Genesis 1-2
Genesis 1
The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was [a] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [b] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Genesis 2
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested [c] from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Adam and Eve
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens- 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth [d] and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth [e] and there was no man to work the ground, 6 but streams [f] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground- 7 the LORD God formed the man [g] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin [h] and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. [i] 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
But for Adam [j] no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs [k] and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib [l] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman, [m] ‘
for she was taken out of man.”
24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
February 8th, 2010 at 6:50 am
Well, the Creation story certainly seems like an appropriate “beginning” to our journey together through the Scriptures! With the advances in technology that allow us to peer ever deeper into the deepest ocean, detect and magnify the smallest subatomic particles, and reach farther into the mind-boggling vastness of the known universe, I share in the awe and wonder that early man must have felt as he gazed up at the starry sky and acknowledged that God made this all, and it is good. I too thirst to better understand and know the world, the nature of our relationships with one another, and the One who is greater than us, who made all of this come into existence by the sheer power of His Word.
As we start our own “Day 1″ with this reading plan, I have my own hopes and fears to take to the Lord. Will it be worth it and will I act like it’s worth it? What does He have to say to us? Will we be able to hear it, to obey it, to understand it? How will we encourage each other and handle miscommunication, disagreement, and failure as we wrestle with the Word together?
As I sit here in the quiet of the early morning, I’m reminded to take this a day at a time, and to trust in the Lord, for He is good.
What’s He saying to you?
February 8th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
I have always wondered about why Chapter 1 seems to have a different timeline than Chapter 2. I’m sure that this question has been asked a lot – does anyone know what the plausible answers are? Specifically, in the first account, plants and animals were created before humans, but in the second, Adam was formed before any of these. Any insight would be appreciated!
February 8th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
About your question Minho, Old Testament Biblical scholars don’t agree on the particulars, but as a general whole (and I say this gingerly) hypothesize that the Pentateuch (Genesis included) was compiled from more than one source. According to this theory, the Genesis 1 account is from one source while the Genesis 2 account is from another hence the differences in the creation account.
Now stepping away from the ivory tower of scholarship, my question as I read this is similar to yours. What is the purpose of telling the creation story twice, but in different ways? My gut (real scholarly huh?) says that the two accounts are two different perspectives that are trying to highlight two different things or points from the one event of the creation. What those two points are though, well, I’ve been reading and re-reading Genesis 1-2 for the last few hours trying to figure that out. Help?
February 8th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
i’ve always found it pretty amazing that adam had the energy and creativity to name all the different types of flora and fauna. and i will call you … “osprey!” and i will call you … “orange!” i wonder how long that took him.
February 9th, 2010 at 8:05 am
@ alinna:
At the risk of sounding, really bizarro… Some people speculate that Adam was some sort of super-ish-human. We already know that people back then lived hundreds of years, possibly explainable to a more pure genetic pool, as well as the lack of disease at the start until sin creeped in.
Adam may have been able to talk to animals. He brain also might have been able to work faster than ours. Super adam.
Things were very different back in Eden, especially considering the perfect climate that would allow for Adam and Eve to walk around naked all the time. disturbing, eh?
February 11th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
In the first chapter, it says that God thought the light was “good.”
Does anyone know the original Hebrew word for that good? What did it mean back then, without any metric for what was “bad?”
And surely, it wasn’t the same “good” as the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
February 14th, 2010 at 8:53 pm
The word is tov, which has a range of meaning: “This root refers to “good” or “goodness” in its broadest senses. Five general areas of meaning can be noted: 1) practical, economic, or material good, 2) abstract goodness such as desirability, pleasantness, and beauty, 3) quality or expense, 4) moral goodness, and 5) technical philosophical good.” (Theological Wordbook of the OT). In Gen. 2:9, the word used in “good for food” and “knowledge of good and evil” are the same – tov. So in each instance, it can carry a nuanced meaning.
Interesting question about “good” being compared to “evil.” I think when we look at it we see God defining the terms, and when he created it all, it was as it ought to be…