Genesis
Chapter 1
The Story of Creation
In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,
the earth was formless and empty; darkness covered the deep, and the spirit of God hovered over the waters.
God said:
“Let there be light.”
And there was light.
God saw that the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light ‘Day’ and the darkness ‘Night.’ There was evening and there was morning: the first day.
God said:
“Let there be a firm ceiling between the waters and let it separate waters from waters.”
So God made the ceiling and separated the waters below it from those above it. And so it was.
God said:
“Let the waters below the sky be gathered together in one place and let dry land appear.”
And so it was.
God said:
“Let the earth produce vegetation, seed-bearing plants, fruit trees bearing fruit with seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth.”
And so it was.
There was evening and there was morning: the third day.
God said:
“Let there be lights in the ceiling of the sky to separate day from night and to serve as signs for the seasons, days and years;
and let these lights in the sky shine above the earth.”
And so it was.
There was evening and there was morning: the fourth day.
God said:
“Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth under the ceiling of the sky.”
God blessed them, saying:
“Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the waters of the sea, and let the birds increase on the earth.”
There was evening and there was morning: the fifth day.
God said:
“Let the earth produce living animals according to their kind: cattle, creatures that move along the ground, wild animals according to their kind.”
So it was.
God said:
“Let us make man in our image, in our likeness. Let them rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, the wild animals, and all creeping things that crawl along the ground.”
So God created man in his image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said:
“Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky, over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
God said:
“I have given you every seed-bearing plant that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree that bears fruit with seed. It will be for your food.
To every wild animal, bird of the sky, everything that creeps along the ground, and everything that has the breath of life, I give every green plant for food.”
So it was.
God saw everything He had made, and it was good. There was evening, and there was morning —the sixth day.