The Bible

In the beginning, before time had a name, there was only God and the deep dark nothing. Then God spoke—let there be light—and light tore through the shadows like a promise kept. God saw it was good, and called the light day, the darkness night. That was the first day. On the second, God stretched a vast dome across the waters, separating sky from sea, breathing room into the chaos. The third day, dry land rose from the deep, and God carpeted it with green—grass, trees heavy with fruit, life pushing upward in every direction. Good, God said again. Then came the fourth day, and God hung lights in the sky—the sun to rule the day, the moon and stars to guard the night, marking seasons and years like a great celestial clock. On the fifth, the waters teemed with fish and the skies filled with wings—creatures darting and soaring, multiplying in joyful abundance. God blessed them. The sixth day brought land animals—cattle, wild beasts, everything that crawls or runs. And then, the crown of it all: God shaped humanity in divine image, male and female, breathing into them the same creative spark that lit the stars. God gave them the earth to tend and keep, every green thing for food. And God looked at everything made, and it was very good. On the seventh day, God rested—not from exhaustion, but from completion. The work was done, the world was born, and rest became holy.

So, the heavens and the earth were finished, and God rested on the seventh day. Then God planted a garden in Eden, a lush paradise watered by a river that split into four. God placed the man there to tend it, with every tree for food except one—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God said, “You may eat from any tree except that one. The day you eat from it, you will surely die.” Then God made every animal and bird, bringing them to the man to name. But none was a suitable companion for him. So God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, took one of his ribs, and fashioned it into a woman. The man said, “This is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.” That’s why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Now the serpent was more cunning than any other beast. He asked the woman, “Did God really say you couldn’t eat from any tree?” She answered, “We can eat from all but the one in the middle. God said if we touch it, we’ll die.” The serpent replied, “You won’t die. God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will open and you’ll be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw the fruit was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then their eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. That evening, they heard God walking in the garden. They hid among the trees. God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” God asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree I commanded you not to?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit, and I ate it.” Then God asked the woman, “What is this you have done?” She said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” So God cursed the serpent to crawl on its belly and eat dust. To the woman, God said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” To the man, God said, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” The man named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. God made garments of skin for them and clothed them. Then God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So God banished them from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.