Genesis 1
Last Updated
30 Jul 2025
God created the heavens, earth, and all life with order, purpose, and divine intent, declaring His creation good.
Summary
Genesis 1 presents a structured narrative: God speaks creation into being, each day building on the previous. By Day 6, land, sea, plants, animals, and humans—all in God’s image—are formed. Day 7 marks divine rest. The chapter emphasizes divine authority, order emerging from chaos, and humanity’s unique role. Its aesthetic symmetry and repetitive literary form reinforce a theological rhythm—creation moves from emptiness to fullness under God’s spoken word.
Author: Traditionally Moses
Written: c. 1446–1400 BC
Setting: Creation events are understood to have occurred several millennia before Abraham, as part of early human history under God’s sovereignty.
Genesis 1 KJV – Creation of the World, Day by Day
Prologue: The Creation of Heaven and Earth
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Day One – God Creates Light and Separates Darkness
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Day Two – God Forms the Sky to Divide the Waters
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Day Three – Land, Seas, and All Plant Life Appear
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Day Four – Sun, Moon, and Stars Appointed for Signs and Seasons
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Day Five – Life in the Sea and Sky Is Created
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Day Six – Land Animals and Humanity Are Formed
24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
The Creation of Humanity in God’s Image
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
God Provides Food for All Living Creatures
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
Conclusion – God Declares His Work Very Good
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Key Themes
Creation ex nihilo
The Image of God
Divine order and speech
Goodness of creation
Sabbath and sacred time
Cosmic structure
Notable Verses
Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
Genesis 1:26 – “Let us make man in our image...”
Genesis 1:31 – “And God saw every thing... it was very good.”