NARRATOR: In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth.
And the Earth was without form and void…
…and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, "Let there be light.”
And there was light.
And God divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the light “day.”
And the darkness He called “night.”
And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, ”Let there be a firmament…
…in the midst of the waters.
And let it divide the waters from the waters.”
And God called the firmament “heaven.”
And the evening and the morning were the second day.
And God said:
Let the waters under the heaven…
…be gathered together unto one place…
…and let the dry land appear.”
The gathering together of the waters…
…called He “seas.”
And He called the dry land “earth.”
And God said, ”Let the earth bring forth grass…
…the herb yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit…
…whose seed is in itself upon the earth.”
And the evening and the morning were the third day.
And God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven…
…and let them be for signs and for seasons…
…and for days and years.”
And God made two great lights:
The greater light, to rule the day…
…and the lesser light, to rule the night.
He made the stars also.
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven…
…to give light upon the Earth.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
And God said, ”Let the waters bring forth abundantly…
…the moving creature that hath life…
…and fowl that fly above the earth
in the open firmament of heaven.”
And God created great whales…
…and every living creature that moveth…
…which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind.
God blessed them, saying:
”Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters…
…and the seas.”
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
And God said, ”Let the earth bring forth…
…the living creature after his kind.
And everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind…
…cattle and the beast of the earth after his kind.”
And God saw that it was good.
And God said:
”Let us make man in our own image…
…after our likeness.”
The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground…
…and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life…
…and man became a living soul.
And God brought unto Adam every beast of the field…
…and every fowl of the air…
…to see what he would call them.
And the Lord said:
”It is not good that the man should be alone.”
And He caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam.
And he slept.
And God made a woman and brought her unto the man.
This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
So God created man in His own image…
…in the image of God created He him…
…male and female created He them.
And God saw everything that He had made…
…and behold, it was very good.
And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
And on the seventh day God rested…
…from all His work which He had made.
And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.
Eastward, in Eden, God had planted a garden.
And He said, ”Go into the garden I have made.
Tend it and keep it.
Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat.
But of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil…
…thou shalt not eat of it.
For in the day that thou eatest thereof…
…thou shalt surely die.”
And God blessed them and said unto them:
”Be fruitful and multiply.”
THE SERPENT: Eve…
Eve…
Hath God said…
…ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden?
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden…
…but of the fruit of this tree God hath said:
"Ye shall not eat of it…
…neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”
Ye shall not surely die.
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof…
…then your eyes shall be opened…
…and ye shall be as gods…
…knowing good and evil.
EVE: The serpent hath said that we shall not die…
…that our eyes shall be opened and we shall be as gods.
Taste it. There’s no harm.
It is…
…disobedience.
EVE: It will make us wise.
NARRATOR: And the Lord God called unto Adam:
”Where art thou?”
I heard thy voice and I was afraid because I was naked,
and I hid myself.
GOD: Who told thee that thou wast naked?
Hast thou eaten of the tree…
…whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?
The woman thou gavest to be with me…
…she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
What is it that thou hast done?
The serpent beguiled me and I did eat.
Because thou hast done this…
…thou art cursed above all cattle…
…and above every beast of the field.
Upon thy belly shalt thou go…
…and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.
I will put enmity between thee and the woman…
…between thy seed and her seed.
It shall bruise thy head…
…and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Eve…
… I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception.
In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children…
…and thy desire shall be to thy husband…
…and he shall rule over thee.
Adam, because thou hast harkened unto thy wife…
…and hast eaten of the tree…
…cursed is the ground for thy sake…
…in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life…
…thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.
Thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread…
…until thou return unto the ground.
For out of it was thou taken for dust thou art…
…and unto dust shalt thou return.
I have made a man from the Lord God.
Thy name shall be called Cain.
NARRATOR: And the meaning of Cain is “possession.”
Eve again bare a son…
…and his name was Abel…
…which means ”breath of life.”
And the children of Eve grew to be men.
Cain was a tiller of the ground…
…and Abel was a keeper of flocks.
At the time of the harvest, they builded altars…
…and kindled fires upon them.
And Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock…
…and the fat thereof.
And Cain also brought of the fruit of the ground…
…an offering unto the Lord.
And the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering.
But unto Cain and his offering He had not respect.
Why art thou angry?
lf thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?
GOD: Cain?
Cain.
Where is Abel, thy brother?
I know not!
Where is Abel, thy brother?
Am I my brother’s keeper?
What hast thou done?
The voice of thy brother’s blood…
…crieth unto me from the ground.
Now art thou cursed from the Earth…
…which hath opened to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand.
When thou tillest the ground…
…it shall not yield unto thee her strength.
A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the Earth.
For dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return.
My punishment is greater than I can bear!
Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the Earth…
…and from thy face shall I be hid.
And I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the Earth…
…and everyone that findeth me shall slay me!
GOD: Whosoever slayeth Cain…
…vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.
I set a mark upon Cain…
…lest any, finding him, shall slay him.
NARRATOR: And Cain left the presence of the Lord…
…and dwelt in the Land of Nod, east of Eden.
And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bare a son.
In the generations of time…
…when his seed began to people the Earth…
…there were born men apt in knowledge and craft.
As Jabal, the father of such as dwell in tents…
…and of such as have cattle.
They made vessels out of the earth…
…jars and pitchers by the skill of their hands.
And Jabal’s brother’s name was Jubal.
He was the father of all such as handle the harp and play music.
And Tubalcain, also…
…an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron.
And they learnt the secrets of the ground…
…that it should deliver to them its fullness and strength.
But the knowledge of good and evil
was in all the people of the Earth.
And God grieved in His heart that men followed the way of evil…
…and that every imagination…
…of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, continually.
The Earth disclosed her blood…
…and no more covered her slain.
The deed of Cain was multiplied a thousand times.
And God said, ”I will destroy man, whom I have created…
… both man and beast, for it repenteth me that I hath made them.”
But the Lord gave Eve another son…
…instead of Abel whom Cain slew.
And Adam called his name Seth.
And from Seth’s seed, through the generations…
…was Noah born.
And Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
There dwelt with Noah his sons: Shem…
…Japheth and Ham.
And his wife, and his sons’ wives also.
And Noah was perfect in his generations.
He was a just man, and walked with God.
GOD: Noah.
Noah.
Noah!
Hearken now to my voice and take heed.
Now shall I tell thee the matter of my grief…
…and of what thou shalt do.
The end of all flesh is come before me…
…for the Earth is filled with violence through them.
And behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the Earth…
…to destroy all flesh.
And everything that is in the Earth shall die.
Make thee an ark of gopher wood.
Rooms shalt thou make…
…and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
And this is the fashion thou shalt make it of.
The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits…
…the breadth of it 50 cubits…
…and the height of it 30 cubits.
With thee will I establish my covenant.
Thou shalt come into the ark.
Thou and thy sons and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
Hey! Hey!
What is more stupid than this?
A man building a ship on dry land!
WOMAN 1: A devil is in him and hath made him mad…
…and his sons with him!
MAN 1: When shall the Earth see this again?
He hath the sea in his head, and his house rides up on the waves.
Father, is it indeed God’s voice thou hast heard?
For look, there is no cloud in the sky.
Not so much as would cover a bird.
The Lord waiteth upon our work.
Then what need is there of haste?
Shall we not do it little by little…
…under cover of night?
He demandeth every hour of the day.
In our obedience must be no delay.
Will you question your father’s understanding
or doubt his ways?
You should be ashamed.
Yet when shall they be rid of the work?
All things wait for this.
The ground is unsown, and the house is unmended.
Give me one to make the roof good…
…lest when the rain comes the house will not keep it out.
But, wife!
Shem!
More pitch!
Ham!
NOAH: We have need of more pitch!
Japheth!
Take the bucket and fill it, and our work is done!
Shem!
Ham!
Japheth!
GOD: Noah.
Come thou and all thy house into the ark.
I will cause it to rain upon the Earth 40 days and 40 nights.
Every living substance I have made…
…will I destroy from off the face of the Earth.
And of every living thing of all flesh…
…two of every sort, male and female…
…shalt thou bring into the ark to keep them alive with thee.
Two…
…of every sort.
NOAH: Wife!
Sons! Daughters!
Fear not. The Lord hath spoken and said:
”Bring two of every kind to keep them alive.”
They have followed me and trust us…
…to mind them and bring them to safety.
They’re good beasts at heart.
They will do no harm to you, nor each other…
…for they know of the waters that will fall upon the Earth.
And God hath chosen them above all others.
There are more yet to come. Japheth, help them find their way.
Ham, Shem, load hay and grain.
Wife and daughters, put oil into the lamps.
And get thy house aboard the ark in order.
NARRATOR: And God shut him in.
Is it the wind that waileth?
No, wife.
It is the chaff, which the wind driveth away.
The Lord hath taken hold of the ends of the Earth…
…and shaketh it.
They cry to be fed.
We have work to do.
Shem…
…care for the animals with hooves that cheweth the cud.
Ham shall tend the camels, hares, swine and giraffes.
Japheth, the tigers, the lions, the cats of all kinds.
What shall they eat?
Milk from the cattle and the goats.
Milk? For beasts of prey?
They’re only great cats, wife.
Do you not hear them purr?
Be not afraid.
He will do thee no harm, for harm is not in him.
Shem, the red hart has not eaten of his corn. Fetch him leaves.
NARRATOR: The waters prevailed, and all the high hills were covered.
And Noah only remained alive…
…and they that were with him in the ark.
When will the rain cease?
When shall we stand again upon the Earth?
God has told us it shall rain 40 days and 40 nights.
But here we know neither the day nor the night.
We cannot measure the time by sleep.
We sleep when we will. When we are rested, we wake.
The moon has no waxing or waning…
…and the sun no rising or setting.
We are without knowledge of time.
Nay, but I know.
Since the time we came into the ark…
…and the doors shut, and the flood carried us upon its waters…
…the days have been 20.
And two. Twenty and two.
How dost thou know what is hidden from us?
By what rod dost thou measure the darkness?
By the beasts, who carry the days within them.
Even as the sun and the moon divide the seasons into hours.
I know the time by the lowing of the cow ready to be milked…
…and the cackle of the hen when the egg shall be gathered.
I have counted the days.
In 18 days, then, we’ll know the world as before.
Not so. When the rain stops, still the water will cover the earth.
Neither shall we know the world as before.
When the waters are dried up…
…then we shall know.
We shall be alone on the Earth.
No other life.
Where will the ark have carried us?
In what strange land shall we be renewed?
The Lord has put the future into our hands.
All things will be new.
Raven!
NARRATOR: And Noah sent forth a raven…
…to see if the waters were abated from off the ground.
Go forth!
And the raven went forth, and flew to and fro.
Even until the waters were dried up from off the Earth.
And the raven returned not again unto Noah anymore.
Also he sent forth a dove from him.
But the Earth was still seas…
…as it had been in the beginning, before the dry land appeared.
She hath found no rest for the sole of her foot.
For the waters are on the face of the whole Earth.
Eat of the grain and renew thy strength.
For in seven days I shall send thee forth again.
And the dove came in to him in the evening…
…and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf, plucked off.
Let us make a rudder and a sail.
For now we know that the waters are abated from the Earth…
…and we can find land.
What sail shall discover the winds,
and what rudder find our course?
The breath of God shall divide the waves…
…and his hand only lead us into safety.
NARRATOR: The ark rested in the 7th month,
of the 17th day of the month…
…upon the mountains of Ararat.
Hey! Hey, hey!
NARRATOR: And the Lord said in his heart:
”I will not again curse the ground for man’s sake.
While the Earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest…
…cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night…
…shall not cease.
The waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
I do set my bow in the cloud.
And it shall be for a token between me and the Earth.
It shall come to pass when I bring a cloud…
…the bow shall be seen in the cloud.
And I will remember my covenant which is between me and you.
And every living creature of all flesh.”
NARRATOR: And sons were born unto the sons of Noah after the flood.
And of them was the whole Earth overspread.
And the whole Earth was of one language and of one speech.
Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah.
The sons of Japheth: Gomer…
The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur…
And the sons of Ham: Mizraim, Phut, Canaan and Cush.
And Cush begat Nimrod.
And Nimrod was a king.
And he set to build a tower that would soar like his pride.
A tower that would reach unto Heaven.
And his people sang a song as they built the tower:
”Who can bend the bow of Nimrod?
Or put strength into the arrow like unto his strength?
Nothing is too mighty for him to do
No power is greater than his
He hath taken the Earth and made it his own
He stores up the thunder and wears the lightning like a jewel
The glory of Nimrod shines beyond the sun
There is none greater than he in Earth or Heaven.”
And the Lord came down to see the tower…
…which the children of men builded.
And He said, ”Behold, the people is one…
…and they have all one language. And this they begin to do.
And now nothing will be restrained from them…
…which they have imagined to do.”
My bow.
NARRATOR: “Let us go down and confound their language…
…that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
Stand your ground. Obey me!
Make good what has been brought down.
Am I not Nimrod? And my voice is your commandment!
What words are these?
Babbling fool! Madness is in his mouth!
You mock your king’s tongue?
Shall a monkey gibber against me?
NARRATOR: Therefore is the name of it called Babel.
There the Lord confounded their language…
…and scattered them abroad upon the Earth.
The Lord waited 10 generations for a man called Abram to be born.
He was born in Ur of the Chaldees.
And when he had come of an age, the Lord said:
”Get out of thy city and thy country…
…from thy kindred and from thy father’s house…
…unto a land that I will show thee.
I will make of thee a great nation…
…and I will bless thee and make thy name great.”
So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him…
…with Lot, his brother’s son…
…and Sarai, his wife, whom he loved…
…and all their substance that they gathered…
…and the souls they had gotten…
…and they journeyed like strangers on the Earth.
They journeyed not knowing whither they went.
And yet the land lay before them as the Lord had promised.
And the mornings and the evenings pointed the way.
Come! Come!
GOD: The hills revealed it.
Lift up now thine eyes…
…and 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 forever.
LOT: Shall we indeed inherit this country in peace?
For the Canaanites go about the land.
The understanding of God…
…is not our understanding.
And what shall be brought about and how it is perfected…
…is not in our power to know.
Only in the promise of what shall come…
…can we prosper.
And in that trust…
…have we pitched our tents.
Wife.
Abram.
My husband.
The sun has gone down. We have laboured until evening.
I bring my love beside you in the tent…
…as day answereth day.
Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits.
Behold.
Thou art fair, my love.
Behold, thou art fair.
I have drawn away from my beauty as from a stranger…
…for the years have gone with the going down of the sun.
Your beauty stands in a sanctuary.
The enemy falters in the street…
…and sheathes his sword in the marketplace.
Time…
…cannot pass the door.
The strong lock of the door is love…
…and the key…
…is in my hand.
As the apple tree among the trees of the wood…
…so is my beloved among the sons.
H is left hand is under my head…
…and his right hand doth embrace me.
My right arm covers you…
…as the night covers the day.
NARRATOR: But Sarai, his wife, was barren…
…and she had no child.
Yet was the land before them as God had promised.
And they pitched their tents in the length and breadth of it…
…from Bethel to Kadesh and Shur, even unto Egypt.
With Sarai came also her handmaid…
… Hagar, the Egyptian.
They learned the wells and fertile places…
Five score.
…and Abram prospered.
Six score.
Seven score.
And when they came again unto Bethel…
…there was division between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle…
…and the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle.
Let there be no strife between thee and me.
And between thy herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are brethren.
Our substance is too great for us to dwell together.
The land is not able to bear us together.
Is not the whole land before thee?
Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me.
lf thou will go left, I will go to the right…
…or if thou go right, I will go to the left.
There below us is the plain of Jordan.
And that way I will go.
Toward the cities of the plain.
The men of the cities are wicked,
and sinners before the Lord.
From here the walls of Sodom and Gomorrah are white.
But within the walls…
…is the darkness of men.
Many tribes and their kings try to claim their domination…
…and the city walls are refuge and strength.
God is my refuge and strength.
The plain is well-watered everywhere…
…fertile with fruits of the earth…
…even as the Garden of the Lord. That is the way I shall take.
And my way is another.
GOD: Lift up now thine eyes…
…and 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 forever.
Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless?
Behold, to me thou hast given no seed.
I will make thy seed as the dust of the Earth…
…so that if one can number the dust of the Earth…
…then shall thy seed also be numbered.
But Sarai, my wife, is barren and she has no child.
I am the Lord that brought thee…
…out of Ur of the Chaldees…
…to give thee this land to inherit it.
Lord God…
…whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
Take me a 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.
Divide them in the midst…
…and lay each piece one against another.
But the birds, they shall not be divided.
Now have I made my covenant between me and thee…
…and out of thine own bowels thou shalt have an heir.
And Isaac shall his name be called.
Yet know of a surety that thy seed…
…shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs.
Its rulers shall afflict them…
… pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them.
They shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth.
They shall be tried, like metal in a furnace…
…as also I shall try thee.
I will make a man more precious than fine gold…
…even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
Go.
Abram.
Behold now.
The Lord hath restrained me from bearing.
I pray thee…
…go in unto my maid…
…according to that law which says:
”When a wife is barren…
…her maidservant may bear for her.”
It may be that I may obtain children by her.
I give thee my handmaiden…
…Hagar the Egyptian…
…to be thy wife.
Is it so…
…that the promise of many nations shall be fulfilled?
Even so…
And Abram went in to Hagar and she conceived…
…and when it came near the time
that she should bear a child…
… Sarai, her mistress, was despised in her eyes.
Are you not tired?
Let us stay our hands…
…and eat and drink, now that the sun is gone.
Fruits of thy kind.
Figs that are dry, and dates and raisins.
But for me…
…the fruits that ripen.
Go away from me!
Why weepest thou?
I am ashamed.
For what cause?
Did I not say to thee:
”Go in to my maid that I may obtain children by her”?
Even so?
Now I am despised by her that she carries the child in her body.
I am but the grass that is bruised where she walks.
I look through her eyes and see myself as one who no longer lives.
The fulfilment of the earth passes to strangers.
And I am left as I was never born.
But the child is thine…
…by thy maidservant…
…and by the love I bear thee.
NARRATOR: From the south, even unto the plain of Jordan…
…came four warring kings:
The kings of Shinar, of Ellasar…
…of Elam, and Tidal, king of nations.
These made war with the king of Sodom…
…and the king of Gomorrah and the king of Admah…
..and the king of Zeboiim and the king of Zoar.
Four kings with five.
They joined battle in the vale of Siddim.
The vale of Siddim was full of slime pits…
…and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there…
…and the victors took captives and goods and went their way.
And Lot?
And Lot, my brother’s son Lot?
He is taken captive.
Shall the land that is promised to us have no peace?
And my blood be taken into slavery?
Eliezer.
My lord?
Summon Mamre, the Amorite…
…and Aner and Eshcol, his brothers who are confederates.
And you, my trained servants…
…born in mine own house…
…gather at the tents.
Three hundred eighteen we be.
How shall we prevail against so many?
They have gotten the victory, and left off watching.
I will divide us against them by night…
…and smite them.
Blessed be the most high God…
…which hath delivered mine enemies into my hands.
Thou art my shield and my exceeding great reward.
GOD: I am the Almighty God.
Walk before me and be thou perfect.
Thy name shall no more be Abram…
…but thy name shall be Abraham.
For kings shall come out of thee…
…and I will establish my covenant between me and thee…
…and thy seed after thee, and their generations, to be their God.
As for Sarai, thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai…
…but Sarah shall her name be.
And I will bless her and give thee a son, also of her.
And she shall be a mother of nations.
Thy child.
By my maidservant, and by the love I bear thee.
The smell of my son is like a field which the Lord has blessed.
GOD: This is my covenant, which ye shall keep between me and you…
…and thy seed after thee.
Every man-child among you shall be circumcised…
…as a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
Thou hast 24 score and 7 in thy flock.
By each pebble I know you as good servants.
You are blessed among us and are indeed our blessing.
My lord.
Behold. Thy son, Ishmael, hath seven years.
Give him thy blessing, I pray…
…that he may live before God as the first of thy flesh,
and thy only son.
Yet have I told thee how it stands between me and Ishmael.
For God hath said He will bless Sarah
and give me a son also…
…of her.
Wilt thou indeed believe what cannot come to pass?
The years have gone by and the promise is not fulfilled.
With Sarah, thy wife…
…the time of childbearing is over.
Give Ishmael, therefore, thy blessing.
Thou can hope for no other.
Shall the Lord speak and Abraham not believe?
What is faith if it say, ”This thing cannot be”?
And as for Ishmael…
…God has said ”Behold…
…I have blessed him and will make him fruitful.
But my covenant will I establish with Isaac…
…which Sarah shall bear unto thee.”
And so I wait upon his will…
…even beyond the time.
NARRATOR: And Abraham waited upon the will of God.
And God was silent, as one who searches the strength of a man.
Three years passed and two more added…
…and Sarah and Abraham grew old.
My Lord…
…if now I have found favour in thy sight…
…pass not away from thy servant.
We go down towards the city…
…toward Sodom…
…where Lot, thy brother’s son, sits in the gate of the city.
Rest yourselves, I pray thee…
…under the tree.
And comfort ye your hearts.
Where is Sarah, thy wife?
Behold, in the tent.
I will certainly return unto thee, and lo…
…Sarah, thy wife, shall have a son.
After I am waxed old…
…shall I have pleasure…
…my Lord being old also?
Wherefore did Sarah laugh?
Is anything too hard for the Lord?
I laughed not!
Nay…
…but thou didst laugh.
At the time appointed I will return unto thee…
…and Sarah shall have a son.
We are going…
…towards the cities of the plain.
I will bring you on your way.
Shall I hide from Abraham…
…that thing which I do?
Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great…
…and because their sin is very grievous…
…I will go down now…
…and see whether they have done altogether…
…according to the cry of it,
which has come unto me…
…and if not, I will know.
Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
There may be 50 righteous…
…within the city. Wilt thou not spare the place for them?
Shall not the judge of all the Earth…
…do right?
lf I find 50 righteous within the city…
…I will spare all the place for their sakes.
What if there be 45 such men?
Or 30? Or even as few as 20?
I will not destroy it…
…for 20’s sake.
Let not the Lord be angry and I will speak yet but this once:
Peradventure, 10 shall be found there.
I will not destroy it…
…for 10’s sake.
NARRATOR: When the sun was down,
Lot sat in the gates of the city.
And he lift up his eyes and looked…
…and beheld two strangers coming into the city.
What strangers are these?
Where are they from?
Two angels of God.
So fair they are. So fair.
Where are they?
What have you done with them?
Yes, bring them out unto us!
Bring them, that we may know them!
I pray, brethren, do not so wickedly.
For these strangers here with us are of God.
Better you destroy all I possess…
…than any harm should be done them.
Behold, I have two daughters which have not known man.
Let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you…
…and do ye to them as is good in your eyes…
…only unto these men do nothing.
This one fellow came in to sojourn…
…and he will needs be a judge?
Now will we deal worse with thee than with them!
I cannot see!
Whatsoever thou hast in the city,
bring them out of this place…
…for the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.
Take thy wife and thy two daughters which are here…
…lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
Escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
Look not behind thee.
The name of our son shall be called Isaac.
Thy son…
…and mine.
God hath made me laugh. All that hear will laugh with me.
Who would have said unto Abraham…
…that Sarah would have given children suck?
For I have borne him a son in his old age.
In him…
…are the stars of the heavens…
…and the sands of the seashore.
NARRATOR: And the child grew…
…and Abraham made a great feast the same day Isaac was weaned.
Cast out this bondwoman and her son.
Who has put this into thy heart?
Did you not see how he went among us mocking?
I have a great fear there will come such division in our people.
Like Cain and Abel again.
I beg you, cast out this bondwoman and her son!
The son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son…
…even with Isaac.
What sayest thou? He is my seed.
I will not cast out the lad, nor thy bondwoman.
NARRATOR: But God said unto Abraham:
”Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad…
…and because of thy bondwoman.
In all that Sarah hath said unto thee,
hearken unto her voice…
…for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.”
And Abraham sent her away, and she departed…
…and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
Lord! Let me not see the death of the child!
And an angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven…
…and he said unto her:
What aileth thee, Hagar?
Fear not…
…for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
And God was with the lad…
…and he grew and became a great nation.
ABRAHAM: Here are the generations of my fathers named…
…to whom God gave life.
It has fallen to me that the past shall not be forgotten…
…and after me…
…my son…
…also shall remember it.
By what descent are ye come?
These are the generations of which I am made…
…of Noah, who by faith prepared an ark…
…to the saving of this house.
Noah begat Shem…
…and Shem, Arphaxad…
…and after him was Salah, who begat Eber…
…and his son was Peleg…
…the father of Reu, who begat Serug…
…the father of Nahor…
…and Nahor begat Terah…
…whose son was Abraham, my father.
Here are the names written.
And here shalt thy name be also…
…Isaac, son of Abraham…
…when thou takest my place.
Put thy hand upon it.
GOD: Abraham…
Abraham!
Here I am.
The night is filled with thy voice.
Here am I.
What dost thou demand of me?
Thy son.
Thy only son.
What sayest thou?
Take now thy son…
…thy only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest…
…and go into the mountains, where I shall show thee…
…and offer him there for a burnt offering.
Wouldst thou I do even as the Canaanites…
…who lay their first-born on fires before idols?
Art thou truly the Lord, my God?
Thou knowest.
No!
Thou wilt not…
…ask this thing of me!
Isaac…
…take leave of thy mother.
Mother, I am going on a journey.
A journey?
We are going on a journey of three days.
I am going with my father.
What does thou tell me?
A journey unto the land of Moriah!
Unto Moriah? Why unto Moriah?
God hath commanded that we go there to sacrifice unto him.
Six days must I wait for thee?
Mother, it is a little time.
I have waited for thee until I was old.
The days are precious to me.
Isaac, Isaac…
What should I fear…
…if thou goest with thy father?
Father…
…this was a city?
The city of Sodom.
Lot sat here in this gate.
And here…
…came the two angels to him.
He overthrew these cities and all the plain…
…and all the inhabitants of the cities…
…and that which grew upon the face of the ground.
All the inhabitants?
And lo, the smoke of the country went up…
…as the smoke of a furnace.
The Lord, our God, must be obeyed.
All the inhabitants of the cities?
The children also?
Were the children also wicked?
Father?
Shall not the judge of all the Earth…
…do right?
Call the nobles to the kingdom!
None are here.
All the princes are nothing!
Father!
All the princes are nothing!
The thorns have come up in the palace.
From generation to generation it will lie…
…waste.
Ye shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion.
Has it not been told from the beginning, God is He that sitteth…
…upon the circle of the Earth…
…that stretcheth out the heaven as a curtain…
…and spreadeth them out as a tent wherein to dwell…
…that bringeth the princes to nothing?
Ye shall blow upon them…
…and they shall wither!
And the whirlwind…
…shall take them away…
…as stubble.
My son…
…the Lord God…
…appeared unto me…
…and said unto me, ”l am the Almighty God.
Walk before me…
…and be thou…
…perfect.
Behold, my covenant is with thee…
…and I will make thee…
…exceedingly…
…fruitful.”
Come, let us leave these ruins…
…and go from here into the mountains.
In all things…
…we must obey Him.
NARRATOR: Then on the third day…
…Abraham lift up his eyes and saw the place, afar off.
The wood.
The fire.
The knife.
But where is the ram for the sacrifice?
Father!
My son!
There is nothing He may not ask of thee?
Nothing.
GOD: Abraham!
Abraham!
Here am I.
Lay not thy hand upon the lad…
…for now I know that thou fearest God…
…seeing that thou hadst not withheld thy son…
…thy only son, from me.
There is the ram for the sacrifice.
Behold, I have tried thee like metal in a furnace.
I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
Now will I multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven…
…and as the sand which is by the seashore, innumerable.