God said, "Let there be light!" So there was light.

God saw that the light was beautiful. He separated the light from the darkness,

So God made a canopy that separated the water beneath the canopy from the water above it. And that is what happened:

God called the dry ground "land," and he called the water that had come together "oceans." And God saw how good it was.

Vegetation sprouted all over the earth, including seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each kind containing its own seed. And God saw that it was good.

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

So God created every kind of magnificent marine creature, every kind of living marine crawler with which the waters swarmed, and every kind of flying creature. And God saw how good it was.

Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth each kind of living creature, each kind of livestock and crawling thing, and each kind of earth's animals!" And that is what happened:

God made each kind of the earth's animals, along with every kind of livestock and crawling thing. And God saw how good it was.

So God created mankind in his own image; in his own image God created them; he created them male and female.

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.

So the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground, breathed life into his lungs, and the man became a living being.

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.

So the man exclaimed, "At last! This is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. This one will be called "Woman,' because she was taken from Man."

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'?"

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.

As a result, they both understood what they had done, and they became aware that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

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

"I heard your voice in the garden," the man answered, "and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid from you."

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

The LORD God told the Shining One, "Because you have done this, you are more cursed than all the livestock, and more than all the earth's animals, You'll crawl on your belly and eat dust as long as you live.

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 "

therefore the LORD God expelled the man from the garden of Eden so he would work the ground from which he had been taken.

When Cain became very upset and depressed, the LORD asked Cain, "Why are you so upset? Why are you depressed?

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.

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.

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.

This is the historical record of Adam's generations. When God created mankind, he made them in his own likeness.

some divine beings noticed how attractive human women were, so they took wives for themselves from a selection that pleased 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 LORD saw that human evil was growing more and more throughout the earth, with every inclination of people's thoughts becoming only evil on a continuous basis.

So the LORD said, "I will annihilate these human beings whom I've created from the earth, including people, animals, crawling things, and flying creatures, because I'm grieving that I made them."

By this time, the earth had become ruined in God's opinion and filled with violence.

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.

So make yourself an ark out of cedar, constructing compartments in it, and cover it inside and out with tar.

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.

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

The flood continued throughout the earth for 40 days, while the flood waters increased, lifting the ark so that it rose above the surface of the earth.

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.

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.

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.

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

Bring out with you every living creature including the flying creatures, animals, and everything that crawls on the ground so they may disperse throughout the land, be fruitful, and multiply throughout the earth."

So Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives emerged.

"Every living, moving creature will be food for you. Just as I gave you green plants before, so now you have everything.

and with every living creature that is with you the flying creatures, the livestock, and all the wildlife of the earth that are with you all the earth's animals that came out of the ark.

God also said, "Here's the symbol that represents the covenant that I'm making between me and you and every living being with you, for all future generations:

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.

Noah's sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham later fathered Canaan.)

These three were Noah's sons, and from these men the whole earth was repopulated.

Ham, who fathered Canaan, saw his father's genitals and told his two brothers outside.

Then Shem and Japheth took their father's cloak, laid it across both their shoulders, and walking backwards, they both covered their father's genitals. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's genitals.

May God make room for Japheth; may God live in Shem's tents, and may Canaan serve him."

These are the records of Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, to whom descendants were born after the flood.

Japheth's descendants included Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

Gomer's descendants included Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

Javan's descendants included Elisha, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim,

Ham's descendants included Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.

Cush's descendants included Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. Raamah's descendants included Sheba and Dedan.

These are Ham's descendants, listed by their families, each with their own lands, language, and family groups.

Shem, Japheth's older brother, also had descendants. Shem was the father of the descendants of Eber.

Shem's sons included Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.

Aram's descendants included Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were Joktan's descendants.

These are Shem's descendants, listed by their families, each with their own lands, language, and family groups.

These are the families of Noah's sons, according to their records, by their nations. From these people, the nations on the earth spread out after the flood.

They told each other, "Come on! Let's burn bricks thoroughly." They used bricks for stone and tar for mortar.

Then they said, "Come on! Let's build ourselves a city and a tower, with its summit in the heavens, and let's make a name for ourselves so we won't be scattered over the surface of the whole earth."

Come on! Let's go down there and confuse their language, so that they won't understand each other's speech."

So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the surface of the whole earth, so that they had to stop building the city.

Haran died during his father's lifetime in the land of his birth, that is, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of Milcah and Iscah.

Sarai was barren, so she had not borne children.

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran's son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they journeyed together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they had gone as far as Haran, they settled there,

The LORD told Abram, "You are to leave your land, your relatives, and your father's house and go to the land that I'm going to show you.

I'll make a great nation of your descendants, I'll bless you, and I'll make your reputation great, so that you will be a blessing.

So Abram left there, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot accompanied him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran.

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I'll give this land to your descendants." So Abram built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live because the famine was so severe.

When the Egyptians see you, they will say, "She is his wife.' Then they'll kill me, but allow you to live.

Please say that you are my sister, so things will go well for me for your sake. That way, you'll be saving my life."

When Pharaoh's officials saw her, they brought her to the attention of Pharaoh and took the woman to Pharaoh's palace.

He treated Abram well because of her, so Abram acquired sheep, oxen, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.

Why did you say, "She is my sister,' so that I took her as a wife for myself? Now, here is your wife! Take her and get out!"

So Pharaoh assigned men to Abram, and they escorted him, his wife, and all that he had out of the country.

But the land could not support them living together, because they had so many livestock that they could not stay together.

There was strife between the herdsmen in charge of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen in charge of Lot's livestock. Also, at that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land.

So Abram told Lot, "Please, let's not have strife between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, since we are relatives.