In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate water from water.

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

God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds." It was so.

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.

God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years,

and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." It was so.

God placed the lights in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth,

God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth."

Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth."

God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.

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."

Then God said, "I now 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.

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.

The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them.

By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing.

God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created -- when the Lord God made the earth and heavens.

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.

The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed.

The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.)

The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it.

but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die."

Then the man said, "This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man."

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, or else you will die.'"

for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil."

When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard.

The man replied, "I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid."

The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the wild beasts and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life.

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.

And the Lord God said, "Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

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

When he drove the man out, he placed on the eastern side of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries who used the flame of a whirling sword to guard the way to the tree of life.

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

Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

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."

Look! You are driving me off the land today, and I must hide from your presence. I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth; whoever finds me will kill me."

But the Lord said to him, "All right then, if anyone kills Cain, Cain will be avenged seven times as much." Then the Lord put a special mark on Cain so that no one who found him would strike him down.

So Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the first of those who live in tents and keep livestock.

And Adam had marital relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth, saying, "God has given me another child in place of Abel because Cain killed him."

This is the record of the family line of Adam. When God created humankind, he made them in the likeness of God.

He created them male and female; when they were created, he blessed them and named them "humankind."

When Adam had lived 130 years he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and he named him Seth.

When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh.

When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan.

When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel.

When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared.

When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch.

When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah.

When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech.

When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son.

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."

When humankind began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,

So the Lord said, "My spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years."

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after this) when the sons of God were having sexual relations with the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. They were the mighty heroes of old, the famous men.

But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time.

The Lord regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended.

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."

But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.

The earth was ruined in the sight of God; the earth was filled with violence.

God saw the earth, and indeed it was ruined, for all living creatures on the earth were sinful.

Make for yourself an ark of cypress wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and out.

Make a roof for the ark and finish it, leaving 18 inches from the top. Put a door in the side of the ark, and make lower, middle, and upper decks.

I am about to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy from under the sky all the living creatures that have the breath of life in them. Everything that is on the earth will die,

and also seven of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female, to preserve their offspring on the face of the earth.

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."

Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters engulfed the earth.

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 fountains of the great deep burst open and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

And the rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

On that very day Noah entered the ark, accompanied by his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, along with his wife and his sons' three wives.

They entered, along with every living creature after its kind, every animal after its kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, everything with wings.

Those that entered were male and female, just as God commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.

The waters completely overwhelmed the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.

And all living things that moved on the earth died, including the birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all humankind.

Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.

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.

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over the earth and the waters receded.

On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on one of the mountains of Ararat.

The waters kept on receding until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains became visible.

At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the ark

and sent out a raven; it kept flying back and forth until the waters had dried up on the earth.

The dove could not find a resting place for its feet because water still covered the surface of the entire earth, and so it returned to Noah in the ark. He stretched out his hand, took the dove, and brought it back into the ark.

When the dove returned to him in the evening, there was a freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak! Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.

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.

Bring out with you all the living creatures that are with you. Bring out every living thing, including the birds, animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Let them increase and be fruitful and multiply on the earth!"

Every living creature, every creeping thing, every bird, and everything that moves on the earth went out of the ark in their groups.

Noah built an altar to the Lord. He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

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.

But you must not eat meat with its life (that is, its blood) in it.

"Whoever sheds human blood, by other humans must his blood be shed; for in God's image God has made humankind."

But as for you, be fruitful and multiply; increase abundantly on the earth and multiply on it."

I will place my rainbow in the clouds, and it will become a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth.

Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,

When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth."

So God said to Noah, "This is the guarantee of the covenant that I am confirming between me and all living things that are on the earth."

When he drank some of the wine, he got drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.

Shem and Japheth took the garment and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so they did not see their father's nakedness.