Throughout Genesis chapter 12 to 24, what really got my attention was Abraham and Sarai, in the way that it depicts their relationship and God’s power. Abraham and Sarai wanted a child to be an heir. However, it was difficult for Sarai to conceive; then, God helped them out with this situation. For instance, ” For Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him” (Genesis, 21:2), which interprets that things occurred, exactly after he spoke to God. This caught my attention because it shows how this situation could have strained the relationship between Sarai and Abraham, but then they finally got what they wanted, due to God’s powerful intentions.

Furthermore, the text also tries to emphasize Sarah was not able to conceive with the use of characterization. In Genesis 16, it signifies how Sarah felt a bit of resent, because the maid was able to conceive, “when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes” (Genesis, 16:5). The text was interpreting how Sarah was bitter, because she knew she was not able to conceive, while the maid was. The text also uses characterization, when they portray Abrahams actions. Abraham seems to be obedient because he follows through with God’s wishes, “Abraham circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God has said unto him” (Genesis, 17:23). The text is indicating how much Abraham follows God’s wishes with the use of “in the selfsame day, as God has said unto him,” as if his obedience towards God comes first.

KJB: Genesis Chapters 4-11

What mainly caught my attention in these chapters were the connection between the people and God. In the King James Bible, Cain and Abel who are brothers, go against eachother. As an example, “Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him” {Genesis, 4:8}, I think this was because of the alienation between Cain and the lord compared to Abel and the lord. The lord supported what Abel offered, while he did not support Cain as much, and this made him not support his brother. The King James Bible states, ” the Lord  has respect unto Abel and to his offerings. But unto Cain and his offerings he had no respect. Cain was very wrath and his countenance fell” {Genesis, 4:4-5}; This caught my attention because it depicts the way that Cain felt towards Abel, after Abel gained more success than him; his characteristic seemed a bit envious. I would say envious because Cain got angry with his brother, which made him separate himself from him, due to the more respect he received from his offerings.

What also caught my attention was in Noah’s Flood God seemed to have left Noah and his family take on Earth on their own for a bit, so that they could experience it, ” they went in and the lord shut him in” {Genesis, 8:16}. It caught my attention because it shows Noahs character as an individual. Noah seems to be obedient towards the Lord, “Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him” {Genesis, 7:5}. Noah seems determined and hardworking because he also tried to put his input on Earth while he was there, ” Noah opened the window of the ark, which he had made” {Genesis, 8:6}. Noah’s actions were intruiguing because of the way he obeyed what God commanded.

KJB: Genesis (Chapter 1-3)

The text affected me personally because of the way the bible describes God’s intentions towards the universe. In other words, it aligns with my beliefs with God’s role in the world. The King James Bible often delineates how God would ask for something in the world, and it would appear. For example, “God said let there be light, and there was light” {Genesis 1:4}, which conveys that God’s thoughts were created into physical forms. This supports my beliefs because I believe God’s thoughts were so powerful, that he had the ability to do this.

The narrators tone in the King James Bible made God seem very determined because of the vision that he had for the world. In the King James Bible, it states ” everything that creepeth upon the Earth, after his kind: God saw that it was good” {Genesis 1:25}, this shows that God believed everything that would touch Earth after he envisioned it, would be good. Which shows the determination in God’s work, because he wanted everything to be good in his kind, and so he created many elements to bring out to the Earth with a purpose and an intention.

Reading Journal (Rig Veda Pages 29-31):

In this text, the way that the author depicts his beliefs, in regards to the existence of the universe was intriguing and caught my attention. The narrator believes that a man indeed was behind the creation of the world. For example, “he pervaded the Earth on all sides and extended beyond it as far as ten fingers” (10.90.1) this line caught my attention because of the way the narrator makes it seem like the Hymn of Man had the power to spread Earth, and make it as large as it is. The authors choice of statement with “extended beyond it as far as ten fingers,” the authors wanted to convey how much of an influence the Hymn of man accomplished towards Earth; this supports his belief that a man had a role in creating Earth.

Moreover, another part of Hymn of Man that caught my attention was how the narrator would specify the relationship between the Hymn of Man and significant parts of the world. This includes, “the moon was born from his mind; from his eye the sun was born…from his head the sky evolved” (10.90.13-14) this line created some thoughts in my head. Some of these thoughts were that the narrator believes that each body part of the Hymn of the Man had a connection with the world, which then created these elements in the world. The narrator uses figurative language , specifically imagery to embody these relations within the world and Hymn of Man. In the way, that he describes how each body part of the Hymn of Man represents an aspect of the universe.

Rig Veda: page 25

Based on the text, I believe a lot of parts in this reading generated different kind of thoughts in my head, and caught my attention on what the author was interpreting about the universe. To begin with, one of the parts that caught my attention in the reading was when the author would bring  up a point by mentioning how the world was before. For instance, “There was no night nor day” ( Rig Veda, Line 1), the author made me think about the universe just being one solid picture with no changes. In other words, Rig Veda caught my attention by making the universe sound neutral in a way. This is also because he delineates “darkness was hidden by darkness; with no distinguishing signs, all was water” (Rig Veda,, Line 3-4); which made me visualize how the universe would actually be if everything was just one certain way, with no differences.

Rig Veda and his choice of statements challenged my beliefs/religion in a way, because Rig Veda did not mention religion, it mainly questioned its existence instead. Not only that, but the authors tone sounded uncertain about the universe, how it came about, and who was behind it all because of the way that he questions ” whence this creation has arisen–perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not?” (Rig Veda, Line 7). Adding on to that, I have also thought about the different possibilities of how this universe was created out of curiosity. However, being Catholic– my belief of god has always dominated those thoughts. I could understand Rig Veda’s curiosity, but with my perspective I have religion that I lean towards to. Whereas, Rig Veda does not lean towards anything, and instead questions different aspects, because of his uncertainty.