Chapter One
Introduction
to the
book ofGenesisTHE NAME MEANS "BEGINNINGS."
And the book answers some of life's biggest questions.
Where did the universe come from? How can
there be evil in a world a good God created? One of
the biggest questions Genesis answers is whether
or not God truly cares about the people he created.
That question is answered when God promises to
bless Abraham and all his descendants.
Genesis is also the story of how God's promises to
Abraham were passed on to the generations after
him. The people you will meet in Genesis don't
always do what's right, but God keeps his promises
to them. Just as he keeps his promises to you today.
Fundamentals
What makes you and other people
so special (Genesis 2:7)?
What sometimes makes brothers
and sisters jealous (Genesis 37:3)?
What is the best way to treat people
who hurt you (Genesis 50:20)?
How do God's promise to Abraham
affect you (Genesis 12:3)?
FAST
FACTS
Genesis doesn't give a date
for creation.
Famous people in Genesis?
Adam and Eve, Noah,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and
Joseph.
Today's Jews are descended
from Abraham's son Isaac.
Today's Arabs are descended from
Abraham's son Ishmael.
Moses wrote this book about
1400 B.C.
1 The Beginning 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 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.
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 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.
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.
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."
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; 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 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.
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2
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.
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.
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.
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."
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 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.
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.
3 The Fall of Man 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,
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 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.
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 the livestock
and all the 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 and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
16 To the woman he said,
"I will greatly increase your pains in
childbearing; 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.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed
them. 22 And the Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us,
knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and
take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." 23 So the Lord God
banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he
had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of
the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth
to guard the way to the tree of life.
4 Cain and Abel Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant
and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the Lord I have
brought forth a man." 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain
brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 But Abel
brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked
with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not
look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?
7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do
what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you
must master it."
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while
they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"
10 The Lord said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries
out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the
ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your
hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you.
You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."
13 Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today
you are driving me from the land, and I
will be hidden from your presence; I will
be a restless wanderer on the earth, and
whoever finds me will kill me."
15 But the Lord said to him, "Not so; if
anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance
seven times over." Then the Lord
put a mark on Cain so that no one who
found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went
out from the Lord's presence and lived in
the land of Nod, east of Eden.
17 Cain lay with his wife, and she became
pregnant and gave birth to Enoch.
Cain was then building a city, and he
named it after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch
was born Irad, and Irad was the father of
Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of
Methushael, and Methushael was the father
of Lamech.
19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah.
Continues.
