• Memory verse:

In the beginning when Elohim created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from Elohim swept over the face of the waters. Then Elohim said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

And Elohim saw that the light was good; and Elohim separated the light from the darkness.

Elohim called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

And Elohim said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."

So Elohim made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so.

Elohim called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

And Elohim said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so.

Elohim called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And Elohim saw that it was good.

Then Elohim said, "Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it." And it was so.

The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And Elohim saw that it was good.

And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

And Elohim said, "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth." And it was so.

Elohim made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars.

Elohim set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And Elohim saw that it was good.

And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

And Elohim said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky."

So Elohim created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And Elohim saw that it was good.

Elohim blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."

And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

And Elohim said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind." And it was so.

Elohim made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And Elohim saw that it was good.

Then Elohim said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."

So Elohim created humankind in his image, in the image of Elohim he created them; male and female he created them.

Elohim blessed them, and Elohim said to them, "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 air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."

Elohim said, "See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.

And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, 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.

Elohim saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

CHAPTER 2

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude.

And on the seventh day Elohim finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.

So Elohim blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it Elohim rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

In the day that Yahweh made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up--for Yahweh had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground-- then Yahweh formed a (hu)man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his(its) nostrils the breath of life; and the (hu)man became a living being.

And Yahweh planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the (hu)man whom he had formed.

Out of the ground Yahweh made 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.

A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches.

The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.

The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush.

The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Yahweh took the (hu)man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.

And Yahweh commanded the (hu)man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."

Then Yahweh said, "It is not good that the (hu)man should be alone; I will make it a helper as his partner."

So out of the ground Yahweh formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the (hu)man to see what he would call them; and whatever the (hu)man called every living creature, that was its name.

The (hu)man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the (hu)man there was not found a helper as his/her partner.

So Yahweh caused a deep sleep to fall upon the (hu)man, and s/he slept; then he took one of its ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

And the rib that Yahweh had taken from the (hu)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; this one shall be called Woman, for out of (hu)Man this one was taken."

24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.

25 And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.

Answers

In a science book the emphasis is on how things happen. The writers of these two stories were more interested in why.

One important purpose of the first story was to express a faith in God as the creator and a good creator.

One important purpose of the second story was to give an explanation for how evil exists in a world created by a good God.

Scholars have identified three literary traditions in Genesis, as in Deuteronomy, usually identified as the Yahwist, Elohist, and Priestly strains. The Yahwist strain, so called because it used the name Yahweh (Jehovah) for God, is a Judaean rendition of the sacred story, perhaps written as early as 950 BC. The Elohist strain, which designates God as Elohim, is traceable to the northern kingdom of Israel and was written 900-700 BC. The Priestly strain, so called because of its cultic interests and regulations for priests, is usually dated in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the law upon which Ezra and Nehemiah based their reform. Because each of these strains preserves materials much older than the time of their incorporation into a written work, Genesis contains extremely old oral and written traditions.