A tower, a call from Ur, bread and wine, and a cut covenant.

Genesis 11

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.

¹The whole earth was of one language and of one speech. ²As they traveled east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there. ³They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. ⁴They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”

⁵Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. ⁶Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do. ⁷Come, let’s go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city. ⁹Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.

¹⁰This is the history of the generations of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood. ¹¹Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

¹²Arpachshad lived thirty-five years and became the father of Shelah. ¹³Arpachshad lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Shelah, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

¹⁴Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber. ¹⁵Shelah lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Eber, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

¹⁶Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg. ¹⁷Eber lived four hundred thirty years after he became the father of Peleg, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

¹⁸Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu. ¹⁹Peleg lived two hundred nine years after he became the father of Reu, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

²⁰Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug. ²¹Reu lived two hundred seven years after he became the father of Serug, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

²²Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor. ²³Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

²⁴Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah. ²⁵Nahor lived one hundred nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

²⁶Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷Now this is the history of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran became the father of Lot. ²⁸Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees, while his father Terah was still alive. ²⁹Abram and Nahor married wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, who was also the father of Iscah. ³⁰Sarai was barren. She had no child. ³¹Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. They went from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there. ³²The days of Terah were two hundred five years. Terah died in Haran.

Genesis 12

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.

¹Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. ²I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treats you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”

⁴So Abram went, as Yahweh had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they went to go into the land of Canaan. They entered into the land of Canaan. ⁶Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time, Canaanites were in the land.

⁷Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.”

He built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him. ⁸He left from there to go to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and called on Yahweh’s name. ⁹Abram traveled, still going on toward the South.

¹⁰There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹When he had come near to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman to look at. ¹²It will happen that when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me, but they will save you alive. ¹³Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you.”

¹⁴When Abram had come into Egypt, some Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵The princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶He dealt well with Abram for her sake. He had sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. ¹⁷Yahweh afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this that you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now therefore, see your wife, take her, and go your way.”

²⁰Pharaoh commanded men concerning him, and they escorted him away with his wife and all that he had.

Genesis 13

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.

¹Abram went up out of Egypt—he, his wife, all that he had, and Lot with him—into the South. ²Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. ³He went on his journeys from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on Yahweh’s name. ⁵Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, herds, and tents. ⁶The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together; for their possessions were so great that they couldn’t live together. ⁷There was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land at that time. ⁸Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen; for we are relatives. ⁹Isn’t the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left.”

¹⁰Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar. ¹¹So Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan for himself. Lot traveled east, and they separated themselves from one another. ¹²Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. ¹³Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh.

¹⁴Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, ¹⁵for I will give all the land which you see to you and to your offspring forever. ¹⁶I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring may also be counted. ¹⁷Arise, walk through the land in its length and in its width; for I will give it to you.”

¹⁸Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to Yahweh.

Genesis 14

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.

¹In the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar; Arioch, king of Ellasar; Chedorlaomer, king of Elam; and Tidal, king of Goiim, ²they made war with Bera, king of Sodom; Birsha, king of Gomorrah; Shinab, king of Admah; Shemeber, king of Zeboiim; and the king of Bela (also called Zoar). ³All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (also called the Salt Sea). ⁴They served Chedorlaomer for twelve years, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. ⁵In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and struck the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, ⁶and the Horites in their Mount Seir, to El Paran, which is by the wilderness. ⁷They returned, and came to En Mishpat (also called Kadesh), and struck all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that lived in Hazazon Tamar. ⁸The king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (also called Zoar) went out; and they set the battle in array against them in the valley of Siddim ⁹against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings against the five. ¹⁰Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and some fell there. Those who remained fled to the hills. ¹¹They took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their food, and went their way. ¹²They took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who lived in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

¹³One who had escaped came and told Abram, the Hebrew. At that time, he lived by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner. They were allies of Abram. ¹⁴When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he led out his three hundred eighteen trained men, born in his house, and pursued as far as Dan. ¹⁵He divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. ¹⁶He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot and his goods, and the women also, and the other people.

¹⁷The king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). ¹⁸Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High. ¹⁹He blessed him, and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth. ²⁰Blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Abram gave him a tenth of all.

²¹The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, and take the goods for yourself.”

²²Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, ²³that I will not take a thread nor a sandal strap nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ ²⁴I will accept nothing from you except that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their portion.”

Genesis 15

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.

¹After these things Yahweh’s word came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

²Abram said, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³Abram said, “Behold, you have given no children to me: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir.”

⁴Behold, Yahweh’s word came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but he who will come out of your own body will be your heir.” ⁵Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So your offspring will be.” ⁶He believed in Yahweh, who credited it to him for righteousness. ⁷He said to Abram, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.”

⁸He said, “Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?”

⁹He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰He brought him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn’t divide the birds. ¹¹The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

¹²When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him. ¹³He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. ¹⁴I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth; ¹⁵but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.” ¹⁷It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ¹⁸In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: ¹⁹the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”