Genesis 1-8

New Life Version

The Beginning

1 In the beginning God made from nothing the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was an empty waste and darkness was over the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was moving over the top of the waters. ³ Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good. He divided the light from the darkness. ⁵ Then God called the light day, and He called the darkness night. There was evening and there was morning, one day.

⁶ Then God said, “Let there be an open space between the waters. Let it divide waters from waters.” ⁷ God made the open space, and divided the waters under the open space from the waters above the open space. And it was so. ⁸ Then God called the open space Heaven. There was evening and there was morning, the second day.

⁹ Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place. Let the dry land be seen.” And it was so. ¹⁰ Then God called the dry land Earth. He called the gathering of the waters Seas. And God saw that it was good. ¹¹ Then God said, “Let plants grow from the earth, plants that have seeds. Let fruit trees grow on the earth that bring their kind of fruit with their own seeds.” And it was so. ¹² Plants grew out of the earth, giving their own kind of seeds. Trees grew with their fruit, and their kind of seeds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ There was evening and there was morning, the third day.

¹⁴ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the open space of the heavens to divide day from night. Let them tell the days and years and times of the year. ¹⁵ Let them be lights in the open space of the heavens to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ Then God made the two great lights, the brighter light to rule the day, and the smaller light to rule the night. He made the stars also. ¹⁷ God put them in the open space of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to rule the day and the night. He divided the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ There was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

²⁰ Then God said, “Let the waters be full of living things. Let birds fly above the earth in the open space of the heavens.” ²¹ God made the big animals that live in the sea, and every living thing that moves through the waters by its kind, and every winged bird after its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God wanted good to come to them, saying, “Give birth to many. Grow in number. Fill the waters in the seas. Let birds grow in number on the earth.” ²³ There was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

²⁴ Then God said, “Let the earth bring into being living things after their kind: Cattle and things that move upon the ground, and wild animals of the earth after their kind.” And it was so. ²⁵ Then God made the wild animals of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every thing that moves upon the ground after its kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man like Us and let him be head over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every thing that moves on the ground.” ²⁷ And God made man in His own likeness. In the likeness of God He made him. He made both male and female. ²⁸ And God wanted good to come to them, saying, “Give birth to many. Grow in number. Fill the earth and rule over it. Rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹ Then God said, “See, I have given you every plant that gives seeds that is on the earth, and every tree that has fruit that gives seeds. They will be food for you. ³⁰ I have given every green plant for food to every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to every thing that moves on the earth that has life.” And it was so. ³¹ God saw all that He had made and it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

2 So the heavens and the earth were completed, and all that is in them. ² On the seventh day God ended His work which He had done. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. ³ Then God honored the seventh day and made it holy, because in it He rested from all His work which He had done.

The Garden of Eden

⁴ This is the story of the heavens and the earth when they were made, in the day the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. ⁵ Now no bush of the field was yet on the earth. And no plant of the field had started to grow. For the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth. And there was no man to work the ground. ⁶ But a fog came from the earth and watered the whole top of the ground. ⁷ Then the Lord God made man from the dust of the ground. And He breathed into his nose the breath of life. Man became a living being. ⁸ The Lord God planted a garden to the east in Eden. He put the man there whom He had made. ⁹ And the Lord God made to grow out of the ground every tree that is pleasing to the eyes and good for food. And He made the tree of life grow in the center of the garden, and the tree of learning of good and bad.

¹⁰ Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden. And from there it divided and became four rivers. ¹¹ The name of the first is Pishon. It flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² The gold of that land is good. Bdellium and onyx stone are there. ¹³ The name of the second river is Gihon. It flows around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ The name of the third river is Tigris. It flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work the ground and care for it. ¹⁶ The Lord God told the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden. ¹⁷ But do not eat from the tree of learning of good and bad. For the day you eat from it you will die for sure.”

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper that is right for him.” ¹⁹ Out of the ground the Lord God made every animal of the field and every bird of the sky. He brought them to the man to find out what he would call them. And whatever the man called a living thing, that was its name. ²⁰ Adam gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field. But there was no helper found that was right for Adam. ²¹ So the Lord God put the man to sleep as if he were dead. And while he was sleeping, He took one of the bones from his side and closed up the place with flesh. ²² The Lord God made woman from the bone which He had taken from the man. And He brought her to the man. ²³ The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” ²⁴ For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother, and will be joined to his wife. And they will become one flesh. ²⁵ The man and his wife were both without clothes and were not ashamed.

Man Does Not Obey God

3 Now the snake was more able to fool others than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say that you should not eat from any tree in the garden?” ² Then the woman said to the snake, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden. ³ But from the tree which is in the center of the garden, God has said, ‘Do not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴ The snake said to the woman, “No, you for sure will not die! ⁵ For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and bad.” ⁶ The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and pleasing to the eyes, and could fill the desire of making one wise. So she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were without clothes. So they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves clothing.

⁸ Then they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the evening. The man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man. He said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ And the man said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden. I was afraid because I was without clothes. So I hid myself.” ¹¹ The Lord God said, “Who told you that you were without clothes? Have you eaten from the tree of which I told you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The snake fooled me, and I ate.”

¹⁴ Then the Lord God said to the snake, “Because you have done this, you will be hated and will suffer more than all cattle, and more than every animal of the field. You will go on your stomach and you will eat dust all the days of your life. ¹⁵ And I will make you and the woman hate each other, and your seed and her seed will hate each other. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel.”

¹⁶ To the woman He said, “I will make your pain much worse in giving birth. You will give birth to children in pain. Yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

¹⁷ Then He said to Adam, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I told you, “Do not eat from it,” the ground is cursed because of you. By hard work you will eat food from it all the days of your life. ¹⁸ It will grow thorns and thistles for you. You will eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹ You will eat bread by the sweat of your face because of hard work, until you return to the ground, because you were taken from the ground. You are dust, and you will return to dust.”

²⁰ The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. ²¹ And the Lord God made clothes of skins for Adam and his wife, and dressed them.

²² Then the Lord God said, “See, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and bad. Now then, he might put out his hand to take from the tree of life also, and eat and live forever.” ²³ So the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to work the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ So He drove the man out. And He placed cherubim east of the garden of Eden with a sword of fire that turned every way. They kept watch over the path to the tree of life.

Cain Kills Abel

4 The man lay with his wife Eve and she was going to have a child and she gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have given birth to a man with the help of the Lord.” ² Next she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was one who worked the ground.

³ The day came when Cain brought a gift of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. ⁴ But Abel brought a gift of the first-born of his flocks and of the fat parts. The Lord showed favor to Abel and his gift. ⁵ But He had no respect for Cain and his gift. So Cain became very angry and his face became sad. ⁶ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why are you looking down? ⁷ Will not your face be happy if you do well? If you do not do well, sin is waiting to destroy you. Its desire is to rule over you, but you must rule over it.”

⁸ Cain told this to his brother Abel. And when they were in the field, Cain stood up against his brother Abel and killed him.

⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰ The Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. ¹¹ Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you work the ground, it will no longer give its strength to you. You will always travel from place to place on the earth.”

¹³ Then Cain said to the Lord, “I am being punished more than I can take! ¹⁴ See, this day You have made me go away from the land. And I will be hidden from Your face. I will run away and move from place to place. And whoever finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵ So the Lord said to him, “Whoever kills Cain will be punished by Me seven times worse.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain so that any one who found him would not kill him.

¹⁶ Then Cain went away from the face of the Lord, and stayed in the land of Nod, east of Eden. ¹⁷ Cain lay with his wife and she was going to have a child and she gave birth to Enoch. Cain built a city and gave it the name of Enoch, the name of his son. ¹⁸ Now Irad was born to Enoch. And Irad became the father of Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of Methushael. And Methushael became the father of Lamech. ¹⁹ Lamech took two wives for himself. The name of one was Adah. And the name of the other was Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal. He was the father of those who live in tents and have cattle. ²¹ His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and the horn. ²² Zillah gave birth to Tubal-cain who made things from brass and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

²³ And Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to my voice. Hear what I say, you wives of Lamech. For I have killed a man for hurting me, and a boy for hitting me. ²⁴ If those who hurt Cain are punished seven times worse, then those who hurt Lamech will be punished seventy-seven times worse.”

²⁵ And Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and gave him the name Seth. For she said, “God has let me have another son in the place of Abel, for Cain killed him.” ²⁶ A son was born to Seth also, and he gave him the name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord.

The Families from Adam to Noah

5 This is the book of the children of Adam and of their children’s children. When God made man, He made him in the likeness of God. ² He made them male and female, and brought good to them. And He gave them the name Man when they were made. ³ When Adam had lived 130 years, he gave birth to a son in his own likeness. And he gave him the name Seth. ⁴ Adam lived 800 years after he became the father of Seth. He had other sons and daughters. ⁵ So Adam lived 930 years, and he died.

⁶ When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh. ⁷ Seth lived 807 years after the birth of Enosh. He had other sons and daughters. ⁸ So Seth lived 912 years, and he died.

⁹ When Enosh had lived ninety years, he became the father of Kenan. ¹⁰ Enosh lived 815 years after the birth of Kenan. He had other sons and daughters. ¹¹ So Enosh lived 905 years, and he died.

¹² When Kenan had lived seventy years, he became the father of Mahalalel. ¹³ Kenan lived 840 years after the birth of Mahalalel. He had other sons and daughters. ¹⁴ So Kenan lived 910 years, and he died.

¹⁵ When Mahalalel had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Jared. ¹⁶ Mahalalel lived 830 years after the birth of Jared. He had other sons and daughters. ¹⁷ So Mahalalel lived 895 years, and he died.

¹⁸ When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. ¹⁹ Jared lived 800 years after the birth of Enoch. He had other sons and daughters. ²⁰ So Jared lived 962 years, and he died.

²¹ When Enoch had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Methuselah. ²² Enoch walked with God 300 years after the birth of Methuselah. He had other sons and daughters. ²³ So Enoch lived 365 years. ²⁴ Enoch walked with God, and he was seen no more, for God took him.

²⁵ When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. ²⁶ Methuselah lived 782 years after the birth of Lamech. He had other sons and daughters. ²⁷ So Methuselah lived 969 years, and he died.

²⁸ When Lamech had lived 182 years, he became the father of a son. ²⁹ He gave him the name Noah. He said, “This one will give us rest from our work, from the hard work of our hands because the ground was cursed by the Lord.” ³⁰ Lamech lived 595 years after the birth of Noah. He had other sons and daughters. ³¹ So Lamech lived 777 years, and he died.

³² When Noah had lived 500 years, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Sinful Man

6 When men became many in number on the earth, and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful. And they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. ³ Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not stay in man forever, for he is flesh. But yet he will live for 120 years.” ⁴ Very large men were on the earth in those days, and later also, when the sons of God lived with the daughters of men, who gave birth to their children. These were the powerful men of long ago, men of much strength.

⁵ Then the Lord saw that man was very sinful on the earth. Every plan and thought of the heart of man was sinful always. ⁶ The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth. He had sorrow in His heart. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have made from the land, man and animals, things that move upon the earth and birds of the sky. For I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

⁹ This is the story of Noah and his family. Noah was right with God. He was without blame in his time. Noah walked with God. ¹⁰ And Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ¹¹ Now the earth was sinful in the eyes of God. The earth was filled with people hurting each other. ¹² God looked at the earth and saw how sinful it was. For all who lived on the earth had become sinful in their ways.

¹³ Then God said to Noah, “I have decided to make an end to all the people on the earth. They are the cause of very much trouble. See, I will destroy them as I destroy the earth. ¹⁴ Make a large boat of gopher wood for yourself. Build rooms in the boat. And cover it inside and out with tar. ¹⁵ This is how you are to make it: The boat is to be as long as 150 long steps, as wide as twenty-five long steps, and eight times taller than a man. ¹⁶ Make a window for the boat, that goes down a cubit from the roof. Put a door in the side of the boat. And make it with first, second, and third floors. ¹⁷ See, I will bring a flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh under heaven that has the breath of life. Everything on earth will be destroyed. ¹⁸ But I will make My agreement with you. You will go into the large boat, you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹ You are to bring into the large boat two of every kind of living thing of all flesh, to keep them alive with you. They will be male and female. ²⁰ Two of all the kinds of birds, and animals, and every thing that moves on the ground are to be with you to keep them alive. ²¹ And take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it. It will be food for you and for them.” ²² Noah did just what God told him to do.

The Flood

7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat, you and all your family. For I have seen that you only are right and good at this time. ² Take with you seven of every clean animal of each sex, and one of each sex of the animals that are unclean. ³ And take with you seven of every kind of bird of the sky of each sex, to keep their kind alive over all the earth. ⁴ In seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will destroy from the land every living thing that I have made.” ⁵ And Noah did all that the Lord told him to do.

⁶ Noah was 600 years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. ⁷ Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives all went into the large boat because of the water of the flood. ⁸ Clean animals and animals that were unclean and birds and every thing that moved on the ground ⁹ went into the large boat with Noah. They went two by two, male and female, just as God had told Noah. ¹⁰ After seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth. ¹¹ In the year 600 of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, all the wells of water under the earth broke open. The windows of the heavens were opened. ¹² And the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.

¹³ On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, all went into the large boat. ¹⁴ With them went every kind of animal, and all the cattle, and every thing that moved on the earth, and every kind of bird. ¹⁵ They went into the large boat with Noah, two of every living thing.

¹⁶ Male and female of all flesh went in as God had told Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

¹⁷ The flood came upon the earth for forty days. The water got deeper and raised up the large boat so that it was lifted above the earth. ¹⁸ The water was very deep upon the earth. And the boat stayed upon the top of the water. ¹⁹ The water got higher and higher upon the earth until all the high mountains under heaven were covered. ²⁰ But the water went about four times taller than a man above the tops of the mountains. ²¹ All flesh that moved on the earth was destroyed, birds and cattle and wild animals, and every man. ²² Every thing that had the breath of life and lived on dry land died. ²³ God destroyed every living thing upon the land, from man to animals, from things that moved upon the ground to birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the large boat. ²⁴ And the water covered the earth for 150 days.

The Flood Ends

8 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the cattle that were with him in the large boat. Then God made a wind blow over the earth until the water went down. ² Also the wells of water under the earth and the windows of the heavens were shut. And it stopped raining. ³ The water kept moving away from the earth. At the end of 150 days the water was less. ⁴ And in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the large boat came to rest on Mount Ararat. ⁵ The water kept on going down until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains could be seen.

⁶ At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the large boat which he had made. ⁷ Then he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then he sent out a dove, to see if the water was gone from the ground. ⁹ But the dove found no place to set her foot, so she returned to him in the boat. For the water was still over the earth. So Noah put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the boat with him. ¹⁰ He waited another seven days, and sent the dove from the boat again. ¹¹ The dove returned to him in the evening. In her mouth was an olive leaf that had just been picked. So Noah knew that the water had gone from the earth. ¹² Then he waited another seven days, and sent out the dove. But she did not return to him again.

¹³ In the year 601, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah took the covering off the large boat, and looked out and saw that the earth was dry. ¹⁴ In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the ground was dry. ¹⁵ Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶ “Go out of the boat, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and everything that moves on the earth. So they may give birth and become many upon the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹ Every animal, every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the large boat by their families.

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. He took of every clean animal and every clean bird, and gave burnt gifts in worship on the altar. ²¹ Then the Lord smelled a pleasing smell. And the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of man. For the desire of man’s heart is sinful from when he is young. I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done. ²² While the earth lasts, planting time and gathering time, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not end.”