Genesis, A Royal Epic. Loren R. Fisher

fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters in the seas,

      and let the birds multiply on the earth.”

      23 There was evening.

      There was morning:

      A fifth day.

      24 Elohim said:

      “Let the earth bring forth living beings with their kind:

      domestic animals, moving ones, and wild animals with

       their kind.”

      So it was.

      25 Elohim made the wild animals with their kind,

      the domestic animals with their kind,

      and all the moving ones of the ground with their kind.

      Elohim saw that it was good.

      26 Elohim said:

      “Let us make human beings10 in our11 image—after our likeness;

      they will supervise the fish of the sea,

      the birds of the heavens, the domestic animals,

      all of the earth, and all the ones who move upon the earth.”

      27 Elohim formed the human beings in his image;

      in the image of Elohim he formed them;12

      male and female he formed them.

      28 Elohim blessed them;

      Elohim said to them:

      “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth;

      make it a servant; and supervise the fish of the sea,

      the birds of the heavens, and all the living ones

      who move upon the earth.”

      29 Elohim said:

      “See, I give you every plant that scatters

      seed that is upon all the earth and every tree that scatters

      seed (that is in the fruit of the tree); it will be yours for food.

      30 To all the wild animals, to all the birds of the heavens,

      and to all the ones who move upon the earth

      (that are living beings), [I give] all the green plants for food.”

      So it was.

      31 Elohim saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very

       good.

      There was evening.

      There was morning:

      The sixth day.13

      2:1 The heavens and the earth were finished and all their entourage.

      2 Elohim finished14 on the seventh day15 his work that he had been doing.

      He rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

      3 Elohim blessed the seventh day; he hallowed it,

      because on it he rested from all his work that as Elohim,

      the maker, he had formed.

      2:4 These are the stories of the heavens and the earth since their

       formation.16

      On another day17 when Yahweh-Elohim was about to make earth and heavens,

      5 there was as yet no wild shrub on the earth,

      as yet no wild grass had sprouted,

      because Yahweh-Elohim had not sent rain upon the earth,

      and there was no human (’adam) to till the ground (’adamah),

      6 but a flood began flowing from the netherworld,

      and watered the entire surface of the ground,18

      7 Yahweh-Elohim formed the human [from] the clay19 of the ground;

      he blew into his nostrils the breath of life;

      the human became a living being.20

      8 Yahweh-Elohim planted a garden in Eden, in the east;

      he placed there the human whom he had formed.

      9 Yahweh-Elohim caused to sprout from the ground

      every tree desirable in appearance and good for food,

      and the tree of life was in the middle of the garden

      and also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

      10 (A river flows out of Eden to water the garden,

      and from there it separates; it becomes four branches.

      11 The name of the first is Pishon;

      it is the one that flows around the entire land of Havilah,

      in which there is the gold.

      12 The gold of that land is excellent.

      The bdellium is there and the shoham21 gems.

      13 The name of the second river is Gihon;

      it is the one that flows around the entire land of Cush.

      14 The name of the third river is Tigris;

      it runs east of Asshur,

      and the name of the fourth river is Euphrates.)

      15 Yahweh-Elohim took the human;

      he settled him in the garden of Eden to till it and guard it.

      16 Yahweh-Elohim commanded the human, saying:

      “From every tree of the garden you may certainly eat,

      17 except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,22

      you shall not eat of it,

      because when you eat of it,

      you shall certainly die.”

      18 Yahweh-Elohim said:

      “It is not good for the human to be alone;

      I will make for him a helper just like him.”

      19 Yahweh-Elohim formed from the ground all the wild animals

      and all the birds of the heavens.

      He brought [them] to the human to see what he called them,

      and whatever the human called each of the living beings,

      that was its name.

      20 The human gave names to all the domestic animals,

      to the birds of the heavens, and to all the wild animals,

      but as for the human, he did not find a helper just like him.

      21 Yahweh-Elohim cast a deep sleep upon the human;

      he slept. He took one of his ribs;

      He closed the flesh there.

      22 Yahweh-Elohim built up the rib,

      which he had taken from the human, into a woman;

      he brought her to the human.

      23 The human said:

      “This one, at last, is bone of my bones

      And flesh of my flesh.

      This one shall be called woman (’ishshah),

      For from man (’ish) this one was taken.”

      24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother;

      He is joined with his wife;

      They become one flesh.23

      25 The two of them