The Story of Creation

The First Day

^3 (A) God said, “I command light to shine!” And light started shining. ⁴ God looked at the light and saw that it was good. He separated light from darkness ⁵ and named the light “Day” and the darkness “Night.” Evening came, then morning—that was the first day.^[d]

The Second Day

^6 (B) God said, “I command a dome to separate the water above it from the water below it.” ⁷ And that's what happened. God made the dome ⁸ and named it “Sky.” Evening came, then morning—that was the second day.

The Third Day

⁹ God said, “I command the water under the sky to come together in one place, so there will be dry ground.” And that's what happened. ¹⁰ God named the dry ground “Land,” and he named the water “Ocean.” God looked at what he had done and saw that it was good.

¹¹ God said, “I command the earth to produce all kinds of plants, including fruit trees and grain.” And that's what happened. ¹² The earth produced all kinds of vegetation. God looked at what he had done, and it was good. ¹³ Evening came, then morning—that was the third day.

The Fourth Day

¹⁴ God said, “I command lights to appear in the sky and to separate day from night and to show the time for seasons, special days, and years. ¹⁵ I command them to shine on the earth.” And that's what happened. ¹⁶ God made two powerful lights, the brighter one to rule the day and the other^[e] to rule the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ Then God put these lights in the sky to shine on the earth, ¹⁸ to rule day and night, and to separate light from darkness. God looked at what he had done, and it was good. ¹⁹ Evening came, then morning—that was the fourth day.

The Fifth Day

²⁰ God said, “I command the ocean to be full of living creatures, and I command birds to fly above the earth.” ²¹ So God made the giant sea monsters and all the living creatures that swim in the ocean. He also made every kind of bird. God looked at what he had done, and it was good. ²² Then he gave the living creatures his blessing—he told the ocean creatures to increase and live everywhere in the ocean and the birds to increase everywhere on earth. ²³ Evening came, then morning—that was the fifth day.

The Sixth Day

²⁴ God said, “I command the earth to give life to all kinds of tame animals, wild animals, and reptiles.” And that's what happened. ²⁵ God made every one of them. Then he looked at what he had done, and it was good.

^26 (C) God said, “Now we will make humans, and they will be like us. We will let them rule the fish, the birds, and all other living creatures.”

^27 (D)(E) So God created humans to be like himself; he made men and women. ²⁸ God gave them his blessing and said:

Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth.

²⁹ I have provided all kinds of fruit and grain for you to eat. ³⁰ And I have given the green plants as food for everything else that breathes, including animals, both wild and tame, and birds. And so it was.

³¹ God looked at what he had done. All of it was very good! Evening came, then morning—that was the sixth day.

2 So the heavens and the earth and everything else were created.

The Seventh Day

^2 (F)(G) By the seventh day God had finished his work, and so he rested. ³ God blessed the seventh day and made it special, because on that day he rested from his work.

⁴ That's how God created the heavens and the earth.

The Garden of Eden

When the Lord God made the heavens and the earth, ⁵ no grass or plants were growing anywhere. God had not yet sent any rain, and there was no one to work the land. ⁶ But streams^[f] came up from the ground and watered the earth.

^7 (H) The Lord God took some soil from the ground and made a man.^[g] God breathed life into the man, and the man started breathing. ⁸ The Lord made a garden in a place called Eden, which was in the east, and he put the man there.

^9 (I) The Lord God filled the garden with all kinds of beautiful trees and fruit trees. Two other trees were in the middle of the garden. One of these gave life—the other gave the wisdom to know the difference between right and wrong.

¹⁰ From Eden a river flowed out to water the garden, then it divided into four rivers. ¹¹ The first one is the Pishon River that flows through the land of Havilah, ¹² where pure gold, rare perfumes, and precious stones are found. ¹³ The second is the Gihon River that winds through Ethiopia.^{[h] 14} The Tigris River that flows east of Assyria is the third, and the fourth is the Euphrates River.

¹⁵ The Lord God put the man in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and to look after it. ¹⁶ But the Lord told him, “You may eat fruit from any tree in the garden, ¹⁷ except the one that has the power to let you know the difference between right and wrong. If you eat any fruit from that tree, you will die before the day is over!”

¹⁸ The Lord God said, “It isn't good for the man to live alone. I will make a suitable partner for him.” ^19-20 So the Lord took some soil and made animals and birds. He brought them to the man to see what names he would give each of them. Then the man named the tame animals and the birds and the wild animals. That's how they got their names.

None of these was the right kind of partner for the man. ²¹ So the Lord God made him fall into a deep sleep, and he took out one of the man's ribs. Then after closing the man's side, ²² the Lord made a woman out of the rib.

The Lord God brought her to the man, ²³ and the man exclaimed,

^24 (J) That's why a man will leave his own father and mother. He marries a woman, and the two of them become like one person.

²⁵ Although the man and his wife were both naked, they were not ashamed.