The Story of Creation.^* 1In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth^a— 2^* and the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters—^b

3Then God said: Let there be light, and there was light.^c 4God saw that the light was good. God then separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” Evening came, and morning followed—the first day.^*

6Then God said: Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other. 7God made the dome,^* and it separated the water below the dome from the water above the dome. And so it happened.^d 8God called the dome “sky.” Evening came, and morning followed—the second day.

9Then God said: Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may appear. And so it happened: the water under the sky was gathered into its basin, and the dry land appeared.^e 10God called the dry land “earth,” and the basin of water he called “sea.” God saw that it was good. 11^f Then God said: Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. And so it happened: 12the earth brought forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree that bears fruit with its seed in it. God saw that it was good.

The Temptation of Jesus. 1^{* a} Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2^b He fasted for forty days and forty nights,^* and afterwards he was hungry. 3The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” 4^* He said in reply, “It is written:^c

‘One does not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’”

5^* Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, 6and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written:

‘He will command his angels concerning you’

and ‘with their hands they will support you,

lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”^d

7Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’”^e 8Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, 9and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”^* 10At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written:

‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship

and him alone shall you serve.’”^f

11Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.