In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Then God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.”

Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.

Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” And it was so.

The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

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 placed them in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth,

So God created the large sea-creatures and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water, according to their kinds. He also created every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

So God blessed them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”

So God made the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and creatures that crawl on the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

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.”

So God created man in His own image;
He created him in the image of God;
He created them male and female.

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls 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.

So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed.

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.

God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it He rested from His work of creation.

No shrub of the field had yet grown on the land, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not made it rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground.

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

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.

The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.

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.”

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.

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.

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.’”

“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 man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

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

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.

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.

The Lord God said, “Since man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.”

In the course of time Cain presented some of the land’s produce as an offering to the Lord.

And Abel also presented an offering—some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering,

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.”

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.

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

Lamech took two wives for himself, one named Adah and the other named Zillah.

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.

These are the family records of the descendants of Adam. On the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God;

He created them male and female. When they were created, He blessed them and called them man.

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

Seth was 105 years old when he fathered Enosh.

Enosh was 90 years old when he fathered Kenan.

Kenan was 70 years old when he fathered Mahalalel.

Mahalalel was 65 years old when he fathered Jared.

Jared was 162 years old when he fathered Enoch.

Enoch was 65 years old when he fathered Methuselah.

Methuselah was 187 years old when he fathered Lamech.

Lamech was 182 years old when he fathered a son.

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.”

When mankind began to multiply on the earth and daughters were born to them,

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.

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,

the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

Noah, however, found favor in the sight of the Lord.

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with wickedness.

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.

“Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside.

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.

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.

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.”

Noah was 600 years old when the flood came and water covered the earth.

From the clean animals, unclean animals, birds, and every creature that crawls on the ground,

Seven days later the waters of the flood came on 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 sources of the watery depths burst open, the floodgates of the sky were opened,

and the rain fell on the earth 40 days and 40 nights.

On that same day Noah along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s wife, and his three sons’ wives entered the ark with him.

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.

The flood continued for 40 days on the earth; the waters increased and lifted up the ark so that it rose above the earth.

The waters surged and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water.

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.

Everything with the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils—everything on dry land died.

He wiped out every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, from mankind to livestock, to creatures that crawl, to the birds of the sky, and they were wiped off the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark.

And the waters surged on the earth 150 days.

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.

The ark came to rest in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.

The waters continued to recede until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were visible.

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

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.

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.

In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water that had covered the earth was dried up. Then Noah removed the ark’s cover and saw that the surface of the ground was drying.

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.

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