Study Desk

God blessed the seventh day and made it a holy day. He made it special because on that day he rested from all the work he did while creating the world.

This was before there were plants on the earth. Nothing was growing in the fields because the Lord God had not yet made it rain on the earth, and there was no one to care for the plants.

Then God said to the man, "I commanded you not to eat from that tree. But you listened to your wife and ate from it. So I will curse the ground because of you. You will have to work hard all your life for the food the ground produces.

Adam named his wife Eve. He gave her this name because Eve would be the mother of everyone who ever lived.

But he did not accept Cain and his offering. Cain was sad because of this, and he became very angry.

Lamech named his son Noah. Lamech said, "We work very hard as farmers because God cursed the ground. But Noah will bring us rest."

So the Lord said, "I will destroy all the people I created on the earth. I will destroy every person and every animal and everything that crawls on the earth. And I will destroy all the birds in the air, because I am sorry that I have made them."

The dove could not find a place to rest because water still covered the earth, so the dove came back to the boat. Noah reached out his hand and caught the dove and brought it back into the boat.

Later, Noah woke up. (He was sleeping because of the wine.) When he learned what his youngest son Ham had done to him,

Eber was the father of two sons. One son was named Peleg. He was given this name because the earth was divided during his life. The other son was named Joktan.

Sarai did not have any children because she was not able to have children.

When the Egyptian men see you, they will say, ‘This woman is his wife.' Then they will kill me and keep you alive because they want you.

So tell them that you are my sister. Then they will be good to me because of you. In this way you will save my life."

Pharaoh was kind to Abram because he thought Abram was Sarai's brother. He gave Abram sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and men and women servants.

But Abram said, "Lord God , there is nothing you can give me that will make me happy, because I have no son. My slave Eliezer from Damascus will get everything I own after I die."

Abram believed the Lord , and because of this faith the Lord accepted him as one who has done what is right.

After four generations your people will come to this land again and defeat the Amorites. That will happen in the future because the Amorites are not yet guilty enough to lose their land."

Then the angel of the Lord said, "Hagar, you are now pregnant, and you will have a son. You will name him Ishmael, because the Lord has heard that you were treated badly.

The Lord talked to Hagar. She began to use a new name for God. She said to him, "You are ‘God Who Sees Me.'" She said this because she thought, "I see that even in this place God sees me and cares for me!"

I will change your name from Abram to Abraham, because I am making you the father of many nations.