Genesis: Creation
God creates Heaven and Earth, and all things in it, in six days.
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In the beginning God created heaven, and earth. And the earth was nothing and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the waters. And God said: Let light be made. And light was made. And God saw the light, and that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness. And he called the light Day, and the darkness Night; and there was evening and morning, which is one day.
And God said: Let there be a firmament1 made amid the waters: and let it divide the water. And God made a firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament, from those that were above the firmament, and it was so. And God called the firmament, Heaven; and the evening and morning were the second day. God also said: Let the waters that are under the heaven, be gathered together into one place: and let the dry land appear. And it was so done. And God called the dry land, Earth; and the gathering together of the waters, he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
And he said: Let the earth bring forth plants, and the ones that have seeds, and the fruit tree yielding fruit like the seed bearing plant, which can have its seed fall upon the earth. And it was done. And the earth brought forth the plants, and the plants that have seeds, and the tree that bears fruit, each one has seeds different from each other. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years: To shine in the firmament of heaven, and to give light upon the earth. And it was done.
And God made two great lights:2 a greater light to rule the day; and a lesser light to rule the night: and the stars. And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth. And to rule the day and the night, and to divide the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and morning were the fourth day. God also said: Let the waters bring forth the creeping creature having life, and the fowl that may fly over the earth under the firmament of heaven.
And God created the huge whales, and every living and moving creature, which the waters brought forth, and every bird. And God saw that it was good. And he blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the waters of the sea: and let the birds multiply on the earth. And the evening and morning were the fifth day. And God said: Let the earth bring forth living creatures, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth. And it was so done. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and cattle, and every thing that creeps on the earth after its kind. And God saw that it was good.
And he said: Let us make man to our image3 and likeness: and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moves upon the earth. And God created man in his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them. And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply,4 and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth. And God said: Behold I have given you every plant bearing seed upon the earth, and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kind, to be your meat: And to all beasts of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all that move upon the earth, and wherein there is life, that they may have to feed upon. And it was so done.
And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good. And the evening and morning were the sixth day. God rested on the seventh day and blessed it.
In the earthly paradise, in which God places man; He commands him not to eat of the tree of knowledge. And forms a woman of his rib.
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So the heavens and the earth were finished, and everything in them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and he rested 5 on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. And he blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. These are the generations of the heaven and the earth, when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the heaven and the earth: And every plant of the field before it sprung up in the earth, and every herb of the ground before it grew: for the Lord God had not rained upon the earth; and there was not a man to till the earth.
But a spring rose out of the earth, watering all the surface of the earth. And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning: wherein he placed man whom he had formed. And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life6 also in the midst of paradise: and the tree of knowledge7 of good and evil. And a river went out of the place of pleasure to water paradise, which from there it is divided into four heads.
The name of one is Phison: it encompasses all the land of Hevilah, the land of Gold. And the gold of that land is very good: there is found bdellium, and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gehon: the same is it that encompasses all the land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is Tigris: the same passes along by the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates. And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress it, and to keep it.
And he commanded him, saying: Of every tree of paradise you shall eat: But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day anyone of you shall eat from it, you shall die. And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a helper like himself. And the Lord God having formed out of the ground all the beasts of the earth, and all the fowls of the air, brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: for whatsoever Adam called any living creature the same is its name. And Adam called all the beasts by their names, and all the fowls of the air, and all the cattle of the field: but for Adam there was not found a helper like himself.
Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam: and when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it. And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and brought her to Adam. And Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh. And they were both naked: to wit, Adam and his wife: and were not ashamed.
Notes
This translation uses Douay Rheims as a base, and modernizes the language (i.e thee and thou become you)
1"A firmament": Firmament means the whole space between the earth, and the highest stars. The lower part divides the waters that are upon the earth, from those that are above in the clouds.
2"Two great lights": God created on the first day, light, which being moved from east to west, by its rising and setting, made morning and evening. But on the fourth day he ordered and distributed this light, and made the sun, moon, and stars. The moon, though much less than the stars, is here called a great light, from its giving a far greater light to the earth than any of them.
3"Let us make man to our image": This image of God in man, is not in the body, but in the soul; which is a spiritual substance, endued with understanding and free will. God speaks here in the plural number, to insinuate the plurality of persons in the Deity.
4"Increase and multiply": This is not a precept, as some Protestants would have it, but a blessing, making them fruitful; for God said the same words to the fishes, and birds, who were incapable of receiving a precept.
5 "He rested": That is, he ceased to make or create any new kinds of things. Though, as our Lord tells us, John 5. 17,"He still worketh", for example, by conserving and governing all things, and creating souls.
6 "The tree of life": So called because it had that quality, that by eating of the fruit of it, man would have been preserved in a constant state of health, vigour, and strength, and would not have died at all.
7 "The tree of knowledge": To which the deceitful serpent falsely attributed the power of imparting a superior kind of knowledge, beyond that which God was pleased to give.