Day by Day Kid's Bible: The Bible for Young Readers

Chapter One

When Time Began

GENESIS 1-2

To begin with, God made the earth and space. The earth had no shape. There was nothing on it. It was dark. But God's Spirit floated above the water.

"Let's have some light," said God.

The light glowed. God saw that the light was good. He named it "day." He named the dark "night." So evening came. Then morning came. That was the first day.

Then the second day came. "Let's have some wide, open air around the earth," said God. "It will keep the water below away from the water above." So God made this space. He named it "sky."

The third day came. God said, "Let the water below come together. Let dry ground show."

So the water came together. God named it "sea." The dry ground showed. God named it "earth."

Then God said, "Let the earth grow different kinds of plants and trees. Let plants and trees make fruit with seeds. And let the seeds make more plants and trees. These will be like the ones they came from."

So plants grew. God saw that this was good.

The fourth day came. God said, "Let lights shine in the sky. They will show day and night. They will show seasons, days, and years. They will bring light to earth."

Two bright lights shone. The sun for the day and the moon for the night. God put stars in the sky, too.

Then the fifth day came. God said, "Let animals fill the water. Let birds fly across the sky."

Then God made every kind of sea animal. He made every kind of bird. And he saw that this was good. He said, "Let the fish make more fish like themselves. Let the birds make more birds like themselves."

The sixth day came. God said, "Let all kinds of animals come to life."

So God made all kinds of wild animals. He made all the animals that move on land. Each animal was able to make more animals like itself. And God saw that this was good.

Then God said, "Let's make people to be like us. They can be in charge of the fish and birds and cows. They can take care of the earth and all the animals."

So God made people like himself. First he made a man from dust. Then God breathed life into Adam, and he came alive.

God told Adam, "I'm giving you all plants that have seeds. I'm giving you all trees that have fruit with seeds. This is your food. And I'm giving all green plants to the animals for food."

Then God looked at everything he had made. He saw that it was very good.

So the earth and space were made. God finished making everything by the seventh day. Then he rested from his work. God said the seventh day is good and special. It is holy. That's when he rested from making everything.

Adam's Helper

GENESIS 2

Now God had planted a garden in Eden. It was in the East. God had put beautiful fruit trees in the Garden. Two different trees grew in the middle of the Garden. There was a tree of life. And there was a tree of knowing good and bad.

A river flowed out of the Garden of Eden. It parted to make other rivers. One was the Pishon River. It winds through a land that has gold. Another was the Gihon River. Two more were the Tigris River and the Euphrates River.

God put Adam in the Garden of Eden. Adam could work there and take care of the Garden. God said, "You may eat fruit from the trees. But you may not eat from the tree of knowing good and bad. You will die if you eat from that tree."

Then God said, "It's not good for Adam to be alone. I'll make a helper for him."

Now God had made all the animals. So he showed them to Adam. He wanted to see what Adam would call them. An animal's name became whatever Adam called it. Adam named all the animals.

But God didn't find any animal that was able to help Adam. So God made Adam go to sleep. Adam slept very deeply. Then God took one rib from Adam. He made a woman from it.

God showed the woman to Adam. Adam said, "I will call her 'woman' because she came from a man."

Adam and his wife did not wear clothes. But they did not feel bad about it.

JANUARY 2

The Snake's Trick

GENESIS 3

Now the snake was tricky. He talked to the woman. "Did God say not to eat fruit from the trees?"

"No," she said. "We may eat fruit. Just not from the tree in the middle of the Garden. God said we can't even touch that tree. We'll die if we do."

"You won't die," said the snake. "God knows that the fruit will make you wise. Just like God. You will know good and bad."

The woman looked at the fruit. It was very pretty. It looked like it would taste good. Since she thought it would make her wise, she ate some. Adam was with her. So she gave some to Adam, too. And he ate it.

Right away they saw they had no clothes on. All of a sudden, they felt bad. So they made clothes out of fig leaves.

Then they heard a sound they knew. It was God walking in the Garden. He came at the cool time of day. The man and woman hid among the trees.

"Where are you, Adam?" called God.

"I heard you," said Adam. "But I hid because I was scared. I didn't have any clothes on."

"Why do you feel bad about that?" asked God. "Did you eat the fruit I said not to eat?"

"My helper gave me fruit from that tree," said Adam. "So I ate it."

Then God asked Adam's helper, "What did you do?"

"The snake lied to me," said the woman. "I ate the fruit."

Then God spoke to the snake. "Now you will be the lowest animal in the world. You'll crawl on your belly. You'll taste dust all your life. The woman will hate you. Her child will hate yours. You'll bite at his heel. But he will pound on your head."

God told the woman, "You will have children. But there will be pain when you have a baby. And your husband will be in charge of you."

God told Adam, "You listened to your wife. You did not obey me.

"You'll eat the plants that grow in the field. But you'll have to work hard to get anything to grow. There will be lots of weeds."

Adam named his wife Eve. Then God made clothes out of animal skin. He gave them to Adam and Eve. "Adam knows good and bad now," said God. "We can't let him eat from the tree of life, too. If he does, he will live forever."

So God sent Adam and Eve out of the Garden. Then he put angels at the east side of the Garden. He also put a sword of fire there. It flashed back and forth. Now no one could get to the tree of life.

The First Children

GENESIS 4

Sometime later, Eve had a baby. She and Adam named him Cain. Then she had another baby. She named him Abel.

Cain and Abel grew to be young men. Cain worked as a farmer. He grew fruit. Abel took care of sheep. He was a shepherd.

One day Cain took some of his fruit. He gave it as a gift to God. Abel took some of his best sheep. He gave them as gifts to God.

God said that what Abel gave him was right. But what Cain gave him was not. Cain got mad, and he frowned.

"Why are you mad?" asked God. "Why are you frowning? Do the right thing. Then I'll like what you bring me. But what if you don't do the right thing? Then sin will wait at your door. Sin wants to catch you. But you must not let it get to you."

Now Cain asked Abel to go out to the field with him. While they were there, Cain killed Abel.

God said to Cain, "Where is Abel, your brother?"

"I don't know," said Cain. "Do I have to keep track of my brother?"

"What did you do?" asked God. "I know what happened. You're in trouble from now on. You will try to farm the land. But it won't grow food. You will have to move around from place to place."

"This is too much!" said Cain. "I can't farm the land anymore! I will be hidden from you. I will have to move around from place to place. Anybody who finds me will kill me."

"If they do, they'll be in trouble," said God. So he put a mark on Cain. Then no one who saw him would kill him.

Cain left. He went east to live in the land of Nod.

Now Adam and Eve had another son. They named him Seth. "This child will take Abel's place," said Eve.

JANUARY 3

A World under Water

GENESIS 6-9

More children were born. They grew up and had children. And their children grew up and had children.

But God saw that people had turned bad. Everything they thought of was bad. It made God's heart hurt. "I will get rid of people," he said. "I'll get rid of people and animals. I'm sorry I ever made them."

But God was happy with Noah. That's because Noah did what was right. He trusted God.

Noah had three sons. Their names were Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

God told Noah, "I'm going to get rid of people. They are mean and hateful. So make a big boat, an ark.

"Make it out of wood. Cover it with tar inside and out. Make it 450 feet long. Make it 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a window in it. Put a door in the side. Build a bottom deck, a middle deck, and a top deck.

"I will bring flood water to cover the earth. I will get rid of everything. So bring two of every animal into the ark. Bring all kinds of food in. You can feed yourselves and the animals."

Noah did everything God told him to do.

Then God said, "Take your whole family into the ark. Take seven of every animal I tell you to take. Take two of the other animals. Next week I will send rain."

So Noah and his wife went into the ark. His sons and their wives went into the ark. The animals also went into the ark, two by two.

A week passed. Then the flood water came. But God had shut the door behind Noah. Rain kept falling for 40 days and 40 nights. The water got higher and higher. The ark began to float.

Soon the water covered all the mountains. Everything living on the earth died. But God didn't forget Noah and his family. He didn't forget all the animals on the ark.

Rain stopped falling. God sent wind to blow across the earth. The water began to go down.

After 150 days, the water had gone down a lot. The ark landed on the Ararat Mountains. Soon the water was down even more. Other mountain tops showed.

Noah opened the window in the ark. He let a raven fly out. It kept flying back and forth. Then he let a dove fly out. Noah wanted to see if the water was off the ground. But the dove couldn't find a place to land. There was too much water on the ground. So she flew back to the ark.

Noah held out his hand. The dove landed on it. And Noah took her back into the ark.

A week passed. Then Noah let the dove fly out again. The dove came back that evening. She had a fresh leaf from an olive tree in her beak! So Noah knew the water had gone down. Trees were showing.

A week later Noah let the dove fly out again. This time she didn't come back.

Then Noah opened the door of the ark. He looked out. He saw that the flood water was going down. Two months later, the ground was dry.

God said, "You may all go out of the ark."

So Noah and his family went out. All the animals went out. Then Noah made a big pile of rocks. It was an altar for worshiping God. Noah put some fresh meat on it as a gift to God.

God said, "I'll never get rid of all living things again. There will always be a time to plant. There will always be a time to pick the crops. There will always be cold and heat. There will always be summer and winter. There will always be day and night. These will be around as long as the earth lasts."

God said, "Have children and fill the earth. You are in charge of the animals now. I'm making a promise to you and all the animals. It's a promise that will last forever. I'll never get rid of everything by flood water again.

"Here is the sign that shows my promise is true," said God. "I am putting a rainbow in the clouds. I will remember my promise when I see the rainbow."

The Tower

GENESIS 11

After some time, there were many people in the world. Everyone spoke the same language. Some of the people moved to a flat land.

"Let's make some bricks," said the people. "Let's stick them together with tar. Let's build a city and a tower. We will build the tower as high as the sky. Then everyone will know who we are. That will help us stay together as a group."

But God saw the city and the tower. He said, "These people speak the same language. So they can plan together to do many things like this. Let's mix up their language. Then they won't understand each other."

So God gave them different languages. Then the people stopped building. They did not stay together. They went here and there around the earth.

Everyone called the city Babel. That's because God mixed up their language there.

(Continues.)