Genesis

Genesis means "In the beginning" in Hebrew. The book describes God's creation of the world, early biblical history and how the Israel came into being. The book begins with: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen 1:1). God's first words, "Let there be light" (Gen 1:3) mark the first of six days creating the world. The lives of key biblical figures including Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and their interactions with God are described.

As the first book of the Bible, Genesis is concerned with the creation of the world by God and the earliest history of the world with the genealogies and lives of early biblical figures. It includes the stories of the creation of the world in six days, the first man Adam and first woman Eve in the Garden of Eden, the corruption of Adam and Eve with the serpent at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; Noah and his family and animals surviving the great flood in the ark that God commanded Noah to build; God calling Abraham to the promised land Canaan; the selling of Jacob's son Joseph by his brothers into slavery; the migration of 70 Israelis to Egypt during a drought; Joseph’s reunion with his brothers and father in Egypt; Joseph’s forgiveness of and reconciliation with his brothers and the deaths of Jacob (now known as Israel) and Joseph in Egypt while vowing to someday return to the promised land.