Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

God called the dry land “earth,” and He called the gathering of the water “seas.” 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,

Then God said, “Let the water swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.”

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

Then God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that crawl, and the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.

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.

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

These are the records of the heavens and the earth, concerning their creation at the time that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

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.

But water would come out of the ground and water the entire surface of the land.

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 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.

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

The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Cush.

The name of the third river is the Tigris, which runs east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

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

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.”

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.

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.

Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.

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’?”

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.’”

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.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

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.

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.

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.”

Adam named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.

The Lord God made clothing out of skins for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.

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.”

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.

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.”

If you work the ground, it will never again give you its yield. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

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

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.

Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of the nomadic herdsmen.

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.

If Cain is to be avenged seven times over,
then for Lamech it will be seventy-seven times!

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;

Adam lived 800 years after the birth of Seth, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

Seth lived 807 years after the birth of Enosh, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

Enosh lived 815 years after the birth of Kenan, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

Kenan lived 840 years after the birth of Mahalalel, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

Mahalalel lived 830 years after the birth of Jared, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

Jared lived 800 years after the birth of Enoch, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

And after the birth of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and fathered other sons and daughters.

Methuselah lived 782 years after the birth of Lamech, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

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.”

the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful, and they took any they chose as wives for themselves.

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,

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.”

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

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

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.

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.”

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,

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.”

So Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives entered the ark because of the waters of the flood.

two of each, male and female, entered the ark with Noah, just as God had commanded him.

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,

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.

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

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.

The sources of the watery depths and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky stopped.