Genesis 1-2

Lexham English Bible

The Creation

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth— ² Now^[a] the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. ³ And God said, “Let there be light!” And there was light. ⁴ And God saw the light, that it was good, and God caused there to be a separation between the light and between the darkness. ⁵ And 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 vaulted dome^[b] in the midst of the waters, and let it cause a separation between the waters.”^{[c] 7} So^[d] God made the vaulted dome,^[e] and he caused a separation between the waters which were under the vaulted dome^[f] and between the waters which were over the vaulted dome.^[g] And it was so. ⁸ And God called the vaulted dome^[h] “heaven.”^[i] And there was evening, and there was morning, a second day.

⁹ And God said, “Let the waters under heaven^[j] be gathered to one place, and let the dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ And God called the dry ground “earth,” and he called the collection of the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good. ¹¹ And God said, “Let the earth produce green plants that will bear seed—fruit trees bearing fruit in which there is seed^[k]—according to its^[l] kind, on the earth.” And it was so. ¹² And the earth brought forth green plants bearing seed according to its^[m] kind, and trees bearing fruit in which there was seed^[n] according to its^[o] kind. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights^[p] in the vaulted dome^[q] of heaven^[r] to separate day from night,^[s] and let them be as signs and for appointed times, and for days and years, ¹⁵ and they shall be as lights^[t] in the vaulted dome^[u] of heaven^[v] to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ And God made two lights,^[w] the greater light^[x] to rule^[y] the day and the smaller light^[z] to rule^[aa] the night, and the stars. ¹⁷ And God placed them in the vaulted dome^[ab] of heaven^[ac] to give light on the earth ¹⁸ and to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate light from darkness.^[ad] And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

²⁰ And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly over the earth across the face of the vaulted dome^[ae] of heaven.^{[af] 21} So^[ag] God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kind, and every bird with wings according to its^[ah] kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² And 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 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kind: cattle and moving things, and wild animals^[ai] according to their kind.” And it was so. ²⁵ So^[aj] God made wild animals^[ak] according to their kind and the cattle according to their kind, and every creeping thing of the earth according to its^[al] kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶ And God said, “Let us make humankind in^[am] our image and according to^[an] our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of heaven,^[ao] and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every moving thing that moves upon the earth.” ²⁷ So^[ap] God created humankind in^[aq] his image, in^[ar] the likeness of God he created him,^[as] male and female he created them. ²⁸ And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven,^[at] and over every animal that moves upon the earth.”

²⁹ And God said, “Look—I am giving to you every plant that bears seed which is on the face of the whole earth, and every kind of tree that bears fruit.^[au] They shall be yours as food.” ³⁰ And to every kind of animal of the earth and to every bird of heaven,^[av] and to everything that moves upon the earth in which there is life I am giving every green plant as food.” And it was so. ³¹ And God saw everything that he had made and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, a sixth day.

2 And heaven^[aw] and earth^[ax] and all their array^[ay] were finished. ² And 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. ³ And God blessed the seventh day, and he sanctified^[az] it, because on it he rested from all his work of creating that there was to do.^[ba]

The Generations of Heaven and Earth

⁴ These are the generations^[bb] of heaven^[bc] and earth^[bd] when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made earth and heaven^[be]— ⁵ before any plant of the field was^[bf] on earth, and before any plant of the field^[bg] had sprung up, because Yahweh God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no human being to cultivate the ground, ⁶ but a stream would rise from the earth and water the whole face of the ground— ⁷ when^[bh] Yahweh God formed the man^[bi] of dust from the ground, and he blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

⁸ And Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he put the man^[bj] whom he had formed. ⁹ And Yahweh God caused to grow every tree that was pleasing to the sight and good for food. And the tree of life was in the midst of the garden, along with^[bk] the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰ Now^[bl] a river flowed out from Eden that watered the garden, and from there it diverged and became four branches. ¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon. It went around all the land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² (The gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stones are there.) ¹³ And the name of the second is Gihon. It went around all the land of Cush. ¹⁴ And the name of the third is Tigris. It flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ And Yahweh God took the man^[bm] and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it. ¹⁶ And Yahweh God commanded the man,^[bn] saying, “From every tree of the garden you may freely eat,^{[bo] 17} but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat^[bp] from it you shall surely die.”^[bq]

¹⁸ Then^[br] Yahweh God said, “it is not good that the man^[bs] is alone. I will make for him a helper as his counterpart.”^{[bt] 19} And out of the ground Yahweh God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky,^[bu] and he brought each to the man^[bv] to see what he would call it. And whatever the man^[bw] called that living creature was its name. ²⁰ And the man^[bx] gave names^[by] to every domesticated animal and to the birds of heaven^[bz] and to all the wild animals.^[ca] But for the man there was not found a helper as his counterpart.^{[cb] 21} And Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man.^[cc] While^[cd] he slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh where it had been.^{[ce] 22} And Yahweh God fashioned the rib which he had taken from the man^[cf] into a woman and brought her to the man.^{[cg] 23} And the man^[ch] said,

²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cling to his wife, and they shall be as one flesh. ²⁵ And the man^[cl] and his wife, both of them, were naked, and they were not ashamed.