Genesis 1

¹ In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

² The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.

³ God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

⁴ God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness.

⁵ God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.

⁶ God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”

⁷ God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.

⁸ God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.

⁹ God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;” and it was so.

¹⁰ God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good.

¹¹ God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth;” and it was so.

¹² The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with their seeds in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.

¹³ There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

¹⁴ God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years;

¹⁵ and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth;” and it was so.

¹⁶ God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.

¹⁷ God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth,

¹⁸ and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.

¹⁹ There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

²⁰ God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”

²¹ God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.

²² God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

²³ There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

²⁴ God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;” and it was so.

²⁵ God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.

²⁶ God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

²⁷ God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

²⁹ God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.

³⁰ To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so.

³¹ God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

Around Genesis 1

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

Genesis 1 · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this chapter says

Before anything else there is only darkness over deep waters, and God’s Spirit hovering above them. Then God speaks: “Let there be light,” and there was light. That is how the whole chapter works. God speaks, and what he names comes to be. Then come the sun, the moon and the stars, creatures in the seas and birds in the air, and the animals of the earth. Through every step runs the same refrain: God saw that it was good.

Many readers notice a pattern in the days. On the first three, God forms spaces: light and darkness, sky and sea, dry land. On the next three, he fills them: lights for day and night, birds and fish, animals and people. Last of all, human beings are made “in his own image” and are told to fill the earth and have dominion over the other living things (verses 26 to 28). At the end, “it was very good”.

Background

Genesis opens the Bible, and it is the first of the five books of the Law, which Jewish and Christian tradition link with Moses. Many scholars think these books reached their final form over a long period, drawing on older material. Christians hold different views on that, and the chapter itself names no author.

Other peoples of the ancient Near East also told how the world began, often as a struggle between gods. Set beside those stories, Genesis 1 is quiet: one God makes everything by speaking, without a fight, and the sun, moon and stars are things he made.

How Christians read it

Christians agree that this chapter presents God as the maker of everything and people as made in his image. They differ on how the six days relate to the age and history of the universe.

Some read the days as six ordinary days.
Some read each day as a long age.
Some read the week as a literary framework that teaches who made the world and why, without giving a timetable.

Each of these views is held by Christians who take Scripture seriously. The words “Let’s make man in our image” (verse 26) are also discussed: some see a first hint of the Trinity, others a royal way of speaking, or God addressing his heavenly court.

How translations differ

Compared with public-domain translations only.

Verse 2

World English Bible: The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
King James Version: the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters
American Standard Version (1901): the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters

WEB says God’s Spirit “was hovering”; the older translations say it moved. The Hebrew verb is rare. It is also used of a bird over its young in Deuteronomy 32:11, which is why many later translations choose a word like hover.

Verse 6

World English Bible: God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
King James Version: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters
American Standard Version (1901): Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters

WEB uses “expanse” where the older translations use a word that suggests something solid. The Hebrew word comes from a verb for beating or spreading out, and translators differ on whether to picture a spread-out space or a firm dome.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 30 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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