The Creation

1 aIn the beginning bGod ccreated the heavens and the earth.

2 The earth was 1aformless and void, and bdarkness was over the 2surface of the deep, and cthe Spirit of God dwas 3moving over the 2surface of the waters.

3 Then aGod said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

4 God saw that the light was agood; and God bseparated the light from the darkness.

5 aGod called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And bthere was evening and there was morning, one day.

6 Then God said, “Let there be 1an aexpanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”

7 God made the 1expanse, and separated athe waters which were below the 1expanse from the waters bwhich were above the 1expanse; and it was so.

8 God called the 1expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

9 Then God said, “aLet the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let bthe dry land appear”; and it was so.

10 God called the dry land earth, and the agathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout 1avegetation, 2plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after 3their kind 4with seed in them”; and it was so.

12 The earth brought forth 1vegetation, 2plants yielding seed after 3their kind, and trees bearing fruit 4with seed in them, after 3their kind; and God saw that it was good.

13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

14 Then God said, “Let there be 1alights in the 2bexpanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for csigns and for dseasons and for days and years;

15 and let them be for 1lights in the 2expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.

16 God made the two 1great lights, the agreater 2light 3to govern the day, and the lesser 2light 3to govern the night; He made bthe stars also.

17 aGod placed them in the 1expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,

18 and 1to agovern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.

19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

20 Then God said, “Let the waters 1teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth 2in the open 3expanse of the heavens.”

21 God created athe great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

24 aThen God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after 1their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after 1their kind”; and it was so.

25 God made the abeasts of the earth after 1their kind, and the cattle after 1their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let aUs make bman in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them crule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the 1sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 God created man ain His own image, in the image of God He created him; bmale and female He created them.

28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “aBe fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the 1sky and over every living thing that 2moves on the earth.”

29 Then God said, “Behold, aI have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the 1surface of all the earth, and every tree 2which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;

30 and ato every beast of the earth and to every bird of the 1sky and to every thing that 2moves on the earth 3which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.

31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very agood. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Chapter 2

The Creation of Man and Woman

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all atheir hosts.

2 By athe seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and bHe rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created 1and made.

4 1aThis is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in bthe day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.

5 aNow no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, bfor the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to 1cultivate the ground.

6 But a 1mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole 2surface of the ground.

7 Then the Lord God formed man of adust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and bman became a living 1being.

8 The Lord God planted a agarden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.

9 Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow aevery tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; bthe tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 Now a ariver 1flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four 2rivers.

11 The name of the first is Pishon; it 1flows around the whole land of aHavilah, where there is gold.

12 The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there.

13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it 1flows around the whole land of Cush.

14 The name of the third river is 1aTigris; it 2flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the 3bEuphrates.

15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.

16 The Lord God acommanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;

17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not 1eat, for in the day that you eat from it ayou will surely die.”

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; aI will make him a helper 1suitable for him.”

19 aOut of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the 1sky, and bbrought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the 1sky, and to every beast of the field, but for 2Adam there was not found aa helper 3suitable for him.

21 So the Lord God caused a adeep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.

22 The Lord God 1fashioned into a woman athe rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

23 The man said,

“aThis is now bone of my bones,

And flesh of my flesh;

1She shall be called 2Woman,

Because 1she was taken out of 3Man.”

24 aFor this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.