2 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.l

 2By the seventh daym God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.n  3Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,o because on it he restedp from all the work of creatingq that he had done.

 Adam and Eve

4This is the accounta of the heavens and the earth when they were created,b when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

 5Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth* and no plant had yet sprung up,c for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earthd and there was no one to work the ground,  6but streams* came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.  7Then the Lord God formede a man*f from the dustg of the groundh and breathed into his nostrils the breathi of life,j and the man became a living being.k

 8Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden;l and there he put the man he had formed.  9The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—treesm that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of lifen and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.o

 10A riverp watering the garden flowed from Eden;q from there it was separated into four headwaters.  11The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah,r where there is gold.  12(The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin*s and onyx are also there.)  13The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.*  14The name of the third river is the Tigris;t it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.u

 15The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Edenv to work it and take care of it.  16And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;w  17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,x for when you eat of it you will certainly die.”y

 18The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”z

 19Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animalsa and all the birds in the sky.b He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man calledc each living creature,d that was its name.  20So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam* no suitable helpere was found.  21So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep;f and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs* and then closed up the place with flesh.  22Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib*g he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

 23The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;h

she shall be calledi ‘woman,’

for she was taken out of man.j”

 24For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be unitedk to his wife, and they will become one flesh.l

 25The man and his wife were both naked,m and they felt no shame.

  The Fall

3 Now the serpenta was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?b”

 2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,c  3but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”d

 4“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.e  5“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,f knowing good and evil.”

 6When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirableg for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband,h who was with her, and he ate it.i  7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked;j so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.k

 8Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walkingl in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hidm from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.  9But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”n

 10He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraido because I was naked;p so I hid.”

 11And he said, “Who told you that you were naked?q Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?r”

 12The man said, “The woman you put here with mes—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

 13Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me,t and I ate.”

 14So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursedu are you above all livestock

and all wild animals!

You will crawl on your belly

and you will eat dustv

all the days of your life.

 15And I will put enmity

between you and the woman,

and between your offspring*w and hers;x

he will crush* your head,y

and you will strike his heel.”

 16To the woman he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;

with pain you will give birth to children.z

Your desire will be for your husband,

and he will rule over you.a”

 17To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’b

“Cursedc is the groundd because of you;

through painful toile you will eat of it

all the days of your life.f

 18It will produce thorns and thistlesg for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field.h

 19By the sweat of your browi

you will eat your foodj

until you return to the ground,

since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

and to dust you will return.”k

 20Adam* named his wife Eve,*l because she would become the mother of all the living.

 21The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.m  22And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us,n knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of lifeo and eat, and live forever.”  23So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Edenp to work the groundq from which he had been taken.  24After he drove them out, he placed on the east side* of the Garden of Edenr cherubims and a flaming swordt flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.u

  Cain and Abel

4 Adam* made love to his wifea Eve,b and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.*c She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth* a man.”  2Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.d

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.e  3In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offeringf to the Lord.g  4But Abel also brought an offering—fat portionsh from some of the firstborn of his flock.i The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering,j  5but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

 6Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry?k Why is your face downcast?  7If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door;l it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.m”

 8Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”* While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.n

 9Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”o

“I don’t know,p” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

 10The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.q  11Now you are under a curser and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.  12When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you.s You will be a restless wanderert on the earth.u”

 13Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear.  14Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence;v I will be a restless wanderer on the earth,w and whoever finds me will kill me.”x

 15But the Lord said to him, “Not so*; anyone who kills Cainy will suffer vengeancez seven times over.a” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.  16So Cain went out from the Lord’s presenceb and lived in the land of Nod,* east of Eden.c

 17Cain made love to his wife,d and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city,e and he named it after his sonf Enoch.  18To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

 19Lamech marriedg two women,h one named Adah and the other Zillah.  20Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock.  21His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instrumentsi and pipes.j  22Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forgedk all kinds of tools out of* bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

 23Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;

wives of Lamech, hear my words.

I have killedl a man for wounding me,

a young man for injuring me.

 24If Cain is avengedm seven times,n

then Lamech seventy-seven times.o”

 25Adam made love to his wifep again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth,*q saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”r  26Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.s

At that time people began to call on* the name of the Lord.t