Genesis · Bible in Basic English
Genesis 1 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
2 And the earth was waste and without form; and it was dark on the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the waters.
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 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
3 God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4 And God, looking on the light, saw that it was good: and God made a division between the light and the dark,
4 God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness.
5 Naming the light, Day, and the dark, Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
5 God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.
6 And God said, Let there be a solid arch stretching over the waters, parting the waters from the waters.
6 God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
7 And God made the arch for a division between the waters which were under the arch and those which were over it: and it was so.
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 And God gave the arch the name of Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
8 God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven come together in one place, and let the dry land be seen: and it was so.
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 And God gave the dry land the name of Earth; and the waters together in their place were named Seas: and God saw that it was good.
10 God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, Let grass come up on the earth, and plants producing seed, and fruit-trees giving fruit, in which is their seed, after their sort: and it was so.
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 And grass came up on the earth, and every plant producing seed of its sort, and every tree producing fruit, in which is its seed, of its sort: and God saw that it was good.
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 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the arch of heaven, for a division between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for marking the changes of the year, and for days and for years:
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 arch of heaven to give light on the earth: and it was so.
15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth;” and it was so.
16 And God made the two great lights: the greater light to be the ruler of the day, and the smaller light to be the ruler of the night: and he made the stars.
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 And God put them in the arch of heaven, to give light on the earth;
17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth,
18 To have rule over the day and the night, and for a division between the light and the dark: and God saw that it was good.
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 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
20 And God said, Let the waters be full of living things, and let birds be in flight over the earth under the arch of heaven.
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 And God made great sea-beasts, and every sort of living and moving thing with which the waters were full, and every sort of winged bird: and God saw that it was good.
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 And God gave them his blessing, saying, Be fertile and have increase, making all the waters of the seas full, and let the birds be increased in the earth.
22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
24 And God said, Let the earth give birth to all sorts of living things, cattle and all things moving on the earth, and beasts of the earth after their sort: and it was so.
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 And God made the beast of the earth after its sort, and the cattle after their sort, and everything moving on the face of the earth after its sort: and God saw that it was good.
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 And God said, Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth.
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 And God made man in his image, in the image of God he made him: male and female he made them.
27 God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.
28 And God gave them his blessing and said to them, Be fertile and have increase, and make the earth full and be masters of it; be rulers over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing moving on the earth.
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 And God said, See, I have given you every plant producing seed, on the face of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit producing seed: they will be for your food:
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 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and every living thing moving on the face of the earth I have given every green plant for food: and it was so.
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 And God saw everything which he had made and it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
31 God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.
Cross references (26)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 John 1:1–3; Hebrews 11:3; Isaiah 45:18; Revelation 4:11; Hebrews 1:10
- 2 Jeremiah 4:23; Psalm 104:30; Isaiah 45:18; Psalm 33:6; Job 26:7
- 3 2 Corinthians 4:6; John 1:5; Isaiah 45:7; Isaiah 60:19; 1 John 1:5
- 4 Ecclesiastes 2:13; Genesis 1:18; Ecclesiastes 11:7; Genesis 1:31; Genesis 1:12
- 5 Psalm 74:16; Isaiah 45:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:5; Psalm 104:20; Genesis 8:22
- 6 Jeremiah 51:15; Job 37:18; Psalm 33:6; Job 26:7–8; Jeremiah 10:12–13
- 7 Proverbs 8:28–29; Psalm 148:4; Matthew 8:27; Job 38:8–11; Genesis 1:9
- 9 2 Peter 3:5; Jonah 1:9; Jeremiah 5:22; Psalm 95:5; Ecclesiastes 1:7
- 10 Deuteronomy 32:4
- 11 Hebrews 6:7; Psalm 104:14–17; Psalm 147:8; Genesis 1:29; Psalm 65:9–13
- 12 Mark 4:28; Isaiah 55:10–11; Matthew 13:24–26; Galatians 6:7; Luke 6:44
- 14 Psalm 104:19–20; Deuteronomy 4:19; Psalm 74:16–17; Jeremiah 31:35; Psalm 148:3
- 16 Psalm 136:7–9; Deuteronomy 4:19; Psalm 8:3; Psalm 74:16; Psalm 148:5
- 17 Psalm 8:3; Psalm 8:1; Job 38:12
- 18 Jeremiah 31:35; Psalm 19:6
- 20 Psalm 104:24–25; Genesis 2:19; 1 Kings 4:33; Psalm 148:10; Genesis 1:30
- 21 Psalm 104:24–26; Genesis 1:25; Genesis 8:19; Genesis 8:17; Genesis 6:20
- 22 Job 40:15; Genesis 8:17; Genesis 1:28; Psalm 107:38; Genesis 35:11
- 24 Psalm 50:9–10; Genesis 6:20; Genesis 8:19; Job 40:15; Psalm 148:10
- 25 Jeremiah 27:5; Job 12:8–10; Genesis 2:19–20; Job 26:13
- 26 Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24; Psalm 8:4–8; Genesis 3:22; Genesis 5:1
- 27 Matthew 19:4; Ephesians 2:10; Genesis 5:1–2; Mark 10:6; Genesis 2:21–25
- 28 Genesis 9:1; Genesis 9:7; Leviticus 26:9; Psalm 128:3–4; Genesis 22:17–18
- 29 Genesis 9:3; Psalm 104:14–15; Psalm 145:15–16; Psalm 104:27–28; Acts 14:17
- 30 Psalm 104:14; Psalm 147:9; Psalm 145:15–16; Job 40:15; Job 40:20
- 31 1 Timothy 4:4; Psalm 104:24; Psalm 19:1–2; Exodus 20:11; Psalm 104:31
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Moses, then, they declare, by his mode of beginning the account of the creation, has at the commencement pointed out the mother of all things when he says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth;" for, as they maintain, by naming these four,--God, beginning, heaven, and earth,--he set forth their Tetrad.
And who is this but our God, the God that created heaven and earth, and filleth them, because by filling them He created them?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
… but the heavens are from the waters: the earth is the place of men, but the earth is from the waters: and before the whole six days' formation of the things that were made, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
… bound to "seek those things which are above," but because the day seems to us to be in some sense an image of the age which we expect, wherefore, though it is the beginning of days, it is not called by Moses first, but one. For he says "There was evening, and there was morning, one day," as though the …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)
Light, therefore, being the work of the Creator and being made good (for God saw all that He made, and behold they were exceeding good ) produced darkness at His free-will.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 9 (1899)