Genesis 1

The Account of Creation

1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.#1:1 Or In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, . . . Or When God began to create the heavens and the earth, . . . 2The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

3Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”

And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.

6Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.” 7And that is what happened. God made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens. 8God called the space “sky.”

And evening passed and morning came, marking the second day.

9Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened. 10God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened. 12The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

13And evening passed and morning came, marking the third day.

14Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. 15Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened. 16God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, 18to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

19And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day.

20Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.” 21So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. 22Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”

23And evening passed and morning came, marking the fifth day.

24Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened. 25God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

26Then God said, “Let us make human beings#1:26a Or man; Hebrew reads adam. in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth,#1:26b As in Syriac version; Hebrew reads all the earth. and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

27So God created human beings#1:27 Or the man; Hebrew reads ha-adam. in his own image.

In the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

28Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

29Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. 30And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened.

31Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!

And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

For more information about the NLT:

Learn More About New Living Translation

Genesis 1

God made everything

1First of all, a long time ago, God made everything. He made the sky, and he made the earth. He made all the things that are everywhere. 2The earth didn’t have any shape. It didn’t have anything. It was covered with deep water. Everything was dark. It was dark all over the water, but God’s spirit moved around on the top of the water.

Day number 1

3God said, “I want light.” Straight away, light was shining everywhere.#2 Corinthians 4:6 4God looked at it, and he saw that it was good. So God split up the light and the dark. 5He called the light day time, and he called the dark night time.

After that all happened, there was night time and there was morning time. That was day number 1.

Day number 2

6Then God said, “I want something to split the water in half.”#2 Peter 3:5 7So God made the sky to split the water in half. God left some of the water up high, and he left some of it on the ground, and he put the sky in the middle. 8And when God made it, he called it sky.

After that all happened, there was night time and there was morning time. That was day number 2.

Day number 3

9Then God said, “I want all the water that is on the ground to come together to one place, and I want dry ground to come up.” Then the water moved to the places where God wanted it, and the dry ground came up. 10God called the dry ground land, and he called that water sea. God looked at the land and the sea, and he saw that everything was good.

11Then God said, “I want the land to grow all sorts of plants on the earth. I want plants with seeds, and trees with fruit that have seeds inside.” And God made it happen. 12So all sorts of plants grew on the land, plants with seeds, and trees with fruit that have seeds inside. God looked at all those plants, and he saw that everything was good.

13After that all happened, there was night time and there was morning time. That was day number 3.

Day number 4

14Then God said, “I want some lights in the sky. I want the lights to split up the day time from the night time. They will show the time. They will show the season, and the time of the year, and the time of day. 15I will put these lights in the sky to shine on the earth.” So God did that. 16He made 2 big lights. He made one light brighter than the other light. That bright light shines in the day time. We call it the sun. The other light shines in the night time. We call it the moon. And God made the stars too.

17God put all those lights in the sky to shine on the earth. 18One light shines during the day, and another light shines at night. Those lights split the day time from the night time. God looked at those lights, and he saw that everything was good.

19After that all happened, there was night time and there was morning time. That was day number 4.

Day number 5

20Then God said, “I want the water to be full of fish and all sorts of living things. And I want birds that fly around in the sky, above the earth.” 21So God made all the different sorts of things that live and move in the sea. He made the great big sea animals and a lot of other things that live in the sea. And God made all the different sorts of birds too. God looked at all those things, and he saw that everything was good.

22God was good to them, and he said to them, “All of you living things will have lots of young ones, so that the sea will be full of fish, and lots of birds will fly around everywhere.”

23After that all happened, there was night time and there was morning time. That was day number 5.

Day number 6

24Then God said, “I want the land to be full of all different sorts of animals. I want animals that are wild, and animals that are not wild. I want lizards, and insects, and other things that crawl around on the ground.” And God made it happen just like that. 25God made all the different sorts of animals, the animals that are wild and the animals that are not wild. And he made all the different sorts of lizards, and insects, and other things that crawl around on the ground. God looked at all those things, and he saw that everything was good.

26Then God said, “We are going to make people. They will be like us. They will be boss over the fish and everything that lives in the sea, and they will be boss over the birds that fly in the sky, and they will be boss over all the animals that are on the land, the animals that are wild, and the animals that are not wild, and all the lizards, and insects, and other things that crawl around on the ground. People will be boss over all of them.”#1 Corinthians 11:7

27So God made people to be like himself. He made them man and woman.#Matthew 19:4; Mark 10:6

28God was good to them, and he said to them, “You will have lots of kids, and the earth will be full of people. You people will be boss over all the earth. You will be boss over the fish in the sea, and you will be boss over the birds in the sky, and you will be boss over all the animals that live on the land.”#Genesis 5:1-2

29Then God said to them, “Look, I made lots of food plants for you. I made plants that have seeds in them, and trees with fruit on them too. You can eat the seeds from those plants and the fruit from those trees. That bush tucker will be your food. 30And I made green plants too, for all the animals of the earth to eat, and for all the birds of the sky to eat, and for all the lizards, and insects, and other things that crawl around on the ground to eat too. Everything that breathes air can eat those green plants.”

31God looked at everything he made, and he saw that all of it was very good.

After that all happened, there was night time and there was morning time. That was day number 6.

Learn More About Plain English Version