The Creation of the World

1 In the ^abeginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was ^bwithout form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 And God said, ^c“Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that 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 was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6 And God said, ^d“Let there be an expanse¹ in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made² the expanse and ^eseparated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were ^fabove the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven.³ And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

9 And God said, ^g“Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth,⁴ and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, ^h“Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants⁵ 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, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for ⁱsigns and for ^jseasons,⁶ and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God ^kmade the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to ^lrule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds⁷ fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So ^mGod created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, ⁿ“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 was morning, the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, ^o“Let us make man⁸ in our image, ^pafter our likeness. And ^qlet them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, ^s“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. ^tYou shall have them for food. 30 And ^uto every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 ^vAnd God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel ^dcried out to the Lord. 11 They ^esaid to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what ^fwe said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 And Moses said to the people, ^g“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For ^hthe Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 ⁱThe Lord will fight for you, and you have only ^jto be silent.”

15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 ^kLift up your staff, and ^kstretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And ^lI will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and ^mI will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians ⁿshall know that I am the Lord, ^mwhen I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

19 ^oThen the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20 coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night¹ without one coming near the other all night.

21 Then Moses ^kstretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by ^pa strong east wind all night and ^qmade the sea dry land, and the waters were ^rdivided. 22 And ^sthe people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being ^ta wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, 25 clogging² their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the ^uLord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

26 Then the Lord said to Moses, ^v“Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” 27 ^wSo Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea ^xreturned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord ^ythrew³ the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. 28 The ^zwaters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, ^anot one of them remained. 29 But the ^bpeople of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

30 Thus the Lord ^csaved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 ^dIsrael saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they ^ebelieved in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

The Song of Moses

1 Then Moses and the people of Israel ^fsang this song to the Lord, saying,

24 ^bI will take you ^cfrom the nations and gather you from all the countries and ^dbring you into your own land. 25 ^eI will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from ^fall your uncleannesses, and ^gfrom all your idols ^hI will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you ⁱa new heart, and ⁱa new spirit I will put within you. ⁱAnd I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 ^jAnd I will put my Spirit within you, ⁱand cause you to walk in my statutes and ^kbe careful to obey my rules.¹ 28 ^lYou shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ^myou shall be my people, and I will be your God.