Genesis 1:1-11:26 Summary

When the earth was formless and the wind of God was hovering over the waters, God created the universe in six days. God started by speaking light into existence, and finished by creating human beings in God’s image, telling them to be fruitful and multiply. God declared that creation was very good. (1). God rested on the seventh day, blessed it, and declared it holy.

The Lord created a man from the ground, breathed life into him, and placed him in the Garden of Eden to care for it. The Lord told the man not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord then made many animals in order to find the man a suitable partner. The man named them, but did not find a partner. So the Lord made a woman out of the man’s rib and the man was overjoyed (2). One day the man and the woman were tricked by a snake into eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord cursed the man, the woman, and the snake. Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden, for the Lord was worried that they might eat from the tree of life (3). After leaving Eden Eve gave birth to two sons, Cain and Abel, but the brothers did not get along. One day Cain became jealous of the way the Lord favoured his brother and killed him. The Lord punished Cain by sending him away, but Cain was nevertheless blessed with many children. The Lord then gave Adam and Eve another son named Seth, (4) through whom Adam and Eve had many generations of descendants (5).

But even the descendants of Seth were vulnerable to human failing. The Lord was heartbroken by their wickedness and decided to destroy all living things with a flood. The only exception would be righteous Noah who was to build a giant boat for himself, his family, and a male and female representative of every kind of animal so that life might be preserved (6). Noah also took seven pairs of animals approved for eating and sacrifice. Then the Lord sent the flood; it rained for forty days and forty nights until the highest mountains of the earth were covered and all living things had died (7). Then God remembered Noah and the creatures on the boat. God sent a wind to blow across the earth and the waters receded. Once the waters dried up God told Noah to leave the boat; Noah built an altar and made an animal sacrifice to the Lord, and the Lord promised that the earth would have order despite human wickedness: there would be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night (8). God blessed Noah and his family, telling them to be fruitful and multiply, and giving them rules about food and murder. God made a covenant with them, promising them that the earth would never again be destroyed by a flood and providing them with the rainbow as a sign. But even Noah was vulnerable to human failing: one day he became drunk and exposed himself in front of his son, Ham, which prompted him to curse Ham’s son Canaan (9). Nevertheless, Noah’s three sons, Japheth, Ham, and Shem had many generations of descendants (10).

At one time humans all spoke the same language. They united in Babylonia to build a great city with a tower that would reach into the heavens. The Lord punished them by confusing their languages and scattering them across the earth for the Lord was worried that if they could achieve this, they might be able to achieve anything (11).