First, God created the heaven and the earth.
The earth was hurly-burly and drowned in darkness, and God’s breath breathed on the waters.
And God said,
Let there be light.
And there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good, and God parted the light from the darkness.
And God named the light Day, and the darkness God named Night.
And the evening and the morning were one day.
And God said,
Let there be lights in the heaven for Day and for Night, and let them be for hours and days and seasons and years, and let them be lights in the heaven to light up the earth.
And God made two great lights, a great light to rule Day and a small light to rule Night, and he sowed the stars also.
And God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the second day.
And God said,
Let there be a pillar within the waters, and let it part waters from waters.
And God formed the pillar, and it parted the waters below the pillar from the waters above the pillar.
And God named the pillar Sky.
And God said,
Let the waters below Sky be gathered in one place, and let dry land appear.
And it was so.
And God named the dry land Earth, and the gathered waters God named Seas.
And God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the third day.
And God said,
Let Earth bear grass, plants that bear seed and fruit trees that bear fruit that bear seed within.
And it was so.
Earth bore grass, every kind of plant that bears seed, and every kind of fruit tree that bears fruit that bear seed within.
And God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
And God said,
Let Seas bear living creatures plenteously, and let Sky bear winged creatures that fly above Earth.
And God created great sea-snakes and every kind of swimming thing, which Seas bore plenteously, and winged creatures of every kind.
And God saw that it was good.
And God blessed them and said,
Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in Seas, and let winged creatures fill Sky above Earth.
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
And God said,
Let Earth bear living creatures of every kind, oxen and crawling things and wild beasts of every kind.
And it was so.
God made every kind of wild beast, and every kind of ox, and every kind of crawling thing on Earth.
And God saw that it was good.
And God said,
Let us make man as our image, as us, and let them master the swimming creatures of Seas, and the winged creatures of Sky, and the oxen, and the wild beasts, and the crawling things of Earth.
And God created man as his image, as the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.
And God blessed them, and God said to them,
Be fruitful and multiply and fill Earth and subdue it, and master the swimming creatures of Seas, and the winged creatures of Sky, and every living thing that crawls on Earth.
And God said:
See: I give you every plant on Earth that bears seed and every tree, in which the fruit bear seed, for meat. And to every beast of Earth, and to every winged creature of Sky, and to every crawling thing of Earth, grass for meat.
And it was so.
And God saw all that he had done, and see: it was very good.
And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Thus the heaven and the earth were formed, and everything in them.
And on the seventh day God ended the work that he had made, and he rested on the seventh day in all his work that he had made.
And God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy: because in it he had rested in all his work that God created and made.
So it is told how the heaven and the earth were created.
It is also told that in the day the Lord God made the earth and the heaven, before any plant grew in a field and before any grass sprouted in a field (for the Lord God had not made rain to rain upon the earth and no human worked the humus), water welled up from the earth and the Lord God formed the human from the humus, and breathed into its nostrils the breath of life, and the human became a living self.
Out in the east the Lord God planted a garden of delight, Eden, and he placed there the human whom he had formed.
And the Lord God called up from the humus every kind of tree delightful to see and good to eat, and the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of knowing good and evil.
And a river came out of Eden to water the garden, and it divided and engendered four rivers.
The first is Pishon, the one that winds through the land of Havilah, where there is gold: the gold of that land is good, and there too are bdellium and onyx.
The second river is Gihon, the one that winds through the land of Cush.
The third river is Tigris, the one that flows east to Assyria.
And the fourth river is Euphrates.
And the Lord God took the human and put him into the garden of delight to till it and to tend it.
And the Lord God commanded the human and said,
Of every tree in the garden you may eat to eat, but of the tree of knowing good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall die the death.
And the Lord God said,
It is not good that the human should be alone. I will make a companion for him.
And out of the earth the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to the human to see what he would name it, and what the human named the creature, that was its name.
And the human gave names to all the oxen and to all the birds of the sky and to all the wild beasts; but for the human was no companion found.
And the Lord God cast a deep sleep on the human, and it slept; and he took one half of its body, and closed up the flesh where it had been, and the half, which the Lord God had taken from the human, he made a woman, and he brought her to the man.
And the man said,
This, yes, bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, this shall be named woman, because this was taken from man.
That is why a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they shall be one flesh.
And the two of them, the man and the woman, were naked, and were unashamed.
Now the snake was more knowing than any creature that the Lord God had made.
And it said to the woman,
So God said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden.’
And the woman said to the snake,
Of the fruit of the trees in the garden we may eat, but of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’
And the snake said to the woman,
You shall not die the death, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.
And the woman saw that the tree was good for eating, and that it was delightful to see, and that it was desirable for knowing, and she took the fruit of it and ate, and gave to her husband, and he ate.
And the eyes of the two were opened, and they saw that they were naked.
And they sewed fig leaves, and made themselves loincloths.
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the wind of the day.
And the man and the woman hid among the trees from the face of the Lord God.
And the Lord God called to the human and said to it,
Where are you?
And the human said,
I heard you voice in the garden, and I was scared, because I naked, and I hid.
And the Lord God said,
Who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I command you that you shall not eat?
And the man said,
The woman whom you put with me gave me of the tree, and I ate.
And the Lord God said,
What is this that you have done?
And the woman said,
The snake deceived me, and I ate.
And the Lord God said to the snake,
Because you have done this, cursed are you among oxen and wild beast. On your belly you shall walk and the earth you shall eat all the days of your life. Hate I put between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed: they shall hit at your head and you shall hiss at their heel.
He said to the woman,
I sharpen you birth pains, in pain you shall give birth, and you shall look to your man, and he shall master you.
He said to the man,
Because you heard the voice of the woman and ate from the tree of which I commanded you and said, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the earth for you, with pain you shall eat from it all the days of your life. Thorn and thistle it shall sprout for you when you eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, till you return to the earth from which you were taken. For earth you are and to earth you shall return.
And the Lord God made clothes of skin for the man and the woman, and he clothed them.
And the Lord God said,
See: the human has become like us, knowing good and evil, and see: his hand will reach out and take also of the tree of life, and he will eat, and live forever.
So the Lord sent him away from the garden of delight, to till the earth from which he had been taken.
So he drove the human out, and placed in the east in the garden of delight a winged angel, whose flaming sword turned in every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
And the man, Adam, named his wife Eve, for she was the mother of all the living.
And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain and said,
I have gained a human, like the Lord!
And again she bore: his brother Abel.
And Abel tended sheep, and Cain tilled the earth.
And it happened as the days passed that Cain brought of the fruit of the earth to offer it to the Lord, and Abel brought of the firstborn of his flock, the fattest.
And the Lord knew Abel and his offering, and Cain and his offering he knew not.
And Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
And the Lord said to Cain,
Why are you angry, and why is your face fallen? If you do well and if you do not, sin lies at the door. And it shall look to you, and you shall master it.
And Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and when they were in the field, Cain rose against Abel his brother and killed him.
And the Lord said to Cain,
Where is Abel your brother?
And Cain said,
I do not know: am I my brother’s keeper?
And the Lord said,
What have you done? Hear: your brother’s blood cries out to me from the earth. And now cursed to you is the earth, which opened its mouth to swallow your brother’s blood from you hand. When you till the earth, it shall no longer return to you its strength. You shall be a wanderer restless on the earth.
And Cain said to the Lord,
My punishment is greater than I can bear. See: you have driven me this day from the face of the earth, and from your face I must be hid. I shall be a wanderer restless on the earth, and whoever finds me shall kill me.
And the Lord said to Cain,
And whoever kills Cain shall be killed sevenfold.
And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that whoever found him would not kill him.
And Cain turned from the Lord’s face and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch.
And he built a city and named the city Enoch after his son.
And Enoch fathered Irad.
And Irad fathered Mehujael.
And Mehujael fathered Methusael.
And Methusael fathered Lamech.
And Lamech took two wives, Adah and Zillah.
And Adah bore Jabal, the father of those who live in tents and herd.
And Jabal’s brother was Jubal, the father of all who play the lyre and pipe.
And Zillah bore Tubal-cain, the crafter of tools of copper and iron and the brother of Naamah the singer.
And Lamech said to his wives,
Adah and Zillah, hear my voice: wives of Lamech, give me ear. I killed a man to my wounding, a boy to my hurt. If Cain be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy and sevenfold.
And Adam again knew Eve, and she bore a son and named him Seth, for God, she said, said me another son for Abel whom Cain killed.
And Seth also fathered a son and named him Enos, and Enos called on the name of the Lord.
Here is the record of Adam’s children:
In the day God created Adam, God created Adam in his image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them and blessed them and named them Adam, in the day they were created.
And Adam live a hundred and thirty years and fathered a son in his image, like him, and named him Seth; and after he fathered Seth, Adam lived eight hundred years and fathered sons and daughters; and altogether Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.
And Seth lived a hundred and five years and fathered Enos; and after he fathered Enos, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years and fathered sons and daughters; and altogether Seth lived nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.
And Enos lived ninety years and fathered Cainan; and after he fathered Cainan, Enos lived eight hundred and fifteen years and fathered sons and daughters; and altogether Enos lived nine hundred and five years; and he died.
And Cainan lived seventy years and fathered Mahalaleel; and after he fathered Mahalaleel, Cainan lived eight hundred and forty years and fathered sons and daughters; and altogether Cainan lived nine hundred and ten years; and he died.
And Mahalaleel lived sixty-five years and fathered Jared; and after he fathered Jared, Mahalaleel lived eight hundred and thirty years and fathered sons and daughters; and altogether Mahalaleel lived eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.
And Jared lived a hundred and sixty-two years and fathered Enoch and after he fathered Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years and fathered sons and daughters; and altogether Jared lived nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died.
And Enoch lived sixty-five years and fathered Methuselah; and after he fathered Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years and fathered sons and daughters; and altogether Enoch lived three hundred and sixty-five years; and Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him.
And Methuselah lived a hundred and eighty-seven years and fathered Lamech; and after he fathered Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years and fathered sons and daughters; and altogether Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.
And Lamech lived a hundred and eighty two years and fathered a son; and he named him Noah, saying, This one shall console us for our pain, the work of our hands in the earth that the Lord has cursed; and after he fathered Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years and fathered sons and daughters; and altogether Lamech lived seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.
And Noah was five hundred years old and was the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
…[mostly from Robert Alter’s translation:]
And the servant ran to her and said,
Please, let me moisten my lips from your jug.
And she said,
Drink, lord.
And she hurried and lowered her jug to her hand and let him drink.
And she let him drink his fill.
And she said,
For your camels also I shall draw water until they drink their fill.
And she hurried and emptied her jug into the trough and ran to the well to draw water and drew water again for all his camels.
…Let me stuff myself with that red red stuff.
…Leo Wong hello@albany.net