The seventh day
So the heavens and the earth were finished, and everything in them. By the seventh day God had finished the work He'd been doing, and on the seventh day He stopped. He rested from all of it. And God blessed the seventh day and set it apart, because on it He rested from all the work of making.
So the heavens and the earth were finished, and everything in them.
By the seventh day God had finished the work He'd been doing, and on the seventh day He stopped. He rested from all of it.
And God blessed the seventh day and set it apart, because on it He rested from all the work of making.
Dust and breath
This is the story of the heavens and the earth when they were made — the day the Lord God made earth and sky. There was nothing growing out there yet — no shrub, no green shoot — because the Lord God hadn't sent rain on the earth, and there was nobody to work the ground. But water came up out of the earth and soaked the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed the breath of life into him. And the man became a living thing.
This is the story of the heavens and the earth when they were made — the day the Lord God made earth and sky.
There was nothing growing out there yet — no shrub, no green shoot — because the Lord God hadn't sent rain on the earth, and there was nobody to work the ground.
But water came up out of the earth and soaked the whole surface of the ground.
Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed the breath of life into him. And the man became a living thing.
The garden
And the Lord God planted a garden out east, in Eden, and He put the man He'd formed in it. The Lord God grew every kind of tree out of the ground — good to look at, good to eat from. And in the middle of the garden, the tree of life, and the tree of knowing good and bad. A river ran out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it split into four. The first is the Pishon. It runs right round Havilah, where there's gold. Good gold, that country. Aromatic resin there too, and onyx. The second river is the Gihon. It runs right round Cush. The third is the Tigris, running east of Ashur. And the fourth is the Euphrates. So the Lord God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to work it and look after it.
And the Lord God planted a garden out east, in Eden, and He put the man He'd formed in it.
The Lord God grew every kind of tree out of the ground — good to look at, good to eat from. And in the middle of the garden, the tree of life, and the tree of knowing good and bad.
A river ran out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it split into four.
The first is the Pishon. It runs right round Havilah, where there's gold.
Good gold, that country. Aromatic resin there too, and onyx.
The second river is the Gihon. It runs right round Cush.
The third is the Tigris, running east of Ashur. And the fourth is the Euphrates.
So the Lord God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to work it and look after it.
One instruction
And the Lord God gave the man an instruction. “You can eat from any tree in the garden. But not the tree of knowing good and bad. Don't eat from that one. The day you eat from it, you'll die.”
And the Lord God gave the man an instruction. “You can eat from any tree in the garden.
But not the tree of knowing good and bad. Don't eat from that one. The day you eat from it, you'll die.”
Naming the animals
And the Lord God said, “It's not good for the man to be on his own. I'll make him a partner, someone to match him.” So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he'd call them. Whatever the man called each living thing, that was its name. So the man named the livestock, and the birds, and every wild animal. But for the man, no partner turned up to match him.
And the Lord God said, “It's not good for the man to be on his own. I'll make him a partner, someone to match him.”
So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he'd call them. Whatever the man called each living thing, that was its name.
So the man named the livestock, and the birds, and every wild animal. But for the man, no partner turned up to match him.
At last
So the Lord God put the man into a deep sleep, and while he slept He took one of his ribs and closed the flesh over. And out of the rib the Lord God had taken from the man, He made a woman, and He brought her to the man. And the man said, “This one — at last. Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. She'll be called ‘woman’, because she was taken out of man.” That's why a man leaves his father and mother and holds on to his wife, and the two of them become one. The man and his wife were both naked, and it didn't bother them at all.
So the Lord God put the man into a deep sleep, and while he slept He took one of his ribs and closed the flesh over.
And out of the rib the Lord God had taken from the man, He made a woman, and He brought her to the man.
And the man said, “This one — at last. Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. She'll be called ‘woman’, because she was taken out of man.”
That's why a man leaves his father and mother and holds on to his wife, and the two of them become one.
The man and his wife were both naked, and it didn't bother them at all.