Readings from the Old Testament
Michelangelo, The Temptation and Expulsion from Eden, [1508-10]
001:001 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
001:002 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was
upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters.
001:003 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
001:004 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the
light from the darkness.
001:005 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called
Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
001:006 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the
waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
001:007 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were
under the firmament from the waters which were above the
firmament: and it was so.
001:008 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the
morning were the second day.
001:009 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered
together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it
was so.
001:010 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together
of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
001:011 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb
yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his
kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
001:012 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed
after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in
itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
001:013 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
001:014 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the
heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for
signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
001:015 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to
give light upon the earth: and it was so.
001:016 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the
day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars
also.
001:017 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light
upon the earth,
001:018 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the
light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
001:019 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
001:020 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving
creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth
in the open firmament of heaven.
001:021 And God created great whales, and every living creature that
moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their
kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that
it was good.
001:022 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and
fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the
earth.
001:023 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
001:024 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature
after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the
earth after his kind: and it was so.
001:025 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle
after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth
after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
001:026 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over
all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth
upon the earth.
001:027 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
created he him; male and female created he them.
001:028 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
001:029 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing
seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree,
in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it
shall be for meat.
001:030 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air,
and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there
is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was
so.
001:031 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was
very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
002:001 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host
of them.
002:002 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made;
and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he
had made.
002:003 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because
that in it he had rested from all his work which God created
and made.
002:004 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when
they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth
and the heavens,
002:005 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and
every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had
not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man
to till the ground.
002:006 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole
face of the ground.
002:007 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became
a living soul.
002:008 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there
he put the man whom he had formed.
002:009 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree
that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of
life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of
knowledge of good and evil.
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019:025 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.
020:001 And God spake all these words, saying,
020:002 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land
of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
020:003 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
020:004 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any
likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in
the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
020:005 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I
the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of
the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth
generation of them that hate me;
020:006 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and
keep my commandments.
020:007 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for
the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in
vain.
020:008 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
020:009 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
020:010 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it
thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy
daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle,
nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
020:011 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and
all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the
LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
020:012 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long
upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
020:013 Thou shalt not kill.
020:014 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
020:015 Thou shalt not steal.
020:016 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
020:017 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not
covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his
maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is
thy neighbour's.
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