“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. The Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness, calling the light “day” and the darkness “night.”
Day 2: Creation of the Sky
God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. He called the vault “sky.”
Day 3: Creation of Land and Vegetation
God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters He called “seas.”
God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it.”
Day 4: Creation of the Sun, Moon, and Stars
God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, days, and years.” God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day (the sun) and the lesser light to govern the night (the moon). He also made the stars.
Day 5: Creation of Marine Life and Birds
God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.”
Day 6: Creation of Land Animals and Humans
God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals.”
God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.
Day 7: God Rests
By the seventh day, God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day, He rested from all His work. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done.
