1 In the beginning, God created everything: the heavens above and the earth below. Here’s what happened: ² At first the earth lacked shape and was totally empty, and a dark fog draped over the deep while God’s spirit-wind hovered over the surface of the empty waters. Then there was the voice of God.

And light flashed into being. ⁴ God saw that the light was beautiful and good, and He separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God named the light “day” and the darkness “night.” Evening gave way to morning. That was day one.

⁷ So God parted the waters and formed this expanse, separating the waters above from the waters below. It happened just as God said. ⁸ And God called the vast expanse “sky.” Evening gave way to morning. That was day two.

It happened just as God said. ¹⁰ God called the dry land “earth” and the waters congregated below “seas.” And God saw that His new creation was beautiful and good.

It happened just as God said. ¹² The earth produced vegetation—seed-bearing plants of all varieties and fruit-bearing trees of all sorts. And God saw that His new creation was beautiful and good. ¹³ Evening gave way to morning. That was day three.

It happened just as God said. ¹⁶ God fashioned the two great lights—the brighter to mark the course of day, the dimmer to mark the course of night—and the Divine needled night with the stars. ¹⁷ God set them in heavens’ sky to cast warm light on the earth, ¹⁸ to rule over the day and night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that His new creation was beautiful and good. ¹⁹ Evening gave way to morning. That was day four.

²¹ So God created huge sea creatures, all the swarm of life in the waters, and every kind and species of flying birds—each able to reproduce its own kind. And God saw that His new creation was beautiful and good. ²² And God spoke this blessing over them:

²³ Evening gave way to morning. That was day five.

It happened just as God said. ²⁵ God made earth-creatures in a vast variety of species: wild animals, domesticated animals of all sizes, and small creeping creatures, each able to reproduce its own kind. God saw that His new creation was beautiful and good. And God paused.

²⁷ So God did just that. He created humanity in His image, created them male and female. ²⁸ Then God blessed them and gave them this directive: “Be fruitful and multiply. Populate the earth. I make you trustees of My estate, so care for My creation and rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that roams across the earth.”

And it happened just as God said. ³¹ Then God surveyed everything He had made, savoring its beauty and appreciating its goodness. Evening gave way to morning. That was day six.

2 So now you see how the Creator swept into being the spangled heavens, the earth, and all their hosts in six days. ² On the seventh day—with the canvas of the cosmos completed—God paused from His labor and rested. ³ Thus God blessed day seven and made it special—an open time for pause and restoration, a sacred zone of Sabbath-keeping, because God rested from all the work He had done in creation that day.

⁴ This is the detailed story of the Eternal God’s singular work in creating all that exists. On the day the heavens and earth were created, ⁵ there were no plants or vegetation to cover the earth. The fields were barren and empty, because the Eternal God had not sent the rains to nourish the soil or anyone to tend it. ⁶ In those days, a mist rose up from the ground to blanket the earth, and its vapors irrigated the land. ⁷ One day the Eternal God scooped dirt out of the ground, sculpted it into the shape we call human, breathed the breath that gives life into the nostrils of the human, and the human became a living soul.

⁸ The Eternal God planted a garden in the east in Eden—a place of utter delight—and placed the man whom He had sculpted there. ⁹ In this garden, He made the ground pregnant with life—bursting forth with nourishing food and luxuriant beauty. He created trees, and in the center of this garden of delights stood the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰ A river flowed from Eden to irrigate the garden, and from there it separated into four smaller rivers. ^11-12 The first, the Pishon, flows around the land of Havilah—a rich land plentiful in gold of premium quality, bdellium, and onyx stones. ¹³ The second, the Gihon, flows around the entire land of Cush. ¹⁴ The third, the Tigris, flows east of Assyria, and the fourth is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ The Eternal God placed the newly made man in the garden of Eden in order to work the ground and care for it. ¹⁶ He made certain demands of the man regarding life in the garden.

¹⁹ So out of the same ground the man was made from, the Eternal God sculpted every sort of animal and every kind of bird that flies up in the sky. Then He brought them to the man and gave him the authority to name each creature as he saw fit: whatever he decided to call it, that became its name. ²⁰ Thus the man chose names for domesticated animals, birds, and wild beasts. But none of these creatures was a right and proper partner for Adam.

²¹ So the Eternal God put him into a deep sleep, removed a rib from his side, and closed the flesh around the opening. ²² He formed a woman from the rib taken out of the man and presented her to him.

²⁴ Now this is the reason a man leaves his father and his mother, and is united with his wife; and the two become one flesh. ²⁵ In those days the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.