Genesis (American Standard Version, 1901)

In the beginning God creates the heavens and the earth. Over six days God creates light, the firmament, dry land and seas, the sun, moon, and stars, sea creatures and birds, land animals, and man in God's image, male and female. God blesses the sea creatures and birds to multiply, and blesses man, giving him dominion over all living things and every seed-bearing plant for food. On the seventh day God rests, blesses the day, and hallowed it. Jehovah God forms man from the dust of the ground and breathes life into him. He plants a garden in Eden containing the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, watered by four rivers: Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates. God places man in the garden to dress and keep it, permitting him to eat from every tree except the tree of knowledge. God forms the animals and brings them to man to name. Finding no suitable companion, God causes a deep sleep upon man, takes one of his ribs, and makes a woman, whom he brings to the man. The serpent speaks to the woman, telling her she shall not die if she eats from the forbidden tree but shall be as God. The woman eats and gives to her husband, and both know they are naked. God calls to the man, who blames the woman, who blames the serpent. God curses the serpent, the woman, and Adam, and names the woman Eve. God makes coats of skins for them and expels them from the garden, placing the Cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the tree of life. Eve bears Cain and Abel. Cain brings an offering of the fruit of the ground; Abel brings of the firstlings of his flock. God respects Abel's offering but not Cain's. Cain slays Abel in the field. God confronts Cain, who says he does not know where Abel is. God curses Cain as a fugitive and wanderer but appoints a sign for him. Cain dwells in the land of Nod. Cain's lineage is traced through Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, and Methushael to Lamech, who takes two wives, Adah and Zillah, and whose children include Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-cain. Lamech addresses his wives, saying he has slain a man for wounding him. Adam bears another son, Seth, and then Enosh. Men begin to call upon the name of Jehovah. A genealogy records the ages and deaths from Adam through Noah, noting that Enoch walked with God and was taken by him. Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The sons of God take the daughters of men as wives, and the Nephilim are in the earth. Jehovah sees that the wickedness of man is great and every imagination of his heart is only evil continually. He declares he will destroy all flesh but finds favor in Noah. God commands Noah to build an ark of gopher wood with specified dimensions, to bring in pairs of every living thing, and to gather food. Noah does according to all that God commands him. God tells Noah to come into the ark with all his house, for he has seen him righteous.

God commands Noah to take seven pairs of clean beasts and two of unclean, and seven pairs of birds, into the ark, announcing the flood in seven days. Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives enter the ark with the animals, and Jehovah shuts him in. The flood lasts forty days; waters prevail and cover the mountains fifteen cubits above. All flesh dies except Noah and those with him in the ark. The waters prevail one hundred and fifty days. God sends a wind and the waters assuage; the ark rests on the mountains of Ararat. Noah sends forth a raven, then a dove three times; the dove returns first without rest, then with an olive leaf, then not at all. The earth dries by the second month. God commands Noah and all living creatures to go forth. Noah builds an altar and offers burnt offerings; Jehovah declares he will not again smite everything living. God blesses Noah and his sons, permits them to eat flesh but forbids blood, and establishes a covenant with them and every living creature, setting the rainbow as its token. Noah plants a vineyard, becomes drunk, and is uncovered in his tent. Ham sees his father's nakedness and tells his brothers; Shem and Japheth cover their father. Noah curses Canaan, blesses Shem, and speaks of Japheth. Noah dies at nine hundred and fifty years. Genealogies of the sons of Noah follow. The people of one language build a tower in Shinar; Jehovah confounds their speech and scatters them, and the place is called Babel. Terah takes Abram, Lot, and Sarai from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran. Jehovah commands Abram to leave his country and promises to make him a great nation. Abram, with Sarai and Lot, passes through to Shechem, where Jehovah appears to him and promises the land to his seed. Famine drives Abram into Egypt, where he tells Sarai to call herself his sister; she is taken into Pharaoh's house, but Jehovah plagues Pharaoh, who sends them away with their possessions. Abram returns rich to the place between Beth-el and Ai. Strife arises between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and Lot's cattle.

Abram proposes to Lot that they separate to avoid strife between their herdsmen. Lot chooses the Plain of the Jordan and journeys east; they part. The men of Sodom are wicked against Jehovah. Jehovah tells Abram to look in all directions and promises him and his seed the land he sees, forever. Abram moves to the oaks of Mamre in Hebron and builds an altar. Four kings—Amraphel, Arioch, Chedorlaomer, and Tidal—make war against five kings of the plain cities. After twelve years of service the cities rebel; in the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and his allies defeat various peoples. The five kings set battle against the four in the vale of Siddim; the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah flee and fall into slime pits. The victors take the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and take Lot. An escaped man tells Abram, who leads three hundred and eighteen trained men, pursues to Dan, smites the enemy by night, and brings back all the goods and Lot. Melchizedek king of Salem brings bread and wine and blesses Abram; Abram gives him a tenth. The king of Sodom offers the goods; Abram refuses, except for his companions' portion. The word of Jehovah comes to Abram in a vision. Abram complains of being childless; Jehovah says his heir shall come from his own body. Abram is told to number the stars; he believes, and it is reckoned to him for righteousness. Jehovah tells him to divide animals; a deep sleep falls on him, and Jehovah foretells that his seed will sojourn and serve four hundred years, then come out with great substance. A smoking furnace and flaming torch pass between the pieces; Jehovah makes a covenant giving the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. Sarai gives her handmaid Hagar to Abram; Hagar conceives and despises Sarai, who deals hardly with her. The angel of Jehovah finds Hagar and promises a son named Ishmael. Hagar bears Ishmael; Abram is eighty-six. Jehovah appears to Abram at ninety-nine, renames him Abraham, promises to make him father of nations, and establishes the covenant of circumcision. Sarai is renamed Sarah; Isaac is promised. Abraham circumcises Ishmael and all the men of his house that day. Jehovah appears to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre as three men; Abraham provides hospitality. One announces that Sarah will have a son; Sarah laughs within herself and then denies it. The men look toward Sodom; Jehovah says he will go down to investigate the cry. Abraham intercedes, negotiating from fifty righteous down to ten. The two angels come to Sodom; Lot invites them in. The men of the city surround the house demanding the visitors; Lot offers his daughters. The angels bring Lot inside and smite the men at the door with blindness.

The angels command Lot to bring out his family before Jehovah destroys the city. Lot warns his sons-in-law, but they think he mocks. At morning the angels take Lot, his wife, and his two daughters out of the city. Lot asks to flee to a small nearby city instead of the mountain; the angel agrees, and the city is named Zoar. Jehovah rains brimstone and fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah, overthrowing the cities and the Plain. Lot's wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt. Abraham sees the smoke of the land. God remembers Abraham and sends Lot out of the overthrow. Lot dwells in a cave with his two daughters, who get their father drunk and lie with him; the first-born bears Moab and the younger bears Ben-ammi. Abraham sojourns in Gerar, saying Sarah is his sister; Abimelech takes her. God warns Abimelech in a dream; Abimelech had not come near her. Abimelech confronts Abraham, who explains Sarah is indeed his sister. Abimelech gives Abraham livestock and servants, restores Sarah, and gives her a thousand pieces of silver; Abraham prays, and God heals Abimelech's household. Jehovah visits Sarah, and she bears Isaac, whom Abraham circumcises at eight days. When Isaac is weaned, Abraham makes a feast. Sarah sees the son of Hagar mocking and asks Abraham to cast them out. God tells Abraham to hearken to Sarah, for in Isaac his seed shall be called, but the son of the handmaid will also be made a nation. Abraham sends Hagar and the child away with bread and water. The water is spent, and Hagar weeps. God hears the lad; the angel shows Hagar a well. The lad grows in the wilderness and becomes an archer. Abimelech and Phicol make a covenant with Abraham at Beer-sheba. God proves Abraham, commanding him to offer Isaac in Moriah. Abraham binds Isaac on the altar; the angel of Jehovah calls to him. Abraham offers a ram in the stead of his son. The angel swears to multiply Abraham's seed. Abraham is told that Milcah bore children to Nahor, including Bethuel who begat Rebekah. Sarah dies in Hebron. Abraham purchases the cave of Machpelah from Ephron for four hundred shekels of silver and buries Sarah there. Abraham instructs his elder servant to go to his kindred for a wife for Isaac. The servant takes ten camels to Mesopotamia, prays at a well, and Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel, comes out and offers him and his camels drink.

Rebekah waters Abraham's servant's camels; he gives her a gold ring and bracelets, asks her lineage—daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor and Milcah—and she offers lodging, and he worships Jehovah. Her brother Laban brings him in, but the servant will not eat until he tells his errand: he is Abraham's servant, and he recounts his master's wealth, the oath to take a wife from Abraham's kindred, his prayer at the well, and Rebekah's coming. Laban and Bethuel answer that the thing proceeds from Jehovah and give Rebekah; the servant gives jewels and gifts. Rebekah agrees to go, and they bless her. Isaac, meditating in the field at Beer-lahai-roi, meets her; she veils herself, and he takes her into Sarah's tent as his wife and is comforted after his mother's death. Abraham takes Keturah, who bears him six sons; he gives all to Isaac, sends the concubines' sons eastward, dies at a hundred seventy-five years, and is buried by Isaac and Ishmael at Machpelah. God blesses Isaac. The generations of Ishmael are recorded—twelve princes—and Ishmael dies. Isaac entreats Jehovah for the barren Rebekah; she conceives struggling twins, and Jehovah tells her the elder shall serve the younger. Esau, red and hairy, and Jacob, gripping his heel, are born; Esau becomes a hunter and Jacob a quiet man, and Esau sells his birthright to Jacob for lentil pottage. In a famine Isaac goes to Abimelech at Gerar, calling Rebekah his sister; Jehovah appears, forbidding Egypt and reaffirming the oath sworn to Abraham. Isaac prospers a hundredfold, and the Philistines stop his wells; he re-digs them—Esek, Sitnah, Rehoboth—and goes to Beer-sheba, where Jehovah appears again and he builds an altar. Abimelech, Ahuzzath, and Phicol come and swear a covenant of peace. Esau marries two Hittite wives, grieving Isaac and Rebekah. When Isaac is old and blind, he sends Esau to hunt venison for a blessing; Rebekah overhears and disguises Jacob in Esau's garments and goat-skins. Jacob comes claiming to be Esau; Isaac, doubting the voice but feeling the hairy hands, eats and blesses him with the dew of heaven and lordship over his brethren. As Jacob departs, Esau returns from the hunt to bring his father venison.

Isaac trembles upon learning Esau is not the one he blessed, and Esau cries bitterly, asking to be blessed. Isaac says Jacob took the blessing by guile and has been made his lord. Esau weeps again, and Isaac blesses him with the fatness of the earth and the dew of heaven, but says he shall serve his brother and by his sword shall live. Esau hates Jacob and resolves to kill him after Isaac's death. Rebekah hears of this and sends Jacob to Laban in Haran. Isaac blesses Jacob and charges him not to take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Esau takes Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, as a wife. Jacob travels toward Haran, stops for the night, and dreams of a ladder reaching to heaven with angels ascending and descending; Jehovah speaks to him concerning the land and his seed. Jacob sets up the stone as a pillar, names the place Beth-el, and vows a vow. Jacob arrives at a well in the land of the children of the east, meets Rachel, rolls the stone, and kisses her. Laban embraces him and offers wages. Jacob serves seven years for Rachel, but Laban gives him Leah on the wedding night; after a week Jacob also receives Rachel. Leah bears Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. Rachel, barren, gives Bilhah to Jacob, who bears Dan and Naphtali. Leah gives Zilpah, who bears Gad and Asher. After a dispute over mandrakes, Leah bears Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah. God opens Rachel's womb and she bears Joseph. Jacob asks Laban to let him go; Laban asks for wages, and Jacob chooses the speckled and spotted as his hire. Jacob uses peeled rods over the watering-troughs, and the flocks bear speckled and spotted. Jacob increases exceedingly. Hearing Laban's sons speak against him and seeing Laban's changed countenance, Jacob receives a divine command to return to his fathers' land. He calls Rachel and Leah to the field; they agree to go. Jacob sets his family on camels and carries away his cattle. Rachel steals the teraphim. Jacob flees unawares. Laban pursues seven days and overtakes him in the mountain of Gilead, after God warns him in a dream not to speak to Jacob either good or bad. Laban confronts Jacob about stealing his daughters and gods; Jacob says he was afraid and does not know Rachel took the teraphim.

Laban searches the tents of Jacob, Leah, the maid-servants, and Rachel for the teraphim; Rachel has hidden them under the camel's saddle and sits upon them, telling her father she cannot rise. Jacob chides Laban, recounts twenty years of service, and Laban proposes a covenant. They set up a stone pillar and a heap of stones, called Galeed and Mizpah, and swear not to pass over it for harm. Jacob offers a sacrifice; Laban kisses his children and departs. Angels of God meet Jacob, who names the place Mahanaim. He sends messengers to Esau, who returns with four hundred men. Jacob divides his company, prays, and sends a large present ahead. He passes over the Jabbok alone; a man wrestles with him until daybreak, strikes his thigh, and renames him Israel. Jacob calls the place Peniel. Esau runs to meet him, embraces and kisses him; they weep. Jacob urges Esau to take the present; Esau returns to Seir. Jacob builds at Succoth, buys ground at Shechem, and erects an altar. Shechem takes and lies with Dinah; Hamor and Shechem propose intermarriage. The sons of Jacob demand circumcision of all males, then Simeon and Levi slaughter the city's males and plunder it. Jacob rebukes them. God commands Jacob to go to Beth-el; the household surrenders foreign gods, which Jacob hides under an oak. Deborah dies. At Beth-el God appears, renames him Israel, and gives him the land. Rachel dies in childbirth, naming the child Ben-oni; Jacob names him Benjamin and buries her at Ephrath. Reuben lies with Bilhah. Jacob comes to Isaac at Hebron; Isaac dies at 180 years and is buried by Esau and Jacob. Esau takes his household to mount Seir, and his generations are listed.

The text records the sons and chiefs of Esau, naming them as Edom, then the chiefs of the Horites descended from Seir in the land of Edom, followed by a list of kings who reigned in Edom before any king over the children of Israel, and finally the chiefs of Esau according to their families and places. Jacob dwelt in Canaan. Joseph, seventeen years old, brought the evil report of his half-brothers to their father. Israel loved Joseph more than all his children and made him a coat of many colors. Joseph told his brethren two dreams, in which their sheaves, and the sun, moon, and eleven stars, made obeisance to him. His father rebuked him; his brethren envied him. Israel sent Joseph from Hebron to his brethren in Shechem. Joseph found them in Dothan. They conspired to slay him; Reuben delivered him and proposed casting him into a pit instead. They stripped his coat and cast him in. A caravan of Ishmaelites passed by; Judah proposed selling him. Midianites drew him up and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They brought Joseph to Egypt. The brothers dipped the coat in goat's blood and brought it to Jacob, who mourned. Judah took a Canaanite wife, Shua's daughter, who bore him Er, Onan, and Shelah. Er was wicked and Jehovah slew him. Judah commanded Onan to raise up seed to his brother; Onan spilled his seed and Jehovah slew him. Judah told Tamar to remain a widow until Shelah grew up. After Shua's daughter died, Tamar disguised herself as a harlot at Enaim; Judah, not knowing her, came in to her and gave his signet, cord, and staff as pledge. She conceived. When told she was with child, Judah ordered her burnt. She sent back his tokens; he acknowledged them and said she was more righteous than he. She bore twins, Perez and Zerah. Joseph was brought to Egypt and bought by Potiphar, captain of the guard. Jehovah was with him; he prospered and became overseer of Potiphar's house. Potiphar's wife sought him; he refused and fled, leaving his garment. She accused him before her husband; Potiphar cast Joseph into prison. There Jehovah was with Joseph, and the keeper committed all prisoners to his hand. Pharaoh's butler and baker offended the king and were imprisoned with Joseph. Both dreamed in one night. Joseph interpreted the butler's dream of pressing grapes: within three days Pharaoh would restore him. Joseph asked the butler to remember him. The baker's dream of baskets with birds was interpreted as his execution. On Pharaoh's birthday the butler was restored and the baker hanged, as Joseph had said. The butler forgot Joseph.

Pharaoh dreams of seven fat kine eaten by seven lean kine and of seven good ears swallowed by seven thin ears. No one can interpret them. The chief butler reminds Pharaoh of Joseph, who is brought before Pharaoh and interprets the dreams as seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. Joseph advises storing grain. Pharaoh sets Joseph over all the land of Egypt, gives him his signet ring, fine linen, a gold chain, and the second chariot, and names him Zaphenath-paneah. Pharaoh gives Joseph Asenath, daughter of Poti-phera priest of On, to wife. Joseph is thirty years old. The seven years of plenty bring forth abundantly, and Joseph gathers grain. Two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, are born. The famine comes, and all countries come to Egypt to buy grain. Jacob sends his ten sons, withholding Benjamin. Joseph recognizes his brethren but they do not know him; he accuses them of being spies and demands they bring their youngest brother. He binds Simeon and has their sacks filled with grain, their money restored. They find the money and tell Jacob, who refuses to send Benjamin. When the grain is consumed, Judah offers himself as surety, and Jacob sends them again with presents and double money. Joseph sees Benjamin, weeps in his chamber, and sets a meal; Benjamin's portion is five times as much as any other's. Joseph has his silver cup placed in Benjamin's sack. The steward overtakes the men and accuses them of stealing it. The cup is found in Benjamin's sack. Judah and his brethren fall before Joseph, and Judah begins to speak.

Judah speaks to Joseph, recounting how their father feared for Benjamin's life, and offers himself as a bondman in the boy's place. Joseph causes all who stand by him to depart, reveals himself to his brethren, and weeps aloud. He tells them not to be grieved, that God sent him before them to preserve life, and commands them to bring their father down to Goshen. He embraces Benjamin and kisses all his brethren. The report reaches Pharaoh, who commands Joseph to send his brethren with wagons to fetch their father. Joseph gives them wagons, provisions, and changes of raiment, Benjamin receiving additional silver and garments. The brethren tell Jacob, who at first does not believe, but when he sees the wagons his spirit revives and he resolves to go. Israel journeys to Beer-sheba, offers sacrifices, and receives a word from God in the night not to fear going into Egypt. A genealogy records those who come into Egypt, totaling seventy souls. Joseph makes ready his chariot and meets Jacob at Goshen; they embrace and weep. Joseph instructs his brethren to tell Pharaoh they are shepherds. Before Pharaoh, Jacob blesses him and reports his age as one hundred and thirty years. Joseph settles his family in the best of the land and nourishes them. During the famine, Joseph gathers up all the money of Egypt and Canaan, then accepts their cattle, and finally their land, making it Pharaoh's and establishing a fifth as a statute. Israel lives seventeen years in Egypt, his years totaling one hundred forty-seven. Before his death he calls Joseph and begs to be buried with his fathers, not in Egypt; Joseph swears. Joseph brings Manasseh and Ephraim to Jacob, who claims them as his own. Jacob, whose eyes are dim, stretches his right hand upon the younger Ephraim and his left upon Manasseh the first-born, wittingly crossing his hands. Joseph objects, but Jacob refuses, saying the younger shall be greater. Jacob then calls his sons together and addresses Reuben, Simeon and Levi, and Judah.

The text presents oracles concerning Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin. Jacob then charges his sons to bury him in the cave of Machpelah, and dies. Joseph weeps over his father, has him embalmed, and obtains Pharaoh's permission to carry his body to Canaan. A great company goes up; they lament at Atad and bury Jacob in Machpelah. Joseph returns to Egypt. His brethren, fearing retribution, ask his forgiveness; Joseph reassures them, saying God meant their evil for good, and promises to nourish them. He lives one hundred and ten years, sees Ephraim's children of the third generation, tells his brethren God will bring them up, and takes their oath to carry his bones from Egypt. He dies and is embalmed in a coffin.