“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1

In the very beginning, there was only God. There was no earth, oceans or fields, no plants or animals and no people. There were no stars in the sky. There was no sun or moon. But there was God.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. But, at first, the earth was without form and empty. Everything was dark, and the whole world was covered by water. But the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God called the light day and the dark night. This God did on the first day.

On the second day, God created the air and the skies. He put the air between the waters which covered the earth and the water which was in the clouds above the earth. God called the skies “heaven.”

On the third day, God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. God also commanded the earth to grow grass and trees and other plants which would produce fruit and seeds so more plants would grow, and it happened just as God commanded.

On the fourth day, God created the sun and moon and the stars and put them in the heavens so that we can tell time and seasons and days and years.

On the fifth day, God created all the sea animals and the birds which fly through the air. He created all the fish and the great whales and all the different kinds of birds. God did this by His almighty Word. When He said, “Let there be,” it happened just as He planned.

On the sixth day, God created all the land animals – animals like cows and horses, dogs and cats. He made the dinosaurs and all the other animals in the world. And, on each day, when God looked at what He made, He saw that it was good.

But God was not done with His creation, on the sixth day, God also made the first man and woman.

God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” God made man to be holy like God, to know God and to love Him. God made the first man by forming his body from the dust of the ground. The Bible says, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”

But Adam, the first man, was alone. God brought all the animals to Adam and Adam gave them names, but there was no woman for Adam.

God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” This means that God was planning to make a helper for Adam who was made for him. The Bible tells us that God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. While Adam was sleeping, God took one of Adam’s ribs and used it to make a woman for Adam and brought her to Adam to be his wife.

When Adam saw her, he said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

When God looked at all that He had created and made, He saw that it was very good. There was no sin and no evil. There was no sickness, and there was no death.

God put Adam and Eve in a garden He had made called Eden. God put them there to take care of the garden.

God put two special trees in middle of the garden: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life.

God told Adam that he could eat of any tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warned Adam that if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would die – he would no longer be holy like God or love and trust in Him, and his body, too, would die. God didn’t want Adam and Eve to disobey Him and die, because He had made them to live forever.

Genesis 1-2

(New King James Version)

Genesis 1

The History of Creation

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 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. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Genesis 2

1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

4 This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Life in God’s Garden

8 The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

18 And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.

23 And Adam said:

“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Questions to Consider

1. When did God create the heavens and the earth? How did He create all things?

2. What did God make on each day of creation?

3. How many days did God work, creating? What did He do on the Seventh Day?

4. How did God create Adam? How did He create Eve?

5. In whose image did God create Adam and Eve? What is the image of God?

6. What did Adam say of Eve when God made her and brought her to Adam?

7. What does the creation of woman for the man have to do with marriage today?

“By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Hebrews 11:3

[Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]