Chapter 3

11:4. And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven; and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands.

11:5. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of Adam were building.

11:6. And he said: Behold, it is one people, and all have one tongue: and they have begun to do this, neither will they leave off from their designs, till they accomplish them in deed.

11:7. Come ye, therefore, let us go down, and there confound their tongue, that they may not understand one another's speech.

11:8. And so the Lord scattered them from that place into all lands, and they ceased to build the city.

11:9. And therefore the name thereof was called Babel, because there the language of the whole earth was confounded: and from thence the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all countries.

Babel. . .That is, confusion.

11:10. These are the generations of Sem: Sem was a hundred years old when he begot Arphaxad, two years after the flood.

11:11. And Sem lived after he begot Arphaxad, five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:12. And Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Sale.

11:13. And Arphaxad lived after he begot Sale, three hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:14. Sale also lived thirty years, and begot Heber.

11:15. And Sale lived after he begot Heber, four hundred and three years: and begot sons and daughters.

11:16. And Heber lived thirty-four years, and begot Phaleg.

11:17. And Heber lived after he begot Phaleg, four hundred and thirty years: and begot sons and daughters.

11:18. Phaleg also lived thirty years, and begot Reu.

11:19. And Phaleg lived after he begot Reu, two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:20. And Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Sarug.

11:21. And Reu lived after he begot Sarug, two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:22. And Sarug lived thirty years, and begot Nachor.

11:23. And Sarug lived after he begot Nachor, two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:24. And Nachor lived nine and twenty years, and begot Thare.

11:25. And Nachor lived after he begot Thare, a hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:26. And Thare lived seventy years, and begot Abram, and Nachor, and Aran.

11:27. And these are the generations of Thare: Thare begot Abram, Nachor, and Aran. And Aran begot Lot.

11:28. And Aran died before Thare his father, in the land of his nativity in Ur of the Chaldees.

11:29. And Abram and Nachor married wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai: and the name of Nachor's wife, Melcha, the daughter of Aran, father of Melcha and father of Jescha.

11:30. And Sarai was barren, and had no children.

11:31. And Thare took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Aran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, the wife of Abram his son, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Chanaan: and they came as far as Haran, and dwelt there.

11:32. And the days of Thare were two hundred and five years, and he died in Haran.

Genesis Chapter 12

The call of Abram, and the promise made to him. He sojourneth in Chanaan, and then by occasion of a famine, goeth down to Egypt.

12:1. And the Lord said to Abram: Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and out of thy father's house, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.

12:2. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed.

12:3. I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee, and IN THEE shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

12:4. So Abram went out as the Lord had commanded him, and Lot went with him: Abram was seventy-five years old when he went forth from Haran.

12:5. And he took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all the substance which they had gathered, and the souls which they had gotten in Haran: and they went out to go into the land of Chanaan. And when they were come into it,

12:6. Abram passed through the country unto the place of Sichem, as far as the noble vale: now the Chanaanite was at that time in the land.

12:7. And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him: To thy seed will I give this land. And he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

12:8. And passing on from thence to a mountain, that was on the east side of Bethel, he there pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: he built there also an altar to the Lord, and called upon his name.

12:9. And Abram went forward, going and proceeding on to the south.

12:10. And there came a famine in the country: and Abram went down into Egypt, to sojourn there: for the famine was very grievous in the land.

12:11. And when he was near to enter into Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife: I know that thou art a beautiful woman:

12:12. And that when the Egyptians shall see thee, they will say: She is his wife: and they will kill me, and keep thee.

12:13. Say, therefore, I pray thee, that thou art my sister: that I may be well used for thee, and that my soul may live for thy sake.

My sister. . .This was no lie; because she was his niece, being daughter to his brother Aran, and therefore, in the style of the Hebrews, she might truly be called his sister, as Lot is called Abram's brother, Gen. 14.14. See Gen. 20.12.

12:14. And when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman that she was very beautiful.

12:15. And the princes told Pharao, and praised her before him: and the woman was taken into the house of Pharao.

12:16. And they used Abram well for her sake. And he had sheep and oxen and he asses, and men servants, and maid servants, and she asses, and camels.

12:17. But the Lord scourged Pharao and his house with most grievous stripes for Sarai, Abram's wife.

12:18. And Pharao called Abram, and said to him: What is this that thou hast done to me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

12:19. For what cause didst thou say, she was thy sister, that I might take her to my wife? Now therefore there is thy wife, take her, and go thy way.

12:20. And Pharao gave his men orders concerning Abram: and they led him away and his wife, and all that he had.

Genesis Chapter 13

Abram and Lot part from each other. God's promise to Abram.

13:1. And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him into the south.

13:2. And he was very rich in possession of gold and silver.

13:3. And he returned by the way, that he came, from the south to Bethel, to the place where before he had pitched his tent between Bethel and Hai,

13:4. In the place of the altar which he had made before, and there he called upon the name of the Lord.

13:5. But Lot also, who was with Abram, had flocks of sheep, and herds of beasts, and tents.

13:6. Neither was the land able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, and they could not dwell together.

13:7. Whereupon also there arose a strife between the herdsmen of Abram and of Lot. And at that time the Chanaanite and the Pherezite dwelled in that country.

13:8. Abram therefore said to Lot: Let there be no quarrel, I beseech thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen: for we are brethren.

13:9. Behold the whole land is before thee: depart from me, I pray thee: if thou wilt go to the left hand, I will take the right: if thou choose the right hand, I will pass to the left.

13:10. And Lot lifting up his eyes, saw all the country about the Jordan, which was watered throughout, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, as the paradise of the Lord, and like Egypt as one comes to Segor.

13:11. And Lot chose to himself the country about the Jordan, and he departed from the east: and they were separated one brother from the other.

13:12. Abram dwelt in the land of Chanaan: and Lot abode in the towns, that were about the Jordan, and dwelt in Sodom.

13:13. And the men of Sodom were very wicked, and sinners before the face of the Lord beyond measure.

13:14. And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him: Lift up thy eyes, and look from the place wherein thou now art, to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west.

13:15. All the land which thou seest, I will give to thee, and to thy seed for ever.

13:16. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: if any man be able to number the dust of the earth, he shall be able to number thy seed also.

13:17. Arise and walk through the land in the length, and the breadth thereof: for I will give it to thee.

13:18. So Abram removing his tent, came, and dwelt by the vale of Mambre, which is in Hebron: and he built there an altar to the Lord.

Genesis Chapter 14

The expedition of the four kings; the victory of Abram; he is blessed by Melchisedech.

14:1. And it came to pass at that time, that Amraphel, king of Sennaar, and Arioch, king of Pontus, and Chodorlahomor, king of the Elamites, and Thadal, king of nations,

14:2. Made war against Bara, king of Sodom, and against Bersa, king of Gomorrha, and against Sennaab, king of Adama, and against Semeber, king of Seboim, and against the king of Bala, which is Segor.

14:3. All these came together into the woodland vale, which now is the salt sea.

14:4. For they had served Chodorlahomor twelve years, and in the thirteenth year they revolted from him.

14:5. And in the fourteenth year came Chodorlahomor, and the kings that were with him: and they smote the Raphaim in Astarothcarnaim, and the Zuzim with them, and the Emim in Save of Cariathaim.

14:6. And the Chorreans in the mountains of Seir, even to the plains of Pharan, which is in the wilderness.

14:7. And they returned, and came to the fountain of Misphat, the same is Cades: and they smote all the country of the Amalecites, and the Amorrhean that dwelt in Asasonthamar.

14:8. And the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrha, and the king of Adama, and the king of Seboim, and the king of Bala, which is Segor, went out: and they set themselves against them in battle array, in the woodland vale:

14:9. To wit, against Chodorlahomor king of the Elamites, and Thadal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Sennaar, and Arioch king of Pontus: four kings against five.

14:10. Now the woodland vale had many pits of slime. And the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrha turned their backs, and were overthrown there: and they that remained, fled to the mountain.

Of slime. Bituminis. . .This was a kind of pitch, which served for mortar in the building of Babel, Gen. 11.3, and was used by Noe in pitching the ark.

14:11. And they took all the substance of the Sodomites, and Gomorrhites, and all their victuals, and went their way:

14:12. And Lot also, the son of Abram's brother, who dwelt in Sodom, and his substance.

14:13. And behold one, that had escaped, told Abram the Hebrew, who dwelt in the vale of Mambre the Amorrhite, the brother of Escol, and the brother of Aner: for these had made a league with Abram.

14:14. Which when Abram had heard, to wit, that his brother Lot was taken, he numbered of the servants born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, well appointed: and pursued them to Dan.

14:15. And dividing his company, he rushed upon them in the night, and defeated them: and pursued them as far as Hoba, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

14:16. And he brought back all the substance, and Lot his brother, with his substance, the women also, and the people.

14:17. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, after he returned from the slaughter of Chodorlahomor, and of the kings that were with him in the vale of Save, which is the king's vale.

14:18. But Melchisedech, the king of Salem, bringing forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the most high God,

14:19. Blessed him, and said: Blessed be Abram by the most high God, who created heaven and earth.

14:20. And blessed be the most high God, by whose protection, the enemies are in thy hands. And he gave him the tithes of all.

14:21. And the king of Sodom said to Abram: Give me the persons, and the rest take to thyself.

14:22. And he answered him: I lift up my hand to the Lord God the most high, the possessor of heaven and earth,

14:23. That from the very woof thread unto the shoe latchet, I will not take of any things that are thine, lest thou say: I have enriched Abram.

14:24. Except such things as the young men have eaten, and the shares of the men that came with me, Aner, Escol, and Mambre: these shall take their shares.

Genesis Chapter 15

God promiseth seed to Abram. His faith, sacrifice and vision.

15:1. Now when these things were done, the word of the Lord came to Abram by a vision, saying: Fear not, Abram, I am thy protector, and thy reward exceeding great.

15:2. And Abram said: Lord God, what wilt thou give me? I shall go without children: and the son of the steward of my house is this Damascus Eliezer.

15:3. And Abram added: But to me thou hast not given seed: and lo my servant born in my house, shall be my heir.

15:4. And immediately the word of the Lord came to him, saying : He shall not be thy heir: but he that shall come out of thy bowels, him shalt thou have for thy heir.

15:5. And he brought him forth abroad, and said to him: Look up to heaven and number the stars if thou canst. And he said to him: So shall thy seed be.

15:6. Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice.

15:7. And he said to him: I am the Lord who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land, and that thou mightest possess it.

15:8. But he said: Lord God, whereby may I know that I shall possess it?

15:9. And the Lord answered, and said: Take me a cow of three years old, and a she-goat of three years. and a ram of three years, a turtle also, and a pigeon.

15:10. And he took all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid the two pieces of each one against the other: but the birds he divided not.

15:11. And the fowls came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

15:12. And when the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a great and darksome horror seized upon him.

15:13. And it was said unto him: Know thou beforehand that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not their own, and they shall bring them under bondage, and afflict them four hundred years.

15:14. But I will judge the nation which they shall serve, and after this they shall come out with great substance.

15:15. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, and be buried in a good old age.

15:16. But in the fourth generation they shall return hither: for as yet the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full until this present time.

15:17. And when the sun was set, there arose a dark mist, and there appeared a smoking furnace, and a lamp of fire passing between those divisions.

15:18. That day God made a covenant with Abram, saying: To thy seed will I give this land, from the river to Egypt even to the great river Euphrates.

15:19. The Cineans, and Cenezites, the Cedmonites,

15:20. And the Hethites, and the Pherezites, the Raphaim also,

15:21. And the Amorrhites, and the Chanaanites, and the Gergesites, and the Jebusites.

Genesis Chapter 16

Abram marrieth Agar, who bringeth forth Ismael.

16:1. Now Sarai, the wife of Abram, had brought forth no children: but having a handmaid, an Egyptian, named Agar,

16:2. She said to her husband: Behold, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: go in unto my handmaid, it may be I may have children of her at least. And when he agreed to her request,

16:3. She took Agar the Egyptian her handmaid, ten years after they first dwelt in the land of Chanaan, and gave her to her husband to wife.

To wife. . .Plurality of wives, though contrary to the primitive institution of marriage, Gen. 2.24, was by divine dispensation allowed to the patriarchs: which allowance seems to have continued during the time of the law of Moses. But Christ our Lord reduced marriage to its primitive institution. Matt. 19.

16:4. And he went in to her. But she perceiving that she was with child, despised her mistress.

16:5. And Sarai said to Abram: Thou dost unjustly with me: I gave my handmaid into thy bosom, and she perceiving herself to be with child, despiseth me. The Lord judge between me and thee.

16:6. And Abram made answer, and said to her: Behold thy handmaid is in thy own hand, use her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai afflicted her, she ran away.

16:7. And the angel of the Lord having found her, by a fountain of water in the wilderness, which is in the way to Sur in the desert,

16:8. He said to her: Agar, handmaid of Sarai, whence comest thou? and whither goest thou? And she answered: I flee from the face of Sarai, my mistress.

16:9. And the angel of the Lord said to her: Return to thy mistress, and humble thyself under her hand.

16:10. And again he said: I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, and it shall not be numbered for multitude.

16:11. And again: Behold, said he, thou art with child, and thou shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Ismael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.

16:12. He shall be a wild man: his hand will be against all men, and all men's hands against him: and he shall pitch his tents over against all his brethren.

16:13. And she called the name of the Lord that spoke unto her: Thou the God who hast seen me. For she said: Verily, here have I seen the hinder parts of him that seeth me.

16:14. Therefore she called that well, the well of him that liveth and seeth me. The same is between Cades and Barad.

16:15. And Agar brought forth a son to Abram: who called his name Ismael.

16:16. Abram was four score and six years old when Agar brought him forth Ismael.

Genesis Chapter 17

The Covenant of circumcision.

17:1. And after he began to be ninety and nine years old, the Lord appeared to him: and said unto him: I am the Almighty God: walk before me, and be perfect.

17:2. And I will make my covenant between me and thee: and I will multiply thee exceedingly.

17:3. Abram fell flat on his face.

17:4. And God said to him: I am, and my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

17:5. Neither shall thy name be called any more Abram: but thou shalt be called Abraham: because I have made thee a father of many nations.

Abram. . .in the Hebrew, signifies a high father: but Abraham, the father of the multitude; Sarai signifies my Lady, but Sara absolutely Lady.

17:6. And I will make thee increase exceedingly, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

17:7. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and between thy seed after thee in their generations, by a perpetual covenant: to be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee.

17:8. And I will give to thee, and to thy seed, the land of thy sojournment, all the land of Chanaan, for a perpetual possession, and I will be their God.

17:9. Again God said to Abraham: And thou therefore shalt keep my covenant, and thy seed after thee in their generations.

17:10. This is my covenant which you shall observe between me and you, and thy seed after thee: All the male-kind of you shall be circumcised.

17:11. And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, that it may be for a sign of the covenant between me and you.

17:12. An infant of eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every manchild in your generations: he that is born in the house, as well as the bought servant, shall be circumcised, and whosoever is not of your stock:

17:13. And my covenant shall be in your flesh for a perpetual covenant.

17:14. The male whose flesh of his foreskin shall not be circumcised, that soul shall be destroyed out of his people: because he hath broken my covenant.

17:15. God said also to Abraham: Sarai thy wife thou shalt not call Sarai, but Sara.

17:16. And I will bless her, and of her I will give thee a son, whom I will bless, and he shall become nations, and kings of people shall spring from him.

17:17. Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, saying in his heart: Shall a son, thinkest thou, be born to him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sara that is ninety years old bring forth?

17:18. And he said to God: O that Ismael may live before thee.

17:19. And God said to Abraham: Sara thy wife shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for a perpetual covenant, and with his seed after him.

17:20. And as for Ismael I have also heard thee. Behold, I will bless him, and increase, and multiply him exceedingly: he shall beget twelve chiefs, and I will make him a great nation.

17:21. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sara shall bring forth to thee at this time in the next year.

17:22. And when he had left off speaking with him, God went up from Abraham.

17:23. And Abraham took Ismael his son, and all that were born in his house: and all whom he had bought, every male among the men of his house: and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin forthwith the very same day, as God had commanded him.

17:24. Abraham was ninety and nine years old, when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin.

17:25. And Ismael his son was full thirteen years old at the time of his circumcision.

17:26. The self-same day was Abraham circumcised and Ismael his son.

17:27. And all the men of his house, as well they that were born in his house, as the bought servants and strangers, were circumcised with him.

Genesis Chapter 18

Angels are entertained by Abraham. They foretell the birth of Isaac. Abraham's prayer for the men of Sodom.

18:1. And the Lord appeared to him in the vale of Mambre as he was sitting at the door of his tent, in the very heat of the day.

18:2. And when he had lifted up his eyes, there appeared to him three men standing near to him: and as soon as he saw them, he ran to meet them from the door of his tent, and adored down to the ground.

18:3. And he said: Lord, if I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away from thy servant.

18:4. But I will fetch a little water, and wash ye your feet, and rest ye under the tree.

18:5. And I will set a morsel of bread, and strengthen ye your heart, afterwards you shall pass on: for therefore are you come aside to your servant. And they said: Do as thou hast spoken.

18:6. Abraham made haste into the tent to Sara, and said to her: Make haste, temper together three measures of flour, and make cakes upon the hearth.

18:7. And he himself ran to the herd, and took from thence a calf, very tender and very good, and gave it to a young man, who made haste and boiled it.

18:8. He took also butter and milk, and the calf which he had boiled, and set before them: but he stood by them under the tree.

18:9. And when they had eaten, they said to him: Where is Sara thy wife? He answered: Lo she is in the tent.

18:10. And he said to him: I will return and come to thee at this time, life accompanying, and Sara, thy wife, shall have a son. Which when Sara heard, she laughed behind the door of the tent.

18:11. Now they were both old, and far advanced in years, and it had ceased to be with Sara after the manner of women.

18:12. And she laughed secretly, saying: After I am grown old, and my lord is an old man, shall I give myself to pleasure?

18:13. And the Lord said to Abraham: Why did Sara laugh, saying: Shall I, who am an old woman, bear a child indeed?

18:14. Is there any thing hard to God? According to appointment I will return to thee at this same time, life accompanying, and Sara shall have a son.