1. In the beginning, when God created the universe,
2. the earth was formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the Spirit of God was moving over the water.
3. Then God commanded, “Let there be light” — and light appeared.
4. God was pleased with what he saw. Then he separated the light from the darkness,
5. and he named the light “Day” and the darkness “Night”. Evening passed and morning came — that was the first day.
6-7. Then God commanded, “Let there be a dome to divide the water and to keep it in two separate places” — and it was done. So God made a dome, and it separated the water under it from the water above it.
8. He named the dome “Sky”. Evening passed and morning came — that was the second day.
9. Then God commanded, “Let the water below the sky come together in one place, so that the land will appear” — and it was done.
10. He named the land “Earth”, and the water which had come together he named “Sea”. And God was pleased with what he saw.
11. Then he commanded, “Let the earth produce all kinds of plants, those that bear grain and those that bear fruit” — and it was done.
12. So the earth produced all kinds of plants, and God was pleased with what he saw.
13. Evening passed and morning came — that was the third day.
14. Then God commanded, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate day from night and to show the time when days, years, and religious festivals begin;
15. they will shine in the sky to give light to the earth” — and it was done.
16. So God made the two larger lights, the sun to rule over the day and the moon to rule over the night; he also made the stars.