The Calling of Abraham

The Lord said to Abram,"Leave the land of your kinsfolk and the house of your father toward a land that
I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. And you
will become a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, but I will curse those who curse you. And all the
communities of the land shall be blessed through you." Abram went as the Lord said to him. Lot went
with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. $Abram took Sarai, his wife; Lot the son
of his brother; and all the possessions and persons they accumulated and acquired in Haran. They
journeyed toward the land of Canaan. And they reached the land of Canaan, the Lord appeared to
Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." There, Abram built an altar for the Lord who
had appeared to him. °Then Abram journeyed and walked toward Negeb. There was famine in the
landand it was severe; so Abram Wert down to Egypt to sojourn there.

Isaac, the Promised Son

1. The story of the birth of Isaac

The Lord visited Sarah as he had said he would. God did to Sarah as he promised. Sarah conceived and
bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the appointed time said by God. Abraham gave a name to his son
which Sarah bore for him, Isaac. Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, when he was eight days old as
commanded by God.5Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said,
"God made me laugh, and all who would hear ofit will laugh with me Who would tell Abraham that
Sarah would nurse children! Yet I have borne him a son in his old age." The child grew. And on its
weaning, Abraham made a great feast on that big day of Isaac's break from his mother's breast milk.

The Story of How the "Birthright" was Passed to the Younger Jacob

Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah for his wife. She was the daughter of Bethuel, the
Aramean of Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban, the Aramean. =1saac prayed to the Lord on behalf of
his wife, because she was barren. Then, Rebekah, his wife, conceived. =The children in her womb fought
with each other that she exclaimed, "If this is so, what will it do me!" She went to seek the Lord. God
said to her "Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples are quarreling while they are still within you.
Yet one shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.

Genesis Chapter 25

The days of her delivery came to fulfillment. Behold! There were twins in her womb.The first to come
out was reddish, and all of him was like a hairy mantle. So they called him Esau. -*His brother came out
next His hands were fastened to Esau's heel. So they called him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when
they were born. The boys grew up. Esau became a man who knows how to hunt for food. He was a man
of the open field. Jacob, on the other hand was a man, who kept himself inside the tents. Isaac loved
Esau more because he likes food brought about by hunting: but Rebekah loved more

Jacob One time, Jacob cooked a stew. Esau came in from the fields and was tired and hungry, 3°Esau
said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that red food. because I am tired and hungry." (That is why he was
called Edom.) Jacob said, "Sell me first your birthright for this."Esau said, "Behold!I am to walk toward
death. What is this birthright for me?" Jacob said, "Swear it to me first! So he swore that he would sell to
Jacob his birthright. Jacob then gave Esau bread and the lentil stew. And Esau ate, drank, rose up. And
walked away. Esau despised his birthright.

Exodus Chapter 14

1t was told to the king of Egypt that the people had fled. Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds
about the people. They said to themselves, "What have we done? We sent away Israel from our
servitude!"So Pharaoh bound his chariots and took his people with him. 'He took six hundred chosen
chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, and all the soldiers on them. [...] soPharaoh was coming
nearer when the Israelites looked up. And behold! The Egyptians were out behind them. Great fear
came upon them. They cried out to the Lord. .J Moses said to the people, "Fear not! Stand your ground,
and see what the salvation of the Lord will do for you today. [.-J The messenger of God set out to lead
Israel's camp. He moved and went around behind them. A column of cloud was set in front of them. It
stood behind them. It came between the Egyptian camp and that of Israel. There was the cloud and
there was darkness. The night came without anyone approaching the other all through the night. Then
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord swept the sea with a strong east wind
throughout the night and set the sea into dry ground. The sea was thus divided. The children of Israel
came into the midst of the sea on dry ground. The waters were like walls to their right and to their left.
The Egyptians pursued themn. They came in after them: all the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots, and
horsemen. They went after them into the midst of the sea. "In the night watch before dawn, the Lord
brought down the Egyptian camp a column of the fiery cloud. It caused confusion in the Egyptinn camp
He clogged the wheels of their chariot that they drove heavily The Egyptians said, "Let us flee before
Israel, because the Lord was fighting for them against Egypt!" aThen the Lord said to Moses,"Stretch out
your hand over the sea so that the water may return back over the Egyptians, upon their chariots and
their horsemen."Moses stretched out his hand over the sea returned back to its normality at the break
of dawn. The Egyptians were moving toward the sea. Then the Lord shook the Egyptians into the midst
of the sea. =#As the waters returned back to its original state, it covered the chariots and all the
horsemen of Pharaoh's army which came in after the Israelites into the sea None of them escaped. But
the children of Israel walked on dry ground through the midst of the sea, with the waters like walls to
their right and to their left. Thus, the Lord saved Israel on that day from the hand of the Egyptians, And
Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore Israel saw what the great hand of Lord had done against
the Egyptians. Thus, the people feared the Lord and believed in him and in Moses, his servant.

Exodus Chapter 19

On the third new moon after the Israelites left the land of Egypt, on its first day, they came to the desert
of Sinai. [....] Israel encamped in front of the mountain. Moses went up the mountain to God. [...] Then
the Lord called Moses from that mountain and said, "Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob and to the
children of Israel: 4You have seen how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on with me. Thus,
if you listen to my voice and keep my covenant you shall become my special possession among all other
people, because all the earth is mine. "You shall be to me priests,a holy nation.' That is what you must
tell the Israelites." The Lord also said to Moses, "Behold! I am coming to you in a dense cloud, so that
when the people hear me believe in you forever." Moses told these words of the Lord to the people. It
occurred that in the morning of the third day there were sounds of thunder and lightning. There were
heavy clouds over the mountain. Then came a very loud trumpet blast was heard so that all the people
in the camp trembled. "But Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God And they stood
themselves at the foot of the mountain."Mount Sinai was illed with smoke, because the Lord came
down upon it on fire. The smoke rose from it like a smoke from a furmace, and the whole mountain
trembled violently,"The sound of the trumpet came in louder, as Moses was speaking and God
answered him with thunder. The Lord came down to the top Mount Sinai. The Lord called Moses to the
top of the mountain, and Moses eagle wings to bring you here a kingdom of talking to you, they may
also went up to him.

Exodus Chapter 20

Then God spoke all these words to Moses, I, the Lord, am your God who brought you out of the land of
Egypt, from the house of slavery. You shall not have other gods other than me. You shall not make for
yourselves idols in the form of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath
the earth. You shall not bow down betor them and worship them, because I, the Lord, your God, am a
jealous God inflicting punishment for the wickedness of the fathers of the children those who hate
me,down to the third and fourth generation.But I bestow kindness to those who love me and keep my
commandments down to the thousandth generation. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God,
in vain. For the Lord will not acquit anyone who takes his nme in vain Remember to keep the sabbath
day holy, 'Six days you may work and do all your tasks, obut the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord,
your God. No work may be done then either by you, or your son or c female slave, or your beast, or by
the sojourner who lives with you.This is because, in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth,
the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. Thus, the Lord blessed the sabbath day
and made it holy. "Honor your father and your mother in order that you may prolong your days in the
land which the Lord, your God, gives you. You shall not kill. "You shall not commit adultery. You shall not
steal. "You shall not bear false witness against daughter, or your male or your neighbor. You shall not
covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male or female slave, nor
his ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him. the people mountain smoking. They all saw
themselves trembling with fear. So they stood farther away from the mountain.