No fixed date · 54 passages
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Showing 1–54 of 54 passages; pick a book above to see all of its passages, or switch to “by book”.
The beginning – Genesis gives no calendar date; readers differ widely on how to date creation Best estimate
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.
Creation week, day one – Genesis counts days, not years; no calendar date is given Best estimate
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.
Creation week, day two – no calendar date is given Best estimate
God makes an expanse to divide the waters above from the waters below and calls it sky. This completes the second day.
Creation week, day three – no calendar date is given Best estimate
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.
Creation week, day four – no calendar date is given Best estimate
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.
Creation week, day five – no calendar date is given Best estimate
God fills the waters and sky with living creatures and birds, and blesses them to be fruitful and multiply.
Creation week, day six – land animals; no calendar date is given Best estimate
God commands the earth to bring forth livestock, crawling creatures, and wild beasts, and sees that this is good.
Creation week, day six – humanity made in God's image; no calendar date is given Best estimate
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.
The first humans in Eden – before any datable history; no date is given Best estimate
Creation is complete, and God rests on the seventh day, blessing it and setting it apart as holy.
The first humans in Eden – before any datable history; no date is given Best estimate
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.
The first humans in Eden – before any datable history; no date is given Best estimate
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 first humans in Eden – before any datable history; no date is given Best estimate
God places the man in the garden to work and care for it. He allows eating from every tree but forbids the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, warning of death.
The first humans in Eden – before any datable history; no date is given Best estimate
God observes it is not good for the man to be alone and brings the animals to him to name. Among them, no suitable helper is found for him.
The first humans in Eden – before any datable history; no date is given Best estimate
God makes a woman from the man's rib and brings her to him. The man celebrates her as his own kind, and the narrator says a man and wife become one flesh, unashamed.
The first humans' disobedience and expulsion from Eden – undated, before any datable history Best estimate
A crafty serpent asks the woman whether God really forbade eating from any tree. She restates the command, and the serpent contradicts it, saying God is withholding godlike knowledge.
The first humans' disobedience and expulsion from Eden – undated, before any datable history Best estimate
The woman eats the fruit and gives some to her husband, who eats. Their eyes are opened, they realize they are naked, sew fig leaves, and hide from God.
The first humans' disobedience and expulsion from Eden – undated, before any datable history Best estimate
God calls out to the man, who admits fear and hiding. When asked if he ate, the man blames the woman, and she blames the serpent.
The first humans' disobedience and expulsion from Eden – undated, before any datable history Best estimate
God pronounces consequences: the serpent is cursed with a coming conflict, the woman will face pain and strained relations, and the man will toil against a cursed ground until he returns to dust.
The first humans' disobedience and expulsion from Eden – undated, before any datable history Best estimate
Adam names his wife Eve, and God clothes them in skins. He then sends them out of the garden and posts cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life.
Adam and Eve's first sons – Cain and Abel; undated early generations Best estimate
Eve bears Cain and Abel. Both bring offerings, and God favors Abel's but not Cain's. God warns the angry Cain that sin is crouching at his door but that he can master it.
Cain kills Abel – undated early generations after Adam Best estimate
Cain lures Abel to the field and kills him. When God asks where Abel is, Cain answers evasively, and God declares that Abel's blood cries out and Cain will be a wanderer.
Cain leaves for Nod – undated early generations after Adam Best estimate
Cain protests his punishment is too great. God places a mark on him so no one will kill him, and Cain settles in Nod, east of Eden.
Cain's line – city-building, herding, music and metalwork; undated Best estimate
Cain's line builds a city and produces herdsmen, musicians, and metalworkers. Lamech takes two wives and boasts of killing a man, claiming far greater vengeance than Cain.
Seth born to Adam and Eve – undated; after Abel's death Best estimate
Adam and Eve have another son, Seth, in place of Abel. Seth has a son Enosh, and at that time people begin to call on the name of the Lord.
Genealogy from Adam to Noah's sons – ages are given, but no fixed calendar dates Best estimate
This section begins with a reminder that God made humankind in his likeness, then records Adam's age at Seth's birth, his later years, and his death at 930.
Genealogy from Adam to Noah's sons – ages are given, but no fixed calendar dates Best estimate
A repeated pattern lists each man's age at his son's birth, the years he lived afterward, and his death: Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, and Jared.
Genealogy from Adam to Noah's sons – ages are given, but no fixed calendar dates Best estimate
The pattern breaks with Enoch, who walks with God for 300 years and does not die like the others, because God takes him.
Genealogy from Adam to Noah's sons – ages are given, but no fixed calendar dates Best estimate
The list continues through Methuselah and Lamech. Lamech names his son Noah, hoping for comfort from the cursed ground's toil, and Noah later has Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Noah's generation before the flood – undated; Noah is 500 years old at his sons' births Best estimate
As people multiply, the 'sons of God' take wives from the daughters of men. God limits human days to 120 years, and the Nephilim and mighty men of old are mentioned.
Noah's generation before the flood – undated; Noah is 500 years old at his sons' births Best estimate
God sees that human hearts are wholly evil and regrets making man, grieved. He resolves to blot out life from the earth, but Noah finds favor in his eyes.
Noah's generation before the flood – undated; Noah is 500 years old at his sons' births Best estimate
Noah is described as righteous and blameless, walking with God, with three sons. The earth is corrupt and violent, and God tells Noah he will destroy it.
Noah's generation before the flood – undated; Noah is 500 years old at his sons' births Best estimate
God tells Noah to build an ark of specified size and design, promises a covenant, and instructs him to bring his family and pairs of animals with food aboard. Noah obeys.
The flood year – dated in Noah's 600th year, not by any calendar year we can fix Best estimate
God tells Noah to enter the ark with his family because he is righteous, with seven pairs of clean animals and birds and a pair of the unclean. Noah does as commanded.
The flood year – dated in Noah's 600th year, not by any calendar year we can fix Best estimate
Noah, his family, and the animals go into the ark two by two, as commanded, and after seven days the floodwaters come.
The flood year – dated in Noah's 600th year, not by any calendar year we can fix Best estimate
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.
The flood year – dated in Noah's 600th year, not by any calendar year we can fix Best estimate
The waters swell, lift the ark, and cover the mountains. Every living thing on dry land dies, and only Noah and those with him survive.
The flood recedes – dated in Noah's 600th–601st years, not by a fixed calendar year Best estimate
God sends a wind and closes the springs of the deep and the heavens' floodgates. The waters recede, the ark rests on the mountains of Ararat, and mountaintops become visible later.
The flood recedes – dated in Noah's 600th–601st years, not by a fixed calendar year Best estimate
Noah sends out a raven and then a dove three times. The dove returns with an olive leaf and then does not return. Noah sees the ground dry and the earth fully dry by the second month.
The flood recedes – dated in Noah's 600th–601st years, not by a fixed calendar year Best estimate
God tells Noah to come out with his family and the animals so they can spread over the earth and multiply. They all leave the ark.
The flood recedes – dated in Noah's 600th–601st years, not by a fixed calendar year Best estimate
Noah builds an altar and offers burnt offerings. The Lord is pleased and resolves never again to curse the ground or destroy all life, as long as the seasons of the earth continue.
After the flood – Noah's family; undated, before the spread of the nations Best estimate
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.
After the flood – Noah's family; undated, before the spread of the nations Best estimate
God makes a covenant never again to destroy all life by flood and sets the rainbow in the clouds as a sign of it.
After the flood – Noah's family; undated, before the spread of the nations Best estimate
Noah plants a vineyard, becomes drunk, and lies uncovered. Ham tells his brothers, while Shem and Japheth cover their father without looking.
After the flood – Noah's family; undated, before the spread of the nations Best estimate
Waking, Noah curses Canaan, Ham's son, as a servant to his brothers, and blesses the Lord, the God of Shem. He asks that Japheth's territory expand and that Canaan serve them.
After the flood – Noah's family; undated, before the spread of the nations Best estimate
Noah lives 350 more years after the flood and dies at 950.
The table of nations – peoples descended from Noah's sons; undated Best estimate
The chapter begins a record of Noah's three sons' descendants, listing Japheth's sons and grandsons, from whom maritime peoples spread into their territories.
The table of nations – peoples descended from Noah's sons; undated Best estimate
Ham's sons are listed: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. Nimrod, a mighty hunter, builds kingdoms in Shinar and Assyria, and the Canaanite peoples and their borders are described.
The table of nations – peoples descended from Noah's sons; undated Best estimate
Shem's sons and grandsons are listed, including the line of Eber and his son Peleg. The chapter closes noting that from Noah's sons the nations spread across the earth.
Early humanity at Shinar, the Babel story – undated, between Noah and Abraham Best estimate
The whole world speaks one language. People settle in Shinar, make bricks, and decide to build a city and tower to make a name for themselves and avoid being scattered.
The Lord scatters the builders of Babel – undated, between Noah and Abraham Best estimate
The Lord comes down, sees the project, and confuses their language. The people are scattered across the earth and stop building, and the place is named Babel.
Shem to Terah – ten generations bridging the flood and Abraham; no fixed dates Best estimate
The line of Shem is traced from Arphaxad through Eber, Peleg, and others down to Terah, who fathers Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Primeval genealogy, Adam to Noah's sons (Genesis 1–11) – no calendar dates can be given Best estimate
The book opens with a bare list of names running from Adam through Seth and his line down to Noah, then names Noah's three sons. It places Israel's story within the whole human family from the very beginning.
Primeval genealogy – the nations descended from Japheth and Ham; no calendar dates can be given Best estimate
The chronicler lists the descendants of Japheth and then of Ham, including Cush, Mizraim and Canaan. Notes identify Nimrod as a mighty man and the Philistines as coming from the Casluhites.
Primeval genealogy – Shem's line to Abraham; no calendar dates can be given Best estimate
The sons of Shem are listed, followed by a narrowing line from Arphaxad through Eber, Peleg and Terah to Abram, also called Abraham. The list shifts from broad peoples to the single family line that leads to Israel.