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.

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

The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He placed the man He had formed.

A river went out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers.

And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden,

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.”

So the Lord God formed out of the ground every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

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.

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place.

Then the Lord God made the rib He had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.

This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.

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’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees 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 woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

And he said, “I heard You in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”

Then He asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

Then the man replied, “The woman You gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.”

So the Lord God asked the woman, “What is this you have done?”

And the woman said, “It was the serpent. He deceived me, and I ate.”

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.”

So the Lord God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.

He drove man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life.

Adam was intimate with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have had a male child with the Lord’s help.”

Then she also gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel became a shepherd of flocks, but Cain worked the ground.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you furious? And why do you look despondent?

If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

Then He said, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground!

So now you are cursed, alienated, from the ground that opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood you have shed.

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.

Cain was intimate with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain became the builder of a city, and he named the city Enoch after his son.

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.

Lamech said to his wives:

Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
wives of Lamech, pay attention to my words.
For I killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for striking me.

Adam was intimate with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, for she said, “God has given me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”

A son was born to Seth also, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of Yahweh.

Adam was 130 years old when he fathered a son in his likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.

Lamech was 182 years old when he fathered a son.

The Nephilim were on the earth both in those days and afterward, when the sons of God came to the daughters of mankind, who bore children to them. They were the powerful men of old, the famous men.

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.”

These are the family records of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God.

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.

You are to make a roof, finishing the sides of the ark to within 18 inches of the roof. You are to put a door in the side of the ark. Make it with lower, middle, and upper decks.

“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.

Take with you every kind of food that is eaten; gather it as food for you and for them.”

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,

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.”

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.

and he sent out a raven. It went back and forth until the waters had dried up from the earth.

Then he sent out a dove to see whether the water on the earth’s surface had gone down,

When the dove came to him at evening, there was a plucked olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the water on the earth’s surface had gone down.

“Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you.

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.”

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.

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.

However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it.

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.

But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.”

“Understand that I am confirming My covenant with you and your descendants after you,

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.

Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds,

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.”

Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.

Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard.

Then Shem and Japheth took a cloak and placed it over both their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father naked.

Cush fathered Nimrod, who was the first powerful man on earth.

He was a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord. That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord.”

As people migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.

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 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.

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.

From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. He built an altar to Yahweh there, and he called on the name of Yahweh.

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 he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know what a beautiful woman you are.