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

So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. It was so.

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 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.

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

to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.

God created the great sea creatures and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good.

God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind." It was so.

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."

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.

God saw all that he had made -- and it was very good! There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.

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

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 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.)

Now a river flows from Eden to water the orchard, and from there it divides into four headstreams.

The name of the first is Pishon; it runs through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

The name of the second river is Gihon; it runs through the entire land of Cush.

The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

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

Then the Lord God commanded the man, "You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard,

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."

The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him."

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.

Then the Lord God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

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."

Now the serpent was more shrewd than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Is it really true that God said, 'You must not eat from any tree of the orchard'?"

The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard;

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.

And the Lord God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

The man said, "The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it."

So the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman replied, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate."

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.

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

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."

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."

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.

Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it."

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.

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

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."

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

Lamech took two wives for himself; the name of the first was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah.

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

Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah! Listen to me! You wives of Lamech, hear my words! I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for hurting me.

And a son was also born to Seth, whom he named Enosh. At that time people began to worship the Lord.

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.

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

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.

And you must take for yourself every kind of food that is eaten, and gather it together. It will be food for you and for them.

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."

The flood engulfed the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark and raised it above the earth.

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.

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

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.

He waited seven more days and then sent out the dove again from the ark.

He waited another seven days and sent the dove out again, but it did not return to him this time.

"Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons' wives with you.

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!"

Noah went out along with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives.

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

You may eat any moving thing that lives. As I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

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

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

and with every living creature that is with you, including the birds, the domestic animals, and every living creature of the earth with you, all those that came out of the ark with you -- every living creature of the earth.

I confirm my covenant with you: Never again will all living things be wiped out by the waters of a flood; never again will a flood destroy the earth."

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

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."

The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Now Ham was the father of Canaan.)

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.

When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor he learned what his youngest son had done to him.

He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. (That is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.")

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (the son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and with them he set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came to Haran, they settled there.

Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father's household to the land that I will show you.

Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree of Moreh at Shechem. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.)

So tell them you are my sister so that it may go well for me because of you and my life will be spared on account of you."

So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, "What is this you have done to me? Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife?

And he journeyed from place to place from the Negev as far as Bethel. He returned to the place where he had pitched his tent at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai.

So there were quarrels between Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen. (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.)

Lot looked up and saw the whole region of the Jordan. He noticed that all of it was well-watered (before the Lord obliterated Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, all the way to Zoar.

Get up and walk throughout the land, for I will give it to you."

At that time Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations

Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and prepared for battle. In the Valley of Siddim they met

After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram in the Valley of Shaveh (known as the King's Valley).

Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (Now he was the priest of the Most High God.)

that I will take nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal. That way you can never say, 'It is I who made Abram rich.'

I will take nothing except compensation for what the young men have eaten. As for the share of the men who went with me -- Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre -- let them take their share."

But Abram said, "O sovereign Lord, what will you give me since I continue to be childless, and my heir is Eliezer of Damascus?"

The Lord said to him, "I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess."

But Abram said, "O sovereign Lord, by what can I know that I am to possess it?"