The Beginning

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth didn’t have any shape. And it was empty. There was darkness over the surface of the waves. At that time, the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

³ God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good. He separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day.” He called the darkness “night.” There was evening, and there was morning. It was day one.

⁶ God said, “Let there be a huge space between the waters. Let it separate water from water.” ⁷ And that’s exactly what happened. God made the huge space between the waters. He separated the water under the space from the water above it. ⁸ God called the huge space “sky.” There was evening, and there was morning. It was day two.

⁹ God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place. Let dry ground appear.” And that’s exactly what happened. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land.” He called all the water that was gathered together “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce plants. Let them produce their own seeds. And let there be trees on the land that grow fruit with seeds in it. Let each kind of plant or tree have its own kind of seeds.” And that’s exactly what happened. ¹² So the land produced plants. Each kind of plant had its own kind of seeds. And the land produced trees that grew fruit with seeds in it. Each kind of tree had its own kind of seeds. God saw that it was good. ¹³ There was evening, and there was morning. It was day three.

¹⁴ God said, “Let there be lights in the huge space of the sky. Let them separate the day from the night. Let the lights set the times for the holy celebrations and the days and the years. ¹⁵ Let them be lights in the huge space of the sky to give light on the earth.” And that’s exactly what happened. ¹⁶ God made two great lights. He made the larger light to rule over the day and the smaller light to rule over the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ God put the lights in the huge space of the sky to give light on the earth. ¹⁸ He put them there to rule over the day and the night. He put them there to separate light from darkness. God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ There was evening, and there was morning. It was day four.

²⁰ God said, “Let the seas be filled with living things. Let birds fly above the earth across the huge space of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the great sea creatures. He created every kind of living thing that fills the seas and moves about in them. He created every kind of bird that flies. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them. He said, “Have little ones so that there will be many of you. Fill the water in the seas. Let there be more and more birds on the earth.” ²³ There was evening, and there was morning. It was day five.

²⁴ God said, “Let the land produce every kind of living creature. Let there be livestock, and creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals.” And that’s exactly what happened.