Genesis 1

Six Days of Creation and the Sabbath

1In the beginning when God created#1.1 Or when God began to create or In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, 2the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God#1.2 Or while the spirit of God or while a mighty wind swept over the face of the waters. 3Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. 8God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

9And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. 12The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. 13And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

14And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, 15and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

20And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” 21So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. 22God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

24And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. 25God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.

26Then God said, “Let us make humankind#1.26 Heb adam in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth,#1.26 Syr: Heb and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

27So God created humankind#1.27 Heb adam in his image,

in the image of God he created them;#1.27 Heb him

male and female he created them.

28God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” 29God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

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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.

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