One of the Books of the Bible in the Pentateuch in the Old Testament.
- Author: Moses (Praeparatio Evangelica AKA The Preparation of the Gospel by Eusebius of Caesarea, Book XII, quoting the Hebrew philosopher Aristobulus @ https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/eusebius_pe_13_book13.htm)
- Length: 50 chapters
- Order: Genesis > Exodus
(The ESV Study BibleTM, English Standard Version (ESV) by Crossway Bibles, 2007. Page 39)
Genesis Outline, Genesis Summary
God created the world and saw that it was good, but human sin spoiled it. God introduces His plan for redemption through Jesus to Adam and Eve and calls Abraham to father a nation through whom the whole world would be blessed. Even through the patriarchs and Israel go through hardships and periods of forgetting the Lord, God is a faithful deliverer and keeps His promises.
(The ESV Study BibleTM, English Standard Version (ESV) by Crossway Bibles, 2007. Page 41)
Etymology
"Gene" = beginnings, origins. The name comes from the Greek translation. The Hebrew name is "In the Beginning," using the first phrase in the book.
(Mr. Johnson's Bible Class, FaithQuest - Student Edition (DP) by Sharon Berry and Ollie Gibbs (2008). Pages 21, The ESV Study BibleTM, English Standard Version (ESV) by Crossway Bibles, 2007. Page 39.)
History
The first 11 chapters were originally orally passed down.
(Mr. Johnson's Bible Class, FaithQuest - Student Edition (DP) by Sharon Berry and Ollie Gibbs (2008). Pages 21.)
The Pentateuch as a whole is similar to legal codes and treaties of the time period, particularly suzerainty treaties of the 2nd millennium. The opening chapters of Genesis are like the preamble and the rest of Genesis leading into Exodus is like the historical prologue.
(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Literature in Bible Times by Milton C. Fisher, Page 99-101.)
Structure
There is a contrast between the pace and style of the first eleven chapters vs the rest of Genesis.
Chapters 1-11 cover Creation.
They are formal, tightly structured, and highly selective and concentrated in content. They also have the heavy, somber tone and almost symmetrical structure of the literature of the Mesopotamian culture out of which Abraham came.
Liberal scholars suppose some facts were simply lost and were inaccessible to Moses, but those who recognize the divine inspiration of Scripture believe it was God's purpose to emphasize His redemptive plan for his elect and the world at large, inasmuch as that plan was to be effected through the seed of Abraham. Therefore, information expands as we get into the heart of the Abrahamic story.
The dual account of Creation in Genesis 1-2 can be explained by their apparent covenant orientation of the material. The first covenant sign God designed for his creatures, to express their recognition of him as Creator, was the Sabbath--to which the six creative days of the first chapter point. Chapter 2, in turn, leads up to that most essential covenant relationship on earth, the marriage bond.
(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Literature in Bible Times by Milton C. Fisher, Page 98-101.)
12-50 cover Abraham and the Patriarchs.
They are greatly detailed.
They partake of the more sensitive and bright flavor of Egyptian creativity. Moses was well trained in "all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action" (Acts 7:22).
(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Literature in Bible Times by Milton C. Fisher, Page 98-99; Mr. Johnson's Bible Class, FaithQuest - Student Edition (DP) by Sharon Berry and Ollie Gibbs (2008). Pages 21.)
Manuscripts
- Dead Sea Scrolls - Genesis Apocryphon (Aramaic paraphrase of Genesis)
List
- Cosmogeny
- Gap Theory
- Protoevangelium
Topics
Figures
(-im is a plural form, so maybe some of these represent people groups)
- Abel
- Abimael
- Abimelech king of Gerar
- Abram, Abraham
- Adah
- Adam
- Almodad
- Amraphel king of Shinar
- Anamim
- Aner
- Aram
- Arioch king of Ellasar
- Arpachshad
- Ashkenaz
- Asshur
- king of Bela (that is, Zoar)
- Ben-ammi
- Bera king of Sodom
- Bethuel
- Birsha king of Gomorrah
- Buz
- Cain
- Casluhim
- Canaan
- Caphtorim
- Chedorlaomer king of Elam
- Chesed
- Cush
- Dedan
- Diklah
- Dodanim
- Eber
- Egypt
- Elam
- Eliezer of Damascus
- Elishah
- Enoch
- Enosh
- Ephron the son of Zohar
- Eshcol
- Eve
- Gaham
- Gether
- Gomer
- Hadoram
- Hagar
- Ham
- Haran
- Havilah
- Hazarmaveth
- Hazo
- Heth
- Hul
- Irad
- Isaac
- Iscah
- Ishmael
- Jabal
- Japheth
- Jared
- Javan
- Jerah
- Jesus
- Jidlaph
- Jobab
- Joktan
- Jubal
- Kemuel the father of Aram
- Kenan
- Kittim
- Laban
- Lamech
- Lehabim
- Lot
- Lud
- Ludim
- Maacah
- Madai
- Magog
- Mahalalel
- Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner
- Mash
- Mehujael
- Melchizedek king of Salem
- Meshech
- Methushael
- Milcah
- Moab
- Naamah
- Nahor
- Naphtuhim
- Nimrod
- Noah
- Obal
- Ophir
- Pathrusim
- Peleg
- Pharaoh
- Phicol the commander of Abimelech's army
- Pildash
- Put
- Raamah
- Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother
- Reu
- Reumah
- Riphath
- Sabtah
- Sabteca
- Sarai, Sarah
- Seba
- Serpent
- Serug
- Seth
- Sheba
- Shelah
- Sheleph
- Shem
- Shemeber king of Zeboiim
- Shinab king of Admah
- Sidon
- Tahash
- Tarshish
- Tebah
- Terah
- Tidal king of Goiim
- Tiras
- Togarmah
- Tubal
- Tubal-cain
- Uz
- Uzal
- Zillah
Peoples
- Amalekites
- Ammonites
- Amorites
- Arkites
- Arvadites
- Canaanites
- Chaldeans
- Daughters of Man
- Egyptians
- Emim
- Girgashites
- Hamathites
- Hebrews
- Hittites
- Hivites
- Horites
- Jebusite
- Kadmonite
- Kenite
- Kenizzite
- Moabites
- Nephilim
- Jebusites
- Perizzites
- Philistines
- Rephaim
- Sinites
- Sons of God
- Zemarites
- Zuzim
Places
- Accad
- Admah
- Ai
- The mountains of Ararat
- Ashteroth-karnaim
- Assyria
- Babel
- Beer-lahai-roi
- Beersheba, wilderness of Beersheba
- Bela
- Bered
- Bethel
- Canaan
- Calah
- Calneh
- Cush
- Damascus
- Dan
- Eden
- Egypt, river of Egypt
- El-paran
- Elam
- Ellasar
- En-mishpat
- Enoch
- Erech
- Euphrates
- Gaza
- Gerar
- Gihon
- Goiim
- Gomorrah
- Ham
- Haran
- Havilah
- Hebron
- Hazazon-tamar
- Hobah
- Jordan Valley
- Kadesh
- King's Valley
- Kiriath-arba
- Lasha
- the cave of Machpelah, the field of Ephron in Machpelah
- Mamre, the oaks of Mamre
- Mesha
- Mesopotamia
- Moreh, the oak of Moreh
- Moriah
- Nahor
- The Negeb
- Nineveh
- Nod
- Paran, wilderness of Paran
- Pishon
- Rehoboth-Ir
- Resen
- Salt Sea
- hill country of Seir
- Sephar
- Valley of Shaveh
- Shaveh-kiriathaim
- Shechem
- Shinar
- Shur
- Valley of Siddim
- Sodom
- Tigris
- Ur
- Zeboiim
- Zoar
Other
- Abrahamic Covenant
- Altar
- Angel, the angel of the Lord
- Ark
- Bdellium
- Beast
- Bird
- Blessing
- Blind, blindness
- Breath
- Camel
- Cherubim
- Circumcision in the flesh of foreskins, sign of the covenant
- Clean
- Clothes
- Covenant
- Creation
- Cubit
- Curse
- The Curse
- Day
- Donkey
- Dove
- Dust
- Earth
- Expanse
- The Fall
- Famine
- Fig
- Fire
- Firstfruits
- Fish
- Flaming Sword
- Flesh
- Flood
- Genealogy, Generations
- Goat
- Gold
- Gopher Wood
- Heaven
- Heifer
- Incest
- Lamb
- Life
- Man
- Mark
- Moon
- Mourning
- Naked
- Night
- Oath, swear, swore
- Offering, Burnt offering, Sacrifice
- Onyx stone
- Pigeon
- Plague
- Polygamy
- Rain
- Ram
- Raven
- Rib
- Sabbath
- Salt
- Seah
- Seas
- Shekels
- Silver
- Sin
- Spring
- Stars
- Sulfur
- Sun
- Tithe
- Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
- Tree of Life
- Turtledove
- Unclean
- Unleavened bread
- Veil
- War
- Well
- Wine
- Woman
- Womb
Verses
- Genesis 1:27 - So God created man in his own image, / in the image of God he created him; / male and female he created them.
- Genesis 1:28 - And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
- Genesis 2:23 - “This at last is bone of my bones / and flesh of my flesh; / she shall be called Woman, / because she was taken out of Man.”
- Genesis 3:15 - I will put enmity between you and the woman, / and between your offspring and her offspring; / he shall bruise your head, / and you shall bruise his heel.”
- Genesis 3:20 - The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
- Genesis 4:24 - If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, / then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold.”
- Genesis 4:25 - And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”
- Genesis 5:28-29 - When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”
- Genesis 6:6 - And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
- Genesis 7:21 - And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind.
- Genesis 8:22 - "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
- Genesis 12:1-3 - Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”