Genesis 1
1 In [the] beginning God created the heavens and the earth,
Long, long ago God created the heavens and the earth.
2 and the earth was formless and void, and darkness [was] on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God [was] fluttering on the face of the waters,
When he began to create the earth, it was shapeless and completely desolate/chaotic. Darkness covered the deep water that surrounded the earth. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the water.
3 and God says, “Let light be”; and light is.
God said, “I want light to shine!” And light shone.
4 And God sees that the light [is] good, and God separates between the light and the darkness,
God was pleased with the light. Then he made the light to shine in some places, and in other places there was still darkness.
5 and God calls the light “Day,” and the darkness He has called “Night”; and there is an evening, and there is a morning—day one.
He gave to the light the name ‘day’, and he gave to the darkness the name ‘night’. After that, there was an evening which was followed by a morning. He called that whole period of time ‘the first day’.
6 And God says, “Let an expanse be in the midst of the waters, and let it be separating between waters and waters.”
Then God said, “I command that there be an empty space like a huge dome to separate the water that is above it from the water on the earth that is below it!”
7 And God makes the expanse, and it separates between the waters which [are] under the expanse, and the waters which [are] above the expanse: and it is so.
And that is what happened. God gave to the space the name ‘sky’.
8 And God calls the expanse “Heavens”; and there is an evening, and there is a morning—[the] second day.
Then there was another evening, which was followed by another morning. He called that period of time ‘the second day’.
9 And God says, “Let the waters under the heavens be collected to one place, and let the dry land be seen”: and it is so.
Then God said, “I want the water that is below the sky to come together, and dry ground to appear and rise above the water.” And that is what happened.
10 And God calls the dry land “Earth,” and the collection of the waters He has called “Seas”; and God sees that [it is] good.
God gave to the ground the name ‘earth’, and he gave to the water that came together the name ‘oceans’. God was pleased with the earth and the oceans.
11 And God says, “Let the earth yield tender grass, herb sowing seed, fruit-tree (whose seed [is] in itself) making fruit after its kind, on the earth”: and it is so.
Then God said, “I want the earth to produce plants, including plants that will produce seeds and trees that will produce fruit. Each kind of tree will bear its own kind of fruit.”
12 And the earth brings forth tender grass, herb sowing seed after its kind, and tree making fruit (whose seed [is] in itself) after its kind; and God sees that [it is] good;
Then plants grew on the earth; each kind of plant began to produce its own kind of seed.
13 and there is an evening, and there is a morning—[the] third day.
Then there was another evening which was followed by another morning. God called that period of time ‘the third day’.
14 And God says, “Let luminaries be in the expanse of the heavens, to make a separation between the day and the night, then they have been for signs, and for appointed times, and for days and years,
Then God said, “I want a sun, a moon, and many stars to shine in the sky. The sun will shine in the daytime and the moon and stars will shine during the nighttime. By the changes in their appearance they will indicate the various seasons (OR, the times for special celebrations), and will enable people to know when days and years begin.
15 and they have been for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”: and it is so.
I want them also to be like lights in the sky that will shine on the earth.” And that is what happened.
16 And God makes the two great luminaries, the great luminary for the rule of the day, and the small luminary—and the stars—for the rule of the night;
God made two of them that were like big lights. The bigger one, the sun, shines during the day and the smaller one, the moon, shines during the night. He also made the stars.
17 and God gives them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
God set all of them in the sky to shine on the earth,
18 and to rule over day and over night, and to make a separation between the light and the darkness; and God sees that [it is] good;
to rule the day and the night, and to separate the light of the daytime from the darkness of the nighttime. God was pleased with these things he had made.
19 and there is an evening, and there is a morning—[the] fourth day.
Then there was another evening which was followed by another morning. He called that period of time ‘the fourth day’.
20 And God says, “Let the waters teem with the teeming living creature, and let [the] bird fly above the earth on the face of the expanse of the heavens.”
Then God said, “I want many creatures to live in all the oceans, and I also want birds to fly in the sky above the earth.”
21 And God creates the great dragons, and every living creature that is creeping, which the waters have teemed with, after their kind, and every bird with wing, after its kind, and God sees that [it is] good.
So God created huge sea creatures and every other kind of creature that moves in the water, and caused them to live in all the oceans. He also created many kinds of birds. God was pleased with all those creatures.
22 And God blesses them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the bird multiply in the earth”:
God blessed them. He said, “Produce offspring and become very numerous. I want the creatures in the water to live in all the oceans, and birds also to become very numerous.” And that is what happened.
23 and there is an evening, and there is a morning—[the] fifth day.
Then there was another evening that was followed by another morning. He called that period of time ‘the fifth day’.
24 And God says, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, livestock and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind”: and it is so.
Then God said, “I want various kinds of creatures to appear on the earth. There will be many kinds of (livestock/domestic animals), creatures that scurry across the ground, and large wild animals.” And that is what happened.
25 And God makes the beast of the earth after its kind, and the livestock after their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, and God sees that [it is] good.
God made all kinds of wild animals and (livestock/domestic animals) and all kinds of creatures that scurry across the ground. God was pleased with all these creatures.
26 And God says, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over [the] fish of the sea, and over [the] bird of the heavens, and over livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that is creeping on the earth.”
Then God said, “Now we will make human beings that will be like us in many ways. I want them to rule over the fish in the sea, over the birds, over all the (livestock/domestic animals), and over all the other creatures that scurry across the ground.”
27 And God creates the man in His image; in the image of God He created him, a male and a female He created them.
So God created human beings that were like him in many ways. He made them to be like himself. He created some to be male and some to be female.
28 And God blesses them, and God says to them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over [the] fish of the sea, and over [the] bird of the heavens, and over every living thing that is creeping on the earth.”
God blessed them, saying, “Produce many children, who will live all over the earth and rule over it. I want them to rule over the fish and the birds and over all creatures that scurry across the ground.”
29 And God says, “Behold, I have given to you every herb sowing seed, which [is] on the face of all the earth, and every tree in which [is] the fruit of a tree sowing seed, to you it is for food;
God said to the humans, “Listen! I have given you all the plants that produce seeds, all over the earth, and all the trees that have seeds in their fruit. All these things are for you to eat.
30 and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to every creeping thing on the earth, in which [is] breath of life, every green herb [is] for food”: and it is so.
I have given all the green plants to all the wild animals and to the birds and to all the creatures that scurry across the ground, to everything that breathes, for them to eat.” And that is what happened.
31 And God sees all that He has done, and behold, [it is] very good; and there is an evening, and there is a morning—the sixth day.
God was pleased with everything that he had made. Truly, it was all very good. Then there was another evening, that was followed by another morning. He called that period of time ‘the sixth day’.
