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WHY WAS THIS Genesis tells us how God created the universe and
BOOK WRITTEN? human beings. It also covers the special promises God
made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
WHAT DO WE LEARN God created all things. He loves people, but he will
ABOUT GOD IN THIS BOOK? punish sin. God promises to save people who trust him.
WHO ARE THE KEY PEOPLE Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and
IN THIS BOOK? Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel, and Joseph
T H E B E G I NN I N G
1:1
God was the only one 1 In the beg inning God created the heavens and the
earth. 2Now the e arth was formless and empt y, dark
ness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of
in the beginning.
Although everything else has a God was hovering over the waters.
beginning, God has always been 3 And God said, Let there be l ight, and there was l ight.
around. The Bible describes him as 4G od saw that the l ight was good, and he sepa rat
everlasting or eternal. That means ed the light from the darkness. 5God called the light
he has no beginning, and he has day, and the darkness he c alled night. And t here
no end. was evening, and there was morningthe f irst day.
6 And God said, Let t here be a v ault bet ween the waters
1:331 to separate water from water. 7So God made the vault
There was an order and sepa rated the water under the v ault from the wa
to creation. ter above it. And it was so. 8God called the vault sky.
On the first three days, God formed And there was evening, and there was morningthe
creation with light, water and sky, second day.
land and vegetation. On the final 9 And God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered
three days, God filled creation with to one place, and let dry g round appear. And it was
light givers, fish and birds, and so. 10God c alled the dry g round land, and the gath
animals and humans. ered waters he called seas. And God saw that it was
good.
11Then God said, Let the land produce vegetation:
1:5 seed-bearing p lants and trees on the land that bear
Creation took six days. fruit with seed in it, according to their various k inds.
Each day could have been 24hours, And it was so. 12 T he land produced vegetation: plants
just like we understand a day to bearing seed according to their k inds and t rees bear
beor the word day could have ing f ruit with seed in it according to t heir k inds. And
represented a very long period of God saw that it was good. 13A nd t here was evening,
time. and there was morningthe third day.
14 And God said, Let there be l ights in the vault of the sky
to sepa rate the day from the night, and let them serve
as signs to mark sacred times, and days and y ears,
15a nd let them be l ights in the v ault of the sky to give
Parallel Days
Genesis 1
Day 1: Light Day 4: Sun and moon
Day 2: Water and sky Day 5: Fish and birds
Day 3: Plant life Day 6: Animals and people
den of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16A nd the Lord
God commanded the man, You are free to eat from any
tree in the garden; 17but you must not eat from the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it
you will certainly die.
18T he Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild
animals the Lord God had made. He said to the
woman, Did God really say, You must not eat from
any tree in the garden?
2T he woma n said to the serpent, We may eat f ruit
from the t rees in the garden, 3but God did say, You
must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the midd le of
the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.
4 You will not certainly die, the serpent said to
tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and 3:16
also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate The conversation with the
it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, serpent
and he ate it. 7T hen the eyes of both of them were o pened, Eve was the one who talked to the
and they rea lized they were naked; so they sewed fig l eaves serpent. And it seems from verse six
together and made coverings for themselves. that Adam was with Eve. If he wasnt
8T hen the man and his wife h eard the sound of the there, then he made the decision to
Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool disobey without the pressure from
of the day, and they hid from the Lord God a mong the the serpent. They were both guilty
trees of the garden. 9But the Lord God c alled to the man, of disobeying God.
Where are you?
10He ans wered, I h eard you in the garden, and I was
a fraid because I was naked; so I hid.
3:4
11A nd he said, Who told you that you were na The serpents lies
ked?
Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not The serpent told Adam and Eve that
to eat from? their eyes would be opened and
12T he man said, The woma n you put here with me they would become like God. He
she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ateit. said they would know good from
13T hen the Lord God said to the woma n, What is this evil. Their eyes were opened, but
you have done? the result was different from what
The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. the serpent promised.
14S o the Lord God said to the serp ent, Bec ause you
when Adam died, his body would come the mother of all the living.
go back to the dust of the ground. 21T he Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and
his wife and c lothed them. 22A nd the Lord God said,
4:35 The man has now become like one of us, knowing good
and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and
Abels offering vs. Cains
take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever. 23So
offering
the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to
Both a plant offering and an animal
work the g round from which he had been taken. 24 A fter he
offering were acceptable to God,
d rove the man out, he p laced on the east sided of the Gar
but Cains offering was not made
den of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back
with a pure heart. He did not give and forth to g uard the way to the tree of life.
his best. Abel pleased God because
he offered his best animals. CAIN AND ABEL
a15Or strike b20,1Or The man c20 Eve probably means living.
(left) PhotoDisc: Siede
d24Or placed in front e1 Cain sounds like the Hebrew for brought
Preis; (right) Eric Isselee/
Shutterstock forth or acquired. f1Or have acquired
genesis 4:14 7
Abel?
I d ont know, he replied. AmI my brothers keeper?
10T he Lord said, What have you done? Listen! Your 4:1112
brothers b lood c ries out to me from the g round. 11Now Gods curse on Cain
you are under a curse and driven from the g round, which Cain had made his living as a
opened its mouth to receive your brothers blood from your farmer, growing food from the
hand. 12W hen you work the g round, it will no longer y ield ground. But now the ground was
its c rops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the soaked with his brothers blood,
earth. so God said the ground would no
13Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is more than
longer produce any crops for Cain.
I can bear. 14Today you are driving me from the land, and Instead of staying with his family,
a8 Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Masoretic Text Cain was forced to wander the
does not have Lets go out to the field. earth.
SE T T I N G O F G ENES I S
Bl a ck Se a
Ar a r a t
M t.
Ed en ? Caspian
Sea
T U R K E Y
Harran
I R A N
Ti g
Za
Eu p
ris
SYRIA hra gr
os
R.
LEBANON tes M
R ts
Mediterranean .
.
Sea
I R A Q Babel
ISRAEL
Bethel Shechem
Jerusalem
Ur of the
Hebron Chaldeans
Beersheba Ed e n?
JORDAN P
G ers
S A U D I ul ia
f n
Si na i
A R A B I A
0 200 km.
Re d
Ni
0 200 miles
le
Sea
R.
8 genesis 4:15
Marrying more than one the other Zil lah. 20Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the
woman father of t hose who live in tents and r aise livestock. 21His
Having more than one wife was brothers name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play
common in ancient times, but God stringed instruments and pipes. 22Zillah also had a son,
created marriage to be between Tubal-Cain, who forged all k inds of tools out ofc bronze
one man and one woman, like and iron. Tubal-Cains sister was Naamah.
23L amech said to his wives,
Adam and Eve. Having more
than one wife sometimes caused Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
problems for husbands in Old wives of Lamech, hear my words.
Testament times. I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.
24 If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times.
25Adam made love to his wife a gain, and she gave birth
to a son and n amed him Seth,d saying, God has granted
me another child in place of Abel, since Cain k illed him.
26S eth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.
5:532
5 This is the written account of Adams fami ly line.
the length of human life gradually own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.
shortened. 4A fter Seth was born, Adam l ived 800 years and had other
W I C K E D NESS I N T H E W O R L D
6:7 the earth, and his h eart was deeply troubled. 7So the Lord
God destroyed other said, I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race
creatures beside humans I have createdand with them the animals, the b irds and
with the flood. the creat ures that move a long the groundfor I regret that
Human sin contaminated I have made them. 8But Noah found favor in the eyes of
everything God had made. So the the Lord.
animal world also shared in Gods
N OAH AN D TH EFLO O D
judgment.
9T his is the account of Noah and his fami ly.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people
of his time, and he walked faithf ully with God. 10Noah had
three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
11Now the e arth was corr upt in G ods sight and was full
of violence. 12God saw how corr upt the e arth had become,
for all the people on earth had corr upted t heir ways. 13So
God said to Noah, I am going to put an end to all peo
ple, for the e arth is f illed with violence because of them. I
6:14 am surely going to destroy both them and the e arth. 14So
The ark make yourself an ark of cypressa wood; make r ooms in it
This ark is the ship God told Noah and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15T his is how you are
to build. It was about 450feet long, to b uildit: The ark is to be three hund red cubits long, fift y
75feet wide and 45feet high. cubits wide and thirt y cubits high.b 16Make a roof for it,
leaving below the roof an opening one cubitc
high all a round.d Put a door in the side of
the ark and make lower, midd le and
upp er decks. 17I am going to b ring
floodwaters on the earth to destroy all
life under the heavens, every creat ure
that has the b reath of life in it. Every
thing on earth will perish. 18But I will
establish my covenant with you, and you
will enter the arkyou and your sons
and your wife and your sons w ives
with you. 19You are to bring into the
ark two of all living creat ures, male
and female, to keep them a live with
you. 20Two of every kind of bird, of
every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that
moves a long the g round will come to you to be kept a live.
21You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and
a14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. b15That
is, about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high or about 135 meters
long, 23 meters wide and 14 meters high c16 That is, about 18inches
or about 45 centimeters d16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this
clause is uncertain.
genesis 7:24 11
7 The Lord then said to Noah, Go into the ark, you and
your whole family, because I have found you righteous
in this generation. 2Take with you seven pairs of every kind 7:2
of c lean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of ev Clean and unclean animals
ery kind of unc lean animal, a male and its mate, 3and also God gave his people laws about
seven p airs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep what to eat, and he said that some
their various k inds a live throughout the earth. 4 Seven days animals were unclean or impure.
from now I will send rain on the earth for fort y days and God knew which food was the best
fort y nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every for humans to eat at that time. The
living creat ure I have made. laws would have made sense then.
5A nd Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.
(See Leviticus 5:2and Leviticus 11.)
6Noah was six hund red years old when the floodwaters
came on the earth. 7A nd Noah and his sons and his wife
and his sons w ives entered the ark to escape the waters of
7:23
the f lood. 8Pairs of c lean and unc lean animals, of b irds and
Noah brought more clean
of all creat ures that move a long the g round, 9male and fe animals on the ark.
male, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had com In addition to repopulating the
manded Noah. 10A nd after the seven days the floodwaters earth after the flood, the clean
came on the earth. animals were also used as food
11I n the six hund redth year of Noa hs life, on the sev while on the ark, and afterward as
enteenth day of the second monthon that day all the sacrifices to God.
springs of the g reat deep b urst forth, and the floodgates of
the heavens were o pened. 12A nd rain fell on the e arth fort y 7:89
days and fort y nights. How Noah got all those
13On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and animals on board the ark
Japheth, together with his wife and the w ives of his three The Bible tells us the animals came
sons, entered the ark. 14T hey had with them every wild to Noah. We dont know for sure,
animal according to its kind, all livestock according to but maybe God gave the animals
their k inds, every creature that m oves a long the g round instincts to know that a disaster was
according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, coming.
every t hing with w ings. 15Pairs of all creat ures that have
the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the
ark. 16T he animals going in were male and female of ev
ery living t hing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the
Lord shut himin.
17For fort y days the f lood kept coming on the earth, and
as the waters increased they lifted the ark high a bove the
earth. 18The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth,
and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19T hey rose
greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the
entire heavens were covered. 20The waters rose and covered
the mountains to a d epth of more than fifteen cubits.a,b
21 Every living t hing that moved on land perished birds,
livestock, wild animals, all the creat ures that swarm over
the earth, and all mank ind. 22Everything on dry land that
had the b reath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living 7:23
t hing on the face of the e arth was w iped out; people and Fish and other sea animals
animals and the creat ures that move a long the g round and were safe during the
the birds were w iped from the earth. Only Noah was left, flood.
and those with him in the ark. The Bible says only animals that
24T he waters flooded the earth for a hund red and fift y
lived on land and birds were
days. destroyed.
a20 That is, about 23feet or about 6.8 meters b20Or rose more than
fifteen cubits, and the mountains were covered
12 genesis 8:1
8:1
The story changed after
8 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals
and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he
sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. 2Now the
the flood. springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had
Before this point, the flood story been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky.
has been about Gods judgment. 3T he water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of
Now the story becomes one of the hundred and fift y days the water had gone down, 4and
redemption. When the Bible says on the seventeenth day of the seventh m onth the ark came
that God remembered Noah, to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5The waters continued
it doesnt mean that God had to recede until the tenth m onth, and on the f irst day of the
forgotten him. Instead, it means tenth m onth the tops of the mountains became visible.
that God honored his promise to 6A fter fort y days Noah o pened a window he had made
Noah. in the ark 7and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and
forth unt il the water had d ried up from the e arth. 8T hen
8:4 he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the
surface of the g round. 9But the dove c ould find nowhere
Location of the mountains
to perch because t here was water over all the surface of the
of Ararat
earth; so it ret urned to Noah in the ark. He r eached out his
This mountain range was north of hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in
Mesopotamia and east of modern the ark. 10He waited seven more days and again sent out
Turkey. the dove from the ark. 11W hen the dove ret urned to him
in the evening, t here in its beak was a freshly plucked olive
8:612 leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the
Noah sent out birds. earth. 12He waited seven more days and sent the dove out
First, Noah sent out a raven, but it again, but this time it did not ret urn to him.
13By the f irst day of the f irst m onth of Noa hs six hun
didnt give him a clear answer. The
dove ate only leaves, so it could dred and f irst year, the water had d ried up from the e arth.
better tell Noah that land and Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that
vegetation had reappeared. the surface of the g round was dry. 14 By the twent y-seventh
day of the second month the e arth was completely dry.
15T hen God said to Noah, 16Come out of the ark, you
and your wife and your sons and t heir w ives. 17Bring out
every kind of living creat ure that is with yout he birds,
the animals, and all the creatures that move a long the
g roundso they can multiply on the earth and be fruitf ul
and increase in number onit.
18S o Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife
and his sons w ives. 19A ll the animals and all the creat ures
that move a long the g round and all the birdseverything
that m oves on landcame out of the ark, one kind after
another.
20T hen Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking
Epitavi/Shutterstock some of all the c lean animals and c lean birds, he sacrif iced
burnt offerings on it. 21T he Lord smelled the pleasing
8:11 aroma and said in his h eart: Never a gain will I curse the
g round because of humans, even thougha every inc lination
Why an olive leaf is special of the human h eart is evil from childhood. And never again
Olive trees grow at lower elevation. will I destroy all living creat ures, as I have done.
The fresh leaf from the dove told
Noah that the water was low 22 As long as the earth endures,
enough for olive trees to grow seedtime and harvest,
again. cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.
a21Or humans, for
genesis 9:22 13
G O D S C O V EN A N T W I T H N O A H
8:2122
9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them,
Be fruitf ul and increase in number and fill the e arth.
2T he fear and d read of you will fall on all the beasts of the
God promised to never
again destroy all living
things.
earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creat ure that
God was pleased with Noahs
moves a long the g round, and on all the fish in the sea; they
sacrifice, but he knew that humans
are given into your h ands. 3 Every thing that lives and moves
would continue to sin. He was
about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the g reen
plants, I now give you everything. showing forgiveness and grace
4 But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in for life on earth. He promised that
it. 5A nd for your lifeblood I will surely demand an account the normal cycles of nature would
ing. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And continue until the end of time.
from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting
for the life of another human being. 9:1,7
6 Whoever Gods instructions to
sheds human blood,
Noah and his family
by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God God told Noah and his family to be
has God made mankind. fruitful and multiply and take care
of the earth, just like he had told
7A s for you, be fruitf ul and increase in number; multiply on Adam and Eve. (See Genesis 1:28.)
the earth and increase uponit.
9:23
8T hen God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 I
now establ ish my covenant with you and with your descen
dants after you 10a nd with every living creat ure that was Why animals feared
with youthe birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, humans
all those that came out of the ark with youevery living Sin brought violence into the
creat ure on earth. 11I establ ish my covenant with you: Nev world. God made humankind to
er a gain will all life be destroyed by the waters of a f lood; rule over all creation, including
never a gain will t here be a f lood to destroy the earth. the animal world. God also gave
12A nd God said, This is the sign of the cov enant I Noah permission to eat animal
am making between me and you and every living crea meat.
ture with you, a covenant for all generat ions to come: 13I
have set my rainbow in the c louds, and it will be the sign 9:4
of the covenant bet ween me and the earth. 14 W henever I Why bloody meat was not
bring c louds over the e arth and the rainbow appears in the okay to eat
clouds, 15I will remember my covenant bet ween me and you The blood of the animal
and all living creat ures of every kind. Never again will the represented its life. Since life is a
waters become a f lood to destroy all life. 16 W henever the gift from God, it must be honored.
rainbow appears in the c louds, I will see it and remember To honor that life, people were
the everlasting covenant bet ween God and all living crea required to drain the blood from
tures of every kind on the earth. the meat they were eating.
17S o God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant
I have establ ished bet ween me and all life on the earth.
9:56
T H E S O NS O F N O A H Gods judgment for
18
T he sons of Noah who came out of the ark were murder
Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) God created human beings in
19T hese were the t hree sons of Noah, and from them came his own image, so human life is
the people who were scattered over the w hole earth. precious and valuable.
20Noah, a man of the soil, proceededa to p
lant a vine
yard. 21W hen he d rank some of its wine, he became d runk
and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22Ham, the father of
Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers
a20Or soil, was the first
14 genesis 9:23
9:1216 o utside. 23But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it
across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and
The sign of the rainbow covered t heir fathers naked body. T heir faces were t urned
God knows that people tend to the other way so that they w ould not see t heir father naked.
forget things, even important 24W hen Noah awoke from his wine and found out what
things like his faithfulness. God his youngest son had done to him, 25he said,
said the rainbow is a reminder
to people that he will keep his Cursed be Canaan!
promise to never destroy the world The lowest of slaves
again with a flood. will he be to his brothers.
26He also said,
Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!
May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
27 May God extend Japhethsa territory;
may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.
28A fter the f lood Noah lived 350 years. 29Noah lived a
T H E TA B L E O F N AT I O NS
10:25 20T hese are the sons of Ham by t heir c lans and lang uag