This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

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11 1 And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed east,1 that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime 135 had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the 140 LORD said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the 145 LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth and they left off to build the city. Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. ABSTRACT: Shem, the favoured son of Noah, had various descendants, whose names were given to the chief Semitic nations, Aram, Asshur, Eber, Elam, etc. Terah, who was eighth in descent from Shem and fifth from Eber, lived in Ur of the Chaldees, and had three sons, Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran dying and 155 leaving a son named Lot, Terah with the rest of the family moved westward to Haran (Charran).

1 For east read in the east.

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LESSON III

ABRAM AND LOT

Abram by God's command leaves Haran, passes through Canaan into Egypt, returns to Canaan, and receives the promise that his seed shall possess the land. Lot parts from Abram and settles in Sodom. God makes a covenant with Abram.

GENESIS XII. 1—XV. 18

12 1 Now the LORD said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the 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 be thou a blessing and I will bless them that bless thee, 5 and him that curseth thee will I curse and in 1 thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.2 So Abram went, 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, 10 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 Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem, unto the oak of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then 15 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 removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Beth-el, and

1 For in read by.

For be blessed read bless themselves,

20 pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the 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.

13 2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in 25 gold. And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between 30 me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou take the right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld 35 all the Plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where,

before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou goest unto Zoar.1 So Lot chose him all the Plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from 40 the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the Plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against the LORD exceedingly. And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and 45 look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. 50 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth

of it; for unto thee will I give it. And Abram moved his tent, and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

15 1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto

1 For Zoar read Zoan.

Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, 55 and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, O Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Dammesek Eliezer? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of 60 the LORD came unto him, saying, This man shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to tell them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 65 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, O Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me an 70 heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram ‍of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other but the birds divided he not. And the birds of prey came down upon the carcases, 75 and Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them 80 four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge and afterward shall they come out with great substance. But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of 85 the Amorite is not yet full. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces. In that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land.

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