Creation
aIn the beginning bGod ccreated the heavens and the earth. 2 And the earth was aformless and void, and bdarkness was over the surface of the deep, and cthe Spirit of God dwas hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then aGod said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was agood; and God bseparated the light from the darkness. 5 aAnd God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And bthere was evening and there was morning, one day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be an aexpanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated athe waters which were below the expanse from the waters bwhich were above the expanse; and it was so. 8 And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
9 Then God said, “aLet the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let bthe dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land earth, and the agathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout avegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
14 Then God said, “Let there be alights in the bexpanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for csigns and for dseasons and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 So God made the two great lights, the agreater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and also bthe stars. 17 aAnd God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to arule the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the expanse of the heavens.” 21 And God created athe great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. 22 Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
24 aThen God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. 25 God made the abeasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let aUs make bman in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have cdominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 And God created man ain His own image, in the image of God He created him; bmale and female He created them. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “aBe 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 sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.” 29 Then God said, “Behold, aI have given to you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has the fruit of the tree yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and ato every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that creeps on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. 31 And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very agood. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all atheir hosts. 2 And on athe seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and bHe rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created in making it.
The Generations of the Heavens and the Earth
4 aThese are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in bthe day that Yahweh God made earth and heaven. 5 aNow no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet grown, bfor Yahweh God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 But a stream would rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then Yahweh God formed man of adust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so the bman became a living being. 8 And Yahweh God planted a agarden in Eden, toward the east; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground Yahweh God caused to grow aevery tree that is bdesirable in appearance and good for food; cthe tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 Now a ariver went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that went around the whole land of aHavilah, where there is gold. 12 Now the gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 And the name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that went around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is aTigris; it is the one that went east of Asshur. And the fourth river is the bEuphrates.
15 Then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 And Yahweh God acommanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it ayou will surely die.”
18 Then Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; aI will make him a helper suitable for him.” 19 aAnd out of the ground Yahweh God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and He bbrought each to the man to see what he would call it; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 And the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the sky and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found aa helper suitable for him. 21 So Yahweh God caused a adeep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 And Yahweh God fashioned athe rib, which He had taken from the man, into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,
“aThis one finally is bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
This one shall be called Woman,
Because this one was taken out of Man.”
24 aTherefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. 25 aAnd the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.