Every Woman's Bible Journaling Edition, Filament Enabled - Book - Page 7
Every Woman’s Bible
USER’S GUIDE
The Every Woman’s Bible focuses on what hundreds of women say they desire from a
Bible: great study notes and information from maps and charts, clarity on their calling,
insights from others’ stories, and help for their needs. This begins with the clear and
trusted New Living Translation, which communicates the Bible’s message in language
that meets us where we are today.
For a full list
Globally respected Bible scholars, who also happen to be women, provide
of each of these
the study notes and walk alongside you on your journey through God’s
writings, see
story and your story. This Bible contains an array of illustrations and charts,
the indexes
including original ones written by women. This Bible also offers writings by
beginning on
women from many places, stages, and walks of life.
page 1669.
I N T RODU C T ION
Before each of the Bible’s sixty-six
books you will find:
M I S S I O N To help you consid-
Genesis
er what each book has to say
about God’s purposes and your
own, look for a key takeaway
on God’s mission and ours.
WHAT DO WE LEARN ABOUT GOD’S MISSION AND OURS?
God made women and men in God’s image to be like God and to reign over creation.
WHO WROTE IT? Moses, according to
Jewish and Christian traditions.
2166
6–11: Flood destroys the world; Noah's
family rebuilds
2156
c. 2100
12–25: God provides for Abraham and Sarah
and for Hagar and Ishmael
2091
25–35: Isaac and Rebekah’s lives; Jacob meets
Leah and Rachel and builds their family
2066
36: Esau’s many descendants
c. 2063
37–50: Jacob’s family suffers betrayal and
famine and moves to Egypt
c. 2050
2006
FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS
+ Being God’s Image (5)
+ Days of Creation (6)
+ Why Would God Punish Eve Like That? (8)
+ Eve: Ruined to Redeemed (9)
+ Needing Favor: Finding God’s Gift (13)
+ Image (43)
c. 1940
1929
c. 1918
1915
1898
Words to Remember are highlighted throughout this book
c. 1890
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO READ?
1885
3:00
1:30|
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2:30|
3:00|
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CREATION
— Adam and Eve made by God
— Eve bears Cain and Abel, then Seth
NOT
DATED
HOW IS IT ORGANIZED?
1–5: God creates the world; humans sin
1:00|
Timeline
BC
WHEN DID IT HAPPEN? The events of
Genesis stretch from the beginning of time
through the 1800s bc.
:30|
1805
3:30
FLOOD
— Noah’s wife, sons, and daughters-inlaw survive
ABRAM BORN
SARAI BORN
HAGAR BORN
ABRAM AND SARAI ENTER
CANAAN
SARAH GIVES BIRTH TO ISAAC
HAGAR AND ISHMAEL RESCUED
BY “THE GOD WHO SEES”
REBEKAH BORN
REBEKAH GIVES BIRTH TO
JACOB AND ESAU
LEAH BORN, RACHEL BORN
JACOB FLEES TO HARAN
LEAH GIVES BIRTH TO JUDAH
RACHEL GIVES BIRTH TO
JOSEPH
JOSEPH SOLD INTO SLAVERY
TAMAR BECOMES PREGNANT
BY JUDAH
JOSEPH RULES EGYPT
JOSEPH DIES
3
GeneSIS 27
“Yes, Father?” esau replied.
2 “I am an old man now,” Isaac said, “and I don’t know
when I may die. 3Take your bow and a quiver full of arrows, and go out into the open country to hunt some
wild game for me. 4Prepare my favorite dish, and bring
it here for me to eat. Then I will pronounce the blessing that belongs to you, my firstborn son, before I die.”
5 But Rebekah overheard what Isaac had said to
his son esau. So when esau left to hunt for the wild
game, 6 she said to her son Jacob, “Listen. I overheard
your father say to esau, 7 ‘Bring me some wild game
and prepare me a delicious meal. Then I will bless
you in the Lord’s presence before I die.’ 8 now, my
son, listen to me. Do exactly as I tell you. 9 Go out to
the flocks, and bring me two fine young goats. I’ll use
them to prepare your father’s favorite dish. 10 Then
take the food to your father so he can eat it and bless
you before he dies.”
11 “But look,” Jacob replied to Rebekah, “my brother,
esau, is a hairy man, and my skin is smooth. 12What if
my father touches me? He’ll see that I’m trying to trick
him, and then he’ll curse me instead of blessing me.”
13 But his mother replied, “Then let the curse fall
on me, my son! Just do what I tell you. Go out and
get the goats for me!”
14 So Jacob went out and got the young goats for his
mother. Rebekah took them and prepared a delicious
meal, just the way Isaac liked it. 15Then she took esau’s
favorite clothes, which were there in the house, and
gave them to her younger son, Jacob. 16She covered
his arms and the smooth part of his neck with the
skin of the young goats. 17 Then she gave Jacob the
delicious meal, including freshly baked bread.
18 So Jacob took the food to his father. “My father?”
he said.
“Yes, my son,” Isaac answered. “Who are you—
esau or Jacob?”
19 Jacob replied, “It’s esau, your firstborn son. I’ve
done as you told me. Here is the wild game. now sit
up and eat it so you can give me your blessing.”
20 Isaac asked, “How did you find it so quickly, my
son?”
“The Lord your God put it in my path!” Jacob
replied.
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer so I
can touch you and make sure that you really are
esau.” 22 So Jacob went closer to his father, and Isaac
touched him. “The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are
esau’s,” Isaac said. 23 But he did not recognize Jacob,
because Jacob’s hands felt hairy just like esau’s. So
Isaac prepared to bless Jacob. 24 “But are you really
my son esau?” he asked.
“Yes, I am,” Jacob replied.
25 Then Isaac said, “now, my son, bring me the wild
game. Let me eat it, and then I will give you my blessing.” So Jacob took the food to his father, and Isaac
ate it. He also drank the wine that Jacob served him.
44
From that time on, esau hated Jacob because their
father had given Jacob the blessing. And esau began
to scheme: “I will soon be mourning my father’s
death. Then I will kill my brother, Jacob.”
42 But Rebekah heard about esau’s plans. So she
sent for Jacob and told him, “Listen, esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you. 43 So listen carefully, my son. Get ready and flee to my brother, Laban,
in Haran. 44 Stay there with him until your brother
cools off. 45 When he calms down and forgets what
you have done to him, I will send for you to come
back. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m sick and tired
of these local Hittite women! I would rather die than
see Jacob marry one of them.”
41
“From the dew of heaven
and the richness of the earth,
may God always give you abundant harvests of
grain
and bountiful new wine.
29 May many nations become your servants,
and may they bow down to you.
May you be the master over your brothers,
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
All who curse you will be cursed,
and all who bless you will be blessed.”
28
So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, and
said, “You must not marry any of these Canaanite women. 2Instead, go at once to Paddan-aram,
to the house of your grandfather Bethuel, and marry
one of your uncle Laban’s daughters. 3 May God Almighty* bless you and give you many children. And
may your descendants multiply and become many
nations! 4 May God pass on to you and your descendants* the blessings he promised to Abraham. May
you own this land where you are now living as a foreigner, for God gave this land to Abraham.”
5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddanaram to stay with his uncle Laban, his mother’s
brother, the son of Bethuel the Aramean.
6 esau knew that his father, Isaac, had blessed
Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to find a wife,
and that he had warned Jacob, “You must not marry
a Canaanite woman.” 7 He also knew that Jacob had
obeyed his parents and gone to Paddan-aram. 8 It
was now very clear to esau that his father did not
like the local Canaanite women. 9 So esau visited his
uncle Ishmael’s family and married one of Ishmael’s daughters, in addition to the wives he already
had. His new wife’s name was Mahalath. She was
the sister of nebaioth and the daughter of Ishmael,
Abraham’s son.
28
30As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob,
and almost before Jacob had left his father, esau
returned from his hunt. 31 esau prepared a delicious
meal and brought it to his father. Then he said, “Sit
up, my father, and eat my wild game so you can give
me your blessing.”
32 But Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”
esau replied, “It’s your son, your firstborn son,
esau.”
33 Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably and said,
“Then who just served me wild game? I have already
eaten it, and I blessed him just before you came. And
yes, that blessing must stand!”
34 When esau heard his father’s words, he let out
a loud and bitter cry. “Oh my father, what about me?
Bless me, too!” he begged.
35 But Isaac said, “Your brother was here, and he
tricked me. He has taken away your blessing.”
36 esau exclaimed, “no wonder his name is Jacob, for
now he has cheated me twice.* First he took my rights
as the firstborn, and now he has stolen my blessing.
Oh, haven’t you saved even one blessing for me?”
37 Isaac said to esau, “I have made Jacob your master
and have declared that all his brothers will be his servants. I have guaranteed him an abundance of grain
and wine—what is left for me to give you, my son?”
38 esau pleaded, “But do you have only one blessing? Oh my father, bless me, too!” Then esau broke
down and wept.
39 Finally, his father, Isaac, said to him,
40
27:36 Jacob sounds like the Hebrew words for “heel” and “deceiver.”
01_Gen_EWB_NLT_FEE.indd 44
45
Jacob Flees to Paddan-Aram
Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come a little closer
and kiss me, my son.”
27 So Jacob went over and kissed him. And when
Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he was finally
convinced, and he blessed his son. He said, “Ah! The
smell of my son is like the smell of the outdoors,
which the Lord has blessed!
26
GeneSIS 29
Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay
down to sleep. 12As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And
he saw the angels of God going up and down the
stairway.
13At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and
he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac.
The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am
giving it to you and your descendants. 14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the
earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the
west and the east, to the north and the south. And
all the families of the earth will be blessed through
you and your descendants. 15 What’s more, I am with
you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day
I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you
until I have finished giving you everything I have
promised you.”
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said,
“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even
aware of it!” 17 But he was also afraid and said, “What
an awesome place this is! It is none other than the
house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”
18 The next morning Jacob got up very early. He
took the stone he had rested his head against, and
he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured
olive oil over it. 19 He named that place Bethel (which
means “house of God”), although it was previously
called Luz.
20 Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed
be with me and protect me on this journey, and if
he will provide me with food and clothing, 21 and if
I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord
will certainly be my God. 22And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping
God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything
he gives me.”
of the newly cleansed world in need of
God introduced two
Now animals would live in
and humans were allowed to eat meat along
a change in diet related to
29
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
Jacob Arrives at Paddan-Aram
Then Jacob hurried on, finally arriving in the
land of the east. 2He saw a well in the distance.
Three flocks of sheep and goats lay in an open field
beside it, waiting to be watered. But a heavy stone
covered the mouth of the well.
3 It was the custom there to wait for all the flocks to
arrive before removing the stone and watering the animals. Afterward the stone would be placed back over
as a major factor in brings judgment in the form of the Flood (4:8; 6:11, 13).
God affirmed the sanctity of
human life and established a system of retributive justice for the
s image gives humans
Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled
toward Haran. 11At sundown he arrived at a good
place to set up camp and stopped there for the night.
10
28:3 Hebrew El-Shaddai. 28:4 Hebrew seed; also in 28:13, 14.
“You will live away from the richness of the
earth,
and away from the dew of the heaven above.
You will live by your sword,
and you will serve your brother.
But when you decide to break free,
you will shake his yoke from your neck.”
28:10-19 Although Isaac had already given the blessing to
Jacob, God’s appearance to Jacob in a dream confirmed that
God would honor his covenant with Jacob and his descendants.
Jacob’s dream revealed a stairway, probably reminding readers
of a ziggurat, a structure meant to facilitate travel for spiritual
beings between heaven and earth (see note on 11:1-9).
28:20-22 Jacob revealed his lack of trust by giving God multiple conditions. Only if God protected and provided for him by
4/10/2025 12:18:35 PM
01_Gen_EWB_NLT_FEE.indd 45
A10
B E AU T Y To help you prepare
visually for what you’ll read, a
full-page image draws on the
themes and feel of each book.
allowing him to return safely would he worship the Lord, Yahweh, as his God. Jacob kept his bargain many years later (33:20).
29:1-14 For the second time, a descendant of Abraham found
a wife through a meeting at a well (see 24:1-21). Laban rushed
out to meet Jacob, as he did when Abraham’s servant had
arrived, perhaps expecting gold and jewelry (24:29-30). But
Jacob, fleeing his brother, had come empty-handed. Jacob
would have to work to pay the bride-price.
4/10/2025 12:18:35 PM
H I STO RY Who, When, and
How questions orient you to
each book. Timelines give
you further historical context,
showing what events were
happening at the time.
E ST I M AT E D R E A D I N G T I M E S
To show you how much time
to budget, these estimates
are divided into thirty-minute
segments.
F E AT U R E H I G H L I G H TS
A sampling of articles on purpose and calling, identity, needs,
and wonderings. They spotlight
topics you’ve told us you care
about, illuminating the Bible’s
story through the lens of women
scholars and writers who make
Scripture more relatable.
STUDY NOTES Each respected Bible scholar—
all of whom are women—applied her research and cultural
understanding of the ancient world to craft these notes. The
scholars particularly focused the notes and additional commentary
on portions of Scripture which address topics women might find
relevant,
fascinating, and helpful and zeroed in on aspects
destroys a person made
in God’
ultimate penalty.
that
women
might silently struggle with but that are
9:20-25 The significance of Ham’
fully clear. He may have engaged sexually with his father or with
rarely
addressed.
These notes clarify the cultural,
his mother (this type of act is elsewhere referred to literally in
the original language as
historical, and literary context we all need so we can
father,” Leviticus 20:11).
read
thehimBible
his naked father and, rather than
covering
and k with greater understanding.
matter secret, dishonored him by mocking him to his brothers
The curse likely fell on Ham’
shameful father-son dynamic of Ham’
