11 First this: God created the Heavens and Earth - all you see, all you don't see. 2 Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.
3 God spoke: "Light!" And light appeared. 4 God saw that light was good and separated light from dark. 5 God named the light Day, he named the dark Night. It was evening, it was morning - Day One.
6 God spoke: "Sky! In the middle of the waters; separate water from water!" 7 God made sky. He separated the water under sky from the water above sky. And there it was: 8 he named sky the Heavens; It was evening, it was morning - Day Two.
9 God spoke: "Separate! Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place; Land, appear!" And there it was. 10 God named the land Earth. He named the pooled water Ocean. God saw that it was good. 11 God spoke: "Earth, green up! Grow all varieties of seed-bearing plants, Every sort of fruit-bearing tree." And there it was. 12 Earth produced green seed-bearing plants, all varieties, And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts. God saw that it was good. 13 It was evening, it was morning - Day Three.
14 God spoke: "Lights! Come out! Shine in Heaven's sky! Separate Day from Night. Mark seasons and days and years, 15 Lights in Heaven's sky to give light to Earth." And there it was. 16 God made two big lights, the larger to take charge of Day, The smaller to be in charge of Night; and he made the stars. 17 God placed them in the heavenly sky to light up Earth 18 And oversee Day and Night, to separate light and dark. God saw that it was good. 19 It was evening, it was morning - Day Four.
20 God spoke: "Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life! Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!" 21 God created the huge whales, all the swarm of life in the waters, And every kind and species of flying birds. God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them: "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean! Birds, reproduce on Earth!" 23 It was evening, it was morning - Day Five.
24 God spoke: "Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind: cattle and reptiles and wild animals - all kinds." And there it was: 25 wild animals of every kind, Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug. God saw that it was good.
26 God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth." 27 God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God's nature. He created them male and female. 28 God blessed them: "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth."
29 Then God said, "I've given you every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth And every kind of fruit-bearing tree, given them to you for food. 30 To all animals and all birds, everything that moves and breathes, I give whatever grows out of the ground for food." And there it was.
31 God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good! It was evening, it was morning - Day Six.
31 The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: "Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?" 2 The Woman said to the serpent, "Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. 3 It's only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'Don't eat from it; don't even touch it or you'll die.'" 4 The serpent told the Woman, "You won't die. 5 God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil."
6 When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it - she'd know everything! - she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate. 7 Immediately the two of them did "see what's really going on" - saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves. 8 When they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from God.
9 God called to the Man: "Where are you?" 10 He said, "I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid."
11 God said, "Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?" 12 The Man said, "The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it." 13 God said to the Woman, "What is this that you've done?" "The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."
14 God told the serpent: "Because you've done this, you're cursed, cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals, Cursed to slink on your belly and eat dirt all your life. 15 I'm declaring war between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers. He'll wound your head, you'll wound his heel."
16 He told the Woman: "I'll multiply your pains in childbirth; you'll give birth to your babies in pain. You'll want to please your husband, but he'll lord it over you."
17 He told the Man: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree That I commanded you not to eat from, 'Don't eat from this tree,' The very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you'll be working in pain all your life long. 18 The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you'll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting, 19 sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk, Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt."
20 The Man, known as Adam, named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.
21 God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.
22 God said, "The Man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil. What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever? Never - this cannot happen!" 23 So God expelled them from the Garden of Eden and sent them to work the ground, the same dirt out of which they'd been made. 24 He threw them out of the garden and stationed angel-cherubim and a revolving sword of fire east of it, guarding the path to the Tree-of-Life.
