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.