The Beginning of the World

1 ·In the beginning [or In the beginning when] God created [^Cthis Hebrew verb is used only when God is the one creating] the ·sky [heavens] and the earth. ² ·The [or…the] earth ·had no form and was empty [or was a formless void]. Darkness covered the ·ocean [deep], and ·God’s Spirit [or a mighty wind] was ·moving [hovering] over the water.

³ Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, so he ·divided [separated] the light from the darkness. ⁵ God ·named [called] the light “day” and the darkness “night.” ·Evening passed, and morning came [^LThere was evening and there was morning; ^Cin the OT a day begins at nightfall]. This was the first day.

⁶ Then God said, “Let there be ·something to divide the water in two [^La firmament/dome/expanse in the midst of the waters to separate/divide the waters from the waters].” ⁷ So God made the ·air [^Lfirmament; dome; expanse; ^Crain clouds] and placed some of the water above the ·air [^Lfirmament; dome; expanse] and some below it [^Creferring to the rain and the oceans, lakes, and rivers]. ⁸ God ·named [called] the ·air [^Lfirmament/dome/expanse] “·sky [heaven].” Evening passed, and morning came [1:5]. This was the second day.

⁹ Then God said, “Let the water under the ·sky [heavens] be gathered together so the dry land will appear.” And it happened. ¹⁰ God ·named [called] the dry land “earth” and [^Lhe called] the water that was gathered together “seas.” God saw that this was good.

¹¹ Then God said, “Let the earth produce ·plants [vegetation]—some to make grain for seeds and ·others to make fruits with seeds in them. Every seed will produce more of its own kind of plant [^Lfruit trees on earth bearing fruit according to its own kind/species that has seed in them].” And it happened. ¹² The earth ·produced [brought forth] plants with grain for seeds and trees that made fruits with seeds in them. ·Each seed grew its own kind of plant [^L…according to its kind/species]. God saw that all this was good. ¹³ Evening passed, and morning came [1:5]. This was the third day.

¹⁴ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the ·sky [^Lfirmament/dome/expanse of the heavens] to ·separate [divide] day from night. ·These lights will be used for [^LThey will be] signs, seasons, days, and years. ¹⁵ They will be in the ·sky [^Lfirmament/dome/expanse] to give light to the earth.” And it happened.

¹⁶ So God made the two ·large [great] lights. He made the ·brighter [^Lgreater] light to rule the day and made the ·smaller [lesser] light to rule the night. ·He also made the stars [^L…and the stars]. ¹⁷ God put all these in the sky to shine on the earth, ¹⁸ to rule over the day and over the night, and to ·separate [divide] the light from the darkness. God saw that all these things were good. ¹⁹ Evening passed, and morning came [1:5]. This was the fourth day.

²⁰ Then God said, “Let the water ·be filled with living things [^Lswarm with living creatures], and let birds fly in the ·air [^Lfirmament/dome/expanse] above the earth.”

²¹ So God created [1:1] the large sea ·animals [or monsters] and every living thing that ·moves [^Lswarms] in the sea. The sea is filled with these living things, with each one ·producing more of its own kind [^Laccording to its kind/species]. He also ·made [or created; 1:1] every bird that flies, and each bird ·produced more of its own kind [^Laccording to its kind/species]. God saw that this was good. ²² God blessed them and said, “·Have many young ones so that you may grow in number [^TBe fruitful and multiply]. ·Fill […and fill] the water of the seas, and let the birds ·grow in number [multiply] on the earth.” ²³ Evening passed, and morning came [1:5]. This was the fifth day.

²⁴ Then God said, “Let the earth be filled with ·animals [living creatures], ·each producing more of its own kind [^Laccording to their kind/species]. Let there be ·tame animals [beasts; livestock] and small crawling animals and wild animals, ·and let each produce more of its kind [^Laccording to their kind/species].” And it happened.

²⁵ So God made the wild animals, the ·tame animals [beasts; livestock], and all the small crawling animals ·to produce more of their own kind [^Laccording to their kind/species]. God saw that this was good.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image and likeness. And let them ·rule [^Thave dominion] over the fish in the sea and the birds in the ·sky [heavens], over the ·tame animals [beasts; livestock], over all the earth, and over all the small crawling animals on the earth.”

²⁷ So God created [1:1] ·human beings [^Tman; ^Cthe Hebrew adam can mean human beings, humankind, person, man, or the proper name Adam] in his image [^Creflecting God’s nature/character and representing him in the world]. In the image of God he created them. He created them male and female. ²⁸ God blessed them and said [^Lto them], “·Have many children and grow in number [^TBe fruitful and multiply]. ·Fill […and fill] the earth and ·be its master [subdue it]. ·Rule [^THave dominion] over the fish in the sea and over the birds in the ·sky [heavens] and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

²⁹ God said, “Look, I have given you all the plants that have grain for seeds [^Lon the face of the earth] and all the trees whose fruits have seeds in them. They will be food for you. ³⁰ I have given all the green plants as food for every wild animal, every bird of the ·air [sky; heavens], and every small ·crawling [creeping] animal.” And it happened. ³¹ God looked at everything he had made, and it was ·very [exceedingly] good. Evening passed, and morning came [1:5]. This was the sixth day.

The Seventh Day—Rest

2 So the ·sky [heavens], the earth, and all ·that filled them [^Ltheir hosts] were ·finished [completed]. ² By the seventh day God ·finished [completed] the work he had been doing, so he ·rested [or ceased] from all his work [^Lhe had done]. ³ God blessed the seventh day and ·made it a holy day [consecrated it; set it apart], because on that day he ·rested [or ceased] from all the work he had done in creating [1:1] the world.

The First People

⁴ ·This is the story [^LThese are the generations; ^Cintroduces a new section of the book; see also 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10, 27; 25:12, 19; 36:1, 9] of the creation of the ·sky [heavens] and the earth. When the ·Lord God [Yahweh Elohim; ^CElohim is the common term for God; Lord (capital letters) represents the divine name YHWH, usually pronounced “Yahweh”; see Ex. 3:14–15] first made the earth and the ·sky [heavens], ⁵ there were still no plants on the earth. Nothing was growing in the fields because the Lord God had not yet made it rain on the land. And there was no person to ·care for [or till; work] the ground, ⁶ but a ·mist [or stream] would rise up from the earth and water all the ground.

⁷ Then the Lord God took dust from the ground and formed a man from it [^Cthere is wordplay between “ground” (adama) and “man” (adam)]. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nose, and the man became a living person. ⁸ ·Then the Lord God [or The Lord God had] planted a garden in the east [^Cprobably east of Palestine], in a place called Eden [^Crelated to a word meaning “luxurious”], and put the man he had formed into it. ⁹ The Lord God caused every ·beautiful [^Ldesirous to see] tree and every tree that was good for food to grow out of the ground. In the middle of the garden, God put the tree ·that gives life [^Tof life] and also the tree ·that gives the knowledge [^Tof the knowledge] of good and evil.

¹⁰ A river flowed through Eden and watered the garden. From there the river ·branched out [divides] to become four ·rivers [^Lheads]. ¹¹ The first river, named Pishon [^Cotherwise unknown], flows around the whole land of Havilah [^Cotherwise unknown], where there is gold. ¹² The gold of that land is excellent. Bdellium [^Ca sweet-smelling resin like myrrh] and onyx [^Ca precious stone] are also found there. ¹³ The second river, named Gihon [^Ca small stream in Jerusalem (1 Kin. 1:33), but here perhaps referring to another river], flows around the whole land of Cush [^Coften referring to Ethiopia, but here likely a place in Mesopotamia; see 10:7]. ¹⁴ The third river, named Tigris [^Ca major river in Mesopotamia], flows out of Assyria [^Cin northern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq)] toward the east. The fourth river is the Euphrates [^Ca major river in Mesopotamia; the location of Eden is uncertain, but this passage suggests Mesopotamia].

¹⁵ The Lord God [^Ltook and] put ·the man [or Adam; 1:27] in the garden of Eden to ·care for [or till] it and ·work [take care of; look after] it. ¹⁶ The Lord God commanded him, “You may eat the fruit from ·any tree [or all the trees] in the garden, ¹⁷ but you must not eat the fruit from the tree ·which gives the [^Tof the] knowledge of good and evil [^Ceating from this tree would make Adam, not God, the determiner of right and wrong]. If you ever eat fruit from that tree, you will [^Lcertainly] die!”

The First Woman

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper [^Cin the sense of a partner or ally; the word does not imply subordinate status; see Ps. 79:9] who ·is right for [is suitable for; corresponds with] him.”

¹⁹ From the ground God formed every ·wild animal [^Lanimal of the field] and every bird in the ·sky [heavens], and he brought them to the man ·so the man could name them [^Lto see what he would call them]. Whatever the man called each living thing, that became its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all the ·tame animals [beasts; livestock], to the birds in the ·sky [heavens], and to all the ·wild animals [^Lanimals of the field]. But ·Adam [or the man; 1:27] did not find a helper that was right for him [2:18]. ²¹ So the Lord God caused ·the man to sleep very deeply [^La deep sleep to fall on the man/Adam], and while he was asleep, God removed one of the man’s ·ribs [or sides]. Then God closed up the man’s skin at the place where he took the ·rib [or side]. ²² The Lord God used the ·rib [or side] from the man to ·make [^Lbuild; construct] a woman, and then he brought the woman to the man.

²³ And the man said,

²⁴ So a man will leave his father and mother [^Cin the sense of a new primary loyalty] and be united with his wife, and the two will become one ·body [^Tflesh].

²⁵ The man and his wife were naked, but they were not ashamed.