Having looked at the Genesis accounts of the beginning of the world, we now move on to the second section of the E100 Challenge. We’re still in Genesis, but our next few passages look at some well-known biblical characters: Abram, Issac, Jacob and Esau.

Our first passage in this section is Genesis 12:1-12:20Genesis 12:1-12:20
English: Contemporary English Version (UK) - CEV-UK
The Lord chooses Abram ^{12 1} The Lord said to Abram: : ; . Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you. ² I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation. You will become famous and be a blessing to others. ³ I will bless anyone who blesses you, but I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. Everyone on earth will be blessed because of you. Everyone...you: Or “Everyone on earth will ask me to bless them as I have blessed you.” : . ⁴-⁵ Abram was seventy-five years old when the Lord told him to leave the city of Haran. He obeyed and left with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and slaves they had got while in Haran. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶ Abram went as far as the sacred tree of Moreh in a place called Shechem. The Canaanites were still living in the land at that time, ⁷ but the Lord appeared to Abram and promised, “I will give this land to your family for ever.” Abram then built an altar there for the Lord. : ; . ⁸ Abram travelled to the hill country east of Bethel and camped between Bethel and Ai, where he built another altar and worshipped the Lord. ⁹ Later, Abram started out towards the Southern Desert. Abram in Egypt ¹⁰-¹¹ The crops failed, and there was no food anywhere in the land. So Abram and his wife Sarai went to live in Egypt for a while. But just before they got there, he said, “Sarai, you are really beautiful! ¹² When the Egyptians see how lovely you are, they will murder me because I am your husband. But they won't kill you. ¹³ Please save my life by saying that you are my sister.” : . ¹⁴ As soon as Abram and Sarai arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians noticed how beautiful she was. ¹⁵ The king's the king's: The Hebrew text has “Pharaoh's”, a Hebrew word sometimes used for the king of Egypt. officials told him about her, and she was taken to his house. ¹⁶ The king was good to Abram because of Sarai, and Abram was given sheep, cattle, donkeys, slaves, and camels. ¹⁷ Because of Sarai, the Lord struck the king and everyone in his palace with terrible diseases. ¹⁸ Finally, the king sent for Abram and said to him, “What have you done to me? Why didn't you tell me Sarai was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you make me believe she was your sister? Now I've married her. Take her and go! She's your wife.” ²⁰ So the king told his men to let Abram and Sarai take their possessions and leave.

WP-Bible plugin, which looks at the call of Abram. Even if you know the story well, why not look at it afresh today? Maybe something will leap out from the page as your explore God’s word and discover how this fits in with the wider story we find as we reasd through the Bible.

You can find our more information about the E100 Challenge on the E100 Challenge overview page, which automatically updates with all the other passages as they go up on the site. It also gives a few helpful tips on getting the most out of studying the Bible too.

We’ve been through creation, the fall, the flood and God’s covenant with Noah. Now we come to the conclusion of the first section of readings in the E100 Challenge  entitled In The Beginning. The last reading in this section still comes from Genesis, as indeed the next two sections do as well!

So, part five is all about the Tower of Babel – Genesis 11:1-11:9Genesis 11:1-11:9
English: Contemporary English Version (UK) - CEV-UK
The tower of Babel ^{11 1} At first everyone spoke the same language, ² but after some of them moved from the east from the east: Or “to the east”. and settled in Babylonia, Babylonia: See the note at . ³-⁴ they said: Let's build a city with a tower that reaches to the sky! We'll use hard bricks and tar instead of stone and mortar. We'll become famous, and we won't be scattered all over the world. ⁵ But when the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower, ⁶ he said: These people are working together because they all speak the same language. This is just the beginning. Soon they will be able to do anything they want. ⁷ Come on! Let's go down and confuse them by making them speak different languages—then they won't be able to understand each other. ⁸-⁹ So the people had to stop building the city, because the Lord confused their language and scattered them all over the earth. That's how the city of Babel Babel: In Hebrew “Babel” sounds like “confused”. got its name.

WP-Bible plugin.  The people start to build a tower. It’s a very short reading, so we’ll just leave it for you to read for yourselves…

Do you have any questions about what you’ve been reading? Why not ask a question next to the post, or ask someone in your church? Even better, why not go through the E100 with someone else and study together?

You can find our more information about the E100 Challenge on the E100 Challenge overview page, which automatically updates with all the other passages as they go up on the site. It also gives a few helpful tips on getting the most out of studying the Bible too.

So we’ve seen the account of creation, how God made the world and it was good – and that he then made man, and it was very good. We’ve seen Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the way they allowed the serpent to lead them astray – to sin. We’ve seen the way they didn’t trust God and how that caused them to be thrown out of Eden, separated from God. Then, we saw how there was so much sin on earth that God was sorry that he had made what he had, and how he sent the flood to cover the earth. But we also saw how Noah found favour with God; he was warned of the flood, told to build an Ark to shelter him, his family and more than a few animals during the time the earth was covered in water.

So now, we turn to part four of the E100 Challenge – God’s covenant with Noah. This covers Genesis 8:1-9:17Genesis 8:1-9:17
English: Contemporary English Version (UK) - CEV-UK
The water goes down ^{8 1} God did not forget about Noah and the animals with him in the boat. So God made a wind blow, and the water started going down. ² God stopped up the places where the water had been gushing out from under the earth. He also closed up the sky, and the rain stopped. ³ For one hundred and fifty days the water slowly went down. ⁴ Then on the seventeenth day of the seventh month of the year, the boat came to rest somewhere in the Ararat mountains. ⁵ The water kept going down, and the mountain tops could be seen on the first day of the tenth month. ⁶-⁷ Forty days later Noah opened a window to send out a raven, but it kept flying around until the water had dried up. ⁸ Noah wanted to find out if the water had gone down, and he sent out a dove. ⁹ Deep water was still everywhere, and the dove could not find a place to land. So it flew back to the boat. Noah held out his hand and helped it back in. ¹⁰ Seven days later Noah sent the dove out again. ¹¹ It returned in the evening, holding in its beak a green leaf from an olive tree. Noah knew that the water was finally going down. ¹² He waited seven more days before sending the dove out again, and this time it did not return. ¹³ Noah was now six hundred and one years old. And by the first day of that year, almost all the water had gone away. Noah made an opening in the roof of the boat made...boat: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. and saw that the ground was getting dry. ¹⁴ By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was completely dry. ¹⁵ God said to Noah, ¹⁶ “You, your wife, your sons, and your daughters-in-law may now leave the boat. ¹⁷ Let out the birds, animals, and reptiles, so they can mate and live all over the earth.” ¹⁸ After Noah and his family had gone out of the boat, ¹⁹ the living creatures left in groups of their own kind. The Lord's promise for the earth ²⁰ Noah built an altar where he could offer sacrifices to the Lord. Then he offered on the altar one of each kind of animal and bird that could be used for a sacrifice. animal...sacrifice: See the note at . ²¹ The smell of the burning offering pleased God, and he said: Never again will I punish the earth for the sinful things its people do. All of them have evil thoughts from the time they are young, but I will never destroy everything that breathes, as I did this time. ²² As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat; winter and summer, day and night. God's promise to Noah ^{9 1} God said to Noah and his sons: : . I am giving you my blessing. Have a lot of children and grandchildren, so people will live everywhere on this earth. ² All animals, birds, reptiles, and fish will be afraid of you. I have placed them under your control, ³ and I have given them to you for food. From now on, you may eat them, as well as the green plants that you have always eaten. ⁴ But life is in the blood, and you must not eat any meat that still has blood in it. : ; . ⁵-⁶ I created humans to be like me, and I will punish any animal or person that takes a human life. If an animal kills someone, that animal must die. And if a person takes the life of another, that person must be put to death. : ; . ⁷ I want you and your descendants to have many children, so people will live everywhere on earth. : . ⁸ Again, God said to Noah and his sons: ⁹ I am going to make a solemn promise to you and to everyone who will live after you. ¹⁰ This includes the birds and the animals that came out of the boat. ¹¹ I promise every living creature that the earth and those living on it will never again be destroyed by a flood. ¹²-¹³ The rainbow that I have put in the sky will be my sign to you and to every living creature on earth. It will remind you that I will keep this promise for ever. ¹⁴ When I send clouds over the earth, and a rainbow appears in the sky, ¹⁵ I will remember my promise to you and to all other living creatures. Never again will I let flood waters destroy all life. ¹⁶ When I see the rainbow in the sky, I will always remember the promise that I have made to every living creature. ¹⁷ The rainbow will be the sign of that solemn promise.

WP-Bible plugin. We see the waters subsiding after the rain stops, and God promises never to destroy in the way he did with the flood again. Join with us as we read through this passage and if you’re not already doing so, why not join us for the rest of the year as we look at the overview of the Bible and how it fits together in this series?

You can find our more information about the E100 Challenge on the E100 Challenge overview page, which automatically updates with all the other passages as they go up on the site. It also gives a few helpful tips on getting the most out of studying the Bible too.

In the first couple of readings from the E100 Challenge, we looked creation and the Fall. The series continues in Genesis with one of the most famous passages from the Bible – the story of the flood. It’s the story of how God was so displeased with man that he was sorry that he had ever created him.

This story is continued in part four, where we look at the covenant God makes with Noah.

You can find our more information about the E100 Challenge on the E100 Challenge overview page, which automatically updates with all the other passages as they go up on the site. It also gives a few helpful tips on getting the most out of studying the Bible too.

In the first part of the E100 Challenge, we looked at the account of creation. The second part carries on with the “in the beginning” theme, looking at the Fall, Genesis 3:1-3:24Genesis 3:1-3:24
English: Contemporary English Version (UK) - CEV-UK
The first sin and the first murder The first sin ^{3 1} The snake was more cunning than any of the other wild animals that the Lord God had made. One day it came to the woman and asked, “Did God tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?” : . ² The woman answered, “God said we could eat fruit from any tree in the garden, ³ except the one in the middle. He told us not to eat fruit from that tree or even to touch it. If we do, we will die.” ⁴ “No, you won't!” the snake replied. ⁵ “God understands what will happen on the day you eat fruit from that tree. You will see what you have done, and you will know the difference between right and wrong, just as God does.” ⁶ The woman stared at the fruit. It looked beautiful and tasty. She wanted the wisdom that it would give her, and she ate some of the fruit. Her husband was there with her, so she gave some to him, and he ate it too. ⁷ Straight away they saw what they had done, and they realized they were naked. Then they sewed fig leaves together to make something to cover themselves. ⁸ Late in the afternoon a breeze began to blow, and the man and woman heard the Lord God walking in the garden. They were frightened and hid behind some trees. The trouble with sin ⁹ The Lord called out to the man and asked, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ The man answered, “I was naked, and when I heard you walking through the garden, I was frightened and hid!” ¹¹ “How did you know you were naked?” God asked. “Did you eat any fruit from that tree in the middle of the garden?” ¹² “It was the woman you put here with me,” the man said. “She gave me some of the fruit, and I ate it.” ¹³ The Lord God then asked the woman, “What have you done?” : ; . “The snake tricked me,” she answered. “And I ate some of that fruit.” ¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the snake: “Because of what you have done, you will be the only animal to suffer this curse— for as long as you live, you will crawl on your stomach and eat dust. ¹⁵ You and this woman : . will hate each other; your descendants and hers will always be enemies. One of hers will strike you on the head, and you will strike him on the heel.” ¹⁶ Then the Lord said to the woman, “You will suffer terribly when you give birth. But you will still desire your husband, and he will rule over you.” ¹⁷ The Lord said to the man, : . “You listened to your wife and ate fruit from that tree. And so, the ground will be under a curse because of what you did. As long as you live, you will have to struggle to grow enough food. ¹⁸ Your food will be plants, but the ground will produce thorns and thistles. ¹⁹ You will have to sweat to earn a living; you were made out of soil, and you will once again turn into soil.” ²⁰ The man Adam The man Adam: In Hebrew “man” and “Adam” are the same. named his wife Eve Eve: In Hebrew “Eve” sounds like “living”. because she would become the mother of all who live. ²¹ Then the Lord God made clothes out of animal skins for the man and his wife. ²² The Lord said, “These people now know the difference between right and wrong, just as we do. But they must not be allowed to eat fruit from the tree that lets them live for ever.” : . ²³ So the Lord God sent them out of the Garden of Eden, where they would have to work the ground from which the man had been made. ²⁴ Then God put winged creatures at the entrance to the garden and a flaming, flashing sword to guard the way to the life-giving tree.

WP-Bible plugin. This is the account of how man disobeyed God and how sin entered the world and the consequences that has for us.

You can find our more information about the E100 Challenge on the E100 Challenge overview page, which automatically updates with all the other passages as they go up on the site. It also gives a few helpful tips on getting the most out of studying the Bible too.

Part one of the E110 Challenge kicks off exactly where you would think – at the beginning. The first passage is Genesis 1:1-2:25Genesis 1:1-2:25
English: Contemporary English Version (UK) - CEV-UK
The story of creation ^{1 1} In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. the heavens and the earth: “The heavens and the earth” stood for the universe. ² The earth was barren, with no form of life; In...life: Or “When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was barren with no form of life.” it was under a roaring ocean covered with darkness. But the Spirit of God the Spirit of God: Or “a mighty wind”. was moving over the water. The first day ³ God said, “I command light to shine!” And light started shining. : . ⁴ God looked at the light and saw that it was good. He separated light from darkness ⁵ and named the light “Day” and the darkness “Night”. Evening came and then morning—that was the first day. the first day: A day was measured from evening to evening. The second day ⁶ God said, “I command a dome to separate the water above it from the water below it.” : . ⁷ And that's what happened. God made the dome ⁸ and named it “Sky”. Evening came and then morning—that was the second day. The third day ⁹ God said, “I command the water under the sky to come together in one place, so there will be dry ground.” And that's what happened. ¹⁰ God named the dry ground “Land”, and he named the water “Sea”. God looked at what he had done and saw that it was good. ¹¹ God said, “I command the earth to produce all kinds of plants, including fruit trees and grain.” And that's what happened. ¹² The earth produced all kinds of vegetation. God looked at what he had done, and it was good. ¹³ Evening came and then morning—that was the third day. The fourth day ¹⁴ God said, “I command lights to appear in the sky and to separate day from night and to show the time for seasons, special days, and years. ¹⁵ I command them to shine on the earth.” And that's what happened. ¹⁶ God made two powerful lights, the brighter one to rule the day and the other the brighter...the other: The sun and the moon. But they are not called by their names, because in Old Testament times some people worshipped the sun and the moon as though they were gods. to rule the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ Then God put these lights in the sky to shine on the earth, ¹⁸ to rule day and night, and to separate light from darkness. God looked at what he had done, and it was good. ¹⁹ Evening came and then morning—that was the fourth day. The fifth day ²⁰ God said, “I command the sea to be full of living creatures, and I command birds to fly above the earth.” ²¹ So God made the giant sea monsters and all the living creatures that swim in the sea. He also made every kind of bird. God looked at what he had done, and it was good. ²² Then he gave the living creatures his blessing—he told the sea creatures to live everywhere in the sea and the birds to live everywhere on earth. ²³ Evening came and then morning—that was the fifth day. The sixth day ²⁴ God said, “I command the earth to give life to all kinds of tame animals, wild animals, and reptiles.” And that's what happened. ²⁵ God made every one of them. Then he looked at what he had done, and it was good. ²⁶ God said, “Now we will make humans, and they will be like us. We will let them rule the fish, the birds, and all other living creatures.” : . ²⁷ So God created humans to be like himself; he made men and women. : . : ; . ²⁸ God gave them his blessing and said: Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth. ²⁹ I have provided all kinds of fruit and grain for you to eat. ³⁰ And I have given the green plants as food for everything else that breathes. These will be food for animals, both wild and tame, and for birds. ³¹ God looked at what he had done. All of it was very good! Evening came and then morning—that was the sixth day. ^{2 1} So the heavens and the earth and everything else were created. The seventh day ² By the seventh day God had finished his work, and so he rested. : . : . ³ God blessed the seventh day and made it special because on that day he rested from his work. ⁴ That's how God created the heavens and the earth. The Garden of Eden When the Lord God made the heavens and the earth, ⁵ no grass or plants were growing anywhere. God had not yet sent any rain, and there was no one to work the land. ⁶ But streams streams: Or “mist”. came up from the ground and watered the earth. ⁷ The Lord God took a handful of soil and made a man. man: In Hebrew “man” comes from the same word as “soil”. God breathed life into the man, and the man started breathing. : . ⁸ The Lord made a garden in a place called Eden, which was in the east, and he put the man there. ⁹ The Lord God placed all kinds of beautiful trees and fruit trees in the garden. Two other trees were in the middle of the garden. One of the trees gave life—the other gave the power to know the difference between right and wrong. : . ¹⁰ From Eden a river flowed out to water the garden, then it divided into four rivers. ¹¹ The first one is the River Pishon that flows through the land of Havilah, ¹² where pure gold, rare perfumes, and precious stones are found. ¹³ The second is the River Gihon that winds through Ethiopia. Ethiopia: The Hebrew text has “Cush”, which was a region south of Egypt that included parts of the present countries of Ethiopia and Sudan. ¹⁴ The River Tigris that flows east of Assyria is the third, and the fourth is the River Euphrates. ¹⁵ The Lord God put the man in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and to look after it. ¹⁶ But the Lord told him, “You may eat fruit from any tree in the garden, ¹⁷ except the one that has the power to let you know the difference between right and wrong. If you eat any fruit from that tree, you will die before the day is over!” ¹⁸ The Lord God said, “It isn't good for the man to live alone. I need to make a suitable partner for him.” ¹⁹-²⁰ So the Lord took some soil and made animals and birds. He brought them to the man to see what names he would give each of them. Then the man named the tame animals and the birds and the wild animals. That's how they got their names. None of these was the right kind of partner for the man. ²¹ So the Lord God made him fall into a deep sleep, and he took out one of the man's ribs. Then after closing the man's side, ²² the Lord made a woman out of the rib. The Lord God brought her to the man, ²³ and the man exclaimed, “Here is someone like me! She is part of my body, my own flesh and bones. She came from me, a man. So I will name her Woman!” a man...woman: In Hebrew the words “man” and “woman” are similar. ²⁴ That's why a man will leave his own father and mother. He marries a woman, and the two of them become like one person. : ; ; ; . ²⁵ Although the man and his wife were both naked, they were not ashamed.

WP-Bible plugin, which is the account of creation. It is the first of five studies that come under the heading “in the beginning”. It shows us that God was from the very beginning. He took the initiative to create people and gave them two distinctives: God’s life and God’s standards.

You can find our more information about the E100 Challenge on the E100 Challenge overview page, which will automatically update with all the other passages as they go up on the site. It also gives a few helpful tips on getting the most out of studying the Bible too.