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“In the beginning God…” In Genesis we see the full majesty of God on display. From awe-inspiring acts of creating, to walking with Adam in Eden, God’s love and holiness fill every page.     In this verse-by-verse study we’ll take a close look at this important Book of the Bible. We’ll follow God and His interaction with man from Adam’s first breath to the scattering of the people at the tower of Babel. We’ll see the loving care with which God first formed Adam and the plan He

Day 1     READ   Genesis 1:1-2   1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.     Verse 1 says what God did. No human witness was there. All those who describe it otherwise only prove they were not a witness. True science has to do with what is observable, testable and repeatable. That cannot be done with creation. Some want

Day 1     READ   Genesis 1:14-16   14 Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. 15 Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened. 16 God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars.     God made lights to separate the days and nights. They were to be signs of the “seasons, d

Day 1     READ   Genesis 1:26   26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”     God now came to the capstone of all His creative works: creating humans in His image. They were to have dominion over all he had already created. The animals were not created in His image, but the human b

Day 1     READ   Genesis 2:1-2   1 So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 2 On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work.     Notice that the work of creation included “everything” in the heavens and the earth. Nothing else needed to be added. It was “completed.” God did not rest because He was tired. The word simply means that He ceased from His work.     REFLECT   Ponder what it means th

Day 1     READ   Genesis 2:10-12   10 A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. 11 The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12 The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there.     The river flowing from the land of Eden divided into four branches. This is the only mention of Pishon in the Bible. Although these four br

Day 1     READ   Genesis 2:23-25   23 “At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’” 24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. 25 Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.     Adam realized his true helper had come! He said she was “bone of my bone, and flesh from my flesh!” Whe

Day 1     READ   Genesis 3:8-9   8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”     Until the second person of the Trinity took on a human body, God had no body. Adam did not see anyone but he “heard” God in the garden. That was enough to scare him so Adam and Eve hid “among the trees.” Apparently they had n

Day 1   READ   Genesis 3:16   16 Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”     After God placed a curse on Satan, the serpent, He pronounced a curse on the woman. Her pain in child birth would be increased. There would also be strife between the woman and her husband. She would want to control him, and he would want to control her. Such confli

Day 1     READ   Genesis 4:1   1 Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced a man!”     Eve was aware that this birth was “With the Lord’s help.” The birth of Cain perhaps gave hope to Eve that she had produced the one promised in Genesis 3:15. That would be the one who would crush the descendants of the one who had tempted and deceived her. This is not the end of the

Day 1     READ   Genesis 4:13-16   13 Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear! 14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!” 15 The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him. 16 So Cain left the Lord’s presence and settled in the land of Nod, eas

Day 1     READ   Genesis 5:1-2   1 This is the written account of the descendants of Adam. When God created human beings, he made them to be like himself. 2 He created them male and female, and he blessed them and called them “human.”     God created the animals but only humans were made “like himself”; in His image. He only created male and female. Those who say there are more genders than male and female do not believe in God and they want to decide what He decided long ago

Day 1     READ   Genesis 5:25-27   25 When Methuselah was 187 years old, he became the father of Lamech. 26 After the birth of Lamech, Methuselah lived another 782 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 27 Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died.     These verses introduce you to Methuselah. At the end of the passage you see he died at 969 years. He was the oldest man ever recorded to have lived that long. In spite of how long he lived, he still met the same end as

Day 1     READ   Genesis 6:7-8   7 And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.” 8 But Noah found favor with the Lord.     God was so broken hearted over how the human race had devolved. He had given Adam and Eve the free will to choose His way or

Day 1     READ   Genesis 6:20-22   20 “Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive. 21 And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.” 22 So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.     Noah did not have to go out and round up the animals to put them in the big boat; they came to him to be kept alive. God told Noah to take

Day 1     READ   Genesis 7:13-16   13 That very day Noah had gone into the boat with his wife and his sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—and their wives. 14 With them in the boat were pairs of every kind of animal—domestic and wild, large and small—along with birds of every kind. 15 Two by two they came into the boat, representing every living thing that breathes. 16 A male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them.  

Day 1     READ   Genesis 8:6-9   6 After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat 7 and released a raven. The bird flew back and forth until the floodwaters on the earth had dried up. 8 He also released a dove to see if the water had receded and it could find dry ground. 9 But the dove could find no place to land because the water still covered the ground. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside.     Noah

Day 1     READ   Genesis 9:1-4   1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. 2 All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. 3 I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. 4 But you must never eat any meat that still has the life

Day 1     READ   Genesis 9:18-20   18 The sons of Noah who came out of the boat with their father were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham is the father of Canaan.) 19 From these three sons of Noah came all the people who now populate the earth. 20 After the flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard.     Ham is significant later in the story so his name is inserted here. If you have questions about who populated the earth after the Genesis flood, this pass

Day 1     READ   Genesis 10:3-5   3 The descendants of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 The descendants of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim. 5 Their descendants became the seafaring peoples that spread out to various lands, each identified by its own language, clan, and national identity.     Some of these names have later references to areas. “Tarshish” is related to Spain, and “Kittim” is related to Cyprus. Notice that the people “spread out to

Day 1     READ   Genesis 10:21-24   21 Sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth. Shem was the ancestor of all the descendants of Eber. 22 The descendants of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. 23 The descendants of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber.     This begins the genealogy of Shem, whose descendants will be the main characters in Genesis as well as the rest of the Bi

Day 1     READ   Genesis 11:3-4   3 They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.) 4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.”     God had told the people to multiply and fill the earth; this group wanted to rebel against God’s

Day 1     READ   Genesis 11:20-25   20 When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug. 21 After the birth of Serug, Reu lived another 207 years and had other sons and daughters. 22 When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor. 23 After the birth of Nahor, Serug lived another 200 years and had other sons and daughters. 24 When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah. 25 After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived another 119 years and had other

“Count the stars if you are able…” With these words spoken to Abraham, God formed a covenant that would lead to the formation of the nation of Israel and, eventually, the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ.    In this verse-by-verse study we’ll continue our examination of the Book of Genesis and focus specifically on the family of Abraham. From Abraham’s calling to the Promised Land, to Jacob’s wrestling with God in the night, we’ll follow the ups and downs in the lives of the