Chapter One
GENESISThe 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.
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 a vault between
the waters to separate water
from water." 7 So God made the vault
and separated the water under the
vault from the water above it. And it
was so. 8 God called the vault "sky." And
there was evening, and there was
morning-the second day.
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.
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.
14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the
vault 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
vault 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 vault 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.
20 And God said, "Let the water teem with
living creatures, and let birds fly above
the earth across the vault 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.
26 Then God said, "Let us make human
beings in our image, in our likeness,
so that they may rule over the fish
in the sea and the birds in the sky, over
the livestock and all the wild animals,
and over all the creatures that move
along the ground."
27 So God created human beings in his
own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to
them, "Be fruitful and increase in
number; fill the earth and subdue it.
Rule over the fish in the sea and the
birds in the sky 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 in the sky 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.
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 Then 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 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the
earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for
the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth
and there was no one to work the ground,
6 but streams came up from the earth and
watered the whole surface of the ground.
7 Then the Lord God formed a man from
the dust of the ground and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and the man became
a living being.
8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden
in the east, in Eden; and there he put the
man he had formed. 9 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.
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 Ashur.
And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
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 certainly die."
18 The Lord God said, "It is not good for
the man to be alone. I will make a helper
suitable for him."
19 Now the Lord God had formed out of
the ground all the wild animals and all the
birds in the sky. 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 in the
sky and all the wild animals.
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
then 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.
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."
24 For this reason a man will leave his father
and mother and be united to his wife, and
they will become one flesh.
25 The man and his wife were both naked,
and they felt no shame.
The Fall
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'?"
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.'"
4 "You will not certainly 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.
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."
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 livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring a and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel."
16 To the woman he said,
"I will make your pains in childbearing
very severe;
with pain you will give birth to
children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you."
17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened
to your wife and ate from the tree about
which I commanded you, 'You must not eat
of it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for
you,
and you will eat the plants of the
field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."
20 Adam named his wife Eve, because
she would become the mother of all the living.
(Continues.)
