The Creation
Scripture opens not with an argument but with an announcement: in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The account is ordered in six days of shaping and filling — light and dark, sea and sky, land and growing things, then sun, moon and stars, then the creatures of water, air and ground, and finally humanity, made in God's image and given charge of the rest. On the seventh day the work stops, and the rest itself is blessed, a pattern later written into the sabbath command.
No date is offered, and none should be inferred. The chapter is concerned with who made the world and to what end, not with when. Its shape is deliberate: each day answers another, and the repeated verdict — that what was made is good — sets the terms for everything the Bible goes on to say about creation, about work, and about people.
Where in scripture
[1] In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. [2] The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. [3] God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. [4] God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. [5] God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day. [6] God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” [7] God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. …
Genesis 1:1–2:3 — opening verses
[1] Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind, [2] “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? [3] Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me! [4] “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. [5] Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it? [6] Whereupon were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, [7] when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? [8] “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb, [9] when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness, [10] marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors, …
Job 38:1–11 — opening verses
[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] The same was in the beginning with God. [3] All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made. [4] In him was life, and the life was the light of men. [5] The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it.
John 1:1–5
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
