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Genesis 1

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Quick answer

God creates an ordered, good world in six days and rests on the seventh, making humanity in his image to rule it.

Genesis 1 is structured poetry-prose: days 1–3 form the realms, days 4–6 fill them, and humanity is the climax — male and female in God's image. The refrain "and God saw that it was good" and the seventh-day rest frame creation as a temple where God will dwell with what he has made.

Part of Creation📖 Genesis introduction

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1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ✦ 2And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. ✦ 3Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ✦ 4God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ✦ 5God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening and there was morning, one day. ✦ 6Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ✦ 7God made the expanse, and separated the waters that were below the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse; and it was so. ✦ 8God called the expanse “heaven.” And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. ✦ 9Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. ✦ 10And God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of the waters He called “seas”; and God saw that it was good. ✦ 11Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit according to their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. ✦ 12The earth produced vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, according to their kind; and God saw that it was good. ✦ 13And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. 14Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and they shall serve as signs and for seasons, and for days and years; ✦ 15and they shall serve as lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. ✦ 17God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, ✦ 18and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. ✦ 19And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. 20Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” ✦ 21And God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind; and God saw that it was good. ✦ 22God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ✦ 23And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. 24Then God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kind: livestock and crawling things and animals of the earth according to their kind”; and it was so. ✦ 25God made the animals of the earth according to their kind, and the livestock according to their kind, and everything that crawls on the ground according to its kind; and God saw that it was good. ✦ 26Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule 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 crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” ✦ 27So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ✦ 28God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ✦ 29Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; ✦ 30and to every animal of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. ✦ 31And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

In this chapter

Concept Elohim — GodConcept The Deep (Tehom)Concept The Image of God (Imago Dei)

Where this chapter connects

Gen 1 ·38Ps 104 ·22Job 38 ·12Job 26 ·10Gen 9 ·10Ps 148 ·10Gen 2 ·9Ps 33 ·8

Christ at the center

From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.

How Genesis 1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

  • ★ Start hereDocumentaryExpedition BibleJoel Kramer · Free · evangelical

    On-location biblical archaeology from a credentialed archaeologist (M.A., excavated in Israel) — the best free place to start on "did it really happen?"

  • ★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical

    A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

  • ★ Start hereVideoOverview: Genesis 1–11BibleProject · 9 min · Free

    The single best free starting point for Genesis 1–11 — clear, visual, and faithful to the literary design.

  • VideoSpoken GospelSpoken Gospel · Free · evangelical

    Short, gospel-centered videos and spoken-word poems showing how each passage points to Jesus — especially strong on the Old Testament.

  • ReferenceBook of Genesis — Visual GuideBibleProject · Free

    A free structured guide to the whole book — outline, themes, and links to each video.

  • DocumentaryIs Genesis History?Del Tackett · Free · evangelical

    A young-earth-creationist case for a literal Genesis, free on YouTube. (YEC is one view held by faithful Christians; others read Genesis differently — see the genre guide on how to read it.)

Pastoral

  • SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical

    Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

  • CommentaryCommentary on Genesis 1Matthew Henry · Free

    The beloved devotional-pastoral classic, free and public domain — warm, quotable, verse by verse.

Seminary

  • ★ Start hereCommentaryGenesis (Word Biblical Commentary)Gordon J. Wenham · Paid · evangelical

    For decades the gold-standard commentary on Genesis — technical but rich. (See the ranked list for alternatives like Hamilton, NICOT.)

  • BookThe Pentateuch as NarrativeJohn H. Sailhamer · ~560 pp · Library · evangelical

    A literary-theological reading that makes Genesis's design visible.

Commentaries & study tools

Genesis 2 →