Genesis 1

1 ¹ In the beginning, our Heavenly Father created the heavens and the earth. ^a a v1 The voice that speaks creation into being is the Father's. God the Father, the first Person of the Trinity, creates through the Son — his eternal Word (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16) — as the Spirit of God hovers over the waters (Genesis 1:2). The Bible opens not with a distant deity but a Father who draws near. ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of our Father was hovering over the surface of the waters.

³ Then our Father said, "Let there be light," and there was light. ⁴ He saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ He called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

⁶ And our Father said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." ⁷ So he made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸ He called the expanse "sky." So there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

⁹ Then our Father said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. ¹⁰ He called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And he saw that it was good. ¹¹ Then he said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees that bear seed-bearing fruit, each according to its kind." And it was so. ¹² The land produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing seed-bearing fruit according to their kinds. And our Father saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

¹⁴ And our Father said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark the seasons, the days, and the years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. ¹⁶ Our Father made two great lights: the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ He set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And he saw that it was good. ¹⁹ So there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

²⁰ Then our Father said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." ²¹ So he created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves and teems in the water, each according to its kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And he saw that it was good. ²² Our Father blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth." ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

²⁴ And our Father said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. ²⁵ He made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And he saw that it was good.

²⁶ Then our Father said, "Let us make humanity in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creature that moves along the ground." ^b b v26 The Father's use of "us" and "our" references Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ²⁷ So our Father created humanity in their own image; in the image of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit he created them; male and female he created them. ^c c v27 Humanity is created in the image of all three Persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — not the Father alone. ²⁸ Our Father blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, and over every living creature that moves on the ground." ²⁹ Then he said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that bears seed-bearing fruit. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ "And to all the animals of the earth, all the birds in the sky, and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

³¹ Our Father saw all that he had made, and it was very good. So there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.