The Seventh Day, God Rests

2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and ^(A)all the host of them. ² And ^(B)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 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

The Creation of Man and Woman

⁵ When no ^(D)bush of the field^[a] was yet in the land^[b] and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man ^(E)to work the ground, ⁶ and a mist^[c] was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— ⁷ then the Lord God formed the man of ^(F)dust from the ground and ^(G)breathed into his ^(H)nostrils the breath of life, and ^(I)the man became a living creature. ⁸ And the Lord God planted a ^(J)garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. ^(K)The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, ^(L)and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰ A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. ¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of ^(M)Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. ¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ And the name of the third river is the ^(N)Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man ^(O)and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ^(P)you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat^[d] of it you ^(Q)shall surely die.”

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; ^(R)I will make him a helper fit for^[e] him.” ^19 (S)Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed^[f] every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and ^(T)brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam^[g] there was not found a helper fit for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a ^(U)deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made^[h] into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said,

^24 (X)Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

To the Church in Ephesus

2 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of ^(A)him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, ^(B)who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

^2 (C)“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but ^(D)have tested those ^(E)who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. ³ I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up ^(F)for my name's sake, and you ^(G)have not grown weary. ⁴ But I have this against you, that you have abandoned ^(H)the love you had at first. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do ^(I)the works you did at first. If not, ^(J)I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. ⁶ Yet this you have: you hate the works of ^(K)the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ^7 (L)He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. ^(M)To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of ^(N)the tree of life, which is in ^(O)the paradise of God.’

To the Church in Smyrna

⁸ “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of ^(P)the first and the last, ^(Q)who died and came to life.

⁹ “‘I know your tribulation and ^(R)your poverty (^(S)but you are rich) and the slander^[a] of ^(T)those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, ^(U)that you may be tested, and for ^(V)ten days ^(W)you will have tribulation. ^(X)Be faithful ^(Y)unto death, and I will give you ^(Z)the crown of life. ^11 (AA)He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. ^(AB)The one who conquers will not be hurt by ^(AC)the second death.’

To the Church in Pergamum

¹² “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has ^(AD)the sharp two-edged sword.

¹³ “‘I know where you dwell, ^(AE)where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not ^(AF)deny my faith^[b] even in the days of Antipas ^(AG)my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. ¹⁴ But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of ^(AH)Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might ^(AI)eat food sacrificed to idols and ^(AJ)practice sexual immorality. ¹⁵ So also you have some who hold the teaching of ^(AK)the Nicolaitans. ¹⁶ Therefore repent. If not, ^(AL)I will come to you soon and ^(AM)war against them with ^(AN)the sword of my mouth. ^17 (AO)He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. ^(AP)To the one who conquers I will give some of ^(AQ)the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with ^(AR)a new name written on the stone ^(AS)that no one knows except the one who receives it.’

To the Church in Thyatira

¹⁸ “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, ^(AT)who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

^19 (AU)“‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. ²⁰ But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman ^(AV)Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants ^(AW)to practice sexual immorality and ^(AX)to eat food sacrificed to idols. ²¹ I gave her time to repent, but ^(AY)she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. ²² Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, ²³ and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he ^(AZ)who searches mind and heart, and ^(BA)I will give to each of you according to your works. ²⁴ But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call ^(BB)the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I ^(BC)do not lay on you any other burden. ²⁵ Only hold fast ^(BD)what you have until I come. ^26 (BE)The one who conquers and who keeps my works ^(BF)until the end, ^(BG)to him I will give authority over the nations, ²⁷ and ^(BH)he will ^(BI)rule^[c] them with a rod of iron, ^(BJ)as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. ²⁸ And I will give him ^(BK)the morning star. ^29 (BL)He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’