Chapter One
GENESIS
WHO
Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Noah,
Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Lot,
Melchizedek, Jacob, Esau,
Joseph, and many others.
WHERE
Genesis begins with the story
of Adam and Eve. Their story
takes place in the Garden of Eden.
Other stories in Genesis take
place in the parts of the world
that today are called Iraq, Israel,
and Egypt.
WHEN
Moses probably wrote this book
between 1450-1410 BC., while
leading God's people to the
Promised Land of Israel.
WHY
To tell about God's creation
of the world and to show that
God wants people to worship
and obey him.
Then God looked over all he
had made, and he saw that
it was very good!
GENESIS 1:31
Genesis answers questions like .
Where do animals come from? Why
do people hurt each other? Where
did different languages get started?
You'll learn a lot here about
God, his creation, and the
beginning of the human
race.
This is where God's story begins!
CHAPTER 1
The Account of Creation
In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth. 2 The earth was formless
and empty, and darkness covered the deep
waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering
over the surface of the waters.
3 Then God said, "Let there be light," and there
was light. 4 And God saw that the light was
good. Then he separated the light from the
darkness. 5 God called the light "day" and the
darkness "night."
And evening passed and morning came,
marking the first day.
6 Then God said, "Let there be a space between
the waters, to separate the waters of the
7 heavens from the waters of the earth."
And that is what happened. 8 God made this
space to separate the waters of the earth
from the waters of the heavens. 8 God
called the space "sky."
And evening passed and morning
came, marking the second day.
9 Then God said, "Let the waters beneath the
sky flow together into one place, so dry
ground may appear." And that is what
happened. 10 God called the dry ground
"land" and the waters "seas." And God saw
that it was good. 11 Then God said, "Let the
land sprout with vegetation-every sort of
seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow
seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then
produce the kinds of plants and trees
from which they came." And that is
what happened. 12 The land produced
vegetation-all sorts of seed-bearing
plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit.
Their seeds produced plants and trees of
the same kind. And God saw that it was
good.
13 And evening passed and morning
came, marking the third day.
14 Then God said, "Let lights appear in the
sky to separate the day from the night.
Let them mark off the seasons, days, and
years. 15 Let these lights in the sky shine
down on the earth." And that is what
happened. 16 God made two great lights-the
larger one to govern the day, and the
smaller one to govern the night. He also
made the stars. 17 God set these lights in
the sky to light the earth, 18
to govern the day and night, and to separate the light
from the darkness. And God saw that it
was good.
19 And evening passed and morning
came, marking the fourth day.
20 Then God said, "Let the waters swarm with
fish and other life. Let the skies be filled
with birds of every kind." 21 So God
created great sea creatures and every
living thing that scurries and swarms in
the water, and every sort of bird-each
producing offspring of the same kind.
And God saw that it was good. 22 Then God
blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and
multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let
the birds multiply on the earth."
23 And evening passed and morning
came, marking the fifth day.
24 Then God said, "Let the earth produce
every sort of animal, each producing
offspring of the same kind-livestock,
small animals that scurry along the
ground, and wild animals." And that is
what happened. 25 God made all sorts of
wild animals, livestock, and small animals,
each able to produce offspring of the
same kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let us make human
beings in our image, to be like us. They
will reign over the fish in the sea, the
birds in the sky, the livestock, all the
wild animals on the earth, and the small
animals that scurry along the ground."
27 So God created human beings
in is own image
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 Then God blessed them and said, "Be
fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and
govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea,
the birds in the sky, and all the animals
that scurry along the ground."
29 Then God said, "Look! I have given
you every seed-bearing plant throughout
the earth and all the fruit trees for your
food. 30 And I have given every green plant
as food for all the wild animals, the birds
in the sky, and the small animals that
scurry along the ground-everything that
has life." And that is what happened.
31 Then God looked over all he had
made, and he saw that it was very good!
And evening passed and morning
came, marking the sixth day.
CHAPTER 2
So the creation of the heavens and the earth
and everything in them was completed.
2 On the seventh day God had finished his
work of creation, so he rested from all
his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh
day and declared it holy, because it was
the day when he rested from all his work
of creation.
4 This is the account of the creation of the
heavens and the earth.
The Man and Woman in Eden
When the Lord God made the earth and the
heavens, 5 neither wild plants nor grains were
growing on the earth. For the Lord God had
not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there
were no people to cultivate the soil. 6 Instead,
springs came up from the ground and
watered all the land. 7 Then the Lord God formed
the man from the dust of the ground. He
breathed the breath of life into the man's
nostrils, and the man became a living person.
8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in
Eden in the east, and there he placed the man
he had made. 9 The Lord God made all sorts of
trees grow up from the ground-trees that
were beautiful and that produced delicious
fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed
the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil.
10 A river flowed from the land of Eden,
watering the garden and then dividing into four
branches. 11 The first branch, called the
Pishon, flowed around the entire land of
Havilah, where gold is found. 12
The gold of that land is exceptionally
pure; aromatic resin and
onyx stone are also found there. 13 The second
branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the
entire land of Cush. 14 The third branch, called
the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur.
The fourth branch is called the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God placed the man in the
Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16
But the Lord God warned him, "You may freely
eat the fruit of every tree in the garden-17
except the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die."
18 Then the Lord God said, "It is not good
for the man to be alone. I will make a helper
who is just right for him." 19 So the Lord God
formed from the ground all the wild animals
and all the birds of the sky. He brought them
to the man to see what he would call them,
and the man chose a name for each one. 20 He
gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of
the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there
was no helper just right for him.
21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall
into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the
Lord God took out one of the man's ribs * and
closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God
made a woman from the rib, and he brought
her to the man.
23 "At last!" the man exclaimed.
"This one is bone from my bone,
and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called 'woman,'
because she was taken from 'man.'"
24 This explains why a man leaves his father
and mother and is joined to his wife, and the
two are united into one.
25 Now the man and his wife were both
naked, but they felt no shame.
CHAPTER 3
The Man and Woman Sin
The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild
animals the Lord God had made. One day he
asked the woman, "Did God really say you
must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in
the garden?"
2 "Of course we may eat fruit from the trees
in the garden," the woman replied. 3
"It's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the
garden that we are not allowed to eat. God
said, 'You must not eat it or even touch it; if
you do, you will die.'"
4 "You won't die!" the serpent replied to the
woman. 5 "God knows that your eyes will be
opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be
like God, knowing both good and evil."
6 The woman was convinced. She saw that
the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked
delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would
give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate
it. Then she gave some to her husband, who
was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that
moment their eyes were opened, and they
suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they
sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
8 When the cool evening breezes were
blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God
walking about in the garden. So they hid from
the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord
God called to the man, "Where are you?"
10 He replied, "I heard you walking in the
garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was
naked."
11 "Who told you that you were naked?" the
Lord God asked. "Have you eaten from the
tree whose fruit I commanded you not to
eat?"
12 The man replied, "It was the woman you
gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it."
13 Then the Lord God asked the woman,
"What have you done?"
"The serpent deceived me," she replied.
"That's why I ate it."
14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent,
"Because you have done this, you are cursed
more than all animals, domestic
and wild.
You will crawl on your belly,
groveling in the dust as long as you live.
15 And I will cause hostility between you
and the woman,
and between your offspring and
her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel."
16 Then he said to the woman,
"I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy,
and in pain you will give birth.
And you will desire to control your
husband,
but he will rule over you."
17 And to the man he said,
"Since you listened to your wife and ate
from the tree
whose fruit I commanded you not
to eat,
the ground is cursed because of you.
All your life you will struggle to scratch
a living from it.
18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you,
though you will eat of its grains.
19 By the sweat of your brow
will you have food to eat
until you return to the ground
from which you were made.
For you were made from dust,
and to dust you will return."
Paradise Lost: God's Judgment
20 Then the man-Adam-named his wife Eve,
because she would be the mother of all who
live. 21 And the Lord God made clothing
from animal skins for Adam and his wife.
22 Then the Lord God said, "Look, the
human beings have become like us, knowing
both good and evil. What if they reach out,
take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then
they will live forever!" 23 So the Lord God
banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he
sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from
which he had been made. 24 After sending them
out, the Lord God stationed mighty cherubim
to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he
placed a flaming sword that flashed back and
forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
CHAPTER 4
Cain and Abel
Now Adam had sexual relations with his
wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When
she gave birth to Cain, she said, "With the
Lord's help, I have produced a man!" 2 Later
she gave birth to his brother and named him
Abel.
When they grew up, Abel became a
shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. 3 When
it was time for the harvest, Cain presented
some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. 4 Abel
also brought a gift-the best of the firstborn
lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel
and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his
gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked
dejected.
6 "Why are you so angry?" the Lord asked
Cain. "Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will
be accepted if you do what is right. But if you
refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin
is crouching at the door, eager to control you.
But you must subdue it and be its master."
8 One day Cain suggested to his brother,
"Let's go out into the fields." And while they
were in the field, Cain attacked his brother,
Abel, and killed him.
9 Afterward the Lord asked Cain," Where is
your brother? Where is Abel?"
"I don't know," Cain responded. "Am I my
brother's guardian?"
10 But the Lord said, "What have you done?
Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to
me from the ground! 11 Now you are cursed
and banished from the ground, which has
swallowed your brother's blood. 12 No longer
will the ground yield good crops for you, no
matter how hard you work! From now on you
will be a homeless wanderer on the earth."
13 Cain replied to the Lord, "My
punishment is too great for me to bear! 14 You have
banished me from the land and from your
presence; you have made me a homeless
wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!"
15 The Lord replied, "No, for I will give a
sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills
you." Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to
warn anyone who might try to kill him. 16 So
Cain left the Lord's presence and settled in
the land of Nod, east of Eden.
The Descendants of Cain
17 Cain had sexual relations with his wife,
and she became pregnant and gave birth to
Enoch. Then Cain founded a city, which he
named Enoch, after his son. 18 Enoch had a
son named Irad. Irad became the father of
Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of
Methushael. Methushael became the father
of Lamech.
19 Lamech married two women. The first
was named Adah, and the second was Zillah.
20 Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the first of
those who raise livestock and live in tents.
21 His brother's name was Jubal, the first of all
who play the harp and flute. 22 Lamech's other
wife, Zillah, gave birth to a son named
Tubalcain. He became an expert in forging tools
of bronze and iron. Tubal-cain had a sister
named Naamah. 23 One day Lamech said to his wives,
"Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
listen to me, you wives of Lamech.
I have killed a man who attacked me,
a young man who wounded me.
24 If someone who kills Cain is punished
seven times,
then the one who kills me will be
punished seventy-seven times!"
The Birth of Seth
25 Adam had sexual relations with his wife
again, and she gave birth to another son. She
named him Seth, for she said, "God has
granted me another son in place of Abel,
whom Cain killed." 26 When Seth grew up, he
had a son and named him Enosh. At that time
people first began to worship the Lord by
name.
CHAPTER 5
The Descendants of Adam
This is the written account of the
descendants of Adam. When God created human
beings, he made them to be like himself. 2 He
created them male and female, and he
blessed them and called them "human."
3 When Adam was 130 years old, he became
the father of a son who was just like him-in
his very image. He named his son Seth.
4 After the birth of Seth, Adam lived
another 800 years, and he had other sons
and daughters. 5 Adam lived 930 years,
and then he died.
6 When Seth was 105 years old, he became
the father of Enosh. 7 After the birth of
Enosh, Seth lived another 807 years, and
he had other sons and daughters. 8 Seth
lived 912 years, and then he died.
9 When Enosh was 90 years old, he became
the father of Kenan. 10 After the birth of
Kenan, Enosh lived another 815 years,
and he had other sons and daughters.
11 Enosh lived 905 years, and then he died.
12 When Kenan was 70 years old, he became
the father of Mahalalel. 13 After the birth
of Mahalalel, Kenan lived another
840 years, and he had other sons and
daughters. 14 Kenan lived 910 years, and
then he died.
(Continues.)
