The Texts

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void. And darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, 'Let there be light', and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.

And God said, 'Let us make man in our image and let him have dominion over all the earth.'

And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden. And he commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat... but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.'

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he took one of his ribs, and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, 'Yea, hath God said, "Ye shall not eat of every tree of the Garden?"'

And the woman said unto the serpent, 'Of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said, 'Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.'

And the serpent said unto the woman, 'Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food she took the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great. And the Lord said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth: both man and beast.'

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And God said unto Noah, 'Make thee an ark of gopher wood. And behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life; and everything that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee.'

And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him. And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.

And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. And the waters increased and bare up the ark, and the ark went upon the face of the waters.

And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.

And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made, and he sent forth a raven, and then a dove, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground.

And the dove came in to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off, so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

And God spake unto Noah, Saying, 'Go forth of the ark, thou and thy wife, and thy sons and thy sons' wives with thee. And be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.'

Now the Lord God looked kindly upon Abraham. And it came to pass that God did test Abraham and said unto him, 'Take now thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah. And offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.'

And Abraham rose up early in the morning and took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of, and Abraham built an altar there. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, 'Abraham, Abraham, lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him, for now I know thou fearest God.'

And Isaac took Rebekah to wife, and Rebekah his wife conceived, and behold there were twins in her womb.

And the boys grew, and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field, and Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

And it came to pass that, when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, 'Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death. Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field and take me some venison, and make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless thee before I die.'

And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake unto Esau, and she spake unto Jacob, 'Go now to the flock, and fetch from thence two good kids of the goats, and I will make them savoury meat for thy father such as he loveth. And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death.' And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, 'Behold my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. My father perhaps will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver, and I shall bring a curse upon me and not a blessing.' And his mother said unto him, 'Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.'

And he went and fetched and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved.

And Rebekah put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands and upon the smooth of his neck, and she gave the savoury meat and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.

And he came unto his father and said, 'My father.' And he said, 'Here am I: who art thou, my son?' And he felt him, and said, 'The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.'

And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands, so he blessed him.

And Jacob went out from Beer-Sheba and lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set.

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

And behold the Lord stood above it, and said, 'I am the Lord God of Abraham and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.'

And Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, 'Surely the Lord was in this place, and I knew it not. This is none other but the house of God, and this the gate of heaven.'

Now Jacob loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colours.

And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him.

And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Schechem.

And Jacob said to Joseph, 'Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks, and bring me word again.' And Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan.

And they said one to another, 'Behold this dreamer cometh: come now, therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, "Some evil beast hath devoured him", and we shall see what will become of his dreams.'

And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brothers, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him.

And they took him and cast him into a pit.

And they sat down to eat Bread and they lifted up their eyes and looked and behold a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.

And Judah said unto his brethren, 'What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood?' And they lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver. And the Ishmeelites brought Joseph into Egypt.

Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, and he said unto his people, 'Behold the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply.'

And Pharoah charged his people, Saying, 'Every son of the Israelites that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.'

And there went a man out of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes and put the child therein, and she laid it by the river's brink.

And the Pharoah's daughter saw the ark. She saw the child and behold the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and she called his name Moses. And the child grew.

The Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve them and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage.

And Moses and Aaron went, and told Pharoah, 'Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.'

And Pharoah said, 'Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord.'

And it came to pass that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of the Pharoah to the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon.

And Pharoah called for Aaron and Moses by night, saying, 'Rise up and get you forth from my people, both ye and the children of Israel.' But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharoah, and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamping by the Red Sea.

And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea.

And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians.' And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharoah. And the men of Israel were gathered together, and set in battle array against the Philistines, and there was a valley between them.

And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And Goliath cried out to the Israelites, 'Choose you a man for you and let him come down for me.'

And David said to Saul, 'Let no man's heart fail because of him: I will go and fight with this Philistine.'

And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five small stones out of the brook and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, and his sling was in his hand.

Then said David to the Philistine, 'Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear and with a shield but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel.'

And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead: and he fell upon his face to the earth.

There was no sword in the hand of David therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head. And they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die: and he charged Solomon his son, saying, 'I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong, therefore, and show thyself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord the God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest.'

Then sat Solomon on the throne of David his father and his kingdom was established greatly. And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. For he was wiser than all men.

These texts are taken from the King James Bible (1611), with some words changed to those of the Revised Standard Version.