Genesis 1:1–11

The Beginning

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

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

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

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

¹¹Then God said, “Let the land produce plants. Let them bear their own seeds. And let there be trees on the land that bear fruit with seeds in it. Let each kind of plant or tree have its own kind of seeds.” And that’s exactly what happened.