Genesis 1
In the Beginning
Text sources
English: an abridged adaptation of the public-domain World English Bible, not a verbatim edition. Greek: Brenton’s public-domain Septuagint text. The Greek and English reflect different textual traditions and will not always match word for word.
English source ↗ · Greek source ↗1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3 God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4 God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” There was evening and there was morning, one day.
The Expanse of Heaven
6 God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
7 God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.
8 God called the expanse “sky.” There was evening and there was morning, a second day.
Earth and Seas
9 God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;” and it was so.
10 God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good.
11 God said, “Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed in it, on the earth;” and it was so.
12 The earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with its seed in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.
13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.
Lights in the Heavens
14 God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years.”
15 “Let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the earth;” and it was so.
16 God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.
17 God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the earth,
18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.
19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
Life in Sea and Sky
20 God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky.”
21 God created the large sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.
22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
Living Creatures and Humankind
24 God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;” and it was so.
25 God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.
26 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, over the livestock, and over all the earth.”
27 God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.”
29 “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed and every tree which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.”
30 To every animal of the earth, every bird of the sky, and everything that creeps on the earth, God gave every green herb for food; and it was so.
31 God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.
