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BOOK 1 OF 66 · LAW · KING JAMES BIBLE

Genesis 1

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REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Genesis 1 Overview

Genesis 1 introduces the Bible with God creating the heaven and the earth by his word. The chapter moves from an earth without form and void to an ordered world of light, sky, seas, dry land, vegetation, heavenly lights, creatures, and mankind. Human beings are uniquely made in God’s image, blessed, given dominion, and provided food. The chapter closes with God seeing everything that he had made and declaring it very good.

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Before you read Genesis 1

Coming from

Nothing comes before Genesis 1 in the biblical narrative. The chapter deliberately begins with God already present and acting.

In this chapter

God is the Creator, creation is ordered by his command, and mankind occupies a unique place as male and female made in God’s image.

Leads into

Genesis 2 narrows from the creation of the whole world to the formation of man, Eden, the command concerning the tree, and the creation of woman.

Key understanding

Genesis 1 introduces the Bible with God creating the heaven and the earth by his word. The chapter moves from an earth without form and void to an ordered world of light, sky, seas, dry land, vegetation, heavenly lights, creatures, and mankind. Human beings are uniquely made in God’s image, blessed, given dominion, and provided food. The chapter closes with God seeing everything that he had made and declaring it very good.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

God creates by speaking and repeatedly evaluates his work as good.

Truth 2

The chapter establishes distinctions: light/darkness, waters, land/seas, kinds of living creatures, and male/female.

Truth 3

The sun and moon are created things, not gods; the text calls them the greater and lesser lights.

Truth 4

Mankind alone is explicitly made in God’s image and given dominion.

Truth 5

Creation reaches completion in ordered abundance rather than struggle among competing gods.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

John 1:1–3 identifies the Word in relation to creation and states that all things were made by him.

Connection 2

Colossians 1:16–17 and Hebrews 1:2–3 present creation as accomplished through the Son.

Connection 3

Psalm 33:6–9 celebrates creation by the word of the LORD.

Connection 4

Revelation 21–22 closes the Bible with new-creation imagery that answers losses introduced after Genesis 1.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Genesis 1 presents God as Creator; it does not present matter, the heavenly lights, or living creatures as divine.

Keep this clear 2

The chapter repeatedly uses ordinary day-language with evening and morning. Interpretive systems about chronology should be distinguished from what the text directly states.

Keep this clear 3

The creation of mankind as male and female is stated before sin enters the narrative.

Keep this clear 4

The chapter’s purpose is theological and historical; it should not be reduced to a modern science textbook, but neither should its historical claims be emptied into mere symbolism.

Read Genesis 1 watching for…Explore deeper

Repeated phrases such as “And God said,” “and it was so,” and “God saw that it was good.”

The progression from forming realms to filling them.

The unique language used when God creates man.

Every blessing and assignment given before the fall.

The final judgment: “very good.”

TWBC REVIEW STANDARD

Plain language. Scripture first. Fact distinguished from inference. No filler. No fake certainty. Designed to help you read the Bible itself.

Chapter outline18 sections
1God creates heaven and earth2-5Light and the first day6-8The firmament and the second day9-13Dry land, seas, and vegetation14-19Sun, moon, stars, and the fourth day20-23Sea life and fowl24-25Cattle, beasts, and creeping things26-28God creates man in his image and blesses him29-31Food given and creation declared very good1God creates heaven and earth2-5Light and the first day6-8The firmament and the second day9-13Dry land, seas, and vegetation14-19Sun, moon, stars, and the fourth day20-23Sea life and fowl24-25Cattle, beasts, and creeping things26-28God creates man in his image and blesses him29-31Food is given and creation is declared very good
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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Genesis 1:28

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