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Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
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Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
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To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
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Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
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The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
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And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
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Hagar and Ishmael
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar;
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so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
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For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
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One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth.
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Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again,
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And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
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Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.”
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Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother.
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But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.
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Jacob’s Children
When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless.
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She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.
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When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
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Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”
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Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.”
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When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
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Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I’ve done for you.”
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Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you.”
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Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels,
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Laban answered Jacob, “The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne?
