by succeeding generations, and at length so proud and
arrogant did the people become that they decided to build
the city and tower described in the following verses. By
settling in one city and by building a tower so high that
there would be no danger from another flood, they thought
to free themselves entirely from dependence on Jehovah.]

VI

THE TOWER OF BABEL AND THE
CONFUSION OF TONGUES

(Genesis xi: 1-9)

And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they1 journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar;2 and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, "Come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, "Come, 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 Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And Jehovah 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. Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So Jehovah scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off building the city. Therefore was the name of it

1. The descendants of Noah.

2. The land between the Tigris and the Euphrates which extended from Mesopotamia to the Persian Gulf. (See map.)

called Babel;1 because Jehovah did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did Jehovah scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

[Here follows a long list of the descendants of Noah ending with Abram, who was descended from Shem.]

VII

THE CALL OF ABRAM

(Genesis xii: 1-10)

Now Jehovah 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 show 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, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." So Abram went, as Jehovah had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.2 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, 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 in the land. And Jehovah appeared

3

1. Semitic for "Babylon."

2. The early home of Abram (Abraham), in Mesopotamia.

3. A general term meaning the land west of the river Jordan. The country took its name from Canaan, one of the sons of Ham. Hence the Canaanites were, according to Hebrew history, like the Israelites, direct descendants of Noah. They, however, had not retained the worship of Jehovah.

unto Abram, and said, "Unto thy seed will I give this land:" and there builded he an altar unto Jehovah, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Beth-el,1 and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto Jehovah, and called upon the name of Jehovah. And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.

And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was sore in the land.

[After the famine was over in Canaan, Abram and Sarai, with their nephew Lot, left Egypt and returned to their native land. They settled in Bethel, but soon found that the land there was not productive enough to support their large flocks and herds. They agreed to separate, and Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan to the East, while Abram removed to the Plain of Mamre (see map).

In this fertile plain Abram became rich and powerful. His great sorrow was that he and Sarai had no children to inherit their vast possessions. A son, Ishmael, had been born to Abram and Hagar, Sarai's handmaid, who, according to the custom of those days, had become Abram's second wife. Sarai, however, did not wish Ishmael to become Abram's heir.]

1. The meaning of Bethel is "House of God." It was a city twelve miles north of where Jerusalem was later built.

VIII

THE NEW NAME AND THE COVENANT (Genesis xvii: 1-21).

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said unto him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly." And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, "As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be the father of a multitude of nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram,1 but thy name shall be Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."

And God said unto Abraham, "As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah3 shall her name be. And I will bless her, and moreover I will give thee a son of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be of her." Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, "Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years 1. Abram means "exalted father" and Abraham, "the father of a multitude." The latter name is used after this.

2. "Contentious."

3. "Princess."

old, bear?" And Abraham said unto God, "Oh that Ishmael1 might live before thee!" 2 And God said, “Nay, but Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son; and thou shalt call his name Isaac:3 and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year."

IX

THE BIRTH OF ISAAC AND THE PROMISE CONCERNING ISHMAEL

(Genesis xxi: 1-21)

And Jehovah visited Sarah as he had said, and Jehovah did unto Sarah as he had spoken. And Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, "God hath made me to laugh; every one that heareth will laugh with me." And she said, "Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should give children suck? for I have borne him a son in his old age."

And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom

1. "Whom God hears."

2. Find favor in thy sight.

3. "Laughter."