1:1 In the beginning 1 God 2 created 3 the heavens and the earth. 4
1:2 Now 5 the earth 6 was without shape and empty, 7 and darkness 8 was over the surface of the watery deep, 9 but the Spirit of God 10 was moving 11 over the surface 12 of the water. 13 1:3 God said, 14 “Let there be 15 light.” 16 And there was light! 1:4 God saw 17 that the light was good, 18 so God separated 19 the light from the darkness. 1:5 God called 20 the light “day” and the darkness 21 “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day. 22
1:6 God said, “Let there be an expanse 23 in the midst of the waters and let it separate water 24 from water. 1:7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. 25 It was so. 26 1:8 God called the expanse “sky.” 27 There was evening, and there was morning, a second day.
1:9 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place 28 and let dry ground appear.” 29 It was so. 1:10 God called the dry ground “land” 30 and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good.
1:11 God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: 31 plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, 32 and 33 trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” It was so. 1:12 The land produced vegetation – plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good. 1:13 There was evening, and there was morning, a third day.
1:14 God said, “Let there be lights 34 in the expanse 35 of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs 36 to indicate seasons and days and years, 1:15 and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” It was so. 1:16 God made two great lights 37 – the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also. 38 1:17 God placed the lights 39 in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth, 1:18 to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. 40 God saw that it was good. 1:19 There was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.
1:20 God said, “Let the water swarm with swarms 41 of living creatures and let birds fly 42 above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 1:21 God created the great sea creatures 43 and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good. 1:22 God blessed them 44 and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” 45 1:23 There was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.
1:24 God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” 46 It was so. 1:25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.
1:26 Then God said, “Let us make 47
humankind 48 in our image, after our likeness, 49 so they may rule 50 over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, 51 and over all the creatures that move 52 on the earth.”
1:27 God created humankind 53 in his own image,
in the image of God he created them, 54
male and female he created them. 55
1:28 God blessed 56 them and said 57 to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! 58 Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.” 59 1:29 Then God said, “I now 60 give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 61 1:30 And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give 62 every green plant for food.” It was so.
1:31 God saw all that he had made – and it was very good! 63 There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.
2:1 The heavens and the earth 64 were completed with everything that was in them. 65 2:2 By 66 the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, 67 and he ceased 68 on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. 2:3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy 69 because on it he ceased all the work that he 70 had been doing in creation. 71
2:4 This is the account 72 of the heavens and
the earth 73 when they were created – when the Lord God 74 made the earth and heavens. 75
2:5 Now 76 no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field 77 had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 78 2:6 Springs 79 would well up 80 from the earth and water 81 the whole surface of the ground. 82 2:7 The Lord God formed 83 the man from the soil of the ground 84 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, 85 and the man became a living being. 86
2:8 The Lord God planted an orchard 87 in the east, 88 in Eden; 89 and there he placed the man he had formed. 90 2:9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, 91 every tree that was pleasing to look at 92 and good for food. (Now 93 the tree of life 94 and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil 95 were in the middle of the orchard.)
2:10 Now 96 a river flows 97 from Eden 98 to
water the orchard, and from there it divides 99 into four headstreams. 100 2:11 The name of the first is Pishon; it runs through 101 the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 2:12 (The gold of that land is pure; 102 pearls 103 and lapis lazuli 104 are also there). 2:13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it runs through 105 the entire land of Cush. 106 2:14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. 107 The fourth river is the Euphrates.
2:15 The Lord God took the man and placed 108 him in the orchard in 109 Eden to care for it and to maintain it. 110 2:16 Then the Lord God commanded 111 the man, “You may freely eat 112 fruit 113 from every tree of the orchard, 2:17 but 114 you must not eat 115 from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when 116 you eat from it you will surely die.” 117
2:18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. 118 I will make a companion 119 for him who corresponds to him.” 120 2:19 The Lord God formed 121 out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would 122 name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 2:20 So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam 123 no companion who corresponded to him was found. 124 2:21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, 125 and while he was asleep, 126 he took part of the man’s side 127 and closed up the place with flesh. 128 2:22 Then the Lord God made 129 a woman from the part he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 2:23 Then the man said,
“This one at last 130 is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one will be called 131 ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of 132 man.” 133
2:24 That is why 134 a man leaves 135 his father and mother and unites with 136 his wife, and they become a new family. 137 2:25 The man and his wife were both naked, 138 but they were not ashamed. 139
3:1 Now 140 the serpent 141 was more shrewd 142
than any of the wild animals 143 that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that 144 God 145 said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” 146 3:2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat 147 of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; 3:3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, 148 or else you will die.’” 149 3:4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, 150 3:5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open 151 and you will be like divine beings who know 152 good and evil.” 153
3:6 When 154 the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, 155 was attractive 156 to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, 157 she took some of its fruit and ate it. 158 She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 159 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about 160 in the orchard at the breezy time 161 of the day, and they hid 162 from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard. 3:9 But the Lord God called to 163 the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 164 3:10 The man replied, 165 “I heard you moving about 166 in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” 3:11 And the Lord God 167 said, “Who told you that you were naked? 168 Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 169 3:12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave me, she gave 170 me some fruit 171 from the tree and I ate it.” 3:13 So the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this 172 you have done?” And the woman replied, “The serpent 173 tricked 174 me, and I ate.”
3:14 The Lord God said to the serpent, 175
“Because you have done this,
cursed 176 are you above all the wild beasts
and all the living creatures of the field!
On your belly you will crawl 177
and dust you will eat 178 all the days of your life.
3:15 And I will put hostility 179 between you and the woman
and between your offspring and her offspring; 180
her offspring will attack 181 your head,
and 182 you 183 will attack her offspring’s heel.” 184
3:16 To the woman he said,
“I will greatly increase 185 your labor pains; 186
with pain you will give birth to children.
You will want to control your husband, 187
but he will dominate 188 you.”
3:17 But to Adam 189 he said,
“Because you obeyed 190 your wife
and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,
‘You must not eat from it,’
cursed is the ground 191 thanks to you; 192
in painful toil you will eat 193 of it all the days of your life.
3:18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
but you will eat the grain 194 of the field.
3:19 By the sweat of your brow 195 you will eat food
until you return to the ground, 196
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” 197
3:20 The man 198 named his wife Eve, 199 because 200 she was the mother of all the living. 201 3:21 The Lord God made garments from skin 202 for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. 3:22 And the Lord God said, “Now 203 that the man has become like one of us, 204 knowing 205 good and evil, he must not be allowed 206 to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 3:23 So the Lord God expelled him 207 from the orchard in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken. 3:24 When he drove 208 the man out, he placed on the eastern side 209 of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries 210 who used the flame of a whirling sword 211 to guard the way to the tree of life.
8:1 But God remembered 212 Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over 213 the earth and the waters receded. 8:2 The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed, 214 and the rain stopped falling from the sky. 8:3 The waters kept receding steadily 215 from the earth, so that they 216 had gone down 217 by the end of the 150 days. 8:4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on one of the mountains of Ararat. 218 8:5 The waters kept on receding 219 until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains became visible. 220
8:6 At the end of forty days, 221 Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 222 8:7 and sent out a raven; it kept flying 223 back and forth until the waters had dried up on the earth.
8:8 Then Noah 224 sent out a dove 225 to see if the waters had receded 226 from the surface of the ground. 8:9 The dove could not find a resting place for its feet because water still covered 227 the surface of the entire earth, and so it returned to Noah 228 in the ark. He stretched out his hand, took the dove, 229 and brought it back into the ark. 230 8:10 He waited seven more days and then sent out the dove again from the ark. 8:11 When 231 the dove returned to him in the evening, there was 232 a freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak! Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 8:12 He waited another seven days and sent the dove out again, 233 but it did not return to him this time. 234
8:13 In Noah’s six hundred and first year, 235 in the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that 236 the surface of the ground was dry. 8:14 And by the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth 237 was dry.
8:15 Then God spoke to Noah and said, 8:16 “Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. 8:17 Bring out with you all the living creatures that are with you. Bring out 238 every living thing, including the birds, animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Let them increase 239 and be fruitful and multiply on the earth!” 240
8:18 Noah went out along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. 8:19 Every living creature, every creeping thing, every bird, and everything that moves on the earth went out of the ark in their groups.
8:20 Noah built an altar to the Lord. He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 241 8:21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma 242 and said 243 to himself, 244 “I will never again curse 245 the ground because of humankind, even though 246 the inclination of their minds 247 is evil from childhood on. 248 I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.
8:22 “While the earth continues to exist, 249
planting time 250 and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
and day and night will not cease.”
10:1 This is the account 251 of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons 252 were born 253 to them after the flood.
10:2 The sons of Japheth 254 were Gomer, 255 Magog, 256 Madai, 257 Javan, 258 Tubal, 259 Meshech, 260 and Tiras. 261 10:3 The sons of Gomer were 262 Askenaz, 263 Riphath, 264 and Togarmah. 265 10:4 The sons of Javan were Elishah, 266 Tarshish, 267 the Kittim, 268 and the Dodanim. 269 10:5 From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to its language, according to their families, by their nations.
10:6 The sons of Ham were Cush, 270 Mizraim, 271 Put, 272 and Canaan. 273 10:7 The sons of Cush were Seba, 274 Havilah, 275 Sabtah, 276 Raamah, 277 and Sabteca. 278 The sons of Raamah were Sheba 279 and Dedan. 280
10:8 Cush was the father of 281 Nimrod; he began to be a valiant warrior on the earth. 10:9 He was a mighty hunter 282 before the Lord. 283 (That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.”) 10:10 The primary regions 284 of his kingdom were Babel, 285 Erech, 286 Akkad, 287 and Calneh 288 in the land of Shinar. 289 10:11 From that land he went 290 to Assyria, 291 where he built Nineveh, 292 Rehoboth-Ir, 293 Calah, 294 10:12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and the great city Calah. 295
10:13 Mizraim 296 was the father of 297 the Ludites, 298 Anamites, 299 Lehabites, 300 Naphtuhites, 301 10:14 Pathrusites, 302 Casluhites 303 (from whom the Philistines came), 304 and Caphtorites. 305
10:15 Canaan was the father of 306 Sidon his firstborn, 307 Heth, 308 10:16 the Jebusites, 309 Amorites, 310 Girgashites, 311 10:17 Hivites, 312 Arkites, 313 Sinites, 314 10:18 Arvadites, 315 Zemarites, 316 and Hamathites. 317 Eventually the families of the Canaanites were scattered 10:19 and the borders of Canaan extended 318 from Sidon 319 all the way to 320 Gerar as far as Gaza, and all the way to 321 Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 10:20 These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and by their nations.
10:21 And sons were also born 322 to Shem (the older brother of Japheth), 323 the father of all the sons of Eber.
10:22 The sons of Shem were Elam, 324 Asshur, 325 Arphaxad, 326 Lud, 327 and Aram. 328 10:23 The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 329 10:24 Arphaxad was the father of 330 Shelah, 331 and Shelah was the father of Eber. 332 10:25 Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg because in his days the earth was divided, 333 and his brother’s name was Joktan. 10:26 Joktan was the father of 334 Almodad, 335 Sheleph, 336 Hazarmaveth, 337 Jerah, 338 10:27 Hadoram, Uzal, 339 Diklah, 340 10:28 Obal, 341 Abimael, 342 Sheba, 343 10:29 Ophir, 344 Havilah, 345 and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan. 10:30 Their dwelling place was from Mesha all the way to 346 Sephar in the eastern hills. 10:31 These are the sons of Shem according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and according to their nations.
10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations, and from these the nations spread 347 over the earth after the flood.
11:1 The whole earth 348 had a common language and a common vocabulary. 349 11:2 When the people 350 moved eastward, 351 they found a plain in Shinar 352 and settled there. 11:3 Then they said to one another, 353 “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” 354 (They had brick instead of stone and tar 355 instead of mortar.) 356 11:4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens 357 so that 358 we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise 359 we will be scattered 360 across the face of the entire earth.”
11:5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people 361 had started 362 building. 11:6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language 363 they have begun to do this, then 364 nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. 365 11:7 Come, let’s go down and confuse 366 their language so they won’t be able to understand each other.” 367
11:8 So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building 368 the city. 11:9 That is why its name was called 369 Babel 370 – because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.
11:10 This is the account of Shem.
Shem was 100 old when he became the father of Arphaxad, two years after the flood. 11:11 And after becoming the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other 371 sons and daughters.
11:12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 11:13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other 372 sons and daughters. 373
11:14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 11:15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other 374 sons and daughters.
11:16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. 11:17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. 11:19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. 11:21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. 11:23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 11:25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:26 When Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
11:27 This is the account of Terah.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 11:28 Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans, 375 while his father Terah was still alive. 376 11:29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, 377 and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah; 378 she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 11:30 But Sarai was barren; she had no children.
11:31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (the son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and with them he set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came to Haran, they settled there. 11:32 The lifetime 379 of Terah was 205 years, and he 380 died in Haran.