1 THE BEGINNING 1 In the be gin ning God cre at ed the heav ens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was form less and emp ty, dark ness was over the sur face of the deep, and the Spir it of God was hover ing over the wa ters. 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he sep a rat ed the light from the dark ness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was eve ning, and there was morning - the first day. 6 And God said, "Let there be a vault between the wa ters to sep a rate wa ter from wa ter." 7 So God made the vault and sep a rat ed the wa ter un der the vault from the wa ter above it.

And it was so. 8 God called the vault "sky." And there was eve ning, and there was morn ing - the sec ond day. 9 And God said, "Let the wa ter un der the sky be gath ered to one place, and let dry ground ap pear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gath ered wa ters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, "Let the land pro duce veg e ta tion: seed-bear ing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, ac cord ing to their var i ous kinds.

" And it was so. 12 The land pro duced veg e ta tion: plants bear ing seed ac cord ing to their kinds and trees bear ing fruit with seed in it ac cord ing to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was eve ning, and there was morn ing - the third day. 14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to sep a rate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sea sons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights - the great er light to gov ern the day and the less er light to gov ern the night. He also made the stars.

17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to gov ern the day and the night, and to sep a rate light from dark ness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was eve ning, and there was morn ing - the fourth day. 20 And God said, "Let the wa ter teem with liv ing crea tures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky." 21 So God cre at ed the great crea tures of the sea and ev ery liv ing and mov ing thing with which the water teems, ac cord ing to their kinds, and ev ery winged bird ac cord ing to genesis AUTHOR: Moses DATE: Dur ing the 1400s B .C. , whi le the Israel ites were travel ing in the desert THEME: God interacts with us in all we exper ience - love, loss, b roken relat ionships, real l ife. its kind.

And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruit ful and in crease in num ber and fill the wa ter in the seas, and let the birds in crease on the earth." 23 And there was eve ning, and there was morn ing - the fifth day. 24 And God said, "Let the land pro duce liv ing crea tures ac cord ing to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild an imals, each ac cord ing to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild an imals ac cord ing to their kinds, the livestock ac cord ing to their kinds, and all the crea tures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, "Let us make hu man be ings in our im age, in our like ness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds i.