1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was without form and empty. Darkness covered the deep water. The Spirit of God hovered over the waters. 3Then God said: »Let there be light!« And there was light. 4God saw that the light was good. God separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light day. He called the darkness night. There was evening and there was morning, one day. 6Then God said: »Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters. Let it separate the waters from the waters.« 7God made the expanse. He separated the waters that were below the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. It was so. 8God called the expanse heaven. There was evening and there was morning, a second day. 9Then God said: »Let the waters below the atmosphere be gathered into one place. Let the dry land appear.« It was so. 10God called the dry land earth. The gathering of the waters He called seas. God saw that it was good. 11Then God said: »Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them.« It was so. 12The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind. God saw that it was good. 13There was evening and there was morning, a third day. 14Then God said: »Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. Let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. 15»Let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth.« It was so. 16God made the two great lights. The sun was to govern the day. The moon was to govern the night. He made the stars also. 17He placed the lights in the sky to shine on the earth. 18The lights were to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. God saw that it was good. 19There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. 20God said: »Let the waters be filled with many kinds of living beings, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.« 21God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves in the waters after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good. 22God blessed them and said: »Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.« 23There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. 24God said: »Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.« It was so. 25God made the wild animals according to their kinds. He made the livestock according to their kinds and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good. 26Then God said: »Let us make man in our image, in our likeness. Let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground.« 27God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him. He created male and female. 28God blessed them and said to them: »Be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and dominate the birds of the air. Have dominion over every living creature that moves on the ground.« 29Then God said: »I give you every plant that bears seed on the face of the entire earth. I also give you every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30»Also every beast of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground; everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food.« It was so. 31God saw all that he had made. It was very good. There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.