In the beginning, the earth was a formless void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. Then the breath of God swept over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light." And there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. And God said, "Let the light be called Day, and the darkness Night." And there was evening and there was morning--the first of all days.

And God said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters that separates waters from waters." And it was so: God made the dome, and it separated the waters below from those that were above. And God said, "Let the dome be called Sky." And there was evening and there was morning--the second day.

And God said, "Let the waters below the sky gather together, so the dry land may appear." And it was so. God said, "Let the dry land be called Earth and the gatherings of waters Seas." And God saw that it was good. And God said, "Let the earth sprout with many kinds of herbs and grass, and flowers and trees, each yielding seed of its own kind so that the sprouting of the earth will never cease." And it was so: the earth became green with every kind of herb and grass and flower and tree. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning--the third day.

And God said, "Let there be lights in the sky to separate the day and the night. And let them mark the seasons, the days and the years, and shine upon and warm the earth." And it was so: God made two great lights--the greater light to illuminate the day and the lesser light to illuminate the night--and the stars. And God set them in the sky to shine upon and warm the earth, to illuminate the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning--the fourth day.

And God said, "Let the waters teem with many kinds of swimming creatures, and let many kinds of winged birds fly above the earth across the sky." And it was so: God created great whales and tiny fishes and every kind of creature of the sea; God created great hawks and tiny sparrows and every kind of bird of the air. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the seas and the skies." And there was evening and there was morning--the fifth day.

And God said, "Let the earth bring forth many kinds of living things: animals, reptiles and many kinds of creatures. And it was so: God created great rhinoceroses and tiny squirrels, great triceratops and tiny salamanders, great dragonflies and tiny ants; God created every kind of creature of the earth. And God saw that it was good. And God said, "Let us make humans in our image, similar to us. They shall have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and the creatures that walk upon the earth." And God created humans in His image; in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. And God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and master it; rule with love and kindness over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that dwell upon the earth."

And God said, "Behold, I give you every grass and herb that is upon the earth, and every tree and every flower; they shall be yours for food. And to all the creatures on land, to all the birds of the sky, to all the fish of the sea, and to everything in which there is the breath of life, I give all the foliage of plants for food." And it was so. And God saw all that He had made, and indeed it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning--the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and everything in them. On the seventh day God saw that His work was completed, and He rested on the seventh day. And the seventh day He made holy because on it He rested from all the work of creation.

Such is the story of how the heavens and the earth were created.