2 Esdras 6:38-54

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

God’s Work in Creation

³⁸ I said, “O Lord, you spoke at the beginning of creation and said on the first day, ‘Let heaven and earth be made,’ and your word accomplished the work.^{(A) 39} Then the spirit was blowing, and darkness and silence embraced everything; the sound of human voices was not yet there.^{[a](B) 40} Then you commanded a ray of light to be brought out from your storehouses, so that your works could be seen.^(C)

⁴¹ “Again, on the second day, you created the spirit of the firmament and commanded it to divide and separate the waters, so that one part might move upward and the other part remain beneath.^(D)

⁴² “On the third day you commanded the waters to be gathered together in a seventh part of the earth; six parts you dried up and kept so that some of them might be planted and cultivated and be of service before you.^{(E) 43} For your word went forth, and at once the work was done. ⁴⁴ Immediately fruit came forth in endless abundance and of varied appeal to the taste, and flowers of inimitable color, and odors of inexpressible fragrance. These were made on the third day.^(F)

⁴⁵ “On the fourth day you commanded the brightness of the sun, the light of the moon, and the arrangement of the stars to come into being,^{(G) 46} and you commanded them to serve the human who was about to be formed.

⁴⁷ “On the fifth day you commanded the seventh part, where the water had been gathered together, to bring forth living creatures, birds, and fishes, and so it was done.^{(H) 48} The dumb and lifeless water produced living creatures, as it was commanded, so that therefore the nations might declare your wondrous works.

⁴⁹ “Then you kept in existence two living creatures that you created;^[b] the one you called Behemoth^[c] and the name of the other Leviathan.^{(I) 50} And you separated one from the other, for the seventh part where the water had been gathered together could not hold them both.^{(J) 51} And you gave Behemoth^[d] one of the parts that had been dried up on the third day, to live in it, where there are a thousand mountains,^{(K) 52} but to Leviathan you gave the seventh part, the watery part, and you have kept them to be eaten by whom you wish and when you wish.^(L)

⁵³ “On the sixth day you commanded the earth to bring forth before you cattle, wild animals, and creeping things,^{(M) 54} and over these you placed Adam, as ruler over all the works that you had made, and from him we have all come, the people whom you have chosen.^(N)