Genesis
10 sessions, each with its notes, questions, and the full World English Bible text.
Open to everyone
Session 1 · Genesis 1–5This book is free to read and study.
Light, Eden, a broken command, a brother's blood, and Enoch.
- God speaks light, land, and living creatures into being, makes man and woman in His image, and calls the sixth day very good.
- God rests on the seventh day, forms the man from dust, plants Eden and its two trees, and builds the woman from the man's side.
- The serpent twists the command, the man and woman eat, and God judges them, promises the woman's offspring, and bars the way to the tree of life.
- Cain murders Abel after a refused offering, the Lord judges and marks him, and Seth is born as people begin to call on the name of the Lord.
- The line from Adam to Noah records long years, the taking of Enoch who walked with God, and the birth of Noah in a cursed ground.
Violence, an ark, a rainbow, a son's shame, and the nations.
- The earth fills with violence, God tells Noah to build an ark to a precise measure, and Noah does what the Lord commands.
- Noah, his household, and the creatures enter the ark, the fountains of the deep open, and the waters prevail on the earth.
- The ark rests on the mountains of Ararat, a dove returns with an olive leaf, and Noah's altar moves God to promise that seedtime and harvest will not cease.
- God covenants with every living creature under the sign of the bow, and Noah's drunkenness brings a curse on Canaan and blessings on Shem and Japheth.
- The families of Noah's sons spread into lands and languages, and the nations are named as one human family after the flood.
A tower, a call from Ur, bread and wine, and a cut covenant.
- The people build a city and a tower to make a name, the Lord confuses their language and scatters them, and the line of Shem narrows to Abram and barren Sarai in Haran.
- The Lord calls Abram to leave his country, promises a great nation and a blessing for all families, and Abram goes, though fear soon pushes him to a lie in Egypt.
- Abram and Lot separate, Lot pitches his tents toward Sodom, and the Lord promises Abram a seed like the dust and a land he is told to walk.
- Abram rescues Lot from the eastern kings, Melchizedek of Salem brings bread and wine and blesses him, and Abram refuses to be made rich by the king of Sodom.
- Abram believes the promise of offspring like the stars, it is counted to him as righteousness, and the Lord cuts a covenant as fire passes between the divided animals.
Hagar's well, circumcision, three guests, and fire on the plain.
- Sarai gives Hagar to Abram, Hagar flees harsh treatment, and the angel of the Lord sends her back with a promise and the name of the God who sees.
- The Lord renames Abram and Sarai, commands circumcision on the eighth day, and sets the covenant with Isaac while still blessing Ishmael.
- Three visitors come to Abraham at Mamre, Sarah laughs at the promise of a son, and Abraham intercedes for Sodom down to ten righteous.
- Angels bring Lot out before fire falls on the plain, his wife looks back and becomes salt, and his daughters' sin in the cave begins Moab and Ammon.
- Abraham again says Sarah is his sister in Gerar, God warns Abimelech in a dream and keeps him from sin, and Abraham's prayer opens the wombs of that house.
A promised boy, a ram on the mount, a grave, and a birthright.
- Isaac is born and circumcised on the eighth day, Hagar and Ishmael are sent out and met by God at a well, and Abraham covenants at Beersheba.
- God commands Abraham to offer Isaac in the land of Moriah, stays the knife, and provides a ram, swearing blessing because Abraham obeyed.
- Sarah dies, and Abraham buys the cave of Machpelah from Ephron the Hittite with weighed silver so that he owns a grave in the land.
- Abraham's servant is led to Rebekah at the well, she chooses to go with him, and Isaac is comforted after his mother's death.
- Abraham dies and is buried by Isaac and Ishmael, the twins are born after struggle in the womb, and Esau sells his birthright for a meal.
Wells, a stolen blessing, a ladder, and two sisters' sons.
- Isaac stays in Gerar under God's command, fears for Rebekah as his father feared for Sarah, and reopens wells until the Lord appears at Beersheba.
- Rebekah and Jacob deceive blind Isaac, Jacob receives the blessing meant for Esau, and Esau weeps, takes a harder word, and plans his brother's death.
- Isaac sends Jacob toward Paddan-aram, and at Bethel Jacob dreams of a stairway and the Lord, then names the place the house of God and vows a tenth.
- Jacob serves seven years for Rachel, is given Leah, serves seven more, and Leah bears Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah while Rachel remains barren.
- Rachel and Leah's rivalry fills the camp with sons through Bilhah and Zilpah, Joseph is born, and Jacob's flocks increase under Laban's changing wages.
Flight from Laban, a limp at Peniel, and a return to Bethel.
- Jacob flees while Laban is shearing, Rachel steals the household gods, and the two men cut a watched covenant at Galeed after God warns Laban in a dream.
- Jacob sends gifts ahead to Esau, wrestles until dawn at the Jabbok, and leaves Peniel named Israel, blessed, and limping.
- Esau runs to meet Jacob, embraces him, and weeps, and Jacob settles at Succoth and then buys a piece of land near Shechem.
- Shechem violates Dinah, her brothers answer a marriage offer with deceit and a massacre, and Jacob fears the land will gather against his small house.
- God calls Jacob back to Bethel, Rachel dies bearing Benjamin, Reuben lies with Bilhah, and Isaac dies and is buried by Esau and Jacob together.
Edom's chiefs, a pit, Tamar's pledge, and dreams in prison.
- Esau's generations, chiefs, and kings in Edom are written in full before any king reigned in Israel, and he settles in Seir because the land cannot hold both brothers.
- Joseph's dreams and his father's favor provoke his brothers, they sell him toward Egypt, and a bloodied robe convinces Jacob that a beast has torn his son.
- Judah's sons Er and Onan die under judgment, Tamar secures offspring by Judah's own pledge, and she bears the twins Perez and Zerah.
- The Lord prospers Joseph in Potiphar's house, Joseph refuses his master's wife because he will not sin against God, and a lie about his garment puts him in prison.
- Joseph interprets the dreams of Pharaoh's cupbearer and baker, both words come true within three days, and the restored cupbearer forgets him.
Pharaoh's grain, a hidden cup, and a brother who weeps.
- Pharaoh dreams of cows and ears of grain, Joseph reads seven years of plenty and seven of famine, and at thirty Joseph is set over Egypt, where Manasseh and Ephraim are born.
- The brothers bow in Egypt, Joseph speaks roughly and keeps Simeon, and the silver returned in their sacks carries fear home to Jacob.
- Judah pledges his own life for Benjamin, the brothers return with gifts and double money, and Joseph eats with them, seating them by age.
- A silver cup is found in Benjamin's sack, and Judah offers himself as a slave so the boy can return to a father whose life is bound up in the lad.
- Joseph reveals his name, says God sent him ahead to preserve life, and sends wagons so that Jacob may come down and see his son alive.
Goshen, crossed hands, a scepter in Judah, and bones in Egypt.
- God tells Israel at Beersheba not to fear going down, for He will go with him and bring him up again, and Jacob travels with seventy persons to Joseph in Goshen.
- Jacob blesses Pharaoh, the family settles in the land of Rameses, and Joseph keeps Egypt alive through the famine by gathering money, livestock, and land for Pharaoh.
- Jacob adopts Ephraim and Manasseh, crosses his hands against Joseph's arrangement so the younger stands first, and gives Joseph one portion above his brothers.
- Jacob blesses his twelve sons with words for days to come, sets the scepter with Judah and rich blessing on Joseph, and dies after charging them to bury him in Machpelah.
- Joseph buries his father in the cave, refuses to take his brothers' fear as a reason to enslave them, and at one hundred ten makes Israel swear to carry his bones when God visits.