104 passages · Humanity
The Bible opens with God creating the heavens and the earth. The earth is at first formless and dark, with God's Spirit hovering over the waters.
God speaks light into being, calls it good, and separates it from darkness, naming them day and night. The first evening and morning mark the first day.
God makes an expanse to divide the waters above from the waters below and calls it sky. This completes the second day.
God gathers the waters so dry land appears, naming land and seas, then commands the earth to produce plants and fruit trees, each reproducing according to its kind.
God places lights in the sky to separate day from night and to mark seasons, days, and years. The greater light rules the day, the lesser the night, and the stars are made too.
God fills the waters and sky with living creatures and birds, and blesses them to be fruitful and multiply.
God commands the earth to bring forth livestock, crawling creatures, and wild beasts, and sees that this is good.
God decides to make humankind in his image, male and female, to rule over the animals. He blesses them, gives plants for food, and calls all he has made very good.
Creation is complete, and God rests on the seventh day, blessing it and setting it apart as holy.
A second account begins, zooming in on the earth before plants grew. God forms the first man from the ground's dust and breathes life into him.
God plants a garden in Eden and puts the man there. Trees grow, including the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and a river divides into four branches.
The deep's fountains burst open and the heavens' floodgates open, with rain for forty days. All those on the ark enter, and the Lord shuts Noah in.
God blesses Noah's family to be fruitful and fills the earth. He gives animals as food but forbids eating meat with its lifeblood and declares that human life is precious, made in God's image.
When besieging a city for a long time, Israel must not cut down its fruit trees, since the trees are not enemies. Only non-fruit trees may be used for siege works.
The song calls the whole earth to sing, since the Lord is great and made the heavens, unlike the idols of the nations. Creation is urged to rejoice because he is coming to judge the earth.
The prayer praises God as Creator of all, who chose Abram, made a covenant with him, rescued Israel from Egypt, and gave the Law at Sinai. It also recalls how He provided bread and water in the wilderness.
Job agrees that no mortal is righteous before God. He describes God's overwhelming power over mountains, sun, stars and sea, and says no one can question what God does.
Job recalls that God shaped him like clay and cared for him, but thinks God secretly planned to watch for his sin. Whether guilty or innocent, he feels hunted and overwhelmed.
Job says anyone, even animals, birds and the earth itself, could teach that the LORD's hand is behind all life. He notes that wisdom is thought to come with age.
Job describes God's power over the realm of the dead, the earth hung on nothing, the clouds, the horizon and the sea, and says these are only the outskirts of His ways.
Job says he never ignored a servant's complaint, since God made both master and servant in the womb and will hold him to account.
Elihu asks Job to listen, claims to speak sincerely, and says he is also a creature made of clay, so Job need not fear him.
Elihu describes how God draws up water into rain, and controls clouds, thunder and lightning to judge nations and provide food.
Elihu is stirred by thunder and lightning, which he describes as God's voice doing great things people cannot understand.
Elihu says God commands snow, rain and ice, sends people and animals indoors, and directs the clouds for correction or for blessing on the land.
God asks Job where he was when the earth's foundations were laid and the sea was set within its bounds. This shows how vast God's role is compared with Job's.
God asks whether Job commands the morning, has explored the ocean depths, the gates of death, or the home of light and darkness.
God asks Job about His storehouses of snow and hail, who directs rain to empty land, and who is the source of rain, dew, ice and frost.
God asks whether Job can control the constellations, command the clouds or send lightning, and who gives wisdom to people.
God asks whether Job hunts for lions and feeds ravens. This starts a series of questions about wild animals which depend on God's care.