And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. And the waters abounded exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven, were covered. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven…and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.

And the waters were strong upon the earth a hundred and fifty days. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, was the earth dried. And Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him: Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatever creeps upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

And God spoke unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, "Behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you. Never shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood…."

And God said, "This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh."

And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." (The sons of Noah that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and of them was the whole earth populated.)

And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they settled there. And they said, "Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."

And the LORD said, "Look, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confuse the language of all the earth: and from there did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah fathered Abraham, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot.

Now the LORD had said unto Abraham, "Get…out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, unto a land that I will show you: And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed."

So Abraham departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: Abraham was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abraham took Sarah his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went out to go into the land of Canaan. (By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing where he went. By faith he resided in the land of promise, as in a strange country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.)

Abraham lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot settled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. And the LORD said unto Abraham, after…Lot was separated from him, "Lift up now your eyes, and look from the place where you are northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which you see, to you will I give it, and to your seed forever. And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall your seed also be numbered."

After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abraham in a vision, saying, "Fear not, Abraham: I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward."

And Abraham said, "Lord GOD, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?"

And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, "Eliezer shall not be your heir; but the child that shall come forth out of your own body shall be your heir."

And God brought Abraham outside, and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars, if you be able to number them…so shall your seed be." And Abraham believed in the LORD; and the LORD counted it to him for righteousness.

And the LORD said unto him, "I am the LORD that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it."

And Abraham said, "Lord GOD, how shall I know that I shall inherit it?"

And the LORD said unto him, "Take me a heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon." And Abraham took unto him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham; and, a horrifying great darkness fell upon him. And the LORD said unto Abraham, "Know of a certainty that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and the people of that land shall afflict them four hundred years; then that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. But in the fourth generation they shall come here again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full."

And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp…passed between those pieces. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abraham, saying, "Unto your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates."

Now Sarah, Abraham’s wife, bare him no children: and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarah, Abraham's wife, took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abraham had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abraham to be his wife. And Hagar bare Abraham a son: and Abraham called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. Abraham was eighty-six years old, when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abraham.

When Abraham was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abraham, and said unto him, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be…perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly."

And Abraham said unto God, "O that Ishmael might live before you!"

And God said, "Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed; and you shall call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him…to be a God unto you, and to your seed after you."

" This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your seed after you; every man child among you shall be circumcised. And it shall be a token of the covenant between you and me.

"And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: Look, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he father, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto you at this set time in the next year."

And the LORD appeared unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre; And said, "Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know."

And Abraham drew near, and said, "Will you also destroy the righteous with the wicked? That be far from you to do after this manner, to destroy the righteous with the wicked. …That be far from you: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

…And the LORD said, "I will not destroy it for ten's sake." And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place. And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out…of the overthrow.

And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged God faithful who had promised. Therefore came there even of Abraham, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in number…. For Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.

REFERENCES

Genesis 7:10, 19, 23-24; Genesis 8:4, 14, 18-19; Genesis 9:8-15; Genesis 9:1, 18a, 19, 28-29; Genesis 11:1-2, 4, 6-7, 9, 27; Genesis 12:1-5; Hebrews 11:8-10; Genesis 13:12, 14-16; Genesis 15:1, 3-10, 12-14, 17-18a; Genesis 16:1, 3, 15-16; Genesis 17:1-2, 18-19; Genesis 17: 7b, 10-11b, 20-21; Genesis 18:1a, 20-21, 23, 25, 32b-33; Genesis 19:29a; Genesis 21:1; Hebrews 11:11-12; Genesis 21:2-3.

CHAPTER 2