1 In the beginning, God[fn] created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty and darkness covered the surface of the depth waters and God’s spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and light came into existence,[ref] 4 and God observed that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God named the light daytime, and the darkness he named nighttime. Then evening came, and later morning came, and that was the end of the first day.

6 Then God said, “Let there be a large space in the middle of the waters, and let it separate the two lots of waters.”[ref] 7 So God made the large space and separated between the waters that were underneath from the waters that were above it. Everything happened exactly as he commanded, 8 and he named the space sky. Then evening came, and later morning came, and that was the end of the second day.

9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered to one place, and let the dry ground appear.” Everything happened exactly as he commanded, 10 and he named the ground that appeared land, and he named the gathered waters seas, and he saw that what he had done was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the land sprout vegetation: every plant yielding seed, every fruit tree bearing its own fruit that has its seed inside it, on the earth.” Everything happened exactly as he commanded, 12 so the land started producing vegetation, every plant producing its own seed, and every tree bearing fruit that has its seed inside it. And God saw that what he had done was good. 13 Then evening came, and later morning came, and that was the end of the third day.

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the sky to separate daytime from nighttime, so they’ll be signs, and for indicating seasons, and for tracking days and years. 15 They must function as lights in the sky that shine light on the earth.” Everything happened exactly as he commanded, 16 so God made the two large lights, the larger, brighter light to rule the day, and the smaller light to rule the night, and he also made the stars. 17 He put those lights in the sky to shine light on the earth, 18 and to oversee the daytime and the nighttime, and to distinguish between the light and the darkness. And God saw that what he had done was good. 19 Then evening came, and later morning came, and that was the end of the fourth day.

20 Then God said, “Let the waters be full of with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly in the sky above the earth.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every kind of living creature that moves which the waters swarm with, and every kind of winged bird. And God saw that what he had done was good, 22 and he blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” 23 Then evening came, and later morning came, and that was the end of the fifth day.

24 Then God said, “Let the land bring forth every kind of living creature: livestock and every crawling creature and every kind of living thing on the earth.” Everything happened exactly as he commanded, 25 so he made every kind of creature of the earth, and every kind of livestock, and every kind of crawling creature on the ground. And God saw that what he had done was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds in the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every creature moving on the earth.”[ref] 27 Then God created humankind in his image, yes, created in the image of God—male and female he created them.[ref] 28 Then God blessed them and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and take control of it. You’re in charge of the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 Then God said, “Look, I’ve given you every plant throughout the whole earth that yields seed, and every tree that has fruit with a seed or seeds inside it. They will be yours for food, 30 and to every living thing on the earth, and to every bird in the sky, and to everything moving on the earth that has living breath in it, I’ve given every green plant for food.” Everything happened exactly as he commanded, 31 and he saw everything that he’d made, and wow, it was very good. Then evening came, and later morning came, and that was the end of the sixth day.

2 So the heavens and the earth were completed, along with everything in them. 2 By the seventh day God had finished his work, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he’d done.[ref] 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and declared it to be different from the other days, because on that first Saturday, he rested from all his work of creating.