The Creation

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so.

Then God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so.

God called the dry land ‘earth’, and the gathering of the water he called ‘seas’. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, ‘Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.’ And it was so.

The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for seasons and for days and years.

They will be lights in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth.’ And it was so.

God placed them in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth,

to rule the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.

So God created the large sea-creatures and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water, according to their kinds. He also created every winged creature according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, ‘Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that crawl, and the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds.’ And it was so.

So God made the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that crawl on the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.’

So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.

God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.’

God also said, ‘Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This will be food for you,

for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth – everything having the breath of life in it – I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.

So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed.

God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation.

Man and Woman in the Garden

These are the records of the heavens and the earth, concerning their creation. At the time that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,

no shrub of the field had yet grown on the land, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not made it rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground.

Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had formed.