☰ Genesis 1
Genesis
1
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the surface of the deep. The Spirit of God moved over the surface of the waters.
3 God said, “Let there be light!” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and he called the darkness “night.” So there was evening, and then the morning, making day one.*
6 God said, “Let there be an expanse† in the middle of the waters to divide the waters.” 7 So God made an expanse to divide the waters that were above from the waters that were below. And that's what happened. 8 God called the expanse, “sky.” So there was evening, and then the morning, making day two.
9 God said, “Let the waters below the sky collect together in one place so that the land may appear.” And so it was. 10 God called the land “earth” and the waters “seas.” God saw that it was good.
11 God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation—plants that produce seeds and trees that produce seeded fruit—each one according to its own kind.” And that's what happened. 12 The earth produced vegetation—plants that produce seeds and trees that produce seeded fruit—each one according to its own kind. God saw that it was good. 13 So there was evening, and then the morning, making day three.
14 God said, “Let there be lights in the sky to separate day from night, and to provide a way to mark seasons, days, and years. 15 They shall be lights in the sky to shine on the earth.” And that's what happened. 16 God created two great lights:‡ the larger one in charge of the day, and the smaller one in charge of the night. He created the stars too. 17 God placed these lights in the sky to shine upon the earth, 18 to be in charge of the day and in charge of the night, and to separate light from darkness. God saw that it was good. 19 So there was evening, and then the morning, making day four.
20 God said, “Let the waters be full of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the sky.” 21 So God created huge sea creatures and all the living things that swim and fill the waters, each one according to its own kind; and every bird that flies, each one according to its own kind. God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Reproduce and increase, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 So there was evening, and then the morning, making day five.
24 God said, “Let the land produce living creatures, each one according to its own kind—the livestock, the creatures that run along the ground, and the wild animals, each one according to its own kind.” And that's what happened. 25 God made the wild animals, the livestock, and the creatures that run along the ground, all according to their own kind. God saw that it was good.
26 God said, “Let us make human beings in our image who are like us.§ They will have authority over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over the whole of the earth and every creature that moves on it.” 27 So God created human beings in his own image. He created them in the image of God. He created them male and female.* 28 God blessed them and told them, “Reproduce, increase, and spread throughout the earth and control it; exercise authority over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the earth.”
29 God said, “Look, I'm giving you as your food every seed-bearing plant anywhere on earth, and every tree that produces fruit with seeds. 30 I'm giving all the green plants to all the land animals, to the birds, and to every creature that moves on the earth—to every living thing.” And that's what happened.
31 God saw everything that he had created, and yes, it was very good. So there was evening, and then the morning, making day six.
* 1:5 It is significant that the “day” is measured from darkness to light, which is still the Jewish method of calculating days. † 1:6 “Expanse.” Older translations have often rendered this word as “firmament,” borrowing from the Latin “firmamentum.” That this referred to some ancient belief that the sky was like a dome of hammered metal, and therefore a tangible physical object, has now been shown to be mistaken. In fact, Latin translations from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries usually use the word “expansionem.” ‡ 1:16 Hebrew has words for sun and moon, but they are not used here, perhaps to avoid any temptation to worship the sun and the moon. § 1:26 This aspect of being “like” God conveys the idea of being “patterned” after God. The word is also translated “similitude,” “figure” or “form.” The most essential aspect of this resemblance is surely that of character. * 1:27 The repetition of “created” in this verse is surely significant, which is why this is placed first in each sentence.
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