Tanakh, Bible & Qu'ran: The Pillars of Three Faiths. Various Authors

was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. ³And God said: 'Let there be light.' And there was light. ⁴And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. ⁵And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

      ⁶And God said: 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.' ⁷And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. ⁸And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

      ⁹And God said: 'Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear.' And it was so. ¹⁰And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas; and God saw that it was good. ¹¹And God said: 'Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit-tree bearing fruit after its kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth.' And it was so. ¹²And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after its kind; and God saw that it was good. ¹³And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

      ¹⁴And God said: 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; ¹⁵and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.' And it was so. ¹⁶And God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars. ¹⁷And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, ¹⁸and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

      ²⁰And God said: 'Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let fowl fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.' ²¹And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that creepeth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after its kind, and every winged fowl after its kind; and God saw that it was good. ²²And God blessed them, saying: 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.' ²³And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

      ²⁴And God said: 'Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind.' And it was so. ²⁵And God made the beast of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good. ²⁶And God said: 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.' ²⁷And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. ²⁸And God blessed them; and God said unto them: 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth.' ²⁹And God said: 'Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed—to you it shall be for food; ³⁰and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is a living soul, [I have given] every green herb for food.' And it was so. ³¹And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

      2And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. ²And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. ³And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work which God in creating had made.

      ⁴These are the generations of the heaven and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.

⁵No shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground; ⁶but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. ⁷Then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. ⁸And the Lord God planted a garden eastward, in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed. ⁹And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. ¹⁰And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became four heads. ¹¹The name of the first is Pishon; that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; ¹²and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone. ¹³And the name of the second river is Gihon; the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴And the name of the third river is ¹Tigris; that is it which goeth toward the east of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. ¹⁵And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. ¹⁶And the Lord God commanded the man, saying: 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; ¹⁷but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.'

¹⁸And the Lord God said: 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him.' ¹⁹And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto the man to see what he would call them; and whatsoever the man would call every living creature, that was to be the name thereof. ²⁰And the man gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him. ²¹And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the place with flesh instead thereof. ²²And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man. ²³And the man said: 'This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ²Woman, because she was taken out of ³Man.' ²⁴Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. ²⁵And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

      3Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman: 'Yea, hath God said: Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?' ²And the woman said unto the serpent: 'Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; ³but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said: Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.' ⁴And the serpent said unto the woman: 'Ye shall not surely die; ⁵for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.' ⁶And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. ⁷And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves girdles. ⁸And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden toward the cool of the day; and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. ⁹And the Lord God called unto the man, and said unto him: 'Where art thou?' ¹⁰And he said: 'I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.' ¹¹And He said: 'Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that