The Covenant of Works
Genesis 1-3
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth waswithout form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. Andthe Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God sawthat the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there wasevening and there was morning, the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, andlet it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse andseparated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that wereabove the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven.And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered togetherinto one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called thedry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas.And God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed,and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind,on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plantsyielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which istheir seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 Andthere was evening and there was morning, the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens toseparate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons,and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of theheavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made thetwo great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rulethe night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavensto give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and toseparate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 Andthere was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures,and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 SoGod created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves,with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every wingedbird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And Godblessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas,and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there wasmorning, the fifth day.
24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according totheir kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth accordingto their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earthaccording to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, andeverything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God sawthat it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Andlet them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of theheavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over everycreeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiplyand fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the seaand over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves onthe earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yieldingseed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit.You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to everybird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everythingthat has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And itwas so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was verygood. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
The Seventh Day, God Rests
2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, andhe rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So Godblessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from allhis work that he had done in creation.
The Creation of Man and Woman
4 These are the generations
of the heavens and the earth when they were created,
in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of thefield had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on theland, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going upfrom the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then theLORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into hisnostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And theLORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the manwhom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to springup every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of lifewas in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good andevil.
10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided andbecame four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one thatflowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the goldof that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of thesecond river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land ofCush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east ofAssyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to workit and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You maysurely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge ofgood and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shallsurely die.”
18 Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; Iwill make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the LORD Godhad formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens andbrought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever theman called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave namesto all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of thefield. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the LORDGod caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took oneof his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the LORD Godhad taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.23 Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to hiswife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were bothnaked and were not ashamed.
The Fall
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field thatthe LORD God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any treein the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of thefruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruitof the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lestyou die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 ForGod knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will belike God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the treewas good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the treewas to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and shealso gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then theeyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And theysewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in thecool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presenceof the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called tothe man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the soundof you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hidmyself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten ofthe tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “Thewoman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and Iate.” 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you havedone?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of allliving. 21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skinsand clothed them.
22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us inknowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of thetree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the LORD God sent him outfrom the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 Hedrove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed thecherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way tothe tree of life.