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0 The Two Creations (Genesis 1-2)

Episode 1a: The two creations

Genesis 1-2

The first creation

1 In the beginning God created heaven and earth. 2 The earth was formless, the ocean was dark, and the spirit of God moved on the surface of the waters.

3-5 On the first day, God said, "Let there be light." He saw that the light was good and separated it from darkness. He called the light "day" and the darkness "night".

6-8 On the second day, God said, "Let there be a firmament to separate the water from the water." God called the firmament "Heaven."

9-10 God said, "Let the waters be gathered together and let dry land appear." God called dry land "Earth" and the gathered waters "Seas." He saw it and thought it was good.

11-13 On the third day, God said, "Let grass, herbs, and fruit trees come out of the earth." God saw it and thought it was good.

14-15 On the fourth day, God said,

Let there be lights in the firmament to divide day from night.

Let them be for signs to mark the seasons, days, and years.

And to give light to the earth.

16 God made two big lights: the sun to rule the day, and the moon to rule the night. He made the stars also.

17-18 God set the lights in the firmament to provide light for the earth. And to rule over the day and night. God saw it and thought it was good.

20-25 On the fifth day, God said, "Let moving creatures and birds come out of the earth." And God created whales, birds, beasts, living creatures, and creeping things. He saw it and thought it was good.

God said to the animals, "Have as many offspring as you can. Fill the earth and seas."

26 On the sixth day, God said,

Let us make man in our image to look like us.

Let them have dominion over every other living thing.

27 God created humans, male and female, in his own image.

28 God said to the humans he created,

Have as many children as possible, overrun the earth, and do whatever you like with all the other living things.

29 I have given you every plant as food for you.

30 I have also given every plant as food for the animals.

31 God saw everything he created and thought it was very good.

2 1-3 God finished creating things on the sixth day. So on the seventh day, he rested. He made the seventh day holy, because he rested on that day.

The second creation

4-5 In the beginning, plants didn't exist, because God hadn't yet made it rain, and there wasn't a man to till the ground.

7 God formed a man from dust and breathed life into his nose.

8 God planted a garden in Eden, and put the man in it.

9 God made all the trees that are nice to look at and good to eat. Among these were:

The tree of life in the center of the garden,

and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

15 God put the man in the garden "to dress and to keep it."

16-17 God said to the man,

You may eat from every tree in the garden, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The day you eat from that tree, you will die.

18 God said,

It's not good for the man to be alone. I'll make a help meet for him.

19 From the ground, God made all of the animals and brought them to Adam to see what he would name them.

20 Adam named all of the animals, but none of them appealed to him as a "help meet."

21-22 So God made a woman from one of Adam's ribs.

23 Adam said, "She'll be called 'woman' since she was taken out of man."

24 That's why a man leaves his father and mother and becomes one flesh with his wife.

25 Adam and the woman were both naked, and they weren't ashamed.

A few more words about this episode

  1. The superscripts in the text refer to the corresponding verse in the biblical text. Clicking on them will take you to that verse at the Skeptic's Annotated Bible website.
  2. The Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB) website includes 550 contradictions in the Bible. These contradictions are not included in the podcast, since our focus on each episode is the particular story that is being told. The contradictions that involve those stories can be found at the corresponding chapters of the SAB website.
  3. As you may have noticed, there are many obvious contradictions between the two creation accounts. Here is a list of some of them.

Here's a video by Dan McClellan on the two creation accounts.

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