Genesis 1:1-2:25

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Genesis 1

The Story of Creation

 ¹In the beginning God

   created the heavens

   and the earth.  ²The earth was barren,

   with no form of life;  it was under a roaring ocean

   covered with darkness.

   But the Spirit of God  was moving over the water.

   

The First Day

 ³ God said, "I command light to shine!" And light started shining. ⁴God looked at the light and saw that it was good. He separated light from darkness ⁵and named the light "Day" and the darkness "Night." Evening came and then morning--that was the first day. 

The Second Day

 ⁶ God said, "I command a dome to separate the water above it from the water below it." ⁷And that's what happened. God made the dome ⁸and 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. ¹⁰God named the dry ground "Land," and he named the water "Ocean." God looked at what he had done and saw that it was good.

    ¹¹God said, "I command the earth to produce all kinds of plants, including fruit trees and grain." And that's what happened. ¹²The earth produced all kinds of vegetation. God looked at what he had done, and it was good. ¹³Evening 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. ¹⁵I command them to shine on the earth." And that's what happened. ¹⁶God made two powerful lights, the brighter one to rule the day and the other to rule the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷Then God put these lights in the sky to shine on the earth, ¹⁸to rule day and night, and to separate light from darkness. God looked at what he had done, and it was good. ¹⁹Evening came and then morning--that was the fourth day.

The Fifth Day

 ²⁰ God said, "I command the ocean to be full of living creatures, and I command birds to fly above the earth." ²¹So God made the giant sea monsters and all the living creatures that swim in the ocean. He also made every kind of bird. God looked at what he had done, and it was good. ²²Then he gave the living creatures his blessing--he told the ocean creatures to live everywhere in the ocean and the birds to live everywhere on earth. ²³Evening 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. ²⁵God made every one of them. Then he looked at what he had done, and it was good.

    ²⁶God 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."

    ²⁷So God created humans to be like himself; he made men and women. ²⁸God 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 ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth.

    ²⁹I have provided all kinds of fruit and grain for you to eat. ³⁰And 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.

    ³¹God looked at what he had done. All of it was very good! Evening came and then morning--that was the sixth day.

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Genesis 2

 ¹So 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. ³God blessed the seventh day and made it special because on that day he rested from his work.

    ⁴That's how God created the heavens and the earth.

   When the LORD God made the heavens and the earth,

The Garden of Eden

 ⁵no grass or plants were growing anywhere. God had not yet sent any rain, and there was no one to work the land. ⁶But streams came up from the ground and watered the earth. ⁷The LORD God took a handful of soil and made a man. God breathed life into the man, and the man started breathing. ⁸The LORD made a garden in a place called Eden, which was in the east, and he put the man there. ⁹The 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.

    ¹⁰From Eden a river flowed out to water the garden, then it divided into four rivers. ¹¹The first one is the Pishon River that flows through the land of Havilah, ¹²where pure gold, rare perfumes, and precious stones are found. ¹³The second is the Gihon River that winds through Ethiopia. ¹⁴The Tigris River that flows east of Assyria is the third, and the fourth is the Euphrates River. ¹⁵The LORD God put the man in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and to look after it. ¹⁶But the LORD told him, "You may eat fruit from any tree in the garden, ¹⁷except 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!"

    ¹⁸The LORD God said, "It isn't good for the man to live alone. I need to make a suitable partner for him." ^19-20So 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. ²¹So 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, ²²the LORD made a woman out of the rib.

   The LORD God brought her to the man, ²³and 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!" ²⁴That's why a man will leave his own father and mother. He marries a woman, and the two of them become like one person.

    ²⁵Although the man and his wife were both naked, they were not ashamed.