Bible Stories from Genesis

Every story from Genesis in the When God Shows Up devotionals, in Bible order. Each one is retold in plain words, with the passage to read for yourself in the King James Version and its key verse.

Let There Be Light
Genesis 1:1–5, 26–31
Before anything else existed, there was God. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and…
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”Genesis 1:3 (KJV)
God Remembered Noah
Genesis 7:1–8:1
Noah had spent years building the ark exactly as God told him. Then the day came. God told Noah to go into the ark with his family and the animals, two…
“And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;”Genesis 8:1 (KJV)
A Bow in the Cloud
Genesis 8:15–9:17
For over a year, Noah and his family had lived in the ark. They had watched the rain fall for forty days and forty nights. They had felt the ark rise…
“I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.”Genesis 9:13 (KJV)
Get Thee Out
Genesis 12:1–9; Hebrews 11:8
Abram was seventy-five years old. He was settled in Haran with his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his possessions. He had no children, and at his…
“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee.”Genesis 12:1 (KJV)
You Choose First
Genesis 13:1–18
Abram and his nephew Lot had traveled together for years. God had blessed them both, and now they had so many sheep, goats, and cattle that the land…
“For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.”Genesis 13:15 (KJV)
The Night Rescue
Genesis 14:1–24
Four kings went to war against five kings near the Dead Sea, and the five kings lost. The winners carried off everything from the cities of Sodom and…
“And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.”Genesis 14:20 (KJV)
Count the Stars
Genesis 15:1–6
Years had passed since God first told Abram to leave his homeland. God had promised to make him a great nation. Abram had obeyed. He had traveled…
“And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.”Genesis 15:5 (KJV)
A New Name
Genesis 17:1–8, 15–22
Abram was ninety-nine years old. Twenty-four years had passed since God first promised to make him a great nation. He and his wife Sarai were still…
“Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.”Genesis 17:5 (KJV)
Laughter in the Tent
Genesis 18:1–15; 21:1–7
Abraham and Sarah had waited twenty-five years for the son God promised them. By now Abraham was nearly a hundred, and Sarah was ninety. She had long…
“Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”Genesis 18:14 (KJV)
The Well She Couldn’t See
Genesis 21:8–21 (see also Genesis 16:7–13)
Hagar was an Egyptian servant in Abraham’s household. Years earlier, she had given birth to Abraham’s son Ishmael. But after Sarah finally had her own…
“And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.”Genesis 21:19 (KJV)
God Will Provide Himself a Lamb
Genesis 22:1–14
Abraham had waited twenty-five years for his son Isaac. Every promise God had made him, that his family would become a great nation, rested on this one…
“And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.”Genesis 22:8 (KJV)
The Servant at the Well
Genesis 24:1–27
Abraham was very old, and his son Isaac needed a wife. God had promised that through Isaac, Abraham’s family would become a great nation. So Abraham…
“And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren.”Genesis 24:27 (KJV)
Room at Last
Genesis 26:12–25
God had promised Isaac the same thing He promised Abraham: this land would belong to your family. Isaac planted crops, and that same year he reaped a…
“And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”Genesis 26:22 (KJV)
The Brother He Feared
Genesis 27:41–45; 32:3–33:11
Twenty years earlier, Jacob had tricked his brother Esau out of their father’s blessing. Esau was so furious that he vowed to kill him, and Jacob ran…
“And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.”Genesis 33:4 (KJV)
Surely the Lord Is in This Place
Genesis 28:10–22
Jacob was on the run. He had tricked his father, Isaac, and stolen the blessing meant for his brother Esau. Now Esau wanted to kill him, so Jacob fled…
“And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.”Genesis 28:16 (KJV)
Back to Bethel
Genesis 35:1–15
Years earlier, Jacob had run away from home with nothing but a staff. His brother Esau wanted to kill him. On his first night alone, he slept with a…
“And let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.”Genesis 35:3 (KJV)
Two Years Forgotten
Genesis 40:1–41:44; 50:20
Joseph’s brothers sold him as a slave. In Egypt, he worked hard and earned his master’s trust, until his master’s wife falsely accused him and he was…
“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”Genesis 50:20 (KJV)
I Am Joseph
Genesis 42:1–45:15
Years after Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, a terrible famine struck the whole region. In Canaan, Joseph’s father, Jacob, sent ten of his sons…
“Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.”Genesis 45:5 (KJV)
The God Who Fed Me
Genesis 48:1–16
Jacob was old and dying. He had lived a hard life. He had tricked his brother and run for his life. He had worked twenty years for an uncle who cheated…
“And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,”Genesis 48:15 (KJV)
Carry My Bones
Genesis 50:22–26; Exodus 13:19; Joshua 24:32
Joseph had lived an extraordinary life. Sold into slavery by his brothers, he rose to become the second most powerful man in Egypt and saved his family…
“And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”Genesis 50:24 (KJV)

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