Genesis 1–9

The History of Creation

1In the ^abeginning ^bGod created the heavens and the earth. ²The earth was ^cwithout form, and void; and darkness ¹was on the face of the deep. ^dAnd the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

^3eThen God said, ^f“Let there be ^glight”; and there was light. ⁴And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light Day, and the ^hdarkness He called Night. ²So the evening and the morning were the first day.

⁶Then God said, ⁱ“Let there be a ³firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” ⁷Thus God made the firmament, ^jand divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were ^kabove the firmament; and it was so. ⁸And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

⁹Then God said, ^l“Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and ^mlet the dry land appear”; and it was so. ¹⁰And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

¹¹Then God said, “Let the earth ⁿbring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the ^ofruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. ¹²And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ¹³So the evening and the morning were the third day.

¹⁴Then God said, “Let there be ^plights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and ^qseasons, and for days and years; ¹⁵and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. ¹⁶Then God made two great ⁴lights: the ^rgreater light to rule the day, and the ^slesser light to rule the night. He made ^tthe stars also. ¹⁷God set them in the firmament of the ^uheavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸and to ^vrule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

²⁰Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living ⁵creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the ⁶firmament of the heavens.” ²¹So ^wGod created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²²And God blessed them, saying, ^x“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

²⁴Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. ²⁵And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶Then God said, ^y“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; ^zlet them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over ⁷all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷So God created man ^ain His own image; in the image of God He created him; ^bmale and female He created them. ²⁸Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ^c“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and ^dsubdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that ⁸moves on the earth.”

²⁹And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; ^eto you it shall be for food. ³⁰Also, to ^fevery beast of the earth, to every ^gbird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is ⁹life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. ³¹Then ^hGod saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

2Thus the heavens and the earth, and ^aall the host of them, were finished. ^2bAnd on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. ³Then God ^cblessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

^4dThis is the ¹history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, ⁵before any ^eplant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not ^fcaused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man ^gto till the ground; ⁶but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

⁷And the Lord God formed man of the ^hdust of the ground, and ⁱbreathed into his ^jnostrils the breath of life; and ^kman became a living being.

Life in God’s Garden

⁸The Lord God planted ^la garden ^meastward in ⁿEden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. ⁹And out of the ground the Lord God made ^oevery tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. ^pThe tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and ^qevil.

¹⁰Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. ¹¹The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts ^rthe whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹²And the gold of that land is good. ^sBdellium and the onyx stone are there. ¹³The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴The name of the third river is ^tHiddekel; ²it is the one which goes toward the east of ³Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵Then the Lord God took ⁴the man and put him in the garden of Eden to ⁵tend and keep it. ¹⁶And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; ¹⁷but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ^uyou shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it ^vyou ⁶shall surely ^wdie.”

¹⁸And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; ^xI will make him a helper comparable to him.” ^19yOut of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and ^zbrought them to ⁷Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

²¹And the Lord God caused a ^adeep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. ²²Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He ⁸made into a woman, ^band He ^cbrought her to the man.

²³And Adam said:

“This is now ^dbone of my bones

And flesh of my flesh;

She shall be called ⁹Woman,

Because she was ^etaken out of ¹Man.”

^24fTherefore a man shall leave his father and mother and ^gbe ²joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

^25hAnd they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ⁱashamed.

The Temptation and Fall of Man

3Now ^athe serpent was ^bmore cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the ^cfruit of the trees of the garden; ³but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you ^dtouch it, lest you die.’ ”

^4eThen the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶So when the woman ^fsaw that the tree was good for food, that it was ¹pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit ^gand ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷Then the eyes of both of them were opened, ^hand they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves ²coverings.

⁸And they heard ⁱthe ³sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the ⁴cool of the day, and Adam and his wife ^jhid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

⁹Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, ^kand I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

¹¹And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

¹²Then the man said, ^l“The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

¹³And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, ^m“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴So the Lord God said to the serpent:

“Because you have done this,

You are cursed more than all cattle,

And more than every beast of the field;

On your belly you shall go,

And ⁿyou shall eat dust

All the days of your life.

¹⁵And I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,

And between ^oyour seed and ^pher Seed;

^qHe shall bruise your head,

And you shall bruise His heel.”

¹⁶To the woman He said:

“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;

^rIn pain you shall bring forth children;

^sYour desire shall be ⁵for your husband,

And he shall ^trule over you.”

¹⁷Then to Adam He said, ^u“Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree ^vof which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:

^w“Cursed is the ground for your sake;

^xIn toil you shall eat of it

All the days of your life.

¹⁸Both thorns and thistles it shall ⁶bring forth for you,

And ^yyou shall eat the herb of the field.

^19zIn the…