Genesis

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)

Genesisis the first book ofthe Bible.It deals with thecreationof theEarth,theUniverse,animals,man,andwoman;thefall of humans from grace;thedestruction of the sinful World by flood;and other legendary events of earlyJewishandChristianhistory.

Masoretic Text

"And God said, Let there be afirmamentin the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. "(Genesis 1:6)

• בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣אאֱלֹהִ֑יםאֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃
  • Genesis 1:1
  • Translation:
    • In the beginningGodcreated theheavenand theearth.
      • KJV translation

• וַיֹּ֥אמֶראֱלֹהִ֖יםיְהִ֣י א֑וֹרוַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר׃
  • Genesis 1:3
  • Translation:
    • AndGodsaid,Let there be light:and there was light.
      • KJV translation

• וַיֹּ֣אמֶראֱלֹהִ֔יםיְהִ֥ירָקִ֖יעַבְּת֣וֹךְ הַמָּ֑יִם וִיהִ֣י מַבְדִּ֔יל בֵּ֥ין מַ֖יִם לָמָֽיִם׃
  • Genesis 1:6
  • Translation:
    • AndGodsaid, Let there be afirmamentin the midst of thewaters,and let it divide the waters from the waters.
      • KJV translation

• וְצִלָּ֣ה גַם־הִ֗וא יָֽלְדָה֙ אֶת־תּ֣וּבַל קַ֔יִןלֹטֵ֕שׁ כׇּל־חֹרֵ֥שׁ נְחֹ֖שֶׁת וּבַרְזֶ֑ל וַֽאֲח֥וֹת תּֽוּבַל־קַ֖יִן נַֽעֲמָֽה׃
  • Genesis 4:22
  • Translation:
    • And Zillah, she also bareTubalcain,an instructer of every artificer in brass andiron.
      • KJV translation

When Abram was ninety-nine years old,יהוהappeared to Abram and said to him, "I amEl Shaddai.Walk in My ways and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will make you exceedingly numerous. (Genesis 17:1-2)

• וַיְהִ֣י אַבְרָ֔ם בֶּן־תִּשְׁעִ֥ים שָׁנָ֖ה וְתֵ֣שַׁע שָׁנִ֑ים וַיֵּרָ֨איְהֹוָ֜האֶל־אַבְרָ֗ם וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֵלָיו֙ אֲנִי־–אֵ֣ל שַׁדַּ֔יהִתְהַלֵּ֥ךְ לְפָנַ֖י וֶהְיֵ֥ה תָמִֽים׃ וְאֶתְּנָ֥ה בְרִיתִ֖י בֵּינִ֣י וּבֵינֶ֑ךָ וְאַרְבֶּ֥ה אוֹתְךָ֖ בִּמְאֹ֥ד מְאֹֽד׃
  • Genesis 17:1–2
  • Translations:
    • When Abram was ninety-nine years old,יהוהappeared to Abram and said to him, "I amEl Shaddai.Walk in My ways and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will make you exceedingly numerous. "
      • JPS translation
    • And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, theLordappeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am theAlmighty God;walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
      • KJV translation
    • When Abram was ninety-nine years old, theLordappeared to him and said, "I amGod Almighty;walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers. "
      • NIV translation

• וַיַּ֥עַל מֵעָלָ֖יו אֱלֹהִ֑ים בַּמָּקֹ֖ום אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֥ר אִתֹּֽו׃
  וַיַּצֵּ֨ב יַעֲקֹ֜ב מַצֵּבָ֗ה בַּמָּקֹ֛ום אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֥ר אִתֹּ֖ו מַצֶּ֣בֶת אָ֑בֶן וַיַּסֵּ֤ךְ עָלֶ֙יהָ֙ נֶ֔סֶךְ וַיִּצֹ֥ק עָלֶ֖יהָ שָֽׁמֶן׃
  וַיִּקְרָ֨א יַעֲקֹ֜ב אֶת־שֵׁ֣ם הַמָּקֹ֗ום אֲשֶׁר֩ דִּבֶּ֨ר אִתֹּ֥ו שָׁ֛ם אֱלֹהִ֖ים בֵּֽית־אֵֽל׃
  • 35:13-15,Leningrad Codex.
  • AndGodwent up from him in the place where he talked with him. AndJacobset up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even apillar of stone:and hepouredadrink offeringthereon, and he poured oil thereon. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him,Bethel.

King James Version

Genesis 1

And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:4)

¹In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

²And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

³And God said, Let there belight:and there was light.

4And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from thedarkness.

5 And God called the lightDay,and the darkness he calledNight.And theeveningand themorningwere the first day.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of thewaters,and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7 And 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 firmamentHeaven.And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the drylandEarth; and the gathering together of thewaterscalled heSeas:and God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yieldingseed,and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his 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 to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so

16 And God made two great lights; thegreater light to rule the day,and thelesser light to rule the night:he made thestarsalso.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon 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 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21 And God created greatwhales,and every living creature that moveth, which thewatersbrought forth abundantly, after their kind, and everywinged fowlafter his 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 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 his kind,cattle,and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

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 the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Gen. 1:28)

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 the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit 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 to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.

Genesis 2

And they were bothnaked,the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. (Gen. 2:25)

1Thus the heavens and the earth we're finished, and all the host of them

2 And on the seventh day God ended his Work which he made and he rested on 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 he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

4 these are the generations

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 soul.

8 And 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 made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the 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 was parted, and became into four heads.

11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there isgold;

12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land ofEthiopia.

14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which 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 to dress it and to keep it.

20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall uponAdam,and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof:

22 and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

25 And they were bothnaked,the man and hiswife,and were not ashamed.

Genesis 3

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Gen. 3:19)

¹³And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou 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, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy 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 seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thysorrowand thy conception; in sorrow thou shaltbring forth children;and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

18 thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of EdenCherubims,and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Genesis 4

10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

¹¹And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of TubalcainwasNaamah.

Genesis 7

¹And the LORD said untoNoah,Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.²Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.

⁴For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

⁹There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

¹²And therainwas upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

Genesis 8

And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. (Gen. 8:21)

¹And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark

⁴And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

¹¹And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off

²¹And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

²²While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Genesis 9

³Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.⁴But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.⁵And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.⁶Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

¹³I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.¹⁴4And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:¹⁵And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

Genesis 10

⁸And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.⁹He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.

Genesis 11

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. (Gen. 11:9)

⁴And they said, Go to, let us build us a city anda tower,whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.⁵And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.⁶And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.⁷Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.⁸So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.⁹Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Genesis 12

¹Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:²And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:³And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 13

¹³But the men ofSodomwere wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.

¹⁵For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.¹⁶And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.¹⁷Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

Genesis 14

¹⁸And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

²¹And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.²²And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,²³That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich

Genesis 15

²And Abram said, LORD God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?

⁵And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.⁶And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

¹²And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.¹³And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;¹⁴And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

¹⁸In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from theriverofEgyptunto the great river, the riverEuphrates.

Genesis 16

¹Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

¹¹And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.¹²And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

Genesis 17

⁵Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

¹⁰0This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.¹¹And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.¹²And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.

¹⁵And God said untoAbraham,As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

Genesis 18

¹¹NowAbrahamand Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.

²⁰And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;²¹I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

²³And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?²⁴Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?²⁵That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Genesis 49

• Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel.
  • 49:4

New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures

Genesis 2

²³Then the man said: “This is at last bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh. This one will be called Woman, Because from man this one was taken.”

²⁴That is why a man will leave his father and his mother and he must stick to his wife and they must become one flesh. 25 And both of them continued to be naked, the man and his wife, and yet they did not become ashamed.

Genesis 3

¹⁵And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head, and you will strike him in the heel.

Genesis 6

• Consequently, Jehovah saw that man’s wickedness was great on the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time. Jehovah regretted that he had made men on theearth,and hisheartwas saddened. SoJehovahsaid: “I am going to wipe men whom I have created off the surface of the ground, man together with domestic animals, creeping animals, and flying creatures of the heavens, for I regret that I have made them.” ButNoahfound favor in the eyes of Jehovah.
  • 6:5-8

⁹These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.

• Yes, God looked upon the earth, and it was ruined; all flesh had ruined its way on the earth.
  • 6:12

Genesis 16

• ThenJehovah’s angel said: “I will greatly multiply your offspring, so that they will be too numerous to count.” Jehovah’s angel added: “Here you are pregnant, and you will give birth to a son, and you must name him Ish′ma·el.
  • 16:10-11

Genesis 17

• When A′bram was 99 years old,Jehovahappeared to A′bram and said to him: “I am God Almighty. Walk before me and prove yourself faultless. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you very, very much.”
  • 17:1-2

Genesis 19

• Now the two angels arrived at Sod′om by evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sod′om. When Lot caught sight of them, then he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the earth.
  • 19:1

Genesis 22

And Jehovah’s angel called toAbrahama second time from the heavens, saying: “‘By myself I swear,’ declaresJehovah,‘that because you have done this and you have not withheld your son, your only one, I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply your offspring like the stars of the heavens and like the grains of sand on the seashore, and your offspring will take possession of the gate of his enemies. And by means of your offspring all nations of the earth will obtain a blessing for themselves because you have listened to my voice.’”

• 22: 15-18,NWT

New International Version

Genesis 3

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.

⁷so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

¹⁹for dust you are and to dust you will return.

New Revised Standard Version

Genesis 4

¹Now the man knew his wife Eve

⁹I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?

¹⁰Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground!

¹⁵And the Lord put a mark on Cain

¹⁶the Land of Nod, east of Eden.

Genesis 5

¹When God created humankind, he made them in the likeness of God.²Male and female he created them

²⁴Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.

²⁷Thus all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.

New American Standard Bible

Genesis 6

¹Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, ²that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. ³Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." ⁴The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.[1]

• The Authorised Version has "There were giants in the earth" for "The Nephilim were on the earth".

¹⁴Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.

¹⁹And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.²⁰Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.

Douay–Rheims Bible

Genesis 22

¹After these things, God tempted Abraham, and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am. ²He said to him: Take thy only begotten son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of vision; and there thou shalt offer him for an holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will show thee. ³So Abraham rising up in the night, saddled his ass, and took with him two young men, and Isaac his son: and when he had cut wood for the holocaust, he went his way to the place which God had commanded him. ⁴And on the third day, lifting up his eyes, he saw the place afar off. ⁵And he said to his young men: Stay you here with the ass; I and the boy will go with speed as far as yonder, and after we have worshipped, will return to you. ⁶And he took the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he himself carried in his hands fire and a sword. And as they two went on together, ⁷Isaac said to his father: My father. And he answered: What wilt thou, son? Behold, saith he, fire and wood: where is the victim for the holocaust? ⁸And Abraham said: God will provide himself a victim for an holocaust, my son. So they went on together. ⁹And they came to the place which God had shown him, where he built an altar, and laid the wood in order upon it; and when he had bound Isaac his son, he laid him on the altar upon the pile of wood. ¹⁰And he put forth his hand, and took the sword, to sacrifice his son. ¹¹And behold, an angel of the Lord from heaven called to him, saying: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am. ¹²And he said to him: Lay not thy hand upon the boy, neither do thou any thing to him: now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake. ¹³Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind his back a ram, amongst the briers, sticking fast by the horns, which he took and offered for a holocaust instead of his son.

Quotes about Genesis

• The godKhnumis depicted... on his potter wheel... creating the body of the Pharaoh and hiskaand his eternal soul by petrifying, by using clay....[H]e kneads humanity and the gods with clay and silt....[T]his is the Genesis that we are accustomed to read in the Bible, and it is also the type of Genesis that is depicted in theQuran....Thekais the soul in eternal stone.
  • Joseph Davidovits,"Building the Pyramids of Egypt with Artificial Stones" (2008)55:10in the video from theGeopolymer Institute YouTube channeland Joseph Davidovits.

The Biblical words about the genesis of heaven and earth are not words of information but words of appreciation. The story of creation is not a description of how the world came into being but a song about the glory of the world's having come into being. ~Abraham Joshua Heschel

• As theMishnahrecords, the Rabbis of the House of Hillel and later Jewish law interpreted Genesis 1:28 to require a minimum of two children – specifically a boy and a girl, so that human creation would mirror divine creation. Couples who were able to have more children, however, were supposed to have as many as they could, based on the verse, “Sow your seed in the morning, and do not refrain from doing so in the evening,” interpreted to mean the beginning and later stages of life (Ecclesiastes11:6). This undoubtedly reflected the reality of a time when fewer children survived to adulthood.
  • Elliot N Dorff, “Moses, the prophets, and the Rabbis”,“Christianity and Family Law: An Introduction”,edited by John Witte, Jr, Gary S. Hauk, (2017),Cambridge University,p.24

• The Biblical words about the genesis of heaven and earth are not words of information but words of appreciation. The story of creation is not a description of how the world came into being but a song about the glory of the world's having come into being.
  • Abraham Joshua Heschel,inThe Wisdom of Heschel(1970), p. 150

• Certain portions of the text of the Bible, if taken literally, cannot possibly be regarded as in any way conducive to a high moral standard. In Genesis XII: 10- 20, for example, Abraham passes his wife off as his sister that Pharaoh may possess her. His motive in doing so was that his life might be spared and he be greatly rewarded. Isaac transgresses similarly and for the same reason, as stated in Genesis XXVI: 6-11. In this latter case the Lord God blessed Isaac and he becomes rich and prospers. Genesis XXVII: 1-45, recounts a most deplorable example of deliberate deceit by Jacob, who later becomes a favoured patriarch under the inspiration of the Lord.
  • Geoffrey Hodson,The Hidden Wisdom In The Holy Bible,(1963), Vol I

• ...the greatBook of Genesis—a marvellous cup filled with the “wine” of theesotericknowledge of the Sanctuaries of ancient days. Temples of theAgeless Wisdomexist to-day, even if less easily discoverable, and in them are to be found the selfsame teachings, laws, successions, Initiations and radiations of the light of Truth. World changes are not reflected in the Mysteries, which are repositories and conveyors of eternal and unchanging Ideas. A sack of corn containing a silver cup awaits every Benjamin who finds himself called by a Hierophant (Joseph) from the “famine-stricken” outer world to the “storehouse” from which an elder brother (aMaster) Who has already attained will, in prodigal abundance, supply a gift of the golden grain of eternal verities.
  • Geoffrey Hodson,The Hidden Wisdom In The Holy Bible,(1963), Vol III

• Genesis 1:28 is not acommandment,but ablessing.It does not refer to what humans must do to please God, but to what God does for and through humankind. The text says, "God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply'" (RSV). Fertility is not a command but a blessing that God gives to his creatures, to animals as well as humans (Gen. 1:22). The filling of the Earth is a gift of God'swisdomand shows forth hisgloryas Creator (Ps. 104:24, 31; Isa. 6:3).
  • Raymond C. Van Leeuwen,“Be Fruitful and Multiply” Is This a Command or Blessing?,Christianity Today,(November 12, 2001).

• If Genesis 1:28 were a ‘command’ that applied to every individual, thenPaulwould have been disobedient in his apostolic singleness. Paul and everyone else would be obligated to pursue marriage and to order their marriages to produce many descendants.
  • Raymond C. Van Leeuwen,“Be Fruitful and Multiply” Is This a Command or Blessing?,Christianity Today,(November 12, 2001).

• Who that has understanding will sup­pose that the first, and second, and third day, and the evening and the morning, ex­isted without a sun, and moon, and stars? and that the first day was, as it were, also without asky?And who is so foolish as to suppose that God, after the manner of a husbandman, planted a paradise in Eden, towards the east, and placed in it a tree of life, visible and palpable, so that one tasting of the fruit by the bodily teeth obtained life? and again, that one was a partaker of good and evil by masticating what was taken from the tree? And if God is said to walk in the paradise in the evening, and Adam to hide himself under a tree, I do not suppose that anyone doubts that these things figuratively indi­cate certain mysteries, the history having taken place in appearance, and not literally. Cain also, when going forth from the presence of God, certainly appears to thoughtful men as likely to lead the reader to inquire what is the presence of God, and what is the meaning of going out from Him.
  • Origen,On First Principles,Book 4, ch. 2, par. 16
• Yet for all this reverence, the Bible is one long celebration ofviolence.In the beginningGodcreated the heaven and the earth. 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 livingsoul.And the Lord God took one of Adam’s ribs, and made he a woman. And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. With a world population of exactly four, that works out to ahomiciderate of 25 percent, which is about a thousand times higher than the equivalent rates in Western countries today. No sooner do men and women begin to multiply than God decides they aresinfuland that the suitablepunishmentisgenocide.(InBill Cosby’s comedy sketch, a neighbor begs Noah for a hint as to why he is building an ark. Noah replies, “How long can you tread water?” ) When thefloodrecedes, God instructs Noah in its moral lesson, namely the code ofvendetta:“Whoso sheddeth man’sblood,by man shall his blood be shed.”
  • Steven Pinker,The Better Angels of Our Nature(2012)
• The next major figure in the Bible is Abraham, the spiritual ancestor ofJews,Christians,andMuslims.Abraham has a nephew, Lot, who settles inSodom.Because the residents engage inanal sexand comparable sins, God immolates everyman,woman,andchildin a divine napalm attack. Lot’s wife, for the crime of turning around to look at the inferno, is put to death as well. Abraham undergoes a test of hismoralvalues when God orders him to take his sonIsaacto amountaintop,tie him up, cut his throat, and burn his body as a gift to the Lord. Isaac is spared only because at the last moment anangelstays his father’s hand. For millennia readers have puzzled over why God insisted on this horrifying trial. One interpretation is that God intervened not because Abraham had passed the test but because he had failed it, but that is anachronistic:obediencetodivineauthority,not reverence forhumanlife,was the cardinal virtue. Isaac’s sonJacobhas a daughter,Dinah.Dinah iskidnappedandraped—apparently a customary form ofcourtshipat the time, since the rapist’s family then offers to purchase her from her ownfamilyas a wife for the rapist. Dinah’s brothers explain that an importantmoralprinciple stands in the way of this transaction: the rapist isuncircumcised.So they make a counteroffer: if all the men in the rapist’s hometown cut off theirforeskins,Dinah will be theirs. While the men are incapacitated with bleedingpenises,the brothers invade the city, plunder and destroy it, massacre the men, and carry off the women and children. When Jacob worries that neighboring tribes may attack them in revenge, his sons explain that it was worth the risk: “Should our sister be treated like awhore?”Soon afterward they reiterate their commitment tofamilyvalues by selling their brotherJosephintoslavery.
  • Steven Pinker,The Better Angels of Our Nature(2012)

• The first chapter of Genesis... is a hymn to an orderly and bountiful cosmos....It is obvious to everyone except creationists that this chapter was never, not even when it was first written, intended as a historical description of the history of the cosmos. It described the work of creation as categories, not as a timeline.
  • Stanley A. Rice,Life of Earth:Portrait of a Beautiful, Middle-aged Stressed-out World(2011)

• AMerryChristmas&HappyNew Year
  compliments ofElizabeth Cady Stanton
  GenesisChap I says Man & Woman were a simultaneous creation
  Chap II says Woman was an afterthought
  Which is true?
  
  • Elizabeth Cady Stanton,The Woman's Biblevolume II, (1898), dedication page; in Levinson, Bernard M (2004).Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East.p. 8.ISBN 978-0-567-08098-1.

• The sun is a type of God, and the moon of man. And as the sun far surpasses the moon in power and glory, so far does God surpass man. And as the sun remains ever full, never becoming less, so does God always abide perfect... But the moon wanes monthly, and in a manner dies, being a type of man; then it is born again, and is crescent, for a pattern of the future resurrection. In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of theTrinity,of God, and His Word, and Hiswisdom.And the fourth is the type of man, who needs light.
  • Theophilus of Antioch,To Autolycus,Book 2, Chap. 15

The tree of knowledge itself was good, and its fruit was good. For it was not the tree, as some think, but the disobedience, which had death in it. —Theophilus of Antioch

• The tree ofknowledgeitself was good, and itsfruitwas good. For it was not the tree, as some think, but the disobedience, which had death in it. For there was nothing else in the fruit than only knowledge; but knowledge is good when one uses it discreetly. But Adam, being yet an infant in age, was on this account as yet unable to receive knowledge worthily.
  • Theophilus of Antioch,To Autolycus,Book 2, Chap. 25

• And God showed great kindness to man in this, that He did not suffer him to remain in sin for ever; but, as it were, by a kind of banishment, cast him out of Paradise, in order that, having by punishment expiated, within an appointed time, the sin, and having been disciplined, he should afterwards be restored. Wherefore also, when man had been formed in this world, it is mystically written in Genesis, as if he had been twice placed in Paradise; so that the one was fulfilled when he was placed there, and the second will be fulfilled after the resurrection and judgment... And as to God’s calling, and saying, Where art thou, Adam? God did this, not as if ignorant of this; but, being long-suffering, He gave him an opportunity of repentance and confession.
  • Theophilus of Antioch,To Autolycus,Book 2, Chap. 26

• The Genesis story of the reason why Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden was not that they had tasted of the Tree of Knowledge, as is popularly conceived, but the fear lest they should disobey a second time and eat of the Tree of Life and live forever.
  • Lin Yutang,The Importance of Living(1937), p. 16

• I rather think that the Genesis story of the Creation needs to be rewritten all over again. In theChinese novelRed Chamber Dream,the boy hero, a sentimental mollycoddle very fond of female company and admiring his beautiful female cousins intensely and all but sorry for himself for being a boy, says that, "Woman is made of water and man is made ofclay,"the reason being that he thinks his female cousins are sweet and pure and clever, while he himself and his boy companions are ugly and muddle-headed and bad-tempered. If the writer of the Genesis story had been aPaoyüand knew what he was talking about, he would have written a different story. God took a handful of mud, molded it into human shape and breathed into its nostrils a breath, and there was Adam. But Adam began to crack and fall to pieces, and so He took some water, and with the water He molded the clay, and this water which entered into Adam's being was called Eve, and only in having Eve in his being was Adam's life complete. At least that seems to me to be the symbolic significance of marriage. Woman is water and man is clay, and water permeates and molds the clay, and the clay holds the water and gives its substance, in which water moves and lives and has its full being.
  • Lin Yutang,The Importance of Living(1937), pp. 182–183

See also

• Tanakh

External links

• Genesison Sefaria.org
• Genesison Mechon-Mamre.org
• Genesison BibleHub