Genesis 2

1 Heaven and earth and everything in them were finished.2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing. On the seventh day he stopped the work he had been doing.

3 Then God blessed the seventh day and set it apart as holy, because on that day he stopped all his work of creation.

The Creation of Man and Woman

4 This is the account of heaven and earth when they were created, at the time when the Lord God made earth and heaven.5 Wild bushes and plants were not on the earth yet because the Lord God hadn’t sent rain on the earth. Also, there was no one to farm the land.

6 Instead, underground water would come up from the earth and water the entire surface of the ground.
7 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the eartht and blew the breath of life into his nostrils. The man became a living being.8 The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. That’s where he put the man whom he had formed.

9 The Lord God made all the trees grow out of the ground. These trees were nice to look at, and their fruit was good to eat. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil grew in the middle of the garden.
10 A river flowed from Eden to water the garden. Outside the garden it divided into four rivers.11 The name of the first river is Pishon. This is the one that winds throughout Havilah, where there is gold.12 (The gold of that land is pure. Bdelliumt and onyx are also found there.)13 The name of the second river is Gihon. This is the one that winds throughout Sudan.

14 The name of the third river is Tigris. This is the one that flows east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to farm the land and to take care of it.16 The Lord God commanded the man. He said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden.

17 But you must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because when you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is right for him.”19 The Lord God had formed all the wild animals and all the birds out of the ground. Then he brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called each creature became its name.

20 So the man named all the domestic animals, all the birds, and all the wild animals.
But the man found no helper who was right for him.21 So the Lord God caused him to fall into a deep sleep. While the man was sleeping, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.

22 Then the Lord God formed a woman from the rib that he had taken from the man. 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 named woman because she was taken from man.”24 That is why a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and they will become one flesh.

25 The man and his wife were both naked, but they weren’t ashamed of it.

Genesis 3

The First Sin and the First Promise

1 The snake was more clever than all the wild animals the Lord God had made. He asked the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must never eat the fruit of any tree in the garden’?”2 The woman answered the snake, “We’re allowed to eat the fruit from any tree in the garden

3 except the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, ‘You must never eat it or touch it. If you do, you will die!’ ”
4 “You certainly won’t die!” the serpent told the woman.

5 “God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened. You’ll be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 The woman saw that the tree had fruit that was good to eat, nice to look at, and desirable for making someone wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.7 Then their eyes were opened, and they both realized that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made clothes for themselves.8 In the cool of the evening, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking around in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees in the garden.

9 The Lord God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”11 God asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat fruit from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?”12 The man answered, “That woman, the one you gave me, gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”“The snake deceived me, and I ate,” the woman answered.14 So the Lord God said to the snake, “Because you have done this,You are cursed more than all the wild or domestic animals.You will crawl on your belly.You will be the lowest of animals as long as you live.15 I will make you and the woman hostile toward each other.I will make your descendantsand her descendant hostile toward each other.He will crush your head,and you will bruise his heel.”16 He said to the woman,“I will increase your pain and your laborwhen you give birth to children.Yet, you will long for your husband,and he will rule you.”17 Then he said to the man, “You listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree, although I commanded you, ‘You must never eat its fruit.’The ground is cursed because of you.Through hard work you will eat food that comes from itevery day of your life.18 The ground will grow thorns and thistles for you,and you will eat wild plants.19 By the sweat of your brow, you will produce food to eatuntil you return to the ground,because you were taken from it.You are dust, and you will return to dust.”20 Adam named his wife Eve [Life] because she became the mother of every living person.21 The Lord God made clothes from animal skins for the man and his wife and dressed them.22 Then the Lord God said, “The man has become like one of us, since he knows good and evil. He must not reach out and take the fruit from the tree of life and eat. Then he would live forever.”23 So the Lord God sent the man out of the Garden of Eden to farm the ground from which the man had been formed.

24 After he sent the man out, God placed angelst and a flaming sword that turned in all directions east of the Garden of Eden. He placed them there to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 4

Cain Murders Abel

1 Adam made love to his wife Eve. She became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have gotten the man that the Lord promised.”

2 Then she gave birth to another child, Abel, Cain’s brother. Abel was a shepherd, and Cain was a farmer.
3 Later Cain brought some crops from the land as an offering to the Lord.4 Abel also brought some choice parts of the firstborn animals from his flock. The Lord approved of Abel and his offering,5 but he didn’t approve of Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry and was disappointed.6 Then the Lord asked Cain, “Why are you angry, and why do you look disappointed?

7 If you do well, won’t you be accepted? But if you don’t do well, sin is lying outside your door ready to attack. It wants to control you, but you must master it.”
8 Cain talked to his brother Abel. Later, when they were in the fields, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.9 The Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”“I don’t know,” he answered. “Am I supposed to take care of my brother?”10 The Lord asked, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground.11 So now you are cursed from the ground, which has received the blood of your brother whom you killed.

12 When you farm the ground, it will no longer yield its best for you. You will be a fugitive, a wanderer on the earth.”
13 But Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can stand!

14 You have forced me off this land today. I have to hide from you and become a fugitive, a wanderer on the earth. Now anyone who finds me will kill me!”
15 So the Lord said to him, “Not so! Anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” The Lord gave Cain a sign so that anyone meeting him would not kill him.16 Then Cain left the Lord’s presence and lived in Nod [The Land of Wandering], east of Eden.

Cain’s Ten Descendants—Cain to Lamech

17 Cain made love to his wife. She became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was building a city, and he named it Enoch after his son.

18 To Enoch was born Irad. Irad was the father of Mehujael. Mehujael was the father of Methushael. And Methushael was the father of Lamech.
19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah.20 Adah gave birth to Jabal. He was the first person to live in tents and have livestock.21 His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the first person to play the harp and the flute.

22 Zillah also had a son, Tubalcain, who made bronze and iron tools. Tubalcain’s sister was Naamah.
23 Lamech said to his wives,“Adah and Zillah, listen to me!Wives of Lamech, hear what I say!I killed a man for bruising me,a young man for wounding me.24 If Cain is avenged 7 times,then Lamech, 77 times.”

Adam’s Godly Descendants—Adam to Enosh

25 Adam made love to his wife again. She gave birth to a son and named him Seth, because she said, “God has givent me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”26 A son was also born to Seth, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to worship the Lord.