Friday, February 5, 2016

Four hundred years of the Abrams I

Chapter I
In the beginning Terah

And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram,
Nahor,
and Haran.

Now these are
the generations of Terah:

Terah begat Abram,
Nahor,
and Haran;
and Haran begat Lot.

And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity,
in Ur of the Chaldees.

And Abram and Nahor took them wives:
the name of Abram's wife was Sarai;
and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah,
the daughter of Haran,
the father of Milcah,
and the father of Iscah.

But Sarai was barren;
she had no child.

And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran - his son's son,
and Sarai his daughter in law,
his son Abram's wife;
***
And he - sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro,
until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
***
and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees,
***
And he said,
Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
And he said,
Blessed be the Lord God of Shem;
and Canaan shall be his servant.

**
And Cain said unto the Lord,
My punishment is greater than I can bear.

***
God shall enlarge Japheth,
and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem;
and Canaan shall be his servant.
***
and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees,
to go into the land of Canaan;
and they came unto Haran,
and dwelt there.

And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years:
and Terah died in Haran.



Chapter II

The Lord

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,

***
That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
***
and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

And they were both naked,
the man and his wife,
and were not ashamed.
***

Now the Lord had said unto Abram,

Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred,
and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
And I will make of thee a great nation,
and I will bless thee,
and make thy name great;
and thou shalt be a blessing:
And I will bless them that bless thee,
and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
***
And he said,
Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
***
And Abram did according unto all that the Lord commanded him.
    
And Abram went in,
and his sons,
and his wife,

and his sons' wives with him, into the ark,
    
So Abram departed,

as the Lord had spoken unto him;
and Lot went with him:
and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

And Abram took Sarai his wife,

and Lot his brother's son,
In the selfsame day entered
Abram,
and the three wives of his sons - with them,
into the ark;
and all their substance that they had gathered,
and the souls that they had gotten in Haran;
and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan;
and into the land of Canaan they came.

***

And God said,

Let the earth bring forth grass,
the herb yielding seed,
and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind,
whose seed is in  it-self, upon the earth:
and it was so.
***
In the  -self-same - day entered Abram,
Sarai his wife,

and Lot his brother's son,
and all their substance that they had gathered,
and the souls that they had gotten in Haran;
and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan;

and the Lord shut him in.

And all flesh died that moved upon the earth,
both of fowl,
and of cattle,
and of beast,
and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth,
and every man:
***

Chapter III

And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem,
unto the plain of Moreh.

And the Canaanite
was then in the land.


And the Lord appeared unto Abram,
and said,
Unto thy seed will I give this land:
and there builded he an altar unto the Lord,
who appeared unto him.

And he re-moved from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel,
***
Make thee an ark of gopher wood;
rooms shalt thou make in the ark,
and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
***
and pitched his tent,

having Bethel on the west,
and Hai on the b-east:
and there he builded an altar unto the Lord,
and called upon the name of the Lord.


And Abram journeyed,

going on still toward the south.

Chapter IV

And Cush begat Nimrod:
he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
He was a mighty hunter before the Lord:
wherefore it is said,
Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel,
and Erech,
and Accad,
and Calneh,
in the land of Shinar.
***
And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword,
and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof:
thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian,
when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.
And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord,
as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.
And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest,
as a young lion among the flocks of sheep:
who,
if he go through,
both treadeth down,
and teareth in pieces,
and none can deliver.
***
Rejoice not thou,
whole Palestina,
because the rod of him that smote thee is broken:
for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice,
and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
And the firstborn of the poor shall feed,
and the needy shall lie down in safety:
and I will kill thy root with famine,
and he shall slay thy remnant.
***

And Cain said unto the Lord,
My punishment is greater than I can bear.
***

And there was a famine in the land:
and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there;
for the famine was
grievous in the land.

And it came to pass,

when he was come near to enter into Egypt,
***
And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. . . .
. . . And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
And Abram and Nahor took them wives:
the name of Abram's wife was Sarai;
***

that he said
unto Sarai his wife,
Behold now,

I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:
Therefore it shall come to pass,
when the Egyptians shall see thee,

that they shall say,
This is his wife:

and they will kill me,
but they will save thee alive.

Say,
I pray thee,
thou art my sister:

that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
And it came to pass, that,
when Abram was come into Egypt,
the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
The princes also of Pharaoh saw her,
and commended her before Pharaoh:
and the workman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
And he entreated Abram well for her sake:
and he had sheep,
and oxen,
and he asses,
and menservants,
and maidservants,
and she asses,
and camels.

***
And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah . . .
. . . And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not;
for God took him.
***
     And the Lord God said
unto the serpent,

Because thou hast done this,
thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field;
upon thy belly shalt thou go,
and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
And I will put enmity between thee and the workman,
and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel.
***
For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart,
and upon thy servants,
and upon thy people;
that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.
For now I will stretch out my hand,
that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence;
and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.
***

And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.

And Pharaoh called Abram,
and said,
What is this that thou hast done unto me?
why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

***
So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
***
Why saidst thou,
She is my sister?
so I might have taken her to me to wife:
now therefore behold thy wife,

take her,
and go thy way.

And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him:
and they sent him away,
and his wife,
and all that he had.
And Abram went up out of Egypt,
he,
and his wife,
and all that he had,
and Lot with him, into the south.


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