Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals and for days and years.

They will be lights in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth.” And it was so.

God made the two great lights—the greater light to have dominion over the day and the lesser light to have dominion over the night—as well as the stars.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”

God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This food will be for you,

for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it. I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.

By the seventh day God completed His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done.

The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper as his complement.”

The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal; but for the man no helper was found as his complement.

And the man said:

This one, at last, is bone of my bone
and flesh of my flesh;
this one will be called “woman,”
for she was taken from man.

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”

But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’”

“No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman.

“In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Then the Lord God said to the serpent:

Because you have done this,
you are cursed more than any livestock
and more than any wild animal.
You will move on your belly
and eat dust all the days of your life.

I will put hostility between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.

He said to the woman:

I will intensify your labor pains;
you will bear children in anguish.
Your desire will be for your husband,
yet he will rule over you.

And He said to Adam, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’:

The ground is cursed because of you.
You will eat from it by means of painful labor
all the days of your life.

It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.

You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow
until you return to the ground,
since you were taken from it.
For you are dust,
and you will return to dust.”

Adam named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.

Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

If you work the ground, it will never again give you its yield. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

Since You are banishing me today from the soil, and I must hide myself from Your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, whoever finds me will kill me.”

Then the Lord replied to him, “In that case, whoever kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” And He placed a mark on Cain so that whoever found him would not kill him.

His brother was named Jubal; he was the father of all who play the lyre and the flute.

Zillah bore Tubal-cain, who made all kinds of bronze and iron tools. Tubal-cain’s sister was Naamah.

If Cain is to be avenged seven times over,
then for Lamech it will be seventy-seven times!

And he named him Noah, saying, “This one will bring us relief from the agonizing labor of our hands, caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.”

And the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever, because they are corrupt. Their days will be 120 years.”

When the Lord saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time,

Then the Lord said, “I will wipe off from the face of the earth mankind, whom I created, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I made them.”

God saw how corrupt the earth was, for every creature had corrupted its way on the earth.

Then God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.

This is how you are to make it: The ark will be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.

“Understand that I am bringing a flood—floodwaters on the earth to destroy every creature under heaven with the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will die.

But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives.

You are also to bring into the ark two of all the living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.

Two of everything—from the birds according to their kinds, from the livestock according to their kinds, and from the animals that crawl on the ground according to their kinds—will come to you so that you can keep them alive.

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before Me in this generation.

You are to take with you seven pairs, a male and its female, of all the clean animals, and two of the animals that are not clean, a male and its female,

and seven pairs, male and female, of the birds of the sky—in order to keep offspring alive on the face of the whole earth.

Seven days from now I will make it rain on the earth 40 days and 40 nights, and I will wipe off from the face of the earth every living thing I have made.”

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the sources of the watery depths burst open, the floodgates of the sky were opened,

They entered it with all the wildlife according to their kinds, all livestock according to their kinds, the creatures that crawl on the earth according to their kinds, all birds, every fowl, and everything with wings according to their kinds.

Two of all flesh that has the breath of life in it entered the ark with Noah.

Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered just as God had commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.

Then the waters surged even higher on the earth, and all the high mountains under the whole sky were covered.

Every creature perished—those that crawl on the earth, birds, livestock, wildlife, and those that swarm on the earth, as well as all mankind.

God remembered Noah, as well as all the wildlife and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water began to subside.

but the dove found no resting place for her foot. She returned to him in the ark because water covered the surface of the whole earth. He reached out and brought her into the ark to himself.

Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, those that crawl on the ground—and they will spread over the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

All wildlife, all livestock, every bird, and every creature that crawls on the earth came out of the ark by their groups.

When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, He said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, even though man’s inclination is evil from his youth. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.

As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, and day and night
will not cease.”

The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority.

Every living creature will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything.

I will require the life of every animal and every man for your life and your blood. I will require the life of each man’s brother for a man’s life.

Whoever sheds man’s blood,
his blood will be shed by man,
for God made man in His image.

and with every living creature that is with you—birds, livestock, and all wildlife of the earth that are with you—all the animals of the earth that came out of the ark.

I confirm My covenant with you that never again will every creature be wiped out by the waters of a flood; there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations:

I have placed My bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.

I will remember My covenant between Me and you and all the living creatures: water will never again become a flood to destroy every creature.

The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look at it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all the living creatures on earth.”

God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have confirmed between Me and every creature on earth.”

These three were Noah’s sons, and from them the whole earth was populated.

he said:

Canaan will be cursed.
He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers.

He also said:

Praise the Lord, the God of Shem;
Canaan will be his slave.

God will extend Japheth;
he will dwell in the tents of Shem;
Canaan will be his slave.

And Shem, Japheth’s older brother, also had sons. Shem was the father of all the sons of Eber.

Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were Joktan’s sons.

At one time the whole earth had the same language and vocabulary.

And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

The Lord said, “If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

Come, let Us go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”

So from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city.

Therefore its name is called Babylon, for there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

The Lord said to Abram:

Go out from your land,
your relatives,
and your father’s house
to the land that I will show you.

I will make you into a great nation,
I will bless you,
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,
I will curse those who treat you with contempt,
and all the peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.

He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people he had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.

There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine in the land was severe.

When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me but let you live.

Please say you’re my sister so it will go well for me because of you, and my life will be spared on your account.”

He treated Abram well because of her, and Abram acquired flocks and herds, male and female donkeys, male and female slaves, and camels.

Then Pharaoh gave his men orders about him, and they sent him away with his wife and all he had.

Then Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev—he, his wife, and all he had, and Lot with him.

Isn’t the whole land before you? Separate from me: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left.”

Lot looked out and saw that the entire Jordan Valley as far as Zoar was well watered everywhere like the Lord’s garden and the land of Egypt. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

for I will give you and your offspring forever all the land that you see.

I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.

Get up and walk around the land, through its length and width, for I will give it to you.”

waged war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, as well as the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).

All of these came as allies to the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Dead Sea).

and the Horites in the mountains of Seir, as far as El-paran by the wilderness.