Genesis1-4:16
TheBiblical story of the Creation of the Universe and the Fall of Man
The following excerpt is from the AuthorizedVersion of 1611. (This is also known as the "King James Version,"because it was commissioned by King James I of England, who lived 1566-1625,and reigned from 1603 until his death. It is the translation that, ever since,because of its power of phrasing, has had the greatest impact on Englishliterature in general.)
[From] The First Book of Moses,Called Genesis
Chapter 1
IN the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon theface of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the lightfrom the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And theevening and the morning were the first day.
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and letit divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were underthe firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it wasso.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning werethe second day.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together untoone place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together ofthe waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, andthe fruit tree yielding fruit after is kind, whose seed is in itself,upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed afterhis kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, afterhis kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven todivide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, andfor days, and years:
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give lightupon the earth: and it was so.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and thelesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon theearth.
18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light fromthe darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creaturethat hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the openfirmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth,which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every wingedfowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill thewaters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after hiskind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and itwas so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle aftertheir kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: andGod saw that it was good.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and letthem have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, andover the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing thatcreepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God createdhe him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply,and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of thesea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth uponthe earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which isthe upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is thefruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and toevery thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, Ihave given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was verygood. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Chapter 2
THUS the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he restedon the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it hehad rested from all his work which God created and made.
4 And these are the generations of the heavens and of the earth whenthey were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb ofthe field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon theearth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of theground.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathedinto his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put theman whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that ispleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst ofthe garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it wasparted, and became into four heads.
11 The name of the first is Pison: that is which compasseth the wholeland of Havilah, where there is gold;
12 And the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium andthe onyx stone.
13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it thatcompasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
14 And the name of the third river is Kiddekel: that is itwhich goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden todress it and to keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the gardenthou mayest freely eat:
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat ofit: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should bealone; I will make him a help meet for him.
19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, andevery fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he wouldcall them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that wasthe name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and toevery beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; andhe took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof.
22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, andbrought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of myflesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleaveunto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Chapter 3
NOW the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LordGod had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eatof every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the treesof the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall beopened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that itwas pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make onewise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto herhusband with her; and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they werenaked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the coolof the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LordGod amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the Lord god called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where artthou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because Iwas naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eatenof the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, shegave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this thatthou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thouart cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field: uponthy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seedand her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thyconception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shallbe to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thywife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shaltnot eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shaltthou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eatthe herb of the field:
19 In the sweat of thy face shat thou eat bread, till thou return unto theground; for out of it was thou taken: for dust thou art, and to dustshalt thou return.
20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of allliving.
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, andclothed them.
22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to knowgood and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the treeof life, and eat, and live for ever:
23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till theground from whence he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Edencherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of thetree of life.
Chapter 4
AND Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, Ihave gotten a man from the Lord.
2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, butCain was a tiller of the ground.
3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit ofthe ground an offering unto the Lord.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fatthereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was verywroth, and his countenance fell.
6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thycountenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well,sin lieth at the door: and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shaltrule over him.
8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they werein the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
9 And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And hesaid, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood criethunto me from the ground.
11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened hermouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.
12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee herstrength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
13 And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I canbear.
14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; andfrom thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in theearth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shallslay me.
15 And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeanceshall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain lest anyfinding him should kill him.
16 And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land ofNod, on the east of Eden.
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25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his nameSeth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel,whom Cain slew.
26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his nameEnos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.
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Thispage last updated 25 August 2001.
