01-Genesis

And it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, `Abraham!’ And he answered, `Here I am.’ He said, `Please take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love (your heart’s delight), and travel to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you.’

So Abraham rose early the next morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his servants with him, and his son Isaac.  He split the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place that God had shown him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his servants, `Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go up there; we will worship, and then we will return to you.’

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. He himself carried the fire and the knife; and the two of them walked on together. Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, `Father!’ And he answered, `Here I am, my son.’  Isaac said, `Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’ Abraham said, `God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.’  And the two of them walked on together.

When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.  But an angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, `Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, `Here I am.’ He said, `Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him;  for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only beloved son  from me.’ And when Abraham looked up, he saw a ram behind him, caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in the place of his son. And Abraham named the place Yahweh-yired (The LORD will provide); as it is said to this day, `On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.’

The angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, `By Myself I swear, says the LORD: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, whom you love, I will indeed bless you, and I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.  And through your descendants, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.’  Abraham then returned to his servants, and they departed together for Beer-sheba; and Abraham lived at Beer-sheba.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  And the earth was unformed and empty, with darkness over the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and light came into being.  God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light Day and the darkness Night.  And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”  And God made the expanse and divided the waters which were above the expanse from the waters that were below the expanse, and so it came to pass.  God called the expanse Heaven.  And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

And God said, “Let the waters under heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.”  And so it came to pass.  God called the dry land Earth; and the gathered waters, he called Seas.  And God saw that it was good.

And God said, “Let the earth sprout grass, plant yielding seed, and fruit trees producing fruit in which is their seed, each after its kind, upon the earth.  And so it came to pass.  The earth sprouted grass, plant yielding seed after its kind, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, after its kind.  And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years.  And let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth. And so it came it pass.

And God fashioned two great lights – the greater light to rule the day and the smaller light to rule the night; and the stars.  And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness.  And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

And God said, “Let the waters swarm with multitudes of living creatures, and let birds fly over the earth and across the face of the expanse of the heavens.  And God created great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, and with which the waters teem, after its own kind, and every winged bird after its kind.  And God saw that it was good.

And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas and let birds multiply on the earth.  And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kinds:  cattle, creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kinds, and so it came to pass.  And God created the beasts of the earth after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creeps upon the earth after its kind.  And God saw that it was good.

And God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.  And so God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them:  male and female he created them.

And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.  And have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant bearing seed which is upon the face of the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit.  To you it shall be for food.  And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to every thing that creeps upon the earth, every thing that has a living soul, I have given every green plant for food.”  And so it came to pass.

And God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good.  And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.