God creates the heavens and the earth and everything that lives. He creates human beings in his image and likeness and places them as caretakers over the earth.
God forms man from the ground and places him the garden in Eden. He commands him to fast from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God makes woman from Adam's side to be his helper.
The serpent deceives the woman and her and Adam eat from the forbidden tree. Then the ground is cursed and God expels Adam and Eve out of the garden.
Eve's sons Cain and Abel make offerings to the Lord but only Abel's was acceptable. Out of envy, Cain kills his brother Abel. Abel's blood cries out from the ground and God sends Cain away.
Adam and Eve have more children: Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah. Noah's sons were Shem, Ham and Japheth.
Mankind becomes corrupted by evil. God decides to destroy them. He tells Noah to build an ark to be saved from the flood.
Noah and his family enter the ark with all the animals that God created. It rains for forty days and forty nights and the earth is covered with water.
The flood waters recede. Noah sends out a raven and two doves and one dove returns with an olive branch as a sign of peace. God calls them all out of the ark. Noah builds an altar to God.
God blesses Noah and sets the rainbow as a sign of promise that he would never flood the earth again. Noah gets intoxicated with wine and curses Ham's son Canaan for dishonoring him.
Japheth's line begins to live in the coastlands; Ham's descendents include Nimrod and the Canaanites; Shem's descendents live in the East. These lines from the Sons of Noah form the nations.
Aspiring to become like God, they begin building a great tower for themselves. The Lord confuses their language. Shem's line continues and includes Abram who marries Sarai.
God speaks to Abram and tells him "Go, I will make you a great nation. You will be a blessing." Abram goes to Egypt and lies about Sarai being his wife. Pharaoh is cursed.
Abram and his newphew Lot begin their journey but their servants argue along the way. So Lot decides to go to Sodom and Abram to Canaan. The Lord promises Abram the land.
A war begins among the kings and Lot is taken captive. Abram returns to rescue Lot. The high-priest Melchizedek blesses Abram and Abram gives him a tenth of everything he owns.
The Lord promises Abram he would have an heir and many descendants. Even though he was old, Abram believed. The Lord tells him that his descendents would be enslaved but would then be freed and return
... View MoreAbram's wife Sarai tells him to have children with Hagar their servant. Hagar conceives and gives birth to a son. Sarai treats her harshly and she runs away. The Lord hears Hagar's suffering and an an
... View MoreGod makes a covenant with Abram and renames him Abraham. He also renames Sarai as Sarah and promises them a son. All the men are circumcised as a covenant with God.
Three visitors come to Abraham and tell him that Sarah would conceive and give birth to a son the following year. According to the Orthodox teaching, this was a theophany of the Holy Trinity. The city
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Angels come to warn Lot that God will destroy Sodom and rescue him and his family from the sexually deviant mobs. Sodom is completely destroyed by fire. Lot's wife does not heed the angels warning
... View MoreWhile in the city of Gerar, Abraham tells King Abimelech that Sarah was his sister, fearing he would be killed. King Abimelech takes Sarah to himself but God warns him in a dream and He returns Sarah
... View MoreSarah gives birth to a son and he is named Isaak which means "laugther" because Sarah secretly laughed when God told Abraham she would have a child in her old age. Hagar and Ishmael are sent away but
... View MoreGod tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. As Abraham begins to obey, an angel stops him. The Lord provides a ram instead to be sacrificed and blesses Abraham for his faith and obedience.
The death of Sarah in Kiriath-arba. Abraham asks the Hittites for a burial site. He purchases a cave from Ephron and lays Sarah to rest there.
Abraham's servant travels to Nahor to find a wife for Isaak. He meets Rebecca by the well who travels back with the servant and marries Isaak.