12:1 Now the Lord said 1 to Abram, 2
“Go out 3 from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household
to the land that I will show you. 4
12:2 Then I will make you 5 into a great nation, and I will bless you, 6
and I will make your name great, 7
so that you will exemplify divine blessing. 8
12:3 I will bless those who bless you, 9
but the one who treats you lightly 10 I must curse,
and all the families of the earth will bless one another 11 by your name.”
12:4 So Abram left, 12 just as the Lord had told him to do, 13 and Lot went with him. (Now 14 Abram was 75 years old 15 when he departed from Haran.) 12:5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew 16 Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired 17 in Haran, and they left for 18 the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.
12:6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree 19 of Moreh 20 at Shechem. 21 (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) 22 12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants 23 I will give this land.” So Abram 24 built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
12:8 Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel 25 and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord. 26 12:9 Abram continually journeyed by stages 27 down to the Negev. 28
12:10 There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt 29 to stay for a while 30 because the famine was severe. 31 12:11 As he approached 32 Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, 33 I know that you are a beautiful woman. 34 12:12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive. 35 12:13 So tell them 36 you are my sister 37 so that it may go well 38 for me because of you and my life will be spared 39 on account of you.”
12:14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 12:15 When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. So Abram’s wife 40 was taken 41 into the household of Pharaoh, 42 12:16 and he did treat Abram well 43 on account of her. Abram received 44 sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
12:17 But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases 45 because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 12:18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, “What is this 46 you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife? 12:19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her 47 to be my wife? 48 Here is your wife! 49 Take her and go!” 50 12:20 Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram, 51 and so they expelled him, along with his wife and all his possessions.
13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. 52 He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. 53 13:2 (Now Abram was very wealthy 54 in livestock, silver, and gold.) 55
13:3 And he journeyed from place to place 56 from the Negev as far as Bethel. 57 He returned 58 to the place where he had pitched his tent 59 at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai. 13:4 This was the place where he had first built the altar, 60 and there Abram worshiped the Lord. 61
13:5 Now Lot, who was traveling 62 with Abram, also had 63 flocks, herds, and tents. 13:6 But the land could 64 not support them while they were living side by side. 65 Because their possessions were so great, they were not able to live 66 alongside one another. 13:7 So there were quarrels 67 between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. 68 (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.) 69
13:8 Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives. 70 13:9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself now from me. If you go 71 to the left, then I’ll go to the right, but if you go to the right, then I’ll go to the left.”
13:10 Lot looked up and saw 72 the whole region 73 of the Jordan. He noticed 74 that all of it was well-watered (before the Lord obliterated 75 Sodom and Gomorrah) 76 like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, 77 all the way to Zoar. 13:11 Lot chose for himself the whole region of the Jordan and traveled 78 toward the east.
So the relatives separated from each other. 79 13:12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain 80 and pitched his tents next to Sodom. 13:13 (Now 81 the people 82 of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord.) 83
13:14 After Lot had departed, the Lord said to Abram, 84 “Look 85 from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west. 13:15 I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants 86 forever. 13:16 And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted. 87 13:17 Get up and 88 walk throughout 89 the land, 90 for I will give it to you.”
13:18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live 91 by the oaks 92 of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.
14:1 At that time 93 Amraphel king of Shinar, 94 Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations 95 14:2 went to war 96 against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). 97 14:3 These last five kings 98 joined forces 99 in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). 100 14:4 For twelve years 101 they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year 102 they rebelled. 103 14:5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who were his allies came and defeated 104 the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim, 14:6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is near the desert. 105 14:7 Then they attacked En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh) again, 106 and they conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazazon Tamar.
14:8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and prepared for battle. In the Valley of Siddim they met 107 14:9 Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, 108 Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar. Four kings fought against 109 five. 14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. 110 When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them, 111 but some survivors 112 fled to the hills. 113 14:11 The four victorious kings 114 took all the possessions and food of Sodom and Gomorrah and left. 14:12 They also took Abram’s nephew 115 Lot and his possessions when 116 they left, for Lot 117 was living in Sodom. 118
14:13 A fugitive 119 came and told Abram the Hebrew. 120 Now Abram was living by the oaks 121 of Mamre the Amorite, the brother 122 of Eshcol and Aner. (All these were allied by treaty 123 with Abram.) 124 14:14 When Abram heard that his nephew 125 had been taken captive, he mobilized 126 his 318 trained men who had been born in his household, and he pursued the invaders 127 as far as Dan. 128 14:15 Then, during the night, 129 Abram 130 divided his forces 131 against them and defeated them. He chased them as far as Hobah, which is north 132 of Damascus. 14:16 He retrieved all the stolen property. 133 He also brought back his nephew Lot and his possessions, as well as the women and the rest of 134 the people.
14:17 After Abram 135 returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram 136 in the Valley of Shaveh (known as the King’s Valley). 137 14:18 Melchizedek king of Salem 138 brought out bread and wine. (Now he was the priest of the Most High God.) 139 14:19 He blessed Abram, saying,
“Blessed be Abram by 140 the Most High God,
Creator 141 of heaven and earth. 142
14:20 Worthy of praise is 143 the Most High God,
who delivered 144 your enemies into your hand.”
Abram gave Melchizedek 145 a tenth of everything.
14:21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself.” 14:22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand 146 to the Lord, the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, and vow 147 14:23 that I will take nothing 148 belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal. That way you can never say, ‘It is I 149 who made Abram rich.’ 14:24 I will take nothing 150 except compensation for what the young men have eaten. 151 As for the share of the men who went with me – Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre – let them take their share.”
1:6 God said, “Let there be an expanse 161 in the midst of the waters and let it separate water 162 from water. 1:7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. 163 It was so. 164 1:8 God called the expanse “sky.” 165 There was evening, and there was morning, a second day.
1:9 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place 166 and let dry ground appear.” 167 It was so. 1:10 God called the dry ground “land” 168 and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good.
8:18 Noah went out along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. 8:19 Every living creature, every creeping thing, every bird, and everything that moves on the earth went out of the ark in their groups.
8:20 Noah built an altar to the Lord. He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 169 8:21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma 170 and said 171 to himself, 172 “I will never again curse 173 the ground because of humankind, even though 174 the inclination of their minds 175 is evil from childhood on. 176 I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.
10:1 For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship. 177 10:2 For otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers would have been purified once for all and so have 178 no further consciousness of sin? 10:3 But in those sacrifices 179 there is a reminder of sins year after year. 10:4 For the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins. 180 10:5 So when he came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.
10:6 “Whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you took no delight in.
10:7 “Then I said, ‘Here I am: 181 I have come – it is written of me in the scroll of the book – to do your will, O God.’” 182
10:8 When he says above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you did not desire nor did you take delight in them” 183 (which are offered according to the law), 10:9 then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” 184 He does away with 185 the first to establish the second. 10:10 By his will 186 we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 10:11 And every priest stands day after day 187 serving and offering the same sacrifices again and again – sacrifices that can never take away sins. 10:12 But when this priest 188 had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right hand 189 of God, 10:13 where he is now waiting 190 until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet. 191 10:14 For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy. 10:15 And the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after saying, 192 10:16 “This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put 193 my laws on their hearts and I will inscribe them on their minds,” 194 10:17 then he says, 195 “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no longer.” 196 10:18 Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
10:19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, 197 since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 10:20 by the fresh and living way that he inaugurated for us 198 through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 199 10:21 and since we have a great priest 200 over the house of God, 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, 201 because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience 202 and our bodies washed in pure water.