Genesis 1
The New Consensus Bible is an AI-generated contemporary rendering, built from seven public-domain translations and the 20-tradition consensus. See all the work behind this chapter.
1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2Now 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. 3And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness. 5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, day one. 6And God said, "Let there be a vault in the midst of the waters, and let it divide between waters and waters." 7And God made the vault, and divided between the waters which were under the vault and the waters which were above the vault; and it was so. 8And God called the vault Heavens. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. 9And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered to 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. 11And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants seeding seed, and fruit trees making fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth"; and it was so. 12And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants seeding seed according to its kind, and trees making fruit, whose seed is in itself, according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. 14And God said, "Let there be luminaries in the vault of the heavens to divide between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for appointed times, and for days and years; 15and let them be for luminaries in the vault of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. 16And God made the two great luminaries: the great luminary to rule the day, and the small luminary to rule the night, and the stars. 17And God set them in the vault of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. 20And God said, "Let the waters swarm with a swarm of living creatures, and let flying creatures fly above the earth across the face of the vault of the heavens." 21And God created the large sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22And God 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. 24And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to its kind, livestock and creeping things and wild animals of the earth according to its kind"; and it was so. 25And God made the wild animals of the earth according to its kind, and the livestock according to its kind, and every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26And God said, "Let us make humanity in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27And God created humanity in his image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28And God 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 heavens, and over every living thing that creeps on the earth." 29And God said, "Look, I have given you every plant seeding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree seeding seed; it will be your food. 30And to every wild animal of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which is the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so. 31And God saw everything that he had made, and look, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Watch & listen
Genesis 1: The First Days
From a formless void to a teeming, vibrant world, God speaks the universe, the earth, and humanity into existence over six days of creation.
The New Consensus Bible text of Genesis 1, read aloud over the chapter’s eight scenes. The words appear below as they are read.
Film, illustrations and song are AI-generated from this chapter’s consensus — not a depiction any tradition has approved. The imagery is deliberately neutral on the points the traditions dispute, and every word spoken or printed is the New Consensus Bible quoted verbatim.