Genesis 1
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Long, long ago God created the heavens and the earth.
2 And the earth was waste and empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
When he began to create the earth, it was shapeless and completely desolate/chaotic. Darkness covered the deep water that surrounded the earth. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the water.
3 And God said, Let there be light. And there was light.
God said, “I want light to shine!” And light shone.
4 And God saw the light that it was good; and God divided between the light and the darkness.
God was pleased with the light. Then he made the light to shine in some places, and in other places there was still darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day.
He gave to the light the name ‘day’, and he gave to the darkness the name ‘night’. After that, there was an evening which was followed by a morning. He called that whole period of time ‘the first day’.
6 And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it be a division between waters and waters.
Then God said, “I command that there be an empty space like a huge dome to separate the water that is above it from the water on the earth that is below it!”
7 And God made the expanse, and divided between the waters that are under the expanse and the waters that are above the expanse; and it was so.
And that is what happened. God gave to the space the name ‘sky’.
8 And God called the expanse Heavens. And there was evening, and there was morning — a second day.
Then there was another evening, which was followed by another morning. He called that period of time ‘the second day’.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together to one place, and let the dry [land] appear. And it was so.
Then God said, “I want the water that is below the sky to come together, and dry ground to appear and rise above the water.” And that is what happened.
10 And God called the dry [land] Earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
God gave to the ground the name ‘earth’, and he gave to the water that came together the name ‘oceans’. God was pleased with the earth and the oceans.
11 And God said, Let the earth cause grass to spring up, herb producing seed, fruit-trees yielding fruit after their kind, the seed of which is in them, on the earth. And it was so.
Then God said, “I want the earth to produce plants, including plants that will produce seeds and trees that will produce fruit. Each kind of tree will bear its own kind of fruit.”
12 And the earth brought forth grass, herb producing seed after its kind, and trees yielding fruit, the seed of which is in them, after their kind. And God saw that it was good.
Then plants grew on the earth; each kind of plant began to produce its own kind of seed.
13 And there was evening, and there was morning — a third day.
Then there was another evening which was followed by another morning. God called that period of time ‘the third day’.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to divide between the day and the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years;
Then God said, “I want a sun, a moon, and many stars to shine in the sky. The sun will shine in the daytime and the moon and stars will shine during the nighttime. By the changes in their appearance they will indicate the various seasons (OR, the times for special celebrations), and will enable people to know when days and years begin.
15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light on the earth. And it was so.
I want them also to be like lights in the sky that will shine on the earth.” And that is what happened.
16 And God made the two great lights, the great light to rule the day, and the small light to rule the night, — and the stars.
God made two of them that were like big lights. The bigger one, the sun, shines during the day and the smaller one, the moon, shines during the night. He also made the stars.
17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light on the earth,
God set all of them in the sky to shine on the earth,
18 and to rule during the day and during the night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
to rule the day and the night, and to separate the light of the daytime from the darkness of the nighttime. God was pleased with these things he had made.
19 And there was evening, and there was morning — a fourth day.
Then there was another evening which was followed by another morning. He called that period of time ‘the fourth day’.
20 And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living souls, and let fowl fly above the earth in the expanse of the heavens.
Then God said, “I want many creatures to live in all the oceans, and I also want birds to fly in the sky above the earth.”
21 And God created the great sea monsters, and every living soul that moves with which the waters swarm, after their kind, and every winged fowl after its kind. And God saw that it was good.
So God created huge sea creatures and every other kind of creature that moves in the water, and caused them to live in all the oceans. He also created many kinds of birds. God was pleased with all those creatures.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply on the earth.
God blessed them. He said, “Produce offspring and become very numerous. I want the creatures in the water to live in all the oceans, and birds also to become very numerous.” And that is what happened.
23 And there was evening, and there was morning — a fifth day.
Then there was another evening that was followed by another morning. He called that period of time ‘the fifth day’.
24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth living souls after their kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth, after their kind. And it was so.
Then God said, “I want various kinds of creatures to appear on the earth. There will be many kinds of (livestock/domestic animals), creatures that scurry across the ground, and large wild animals.” And that is what happened.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground after its kind. And God saw that it was good.
God made all kinds of wild animals and (livestock/domestic animals) and all kinds of creatures that scurry across the ground. God was pleased with all these creatures.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over the whole earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth.
Then God said, “Now we will make human beings that will be like us in many ways. I want them to rule over the fish in the sea, over the birds, over all the (livestock/domestic animals), and over all the other creatures that scurry across the ground.”
27 And God created Man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
So God created human beings that were like him in many ways. He made them to be like himself. He created some to be male and some to be female.
28 And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over every animal that moveth on the earth.
God blessed them, saying, “Produce many children, who will live all over the earth and rule over it. I want them to rule over the fish and the birds and over all creatures that scurry across the ground.”
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb producing seed that is on the whole earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree producing seed: it shall be food for you;
God said to the humans, “Listen! I have given you all the plants that produce seeds, all over the earth, and all the trees that have seeds in their fruit. All these things are for you to eat.
30 and to every animal of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth on the earth, in which is a living soul, every green herb for food. And it was so.
I have given all the green plants to all the wild animals and to the birds and to all the creatures that scurry across the ground, to everything that breathes, for them to eat.” And that is what happened.
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning — the sixth day.
God was pleased with everything that he had made. Truly, it was all very good. Then there was another evening, that was followed by another morning. He called that period of time ‘the sixth day’.
