⁴ These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

Another Account of the Creation

In the day that the Lord^[a] God made the earth and the heavens, ⁵ when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no vegetation of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground,^{(A) 6} but a stream would rise from the earth and water the whole face of the ground— ⁷ then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground^[b] and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.^{(B) 8} And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.^{(C) 9} Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.^(D)

¹⁰ A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. ¹¹ The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold, ¹² and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.^{(E) 13} The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.^(F)

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”^(G)

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.”^{(H) 19} So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air 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.^{(I) 20} The man gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the air and to every animal of the field, but for the man^[c] there was not found a helper as his partner. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.^{(J) 22} And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said,

²⁴ Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.^{(L) 25} And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.^(M)

The Heavenly Worship

4 After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”^{(A) 2} At once I was in the spirit,^[a] and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne!^{(B) 3} And the one seated there looks like jasper and carnelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. ⁴ Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads.^{(C) 5} Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God,^{(D) 6} and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.

Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and back:^{(E) 7} the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle.^{(F) 8} And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing,

⁹ And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever,^{(H) 10} the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing,^(I)

Teaching about Divorce

10 He left that place and went to the region of Judea and^[a] beyond the Jordan. And crowds again gathered around him, and, as was his custom, he again taught them.^(A)

² Some,^[b] testing him, asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” ³ He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” ⁴ They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.”^{(B) 5} But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. ⁶ But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’^{(C) 7} ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,^{[c](D) 8} and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.^{(E) 9} Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

¹⁰ Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. ¹¹ He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her,^{(F) 12} and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Jesus Blesses Little Children

¹³ People were bringing children to him in order that he might touch them, and the disciples spoke sternly to them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”^{(G) 16} And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.^(H)