Genesis 1
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Long, long ago God created the heavens and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon 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 the light from 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 the evening and the morning were 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 a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the 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 firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And that is what happened. God gave to the space the name ‘sky’.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the 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 heaven be gathered together into 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 bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself, upon 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, and herb yielding seed after its kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after its 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 the evening and the morning were the 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 firmament of the heaven to divide the day from 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 firmament of the heaven to give light upon 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 two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
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 firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
God set all of them in the sky to shine on the earth,
18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from 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 the evening and the morning were the 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 bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
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 great sea creatures, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his 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 in 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 the evening and the morning were the 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 the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and the beast of the earth after his 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 his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his 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 air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon 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 So God created man in his own 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 air, and over every living thing that moveth upon 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 bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food.
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 beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, in which is life, I have given 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 every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were 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’.
