Reading:
Genesis
1 & 2
In the beginning, long, long ago, God
created the heaven and the earth. The earth had no form.
It was empty and thick darkness covered everything.
"Let there be light," said God
and there was light. God saw that it was good. He divided
the light from the darkness and called the light DAY
and the darkness NIGHT. The evening and the morning
were the first day.
On the second day God created the
sky and God saw that it was good.
"Let the waters be gathered into
one place" said God, "and let dry land appear.
Let the land grow grass, plants and trees, and let them
produce fruit and seeds." And it was so. God called
the waters SEAS and the dry land EARTH. The evening
and the morning were the third day.
"Let there be lights in the sky,"
said God and it was so. The sun was created to shine
during the day and the moon and stars were created to
give light at night. God made them as signs to mark
the seasons, days and years; and the evening and the
morning were the fourth day.
On the fifth day God created the
birds, the fish, great whales and all kinds of marine
life. "Let the waters teem with living creatures,"
He said. "Let birds fly above the earth. Let them
be fruitful and multiply." God saw that it was
good.
"Let the land produce all manner
of living creatures - creatures that move along the
ground and wild animals; and let us make man in our
own image," said God, and it was so. He created
every living creature from the dust of the ground; male
and female, He created them all. The evening and the
morning were the sixth day.
Then God saw everything He had made and
it was very good.
God had finished the work He had been
doing. On the seventh day He rested from all
His work aionnd God blessed the seventh day and made
it holy.
Now God planted a garden in the east,
in Eden, and God took the man and put him in the garden
of Eden to work it and take care of it. Adam, for that
was his name, named all the living creatures and whatever
he called each living creature, that was its name. And
God made a woman from Adam and Adam named her Eve, which
means 'living', because she would become the mother
of all living.