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Parashat Bereshit
Creation in Six Days
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. [a] 2 Now the earth was chaos and waste, darkness was on the surface of the deep, and the Ruach Elohim was hovering upon the surface of the water.[b]
3 Then God said, “Let there be light!” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good. So God distinguished the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” So there was evening and there was morning—one day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water! Let it be for separating water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and it separated the water that was below the expanse from the water that was over the expanse. And it happened so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” So there was evening and there was morning—a second day. 9 Then God said, “Let the water below the sky be gathered to one place. Let the dry ground appear.” And it happened so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the collection of the water He called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the land sprout grass, green plants yielding seed, fruit trees making fruit, each according to its species with seed in it, upon the land.” And it happened so. 12 The land brought forth grass, green plants yielding seed, each according to its species, and trees making fruit with the seed in it, each according to its species. And God saw that it was good. 13 So there was evening and there was morning—a third day.
14 Then God said, “Let lights in the expanse of the sky be for separating the day from the night. They will be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. 15 They will be for lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the land.” And it happened so. 16 Then God made the two great lights—the greater light for dominion over the day, and the lesser light as well as the stars for dominion over the night. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to shine on the land 18 and to have dominion over the day and over the night and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So there was evening and there was morning—a fourth day.
20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures! Let flying creatures fly above the land across the expanse of the sky.” 21 Then God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that crawls, with which the water swarms, according to their species, as well as every winged flying creature, according to their species. And God saw that it was good. 22 Then God blessed them by saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas. Let the flying creatures multiply on the land.” 23 So there was evening and there was morning—a fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the land bring forth living creatures according to their species—livestock, crawling creatures and wild animals, according to their species.” And it happened so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their species, the livestock according to their species, and everything that crawls on the ground, each according to its species. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness! Let them rule over the fish of the sea, over the flying creatures of the sky, over the livestock, over the whole earth, and over every crawling creature that crawls on the land.” 27 God created humankind in His image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. [c] 28 God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the land, and conquer it. Rule over the fish of the sea, the flying creatures of the sky, and over every animal that crawls on the land.”
29 Then God said, “I have just given you every green plant yielding seed that is on the surface of the whole land, and every tree, which has the fruit of a tree yielding seed. They are to be food for you. 30 Also for every wild animal, every flying creature of the sky and every creature that crawls on the land which has life, every green plant is to be food.” And it happened so. 31 So God saw everything that He made, and behold it was very good.
So there was evening and there was morning—the sixth day.
Shabbat For Rest
2 So the heavens and the earth were completed along with their entire array. 2 God completed—on the seventh day—His work that He made, and He ceased—on the seventh day—from all His work that He made. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, for on it He ceased from all His work that God created for the purpose of preparing.
Humanity in Gan-Eden
4 These are the genealogical records of the heavens and the earth when they were created, at the time when Adonai Elohim made land and sky. 5 Now no shrub of the field was in the land yet, and no green plants of the field had sprouted yet. For Adonai Elohim had not caused it to rain upon the land, and there was no one to work the ground. 6 But a mist came up from the land and watered the whole surface of the ground.
7 Then Adonai Elohim formed the man out of the dust from the ground and He breathed into his nostrils a breath of life—so the man became a living being. 8 Then Adonai Elohim planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 Then Adonai Elohim caused to sprout from the ground every tree that was desirable to look at and good for food.
Now the Tree of Life was in the middle of the garden, and also the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. 10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon, the one that winds around the whole land of the Havilah, where there is gold. 12 The gold of that land is good—bdellium and lapis lazuli stones are also there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon—it winds around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris—it runs east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
15 Then Adonai Elohim took the man and gave him rest in the Garden of Eden in order to cultivate and watch over it. 16 Then Adonai Elohim commanded the man saying, “From all the trees of the garden you are most welcome to eat. 17 But of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you must not eat. For when you eat from it, you most assuredly will die!
18 Then Adonai Elohim said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. Let Me make a well-matched helper for him.” 19 Adonai Elohim had formed from the ground every animal of the field and every flying creature of the sky, so He brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called them—each living creature—that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all of the livestock, and to the flying creatures of the sky, and to all the animals of the field; but for the man He did not find a well-matched helper for him. 21 Adonai Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall on the man and he slept; and He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Adonai Elohim built the rib, which He had taken from the man, into a woman. Then He brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,
“This one, at last, is bone of my bones
and flesh from my flesh.
This one is called woman,
for from man was taken this one.”
24 This is why a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife; and they become one flesh.[d]
From Innocence to Shame
25 Now both of them were naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.
Forefathers of Yeshua the Messiah
1 The book of the genealogy[a] of Yeshua ha-Mashiach, Ben-David,[b] Ben-Avraham: 2 Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar,[c] Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, 4 Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, 5 Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth,[d] Obed fathered Jesse, 6 and Jesse fathered David the king.
David fathered Solomon by the wife of Uriah, [e] 7 Solomon fathered Rehoboam, Rehoboam fathered Abijah, Abijah fathered Asa, 8 Asa fathered Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat fathered Joram, Joram fathered Uzziah, 9 Uzziah fathered Jotham, Jotham fathered Ahaz, Ahaz fathered Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amon, Amon fathered Josiah, 11 and Josiah fathered Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
12 After the Babylonian exile Jeconiah fathered Shealtiel, Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel fathered Abiud, Abiud fathered Eliakim, Eliakim fathered Azor, 14 Azor fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Achim, Achim fathered Eliud, 15 Eliud fathered Eleazar, Eleazar fathered Matthan, Matthan fathered Jacob, 16 and Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Miriam, from whom was born Yeshua who is called the Messiah. 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the Babylonian exile are fourteen generations, and from the Babylonian exile until the Messiah are fourteen generations.
The Miraculous Birth of Yeshua
18 Now the birth of Yeshua the Messiah happened this way. When His mother Miriam was engaged to Joseph but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Ruach ha-Kodesh. 19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, made up his mind to dismiss her secretly. 20 But while he considered these things, behold, an angel of Adonai appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Miriam as your wife, for the Child conceived in her is from the Ruach ha-Kodesh. 21 She will give birth to a son; and you shall call His name Yeshua, for He will save His people from their sins.”
22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by Adonai through the prophet, saying, 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and give birth to a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which means “God with us.”[f]
24 When Joseph woke up from his sleep, he did as the angel of Adonai commanded him and took Miriam as his wife. 25 But he did not know her intimately until she had given birth to a Son. And he called His name Yeshua.
Wise Men Follow His Star
2 Now after Yeshua was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”[g]
3 When King Herod heard, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had called together all the ruling kohanim and Torah scholars, he began to inquire of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 So they told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:
6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd My people Israel.’”[h]
7 Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child. And when you have found Him, bring word back to me so that I may come and worship Him as well.”
9 After listening to the king, they went their way. And behold, the star they had seen in the east went on before them, until it came to rest over the place where the Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great gladness. 11 And when they came into the house, they saw the Child with His mother Miriam; and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. [i] 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another way.
Torah Is a Tree of Wisdom
Psalm 1
1 Happy is the one who has not walked in the advice of the wicked,
nor stood in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the seat of scoffers.
2 But his delight is in the Torah of Adonai,
and on His Torah he meditates day and night.
3 He will be like a planted tree over streams of water,
producing its fruit during its season.
Its leaf never droops—
but in all he does, he succeeds.
4 The wicked are not so.
For they are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand during the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For Adonai knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.
The Value of Wise Sayings
1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
2 to acquire wisdom and discipline,
to understand the words of insight,
3 to receive instruction in wise behavior,
righteousness, justice and fairness,
4 to give discernment to the naïve,
knowledge and discretion to the youth
5 (let the wise listen and increase learning
and the discerning obtain wise counsel)
6 to understand a proverb and a puzzle,
the sayings of the wise and their riddles.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.