God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear." It was so.

God called the dry ground "land" and the gathered waters he called "seas." God saw that it was good.

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.

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground."

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 every green plant for food." It was so.

Now no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field 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.

Springs would well up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.

The Lord God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

The Lord God formed 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 name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

But to Adam he said, "Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat from it,' cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return."

So the Lord God expelled him from the orchard in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken.

Then she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel took care of the flocks, while Cain cultivated the ground.

At the designated time Cain brought some of the fruit of the ground for an offering to the Lord.

But the Lord said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground!

So now, you are banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

When you try to cultivate the ground it will no longer yield its best for you. You will be a homeless wanderer on the earth."

He named him Noah, saying, "This one will bring us comfort from our labor and from the painful toil of our hands because of the ground that the Lord has cursed."

So the Lord said, "I will wipe humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth -- everything from humankind to animals, including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them."

Of the birds after their kinds, and of the cattle after their kinds, and of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you so you can keep them alive.

For in seven days I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made."

Pairs of clean animals, of unclean animals, of birds, and of everything that creeps along the ground,

So the Lord destroyed every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived.

Then Noah sent out a dove to see if the waters had receded from the surface of the ground.

In Noah's six hundred and first year, in the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.

And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma and said to himself, "I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, even though the inclination of their minds is evil from childhood on. I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.

Every living creature of the earth and every bird of the sky will be terrified of you. Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea are under your authority.

Abram bowed down with his face to the ground, and God said to him,

Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed as he said to himself, "Can a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"

Abraham looked up and saw three men standing across from him. When he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while Lot was sitting in the city's gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground.

"Very well," he replied, "I will grant this request too and will not overthrow the town you mentioned.

So he overthrew those cities and all that region, including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew from the ground.

"I am a temporary settler among you. Grant me ownership of a burial site among you so that I may bury my dead."

When Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord.

and the Lord stood at its top. He said, "I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the ground you are lying on.

But Jacob himself went on ahead of them, and he bowed toward the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

Now Joseph was the ruler of the country, the one who sold grain to all the people of the country. Joseph's brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.

May the sovereign God grant you mercy before the man so that he may release your other brother and Benjamin! As for me, if I lose my children I lose them."

When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought inside, and they bowed down to the ground before him.

So each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it.

So Judah and his brothers came back to Joseph's house. He was still there, and they threw themselves to the ground before him.

So Joseph moved them from Israel's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground.