1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. God's Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. 5God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." There was evening and there was morning, one day. 6God said, "Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." 7God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8God called the expanse "sky." There was evening and there was morning, a second day. 9God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;" and it was so. 10God called the dry land "earth," and the gathering together of the waters he called "seas." God saw that it was good. 11God said, "Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed in it, on the earth;" and it was so. 12The earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with its seed in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 13There was evening and there was morning, a third day. 14God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; 15and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the earth;" and it was so. 16God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars. 17God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the earth, 18and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. 19There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. 20God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky." 21God created the large sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good. 22God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." 23There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. 24God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;" and it was so. 25God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good. 26God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him; male and female he created them. 28God blessed them. God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." 29God said, "Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. 30To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;" and it was so. 31God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.
The Book ofGenesis 1Chapter I 1
· 31 verses · 4 minute read
About this chapter
Genesis 1 — Creation: In the Beginning God Created
Genesis 1 is the foundation upon which all Scripture rests. In just thirty-one verses, the text presents God as the sovereign Creator who orders chaos into cosmos through His word. The Hebrew verb bara—to create—appears exclusively with God as its subject, never with human beings, underscoring the absolute originality of the divine act. The structure of six days is not modern science but theological poetry: three days of formation (light, sky, earth) and three days of population (sun and moon, birds and fish, animals and humanity). The climax is not matter itself, but the human being—man and woman created in the image of God (tselem elohim)—the sole creature who reflects the Creator Himself. Each stage receives the refrain "and God saw that it was good" (tov), culminating in "very good" on the sixth day. Genesis 1 stands in sharp contrast to the creation myths of neighboring cultures: there is no struggle between gods here, no blood spilled to fashion the world. All proceeds from the ordered speech of one personal God, who rests on the seventh day not from exhaustion, but as an act of consecration. This opening chapter declares that creation is neither accident nor the product of divine conflict—it is the deliberate, purposeful work of a God whose very nature is goodness, order, and life-giving power.
Traditionally ascribed to Moses in the fifteenth century BC, or compiled after the Babylonian Exile according to modern scholarship, Genesis 1 directly confronts the creation myths of Mesopotamia (Enuma Elish) and Egypt. For Israel newly liberated from slavery, the message was urgent: the God who created the universe is the same God who set them free.
Read this when you need to remember that you were made with intention, in the image of God, and that chaos does not have the final word.
Key verses in Genesis 1
Genesis 1:1Genesis 1:3Genesis 1:26
Explore each verse of Genesis 1
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