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In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and the seas and the stars and the Moon and the animals and a man. God saw his creation, and it was very good. God placed the man in a garden called Eden, and made for him a companion, a 'woman'.
The man and the woman were happy in Eden, free from shame and guilt. In the centre of the garden were two trees: the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil. The man and the woman had only one rule to follow in the garden: the fruit from the latter tree was forbidden.
The serpent was the craftiest beast in God's creation; it told the woman that the fruit would make her more like God, because God has knowledge of good and evil. She took of its fruit ate, and gave some to the man, who also ate.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They covered their loins with fig leaves.
Then God found the man and the woman, ashamed of their nakedness.
God cursed the serpent, forcing it to lie on its belly forever.
God cursed the woman, forcing pain on childbirth.
God cursed the man, forcing him to till the ground for food.
And then God banished the man and the woman from the Garden of Eden, fearing that they might eat of the Tree of Life and live forever.
The man's name was Adam; the woman's, Eve. They bore two daughters and two sons. The sons names were Cain and Abel.
Cain farmed vegetables; Abel farmed sheep. They both made offerings of their produce to God, but God had little regard for Cain's vegetables.
Cain became jealous of his brother, so killed him.
God cursed Cain. No longer would vegetables grow for him. Cain wandered away from the first family.
Adam and Eve had another son, Seth.
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1,500 years later...
Humans multiplied, and wickedness multiplied with them. And God saw their wickedness and regretting creating them. But amongst all the evil God saw one righteous family: the family of Noah.
God told Noah that life was to be blotted out, but his family shall survive. He instructed Noah to build an ark, and to take onto the ark a pair of every unclean animal, and seven pairs of all clean animals.
Once all of Noah's preparations were complete, the fountains of deep burst and windows of heaven opened. The water rose to cover all of the mountains. All the men, women and children; all the animals of the land and the birds of the sky were blotted out. He killed them all with the waters of the flood. Only Noah and his ark remained.
They lived in the Ark for one year before was dry again. After the ark is emptied, Noah built an altar to God, and burnt a piece of each clean animal. God smelled the burning flesh and it was a pleasing aroma. God promised Noah that he would never again kill every living thing using a flood. He placed a rainbow in the sky as a reminder of this promise.
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50 years later...
Some of Noah's descendants decided to build a city in the land of Shinar, and in that city there would be a tower reaching all the way to heaven. God saw their work and worried; he saw that the people had only one language, and if they continued this way nothing would be impossible for them.
So God confused their language. The Tower of Babel was never completed, and the people spread across the earth.
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300 years later...
God told a man named Abram to leave his home, the city of Nahor, and travel to a far away land: Canaan. Abraham followed God's command, and travelled to Canaan with his wife, Sarai.
Once there, Abraham is told by God to cut off his foreskin, and the foreskin of male in his household; in return, God will give the land of Canaan to Abraham's offspring. God gave Abraham a son, Isaac.
One day, God told Abraham to kill Isaac on the top of a mountain. Abraham was ready to do it, but an angel appeared as the knife was near Isaac's throat, and the boy's life was saved. God was only testing Abraham's devotion.
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Isaac married a woman called Rebekah. She gave birth to twin sons: Esau and Jacob. After they had grown up, Jacob used trickery to obtain his brother's birthright and his father's blessing. Then Jacob fled to Haran, fearing his brother's revenge.
Jacob spent many years in Haran, working for Laban, his mother's brother. He married both of Laban's daughters. One day he decided to return home.
On the way home, Jacob spent a night a Jabbok river having a wrestling match with God. Jacob won, but dislocated his hip. God blessed Jacob and told him to change his name to 'Israel'.
When Israel returned home, Esau greeted him warmly.
Israel had twelve sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Joseph and Benjamin.
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Joseph was Israel's favourite son, but this made his brothers jealous. They faked his death and sold him into slavery.
But God was with Joseph, and assisted him in all he did. Joseph was successful in Egypt, and became the Pharaoh's prime minister. He foresaw a seven plentiful years followed by seven years of famine. He advised the Pharaoh to save one-fifth of the land's produce for the famine.
When the famine came, all the people of Egypt bought grain from the Pharaoh's supply until they had no money left. Then they traded all of their livestock for grain. Then they traded all their land for grain. Thus Joseph impoverished the Egyptians, and made them servants of the Pharaoh.
Joseph's brothers travelled to Egypt; the famine had hit Canaan too. They did not recognise Joseph, and he pretended not to know them. After several encounters, Joseph could not keep up the ruse; he burst into tears and told his brothers who he was. He told them not to be afraid; he had forgiven them their evil. God had taken their evil and used it for good.
He told them to bring the entire family to Egypt. The Pharaoh gave them the best land in Egypt.
On his deathbed, Israel blesses his twelve sons, the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel.
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