1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and
the earth. 2The earth was without form and void, and
darkness was over the face of the deep. And the
Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the
waters.
3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was
light. 4And God saw that the light was good. And
God separated the light from the darkness. 5God
called the light Day, and the darkness he called
Night. And there was evening and there was
morning, the first day.
6And God said, “Let there be an expanse[1] in the
midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters
from the waters.” 7And God made[2] the expanse
and separated the waters that were under the
expanse from the waters that were above the
expanse. And it was so. 8And God called the
expanse Heaven.[3] And there was evening and
there was morning, the second day.
9And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens
be gathered together into one place, and let the dry
land appear.” And it was so. 10God called the dry
land Earth,[4] and the waters that were gathered
together he called Seas. And God saw that it was
good.
11And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation,
plants[5] yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in
which is their seed, each according to its kind, on
the earth.” And it was so. 12The earth brought forth
vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their
own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their
seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that
it was good. 13And there was evening and there was
morning, the third day.
14And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse
of the heavens to separate the day from the night.
And let them be for signs and for seasons,[6] and for
days and years, 15and let them be lights in the
expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.”
And it was so. 16And God made the two great lights
—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light
to rule the night—and the stars. 17And God set them
in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the
earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and
to separate the light from the darkness. And God
saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and
there was morning, the fourth day.
20And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms
of living creatures, and let birds[7] fly above the earth
across the expanse of the heavens.” 21So God
created the great sea creatures and every living
creature that moves, with which the waters swarm,
according to their kinds, and every winged bird
according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
22And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and
multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds
multiply on the earth.” 23And there was evening and
there was morning, the fifth day.
24And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living
creatures according to their kinds—livestock and
creeping things and beasts of the earth according to
their kinds.” And it was so. 25And God made the
beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the
livestock according to their kinds, and everything that
creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God
saw that it was good.
26Then God said, “Let us make man[8] in our image,
after our likeness. And let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens
and over the livestock and over all the earth and over
every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28And God blessed them. And God said to them,
“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue
it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and
over the birds of the heavens and over every living
thing that moves on the earth.” 29And God said,
“Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed
that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with
seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30And
to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the
heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth,
everything that has the breath of life, I have given
every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31And
God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it
was very good. And there was evening and there
was morning, the sixth day.
The Seventh Day, God Rests
2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished,
and all the host of them. 2And on the seventh day
God finished his work that he had done, and he
rested on the seventh day from all his work that he
had done. 3So God blessed the seventh day and
made it holy, because on it God rested from all his
work that he had done in creation.
The Creation of Man and Woman
4These are the generations
of the heavens and the earth when they were
created,
in the day that the LORD God made the earth and
the heavens.
5When no bush of the field[9] was yet in the land[10]
and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for
the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land,
and there was no man to work the ground, 6and a
mist[11] was going up from the land and was
watering the whole face of the ground— 7then the
LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and
the man became a living creature. 8And the LORD
God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there
he put the man whom he had formed. 9And out of the
ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree
that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The
tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and
there it divided and became four rivers. 11The name
of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed
around the whole land of Havilah, where there is
gold. 12And the gold of that land is good; bdellium
and onyx stone are there. 13The name of the second
river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the
whole land of Cush. 14And the name of the third river
is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the
fourth river is the Euphrates.
15The LORD God took the man and put him in the
garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16And the
LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may
surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17but of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not
eat, for in the day that you eat[12] of it you shall surely
die.”
18Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the
man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit
for[13] him.” 19Now out of the ground the LORD God
had formed[14] every beast of the field and every bird
of the heavens and brought them to the man to see
what he would call them. And whatever the man
called every living creature, that was its name. 20The
man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of
the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for
Adam[15] there was not found a helper fit for him.
21So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall
upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs
and closed up its place with flesh. 22And the rib that
the LORD God had taken from the man he made[16]
into a woman and brought her to the man. 23Then the
man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”[17]
24Therefore a man shall leave his father and his
mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall
become one flesh. 25And the man and his wife were
both naked and were not ashamed.
The Fall
3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other
beast of the field that the LORD God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say,
‘You[18] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of
the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3but God said,
‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the
midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest
you die.’” 4But the serpent said to the woman, “You
will not surely die. 5For God knows that when you eat
of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like
God, knowing good and evil.” 6So when the woman
saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a
delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be
desired to make one wise,[19] she took of its fruit and
ate, and she also gave some to her husband who
was with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both
were opened, and they knew that they were naked.
And they sewed fig leaves together and made
themselves loincloths.