Brief Summary:
The Book of Genesis can be divided into two sections: Primitive History and Patriarchal History. Primitive history records (1) Creation (Genesis chapters 1-2); (2) the Fall of man (Genesis chapters 3-5); (3) the Flood (Genesis chapters 6-9); and (4) the dispersion (Genesis chapters 10-11). Patriarchal history records the lives of four great men: (1) Abraham (Genesis 12-25:8); (2) Isaac (Genesis 21:1-35-29); (3) Jacob (Genesis 25:21-50:14); and (4) Joseph (Genesis 30:22-50:26).
God created a universe that was good and free from sin. God created humanity to have a personal relationship with Him. Adam and Eve sinned and thereby brought evil and death into the world. Evil increased steadily in the world until there was only one family in which God found anything good. God sent the Flood to wipe out evil, but delivered Noah and his family along with the animals in the Ark. After the Flood, humanity began again to multiply and spread throughout the world.
God chose Abraham, through whom He would create a chosen people and eventually the promised Messiah. The chosen line was passed on to Abraham’s son Isaac, and then to Isaac’s son Jacob. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, and his twelve sons became the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel. In His sovereignty, God had Jacob’s son Joseph sent to Egypt by the despicable actions of Joseph’s brothers. This act, intended for evil by the brothers, was intended for good by God and eventually resulted in Jacob and his family being saved from a devastating famine by Joseph, who had risen to great power in Egypt.
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The Book of Genesis Summary
Context Summary
Genesis 1:1–13 describes the first three days of creation. These follow a common pattern. First, God speaks, then He creates, then names His creation, then declares that creation ”good.” Finally, the day is numbered. Each of these first three days prepares creation for what God will create in the second three days. Day one creates light, night and day, preparing for the sun and moon on day four. Day two creates the oceans, preparing for sea creatures on day five. Day three creates land and plants, preparing for animals and humans on day six.
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“Genesis 1:1-2” Bibleref.com
https://www.bibleref.com/Genesis/1/Genesis-1-2.html
Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
(Read Genesis 1:26-28)
Man was made last of all the creatures: this was both an honour and a favour to him. Yet man was made the same day that the beasts were; his body was made of the same earth with theirs; and while he is in the body, he inhabits the same earth with them. God forbid that by indulging the body, and the desires of it, we should make ourselves like the beasts that perish! Man was to be a creature different from all that had been hitherto made. Flesh and spirit, heaven and earth, must be put together in him. God said, “Let us make man.” Man, when he was made, was to glorify the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Into that great name we are baptized, for to that great name we owe our being. It is the soul of man that especially bears God’s image. Man was made upright, Ecclesiastes 7:29. His understanding saw Divine things clearly and truly; there were no errors or mistakes in his knowledge; his will consented at once, and in all things, to the will of God. His affections were all regular, and he had no bad appetites or passions. His thoughts were easily brought and fixed to the best subjects. Thus holy, thus happy, were our first parents in having the image of God upon them. But how is this image of God upon man defaced! May the Lord renew it upon our souls by his grace!
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Genesis 1 Bible Commentary – Matthew Henry (concise) (christianity.com)
Genesis 1:26
26 God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Context Summary
Genesis 2:4–9 begins to describe additional details about the creation of human beings, starting with the creation of the first man. Man is ”formed” out of existing matter—the dust or debris of the earth—into which God breathes life. God plants the garden in Eden, and places the newly-created man there. Among the many trees in the garden are two of special significance: the Tree of Life, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
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“Genesis 2:7” Bibleref.com
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Genesis 2:7
7 Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Context Summary
Genesis 3:1–7 tells the story of Satan’s temptation of mankind, the first human sin and the immediate consequences which followed. Created sinless, ”very good,” and placed into a perfect environment by a fair and loving Creator, Adam and Eve choose to sin anyway. They earn spiritual death and separation from God, as well as lives punctuated by pain, conflict, and frustration, ending in physical death. This is followed by God’s response to human sin, tailored to each of the parties involved. The following chapter will tell the story of the beginning of human life apart from God and the garden.
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“Genesis 3:1” Bibleref.com
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Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?”
Context Summary
Genesis 4:1–16 tells the beginning of human history in the wake of Adam’s and Eve’s sin and separation from God. This passage details the murder of Abel by his older brother Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve. Cain and Abel work the ground and tend sheep. They worship God, but Cain kills Abel in a fit of envy over God’s rejection of Cain and his offering. The first human born on earth becomes the first murderer. God forces Cain to leave his family and wander the earth, but God also marks Cain with a promise of great vengeance on anyone who would kill him.
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“Genesis 4:11” Bibleref.com
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Genesis 4:11
11 Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
Context Summary
Genesis 5:1-32 is a bridge of genealogy connecting the time of Adam and his son Seth to the time of Noah. This brings the Bible’s historical record to the era of the flood. It provides a small, but helpful set of details: early humans lived a long time, had many children, and all died as a result of ubiquitous human sin. Enoch is the exception that proves the rule, commended for walking with God and seemingly taken away before his physical death. Despite the presence of early God-worshippers such as Adam and Seth, man will quickly descend into extraordinary wickedness, as seen in chapter 6. The coming of Noah at the end of this chapter prepares us for God’s response to the sins of humankind.
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“Genesis 5:1” Bibleref.com
https://www.bibleref.com/Genesis/5/Genesis-5-1.html
Genesis 5:1
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in God’s likeness.
Context Summary
Genesis 6:1–8 introduces us to two mysterious groups: the ”sons of God” and the Nephilim. Provoked by the wickedness of humanity and, perhaps, by the power of these two groups, God declares that He will reduce human lifespans to 120 years. Alternatively, this same remark might refer to God’s plan to wipe out all of humanity in 120 years. In either case, this prediction is fulfilled. God will exercise His authority as Creator and execute justice by ending the world as it was. Human civilization will be forced to start again, through one man: Noah.
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“Genesis 6:4” Bibleref.com
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Genesis 6:4
4 The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
Context Summary
Genesis 6:1–8 introduces us to two mysterious groups: the ”sons of God” and the Nephilim. Provoked by the wickedness of humanity and, perhaps, by the power of these two groups, God declares that He will reduce human lifespans to 120 years. Alternatively, this same remark might refer to God’s plan to wipe out all of humanity in 120 years. In either case, this prediction is fulfilled. God will exercise His authority as Creator and execute justice by ending the world as it was. Human civilization will be forced to start again, through one man: Noah.
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“Genesis 6:5” Bibleref.com
https://www.bibleref.com/Genesis/6/Genesis-6-5.html
Genesis 6:5
5 Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil.
Context Summary
Genesis 7:1–10 confirms that Noah fulfilled all that he was commanded in chapter 6. In addition to the two pairs of all animals, Noah is also told to bring seven (total) pairs of ”clean” animals, most likely for sacrificial purposes. God gives Noah a last-minute warning of the coming flood. As the preparations are completed, the great catastrophe occurs, just as God said it would. The next passage describes the colossal event.
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“Genesis 7:9-10” Bibleref.com
https://www.bibleref.com/Genesis/7/Genesis-7-9.html
Genesis 7:9-10
9 went by pairs to Noah into the ship, male and female, as God commanded Noah. 10 After the seven days, the floodwaters came on the earth.
