Chapter One
GenesisIntroduction:
The word Genesis means "beginnings." The book of Genesis
is about many beginnings-the beginning of the universe, the
beginning of man and woman, the beginning of human sin, the
beginning of God's promises and plans for salvation, and the
beginning of a special relationship between Abraham and God.
Genesis tells us about God's special people and his plan for their
lives. Some of these people are: Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph and his brothers.
Genesis is the first book in what is called the Pentateuch-a
word that means five books, and includes the first five books of
the Bible. These books are also known as the books of the law
because they contain God's instructions and laws for the people
of Israel. Genesis is included because it tells the history of how
Israel became God's special people. These five books were most
likely written by Moses, except for the last chapter of
Deuteronomy which tells about Moses' death.
Outline of contents:
The universe, the earth, and man (1:1-2:25)
Man's fall and the results of sin (3:1-5:32)
The story of Noah (6:1-9:29)
The scattering of the human race (10:1-11:32)
The life of Abraham (12:1-25:18)
Isaac and his family (25:19-26:35)
Jacob and his sons (27:1-37:1)
The life of Joseph (37:2-50:26)
The Beginning
1 In the beginning God
created the heavens and the
earth. 2 Now the earth was
formless and empty, darkness
was over the surface of
the deep, and the Spirit of
God was hovering over the
waters. Ps 102:25; Jn 1:1-2
3 And God said, "Let there be
light," and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was
good, and he separated the
light from the darkness.
5 God called the light "day,"
and the darkness he called
"night." And there was
evening, and there was
morning-the first day.
6 And God said, "Let there be
an expanse between the
waters to separate water
from water." 7 So God made
the expanse and separated
the water under the expanse
from the water above
it. And it was so. 8 God
called the expanse "sky."
And there was evening, and there was morning-the
second day. Ps 148:4
9 And God said, "Let the water
under the sky be gathered
to one place, and let dry
ground appear." And it
was so. 10 God called the dry
ground "land," and the
gathered waters he called
"seas." And God saw that it
was good. Ps 33:7;2 Pe 3:5
11 Then God said, "Let the
land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and
trees on the land that bear
fruit with seed in it, according
to their various kinds."
And it was so. 12 The
land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according
to their kinds and trees
bearing fruit with seed in it
according to their kinds.
And God saw that it was
good. 13 And there was evening,
and there was morning-the
third day. Ps 65:9-13
14 And God said, "Let there be
lights in the expanse of the
sky to separate the day from
the night, and let them
serve as signs to mark seasons
and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in
the expanse of the sky to
give light on the earth."
And it was so. 16 God
made two great lights-the
greater light to govern the
day and the lesser light to
govern the night. He also
made the stars. 17 God set
them in the expanse of the
sky to give light on the
earth, 18 to govern the day
and the night, and to separate
light from darkness.
And God saw that it was
good. 19 And there was evening,
and there was morning-the
fourth day. Ps 74:16
20 And God said, "Let the water
teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the
earth across the expanse of
the sky." 21 So God created
the great creatures of the
sea and every living and
moving thing with which
the water teems, according
to their kinds, and every
winged bird according to its
kind. And God saw that it
was good. 22 God blessed
them and said, "Be fruitful
and increase in number and
fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on
the earth." 23 And there was
evening, and there was
morning-the fifth day.
24 And God said, "Let the land
produce living creatures according
to their kinds: livestock,
creatures that move
along the ground, and wild
animals, each according to
its kind." And it was so.
25 God made the wild animals
according to their
kinds, the livestock according
to their kinds, and all
the creatures that move
along the ground according
to their kinds. And God
saw that it was good. Ge 2:19
26 Then God said, "Let us
make man in our image, in
our likeness, and let them
rule over the fish of the sea
and the birds of the air, over
the livestock, over all the
earth, and over all the creatures
that move along the
ground." Ps 100:3; Ac 17:28,29
27 So God created man in his
own image, in the image of God he
created him; male and female he created
them. Ge 5:2; Mk 10:6; 1Co 11:7
28 God blessed them and
said to them, "Be fruitful
and increase in number; fill
the earth and subdue it.
Rule over the fish of the sea
and the birds of the air and
over every living creature
that moves on the ground."
29 Then God said, "I give
you every seed-bearing
plant on the face of the
whole earth and every tree
that has fruit with seed in it.
They will be yours for food.
30 And to all the beasts of the
earth and all the birds of the
air and all the creatures
that move on the
ground-everything that
has the breath of life in it-I
give every green plant for
food." And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had
made, and it was very
good. And there was evening,
and there was morning-the
sixth day. Ps 104:24
2 Thus the heavens and the
earth were completed in all
their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had
finished the work he had
been doing; so on the seventh
day he rested from all
his work. 3 And God blessed
the seventh day and made it
holy, because on it he rested
from all the work of
creating that he had done.
Adam and Eve
4 This is the account of the
heavens and the earth when
they were created.
When the Lord God made
the earth and the heavens- 5
and no shrub of the field had
yet appeared on the earth and
no plant of the field had yet
sprung up, for the Lord God
had not sent rain on the earth
and there was no man to work
the ground, 6 but streams came
up from the earth and watered
the whole surface of the
ground- 7 the Lord God
formed the man from the dust
of the ground and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life,
and the man became a living being.
Ge 1:11-12
8 Now the Lord God had
planted a garden in the east, in
Eden; and there he put the man
he had formed. 9 And the Lord
God made all kinds of trees
grow out of the ground-trees
that were pleasing to the eye
and good for food. In the middle
of the garden were the tree
of life and the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. Is 51:3
10 A river watering the garden
flowed from Eden; from there it
was separated into four headwaters.
11 The name of the first is
the Pishon; it winds through the
entire land of Havilah, where
there is gold. 12 (The gold of that
land is good; aromatic resin
and onyx are also there.) 13 The
name of the second river is the
Gihon; it winds through the entire
land of Cush. 14 The name
of the third river is the Tigris; it
runs along the east side of
Asshur. And the fourth river is
the Euphrates. Nu 11:7; Da 10:4
15 The Lord God took the man
and put him in the Garden of
Eden to work it and take care of
it. 16 And the Lord God commanded
the man, "You are free
to eat from any tree in the garden;
17 but you must not eat from
the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, for when you eat
of it you will surely die." Dt 30:15
18 The Lord God said, "It is
not good for the man to be
alone. I will make a helper suitable
for him." 1 Co 11:9; 1Ti 2:13
19 Now the Lord God had
formed out of the ground all the
beasts of the field and all the
birds of the air. He brought
them to the man to see what he
would name them; and whatever
the man called each living
creature, that was its name. 20 So
the man gave names to all
the livestock, the birds of the
air and all the beasts of the
field.
But for Adam no suitable
helper was found. 21 So the Lord
God caused the man to fall into
a deep sleep; and while he was
sleeping, he took one of the
man's ribs and closed up the
place with flesh. 22 Then the
Lord God made a woman from
the rib he had taken out of the
man, and he brought her to the
man. Ge 3:20; Job 33:15
23 The man said,
"This is now bone of my
bones
and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,'
for she was taken out of
man." Eph 5:28-30
24 For this reason a man will
leave his father and mother and
be united to his wife, and they
will become one flesh. Mt 19:5
25 The man and his wife were
both naked, and they felt no
shame. Ge 3:7,10,11
The Fall of Man
3 Now the serpent was more
crafty than any of the wild
animals the Lord God had
made. He said to the woman,
"Did God really say, 'You must
not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
Rev 12:9
2 The woman said to the serpent,
"We may eat fruit from
the trees in the garden, 3 but
God did say, 'You must not eat
fruit from the tree that is in the
middle of the garden, and you
must not touch it, or you will
die. Ge 2:16-17
4 "You will not surely die,"
the serpent said to the woman.
5 "For God knows that when
you eat of it your eyes will be
opened, and you will be like
God, knowing good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that
the fruit of the tree was good for
food and pleasing to the eye,
and also desirable for gaining
wisdom, she took some and ate
it. She also gave some to her
husband, who was with her,
and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of
both of them were opened, and
they realized they were naked;
so they sewed fig leaves together
and made coverings for
themselves. 1 Ti 2:14; Jas 1:14-15
8 Then the man and his wife
heard the sound of the Lord
God as he was walking in the
garden in the cool of the day,
and they hid from the Lord
God among the trees of the garden.
9 But the Lord God called
to the man, "Where are you?"
10 He answered, "I heard you
in the garden, and I was afraid
because I was naked; so I hid."
11 And he said, "Who told you
that you were naked? Have you
eaten from the tree that I commanded
you not to eat from?"
12 The man said, "The woman
you put here with me-she
gave me some fruit from the
tree, and I ate it." Pr 28:13
13 Then the Lord God said to
the woman, "What is this you
have done?"
The woman said, "The serpent
deceived me, and I ate."
14 So the Lord God said to the
serpent, "Because you have
done this,
"Cursed are you above all
the livestock
and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
(Continues.)
