The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Genesis 1
1 In the beginning, God† created the
heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was formless and empty.
Darkness was on the surface of the deep
and God’s Spirit was hovering over the
surface of the waters.
3 God said, “Let there be light,” and there
was light.
4 God saw the light, and saw that it was
good. God divided the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening
and there was morning, the first day.
6 God said, “Let there be an expanse in
the middle of the waters, and let it divide
the waters from the waters.”
7 God made the expanse, and divided
the waters which were under the expanse
from the waters which were above the
expanse; and it was so.
8 God called the expanse “sky”. There
was evening and there was morning, a
second day.
9 God said, “Let the waters under the sky
be gathered together to one place, and let
the dry land appear;” and it was so.
10 God called the dry land “earth”, and
the gathering together of the waters he
called “seas”. God saw that it was good.
11 God said, “Let the earth yield grass,
herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds
in it, on the earth;” and it was so.
12 The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding
seed after their kind, and trees bearing
fruit, with their seeds in it, after their kind;
and God saw that it was good.
13 There was evening and there was
morning, a third day.
14 God said, “Let there be lights in the
expanse of the sky to divide the day from
the night; and let them be for signs to mark
seasons, days, and years;
15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth;”
and it was so.
16 God made the two great lights: the
greater light to rule the day, and the lesser
light to rule the night. He also made the
stars.
17 God set them in the expanse of the sky
to give light to the earth,
18 and to rule over the day and over
the night, and to divide the light from the
darkness. God saw that it was good.
19 There was evening and there was
morning, a fourth day.
20 God said, “Let the waters abound with
living creatures, and let birds fly above the
earth in the open expanse of the sky.”
21 God created the large sea creatures
and every living creature that moves, with
which the waters swarmed, after their
kind, and every winged bird after its kind.
God saw that it was good.
22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful,
and multiply, and fill the waters in the
seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
23 There was evening and there was
morning, a fifth day.
24 God said, “Let the earth produce living
creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping
things, and animals of the earth after
their kind;” and it was so.
25 God made the animals of the earth
after their kind, and the livestock after
their kind, and everything that creeps on
the ground after its kind. God saw that it
was good.
26 God said, “Let’s make man in our image,
after our likeness. Let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the birds of the sky, and over the livestock,
and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 God created man in his own image.
In God’s image he created him; male and
female he created them.
28 God blessed them. God said to them,
“Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and
subdue it. Have dominion over the fish
of the sea, over the birds of the sky, andover every living thing that moves on the
earth.”
29 God said, “Behold,‡ I have given you
every herb yielding seed, which is on the
surface of all the earth, and every tree,
which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be
your food.
30 To every animal of the earth, and to
every bird of the sky, and to everything
that creeps on the earth, in which there
is life, I have given every green herb for
food;” and it was so.
31 God saw everything that he had made,
and, behold, it was very good. There was
evening and there was morning, a sixth
day.
† 1:1 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “ אֱלֹהִ֑ים ” (Elohim).
1:29 “Behold”, from “הֵנּ͏ ִה“, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.