BIBLE

(Genesis 1:1-2:4)

In the beginning God created the heavens and earth. Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, and God's spirit hovered over the water.

God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God divided light from darkness. God called light "day," and the darkness he called "night." Evening came and morning came: the first day.

God said, Let there be a vault in the waters to divide the waters in two." And so it was. God made the vault, and it divided the waters above the vault from the waters under the vault. God called the vault "heaven." Evening came and morning came: the second day.

God said, "Let the waters under heaven come together into a single mass, and let dry land appear." And so it was. God called the dry land "earth" and the mass of waters "seas," and God saw that it was good.

God said, "Let the earth produce vegetation; seed-bearing plants, and fruit-bearing trees bearing fruits with their seeds inside, on the earth." And so it was. The earth produced vegetation: plants bearing seeds in their several kinds, and trees bearing fruit with their seeds inside in their several kinds. God saw that it was good. Evening came and then morning came: the third day.

God said, "Let there be lights in the vault of heaven to divide day from night, and let them indicate festivals, days and years. Let them be lights in the vault of heaven to shine on the earth." And so it was. God made the two great lights: the greater light to govern the day, the smaller light to govern the night and to divide light from darkness. God saw that it was good. Evening came and morning came: the fourth day.

God said, "Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth within the vault of heaven." And so it was. God created great sea-serpents and every kind of living creature with which the waters teem, and every kind of winged creature. God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the waters of the seas; and let the birds multiply upon the earth." Evening came and morning came: the fifth day.

God said, "Let the earth produce every kind of living creature: cattle, reptiles, and every kind of wild beast." And so it was. God made every kind of beast, every kind of cattle, and every kind of land reptile. God saw that it was good.

God said, "Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild beasts and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth."

God created man in the image of Himself; in the image of God He created them; male and female he created them.

God blessed them, saying to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all living animals on the earth." God said, "See, I give you all the seed-bearing plants that are upon the whole earth, and all the trees with seed-bearing fruit; this shall be your food. To all wild beasts, all birds of heaven and all living reptiles on earth I give all the foliage of plants for food." And so it was. God saw all that he had made, and indeed it was very good. Evening came and morning came: the sixth day.

Thus heaven and earth were completed in all their array. On the seventh day God completed the work he had been doing. He rested on the seventh day and made it holy, because on that day he rested after all his work of creating.

Such were the origins of heaven and earth when they were created.

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(Genesis 2:5-25)

At the time when Yahweh God made earth and heaven there was as yet no wild bush on the earth nor had any wild plant yet sprung up, for Yahweh God had not sent rain on the earth, nor was there any man to till the soil. However, a flood was rising from the earth and watering all the surface of the soil. Then he breathed into his nostrils a breath of life and thus man became a living being.

Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, which is in the east, and there he put the man he had fashioned. Yahweh God caused to spring up from the soil every kind of tree, enticing to look at and good to eat, with the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden. A river flowed from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided to make four streams. The first is name the Pishon, and this encircles the whole land of Havilah where there is gold. The gold of this land is pure; bdellum [an aromatic resin] and onyx stone are found there. The second river is the Gihon, and this encircles the whole land of Cush. The third river is named the Tigris, and this flows to the east of Ashur [Assyria]. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

Yahweh God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and take care of it. Then Yahweh God gave the man this admonission, "You may eat indeed of all the trees in the garden. Nevertheless of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you are not to eat, for on the day you eat of it you shall most surely die."

Yahweh God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helpmate." So from the soil of Yahweh God fashioned all the wild beasts and all the birds of heaven. These he brought to the man to see what he could call them; each one was to bear the name the man would give it. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of heven and all the wild beasts. But no helpmate suitable for man was found for him. So Yahweh God made the man fall into a deep sleep. And while he slept, he took one of the ribs and enclosed it in flesh. Yahweh God built the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. The man exclaimed:

"This at last is bone from my bones
and flesh from my flesh;
This is to be called woman
for this was taken from man."

This is why a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife and they become one body.