The Story of Creation Creation, Story, The

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The Story of Creation In the beginning, when God created the universe, the earth was formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the power of God was moving over the water. Then God commanded, “Let there be light”—and light appeared. God was pleased with what he saw. Then he separated the light from the darkness, and he named the light“Day” and the darkness "Night".Evening passed and morning came—that was the first day.

Then God commanded, “Let there be a dome to divide the water and to keep it in two separate places”—and it was done. So God made a dome, and it separated the water under it from the water above it. He named the dome “Sky.” Evening passed and morning came—that was the second day.

Then God commanded,“Let the water below the sky come together in one place, so that the land will appear”—and it was done. He named the land “Earth,” and the water which had come together he named “Sea.” And God was pleased with what he saw. Then he commanded, “Let the earth produce all kinds of plants, those that bear grain and those that bear fruit”—and it was done. So the earth produced all kinds of plants, and God was pleased with what he saw. Evening passed and morning came—that was the third day.

Then God commanded, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate day from night and to show the time when days, years, and religious festivals begin; they will shine in the sky to give light to the earth”—and it was done. So God made the two larger lights, the sun to rule over the day and the moon to rule over the night; he also made the stars. He placed the lights in the sky to shine on the earth, to rule over the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God was pleased with what he saw. Evening passed and morning came—that was the fourth day.

Then God commanded,“Let the water be filled with many kinds of living beings, and let the air be filled with birds.” So God created the great sea-monsters, all kinds of creatures that live in the water, and all kinds of birds. And God was pleased with what he saw. He blessed them all and told the creatures that live in the water to reproduce, and to fill the sea, and he told the birds to increase in number. Evening passed and morning came—that was the fifth day.

Then God commanded, “Let the earth produce all kinds of animal life: domestic and wild, large and small”—and it was done. So God made them all, and he was pleased with what he saw.

Then God said, “And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us. They will have power over the fish, the birds, and all animals, domestic and wild, large and small.”So God created human beings, making them to be like himself. He created them male and female, blessed them, and said,“Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds, and all the wild animals. I have provided all kinds of grain and all kinds of fruit for you to eat; but for all the wild animals and for all the birds I have provided grass and leafy plants for food”—and it was done. God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased. Evening passed and moring came—that was the sixth day.

And so the whole universe was completed. By the seventh day God finished what he had been doing and stopped working. He blessed the seventh day and set it apart as a special day, because by that day he had completed his creation and stopped working. And that is how the universe was created.

注：西方文化基于两大传统，其一为希腊——罗马文明，其二为基督教传统。公元476年，西罗马帝国灭亡，从此西方开始了大约1000年的所谓“信仰时代”（the Age of Faith）。基督教正是在这一时期确立了它对西方文化的支配地位。谈及基督教，英语学习者不可不了解《圣经》，包括《旧约全书》(The Old Testament)和《新约全书》(The New Testament)。一般认为，《圣经》是对西方文化影响最深远的一本书，书中的故事、人物、教诲已成为西方文化的重要组成部分。这里选译的是《旧约全书》“创世记”（Genesis）的第一篇，讲述的是神在七天中创造宇宙万物的故事。今天全世界普遍采纳的每周七天的作息制度就源于这个在西方家喻户晓的《圣经》故事。《圣经》的英文版本有多种，这里采纳的是美国联合基督教协会（The United Bible Societies）主编的今日英语版《圣经》（Good News Bible, Today's English Version, 1976）。