be priced by the number of harvests remaining until Jubilee, and no one may cheat a neighbor. God promises a triple harvest in the sixth year for those who obey.
Israel camps by the Jordan. Alarmed by their numbers, Balak king of Moab sends elders with fees to Balaam, asking him to curse Israel. Balaam asks them to stay overnight while he seeks the LORD's answer.
Balak sends more distinguished princes with promises of great honor. Balaam says no amount of wealth can make him disobey God, but asks them to wait, and God then lets him go if he speaks only what God says.
God instructs that the plunder be counted and split between the soldiers and the rest of the congregation, with a tribute to the priests and Levites. The chapter lists the animals and people in each share.
The tribes of Reuben and Gad, with large herds, see that Jazer and Gilead are good grazing land. They ask Moses and the leaders to give them the land as their possession rather than making them cross the Jordan.
Every seventh year creditors must cancel loans made to fellow Israelites, though foreigners can still be charged. God promises that obedience will leave no poor among them.
Moses gives rules against returning a fugitive slave, shrine prostitution, and charging interest to a fellow Israelite. He also says vows must be kept and neighbors' fields may be eaten from but not carried away.
A newly married man is exempt from war and other duties for a year to bring joy to his wife. Lenders may not take millstones as security, since that would take away a family's means of making bread.
Israelites must not keep two sets of weights or measures, one heavy and one light. Honest dealing is tied to long life in the land, and dishonesty is detestable to the LORD.
At the seven-day wedding feast, Samson bets thirty companions thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes that they cannot solve his riddle. They fail to answer for three days.
Samuel lists the costs of kingship: sons drafted, daughters and fields taken, a tenth of harvests and flocks claimed, and the people made servants. He says they will cry out but God will not answer.
Samuel dies and Israel mourns him. David moves to the Wilderness of Paran, where a wealthy man named Nabal lives; he is harsh, while his wife Abigail is intelligent and beautiful.
Hearing that Nabal is shearing sheep, David sends ten young men to greet him. They are to say David's men protected Nabal's shepherds and to ask for whatever he can spare at feast time.
Ziba brings donkeys and food and claims Mephibosheth is staying in Jerusalem hoping to regain the kingdom. David gives Ziba all Mephibosheth's property.
Mephibosheth, unwashed and mourning, says Ziba deceived him. David declares that he and Ziba divide the land, and Mephibosheth says Ziba may take all.
Solomon offers sacrifices three times a year and builds a fleet at Ezion-geber. Hiram's sailors help bring gold from Ophir.
The queen of Sheba tests Solomon with hard questions and sees his wisdom and wealth. She praises the LORD, gives gifts and returns home.
Solomon receives great amounts of gold each year and makes gold shields, an ivory and gold throne, and gold drinking vessels.