calling the light "day," and the darkness "night." The twilight and the dawn were day one.

God called the canopy "sky." The twilight and the dawn were the second day.

The twilight and the dawn were the third day.

Then God said, "Let there be lights across the sky to distinguish day from night, to act as signs for seasons, days, and years,

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

God fashioned two great lights the larger light to shine during the day and the smaller light to shine during the night as well as stars.

God placed them in space to shine on the earth,

to differentiate between day and night, and to distinguish light from darkness. And God saw how good it was.

The twilight and the dawn were the fourth day.

The twilight and the dawn were the fifth day.

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!"

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,

no shrubs had yet grown in the meadows of the earth and no vegetation had sprouted, because the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there were no human beings to work the ground.

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.

A river flows from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides, becoming four branches.

The third river is named the Tigris it flows to the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

The LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden in order to have him work it and guard it.

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."

Later, the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make the woman to be an authority corresponding to him."

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,

so the LORD God caused a deep sleep to overshadow the man.

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.

(Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife, and they will become one flesh.)

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.'"

"You certainly will not die!" the Shining One told the woman.

"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.

Whenthey heard the voice of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden during the breeze of the day, the man and his wife concealed themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

So the LORD God called out to the man, asking him, "Where are you?"

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

Then the LORD God asked the woman, "What did you do?" "The Shining One misled me," the woman answered, "so I ate."

He told the woman, "I'll greatly increase the pain of your labor during childbirth. It will be painful for you to bear children, "since your trust is turning toward your husband, and he will dominate you."

He told the man, "Because you have listened to what your wife said, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, "You must not eat from it,' cursed is the ground because of you. You'll eat from it through pain-filled labor for the rest of your life.

You will eat food by the sweat of your brow until you're buried in the ground, because you were taken from it. You're made from dust and you'll return to dust."

Now Adam had named his wife "Eve," because she was to become the mother of everyone who was living.

Later, the LORD God said, "Look! The man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, so he won't reach out, also take from the tree of life, eat, and then live forever "

After he had expelled the man, the LORD God placed winged angels at the eastern end of the garden of Eden, along with a fiery, turning sword, to prevent access to the tree of life.

Later, Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve. She became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "I have given birth to a male child the LORD."

And she did it again, giving birth to his brother Abel. Abel shepherded flocks and Cain became a farmer.

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

If you do what is appropriate, you'll be accepted, won't you? But if you don't do what is appropriate, sin is crouching near your doorway, turning toward you. Now as for you, will you take dominion over it?"

Instead, Cain told his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the wilderness." When they were outside in the fields, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Later, the LORD asked Cain, "Where's your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he answered. "Am I my brother's guardian?"

"What did you do?" God asked. "Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.

Now you're more cursed than the ground, which has opened to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

Whenever you work the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you, and you'll wander throughout the earth as a fugitive."

"My punishment is too great to bear," Cain told the LORD.

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.

Later, Cain had sexual relations with his wife. She became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain founded a city and named it after his son Enoch.

Irad was born to Enoch. Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.

Later, Lamech married two wives. One was named Adah and the other was named Zillah.

Adah gave birth to Jabal, who became the ancestor of those who live in tents and herd livestock.

Zillah gave birth to Tubal-cain, who became a forger of bronze and iron work. Tubal-cain's sister was Naamah.

Lamech told his wives, "Adah and Zillah, listen to what I have to say: You wives of Lamech, hear what I'm announcing! I've killed a man for wounding me, a young man for bruising me.

Later on, after Adam had sexual relations with his wife, she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, because "God granted me another offspring to replace Abel, since Cain murdered him."

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

Now after the population of human beings had increased throughout the earth, and daughters had been born to them,

So the LORD said, "My Spirit won't remain with human beings forever, because they're truly mortal. Their lifespan will be 120 years."

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.

So God announced to Noah, "I've decided to destroy every living thing on earth, because it has become filled with violence due to them. Look! I'm about to annihilate them, along with the earth.

Make a roof for the ark, and finish the walls to within one cubit from the top. Place the entrance in the side of the ark, and build a lower, a middle, and an upper deck.

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

However, I will establish my own covenant with you, and you are to enter the ark you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives.

You are to bring two of every living thing into the ark so they may remain alive with you. They are to be male and female.

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.

You are to take with you seven pairs of every clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of the unclean animals, a male and its mate;

along with seven pairs of the flying birds, male and female, in order to keep their offspring alive on the surface of all the earth.

Noah was 600 years old when water began to flood the earth.

two by two, male and female, they entered the ark to join Noah, just as God had commanded.

On the seventeenth day of the second month, when Noah was 600 years old, all the springs of the great deep burst open, the floodgates of the heavens were opened,

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

Two of each living creature entered the ark with Noah.

The flood waters continued to surge, increasing throughout the earth, while the ark floated on the surface of the flood water.

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

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.

and sent out a raven. It went back and forth as the flood water continued to evaporate throughout the earth.

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

but the dove could not yet find a place to rest, so it returned to Noah on the ark, since water still covered the land. Noah reached out his hand and took the dove back into the ark with him.

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.

He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but it did not return to him anymore.

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.

By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the ground was dry.

God spoke to Noah,

"It's time for you, your wife, your sons, and your sons' wives who are with you to leave the ark.

Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings on it from every clean animal and every clean bird.

"Never again, as long as the earth exists, will sowing and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night ever cease."

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!

"Whoever sheds human blood, by a human his own blood is to be shed; because God made human beings in his own image.

I've set my rainbow in the sky to symbolize the covenant between me and the earth.

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.