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Genesis · Majority Standard Bible

Genesis 1 Majority Standard Bible

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  • Protestant
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Majority (Byzantine) text
  • Protestant (66 books)
  • Formal (word for word)
  • 2022
  • Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. 6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, to separate the waters from the waters.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the waters beneath it from the waters above. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. 9 And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of waters He called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind.” And it was so. 12 The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. 14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years. 15 And let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well. 17 God set these lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth, 18 to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. 20 And God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters teemed according to their kinds, and every winged bird after its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day. 24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, land crawlers, and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that crawls upon the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.” 29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth—everything that has the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the 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. 1 John 1:1–3; Hebrews 11:3; Isaiah 45:18; Revelation 4:11; Hebrews 1:10
  2. 2 Jeremiah 4:23; Psalm 104:30; Isaiah 45:18; Psalm 33:6; Job 26:7
  3. 3 2 Corinthians 4:6; John 1:5; Isaiah 45:7; Isaiah 60:19; 1 John 1:5
  4. 4 Ecclesiastes 2:13; Genesis 1:18; Ecclesiastes 11:7; Genesis 1:31; Genesis 1:12
  5. 5 Psalm 74:16; Isaiah 45:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:5; Psalm 104:20; Genesis 8:22
  6. 6 Jeremiah 51:15; Job 37:18; Psalm 33:6; Job 26:7–8; Jeremiah 10:12–13
  7. 7 Proverbs 8:28–29; Psalm 148:4; Matthew 8:27; Job 38:8–11; Genesis 1:9
  8. 9 2 Peter 3:5; Jonah 1:9; Jeremiah 5:22; Psalm 95:5; Ecclesiastes 1:7
  9. 10 Deuteronomy 32:4
  10. 11 Hebrews 6:7; Psalm 104:14–17; Psalm 147:8; Genesis 1:29; Psalm 65:9–13
  11. 12 Mark 4:28; Isaiah 55:10–11; Matthew 13:24–26; Galatians 6:7; Luke 6:44
  12. 14 Psalm 104:19–20; Deuteronomy 4:19; Psalm 74:16–17; Jeremiah 31:35; Psalm 148:3
  13. 16 Psalm 136:7–9; Deuteronomy 4:19; Psalm 8:3; Psalm 74:16; Psalm 148:5
  14. 17 Psalm 8:3; Psalm 8:1; Job 38:12
  15. 18 Jeremiah 31:35; Psalm 19:6
  16. 20 Psalm 104:24–25; Genesis 2:19; 1 Kings 4:33; Psalm 148:10; Genesis 1:30
  17. 21 Psalm 104:24–26; Genesis 1:25; Genesis 8:19; Genesis 8:17; Genesis 6:20
  18. 22 Job 40:15; Genesis 8:17; Genesis 1:28; Psalm 107:38; Genesis 35:11
  19. 24 Psalm 50:9–10; Genesis 6:20; Genesis 8:19; Job 40:15; Psalm 148:10
  20. 25 Jeremiah 27:5; Job 12:8–10; Genesis 2:19–20; Job 26:13
  21. 26 Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24; Psalm 8:4–8; Genesis 3:22; Genesis 5:1
  22. 27 Matthew 19:4; Ephesians 2:10; Genesis 5:1–2; Mark 10:6; Genesis 2:21–25
  23. 28 Genesis 9:1; Genesis 9:7; Leviticus 26:9; Psalm 128:3–4; Genesis 22:17–18
  24. 29 Genesis 9:3; Psalm 104:14–15; Psalm 145:15–16; Psalm 104:27–28; Acts 14:17
  25. 30 Psalm 104:14; Psalm 147:9; Psalm 145:15–16; Job 40:15; Job 40:20
  26. 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).

  1. Quotes verse 1:1 Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies (Book I, Chapters XVIII–XIX)

    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.

    Read in context · Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885)

  2. Quotes verse 1:1 Augustine of Hippo, Confessions (Book IV, Chapters VIII–XII)

    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)

  3. Quotes verse 1:2 Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures (Lecture III)

    … 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)

  4. Quotes verse 1:5 Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit (Chapter XXVII)

    … 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)

  5. Quotes verse 1:31 John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Book II, Chapters IV–VI)

    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)