God saw that the light was beautiful. He separated the light from the darkness,

So God made a canopy that separated the water beneath the canopy from the water above it. And that is what happened:

Then God said, "Let the water beneath the sky come together into one area, and let dry ground appear!" And that is what happened:

God called the dry ground "land," and he called the water that had come together "oceans." And God saw how good it was.

Then God said, "Let vegetation sprout all over the earth, including seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each kind containing its own seed!" And that is what happened:

Vegetation sprouted all over the earth, including seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each kind containing its own seed. And God saw that it was good.

to serve as lights in the sky, and to shine on the earth!" And that is what happened:

Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth each kind of living creature, each kind of livestock and crawling thing, and each kind of earth's animals!" And that is what happened:

Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, to be like us. Let them be masters over the fish in the ocean, the birds that fly, the livestock, everything that crawls on the earth, and over the earth itself!"

God blessed the humans by saying to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it! Be masters over the fish in the ocean, the birds that fly, and every living thing that crawls on the earth!"

God also told them, "Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant that grows throughout the earth, along with every tree that grows seed-bearing fruit. They will produce your food.

I have given all green plants as food for every wild animal of the earth, every bird that flies, and to every living thing that crawls on the earth." And that is what happened.

Now God saw all that he had made, and indeed, it was very good! The twilight and the dawn were the sixth day.

By the seventh day God had completed the work he had been doing, so on the seventh day he stopped working on everything that he had done.

Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God stopped working on everything that he had been creating.

These are the records of the universe at its creation. Onthe day that the LORD God made the earth and skies,

The LORD God caused every tree that is both beautiful and suitable for food to spring up out of the ground. The tree of life was also in the middle of the garden, along with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The gold of that land is pure; bdellium and onyx are also found there.

but you are not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because you will certainly die during the day that you eat from it."

After the LORD God formed from the ground every wild animal and every bird that flies, he brought each of them to the man to see what he would call it. Whatever the man called each living creature became its name.

The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds that fly, and to each of earth's animals, but there was not found a strength corresponding to him,

When the man was asleep, he removed one of the man's ribs and closed up the flesh where it had been. Then the LORD God formed the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.

Now the Shining One was more clever than any animal of the field that the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, "Did God actually say, "You are not to eat from any tree of the garden'?"

"but as for the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, God has said, "You are not to eat from it, nor are you to touch it, or you will die.'"

"Even God knows that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you'll become like God, knowing good and evil."

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

As a result, they both understood what they had done, and they became aware that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

"Who told you that you are naked?" Godasked. "Did you eat fruit from the tree that I commanded you not to eat?"

Later, after a while, Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit that he had harvested,

The LORD told him, "This won't happen, because whoever kills you will suffer seven times the vengeance." Then the LORD placed a sign on Cain so that no one finding him would kill him.

Seth also fathered a son, whom he named Enosh. At that time, profaning the name of the LORD began.

After Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son just like him, that is, according to his own likeness, and named him Seth.

whom he named Noah, because he said, "May this one comfort us from our work, from pain that is caused by our manual labor, and from the ground that the LORD has cursed."

some divine beings noticed how attractive human women were, so they took wives for themselves from a selection that pleased them.

The Nephilim were on the earth at that time (and also immediately afterward), when those divine beings were having sexual relations with those human women, who gave birth to children for them. These children became the heroes and legendary figures of ancient times.

The LORD saw that human evil was growing more and more throughout the earth, with every inclination of people's thoughts becoming only evil on a continuous basis.

Then the LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and he was deeply grieved about that.

So the LORD said, "I will annihilate these human beings whom I've created from the earth, including people, animals, crawling things, and flying creatures, because I'm grieving that I made them."

"For my part, I'm about to flood the earth with water and destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die.

From birds according to their species, from domestic animals according to their species, and from everything that crawls on the ground according to their species two of everything will come to you so they may remain alive.

Then the LORD told Noah, "Come you and all your household into the ark, because I've seen that you alone are righteous in this generation.

Seven days from now I'll send rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, and I'll destroy every living creature that I've made."

Noah did everything that the LORD commanded.

From both clean and unclean animals, from birds, and from everything that crawls on the ground,

On that very day, Noah entered the ark with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah's wife, his sons' three wives with them,

along with every species of wild animal, livestock, crawling creature, bird, and every creature that has wings.

The flood continued throughout the earth for 40 days, while the flood waters increased, lifting the ark so that it rose above the surface of the earth.

Every living thing on earth died flying creatures, livestock, wildlife, all creatures that swarm over the earth, and all human beings.

Everything that breathed and everything that had lived on dry land died.

All existing creatures that had lived on the surface of the ground were annihilated, from humans to livestock, from crawling creatures to birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah remained, along with those who were with him in the ark.

God kept Noah in mind, along with all the wildlife and livestock that were with him in the ark. God's Spirit moved throughout the earth, causing the flood waters to subside.

The flood water continued to recede until the tenth month, when, on the first of that month, the tops of the mountains could be seen.

After 40 days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had built

Later, he sent a dove out from the ark to see whether the water that covered the land's surface had completely receded,

The dove returned to him in the evening, but in its beak there was an olive leaf that it had plucked! So Noah knew that the flood waters had decreased on the land.

In the six hundred and first year of Noah's life, during the first month, the flood water began to evaporate from the land. Noah then removed the ark's cover and saw that the surface of the land was drying.

Bring out with you every living creature including the flying creatures, animals, and everything that crawls on the ground so they may disperse throughout the land, be fruitful, and multiply throughout the earth."

Every animal, every crawling thing, every flying creature, and everything that moves on the earth emerged from the ark by groups.

All the living creatures of the earth will be filled with fear and terror of you from now on, including all the creatures that fly in the sky, everything that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the ocean. They've been assigned to live under your dominion.

However, you are not to eat meat with its life that is, its blood in it!

and with every living creature that is with you the flying creatures, the livestock, and all the wildlife of the earth that are with you all the earth's animals that came out of the ark.

I will establish my covenant with you: No living beings will ever be cut off again by flood waters, and there will never again be a flood that destroys the earth."

God also said, "Here's the symbol that represents the covenant that I'm making between me and you and every living being with you, for all future generations:

I'll remember my covenant between me and you and every living creature, so that water will never again become a flood to destroy all living beings.

God also told Noah, "This is the symbol of the covenant that I've established between me and everything that lives on the earth."

He became a fearless hunter in defiance of the LORD. That is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a fearless hunter in defiance of the LORD."

However, the LORD descended to look over the city and the tower that the humans were building.

The LORD said, "Look! They are one people with the same language for all of them, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. Nothing that they have a mind to do will be impossible for them!

Come on! Let's go down there and confuse their language, so that they won't understand each other's speech."

So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the surface of the whole earth, so that they had to stop building the city.

Haran died during his father's lifetime in the land of his birth, that is, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

The LORD told Abram, "You are to leave your land, your relatives, and your father's house and go to the land that I'm going to show you.

I'll make a great nation of your descendants, I'll bless you, and I'll make your reputation great, so that you will be a blessing.

Abram traveled through the land to the place called Shechem, as far as the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

When he was about to enter Egypt, he told his wife Sarai, "Look, I'm aware that you're a beautiful woman.

Please say that you are my sister, so things will go well for me for your sake. That way, you'll be saving my life."

Pharaoh summoned Abram and asked, "What have you done to me! Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife?

Why did you say, "She is my sister,' so that I took her as a wife for myself? Now, here is your wife! Take her and get out!"

So Pharaoh assigned men to Abram, and they escorted him, his wife, and all that he had out of the country.

But the land could not support them living together, because they had so many livestock that they could not stay together.

There was strife between the herdsmen in charge of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen in charge of Lot's livestock. Also, at that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land.

Lot looked around and noticed that the whole Jordan plain as far as Zoar was well-watered like the garden of the LORD or like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

because I'm going to give you and your descendants all of the land that you see forever!

I'll make your descendants as plentiful as the specks of dust of the earth, so that if one could count the specks of dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be counted.

So Abram moved his tent and settled beside the oaks of Mamre that are by Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

All of this latter group of kings allied together in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).

When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken prisoner, he gathered together 318 of his trained men, who had been born in his household, and they went out in pursuit as far as Dan.

After Abram's return from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with them, the king of Sodom went out to meet with him in the Shaveh Valley (that is, the King's Valley).

that I will not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that belongs to you, so you won't be able to say, "I made Abram rich.'

Then the LORD took him outside. "Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can!" he said. "Your descendants will be that numerous."

But he replied, "Lord GOD, how will I know that I will inherit it?"

Then the LORD told Abram, "You can be certain about this: Your descendants will be foreigners in a land that isn't theirs. They will be slaves there and will be oppressed for 400 years.

However, I will judge the nation that they serve, and later they will leave there with many possessions.

That very day the LORD made this covenant with Abram: "I'm giving this land to your descendants, from the river of Egypt to the great Euphrates River

So Sarai told Abram, "You are well aware that the LORD has prevented me from giving birth to a child. Go have sex with my servant, so that I may possibly bear a son through her."

He had sex with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she looked with contempt on her mistress.

Then Sarai told Abram, "My suffering is your fault! I gave you my servant so you could have sex with her, and when she discovered that she was pregnant, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!"

Abram answered Sarai, "Look, your servant is under your control, so do to her as you wish." So Sarai dealt so harshly with Hagar that she ran away from Sarai.

That's why the spring was called, "The Well of the Living One who Looks after Me." It was between Kadesh and Bered.

When Abram was 99 years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and announced, "I am God Almighty. Live in constant awareness that I'm always with you, and be blameless.