The Genesis Myth |
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Bereshith -- In the Beginning
In the beginning Elohim, God, created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was without form and void; darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day. And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning--the second day.
And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so.
The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the third day. And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights-- the greater light to govern the day
He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the fourth day. And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds
fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the
great creatures of the sea And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening, and there was morning--the fifth day. And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God
saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our
likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the
air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures
that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God he created him;
God blessed
them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth
and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and
over every living creature that moves on the ground." Then God said, "I
give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every
tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to
all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the
creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life
in it--I give every green plant for food." And it was so. God saw all that
he had made, and it was very good. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the
seventh day he rested. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
Because, on that day, God rested from all his work which he had done in
creation.
Task One Make a booklet of Creation. For each of the seven days use an A4 page. One each page you need to write " And God said..... " at the top of the page and at the bottom of the page "and evening and morning came - a ________ day" (according to what day it is). On each page you can have a poem, pictures from the internet, magazines, drawings that you have done, your own poems or any creative work you like that shows what happened. You can include modern and old pictures. To help you here is a list of the days:- 1. LIGHT A sample page is available here for you to download. Save it to your hard disk. Task Two. For Jewish people the fact that God rested on the seventh day made that day HOLY. Jews call this day SHABBAT. Using some of the available information in your text books and on the following websites, find out about the celebration of SHABBAT. Write up this information in your books as a magazine article. Please include explanations and pictures.
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