A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Genesis 1
Genesis 1 is the opening chapter of the Bible and the Bible's account of how God creates the world. The 31-verse chapter describes creation as a structured, week-long sequence in which God speaks the world into existence one stage at a time.
The chapter opens with the famous line "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." The earth is initially formless and empty, with darkness over the deep and the Spirit of God hovering over the waters. Then God begins to speak.
The first three days set up the structure of the world. On day one, God creates light and separates it from darkness, calling them day and night. On day two, God separates the waters above from the waters below, forming the sky. On day three, the waters below gather into seas and dry land appears; God commands the land to produce vegetation, seed-bearing plants, and fruit trees.
The next three days fill that structure with inhabitants. On day four, God makes the sun, moon, and stars to mark seasons, days, and years. On day five, God fills the waters with sea creatures and the sky with birds. On day six, God creates land animals and then humans, male and female, made in God's image and given authority over the rest of creation. God blesses them and commands them to be fruitful and multiply.
After each act of creation, the chapter notes that God saw it was good. The chapter closes with the entire creation declared "very good" and the sixth day complete.
Verse 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Verse 2. Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
Verse 3. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Verse 4. And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
Verse 5. God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
Verse 6. And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, to separate the waters from the waters.”
Verse 7. So God made the expanse and separated the waters beneath it from the waters above. And it was so.
Verse 8. God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
Verse 9. And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so.
Verse 10. God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of waters He called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
Verse 11. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind.” And it was so.
Verse 12. The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
Verse 13. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
Verse 14. And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years.
Verse 15. And let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth.” And it was so.
Verse 16. God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well.
Verse 17. God set these lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth,
Verse 18. to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
Verse 19. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
Verse 20. And God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”
Verse 21. So God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters teemed according to their kinds, and every winged bird after its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Verse 22. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
Verse 23. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
Verse 24. And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, land crawlers, and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.
Verse 25. God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that crawls upon the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Verse 26. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
Verse 27. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Verse 28. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”
Verse 29. Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food.
Verse 30. And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth—everything that has the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
Verse 31. And God looked upon all 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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