The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 And the heaven and the earth and all things in them were complete.
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And so the whole universe was completed.
2 And on the seventh day God came to the end of all his work; and on the seventh day he took his rest from all the work which he had done.
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By the seventh day God finished what he had been doing and stopped working.
3 And God gave his blessing to the seventh day and made it holy: because on that day he took his rest from all the work which he had made and done.
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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.
4 These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were made.
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And that is how the universe was created. When the Lord God made the universe,
5 In the day when the Lord God made earth and heaven there were no plants of the field on the earth, and no grass had come up: for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to do work on the land.
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there were no plants on the earth and no seeds had sprouted, because he had not sent any rain, and there was no one to cultivate the land;
6 But a mist went up from the earth, watering all the face of the land.
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but water would come up from beneath the surface and water the ground.
7 And the Lord God made man from the dust of the earth, breathing into him the breath of life: and man became a living soul.
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Then the Lord God took some soil from the ground and formed a man out of it; he breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live.
8 And the Lord God made a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had made.
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Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the East, and there he put the man he had formed.
9 And out of the earth the Lord made every tree to come, delighting the eye and good for food; and in the middle of the garden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
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He made all kinds of beautiful trees grow there and produce good fruit. In the middle of the garden stood the tree that gives life and the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad.
10 And a river went out of Eden giving water to the garden; and from there it was parted and became four streams.
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A stream flowed in Eden and watered the garden; beyond Eden it divided into four rivers.
11 The name of the first is Pishon, which goes round about all the land of Havilah where there is gold.
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The first river is the Pishon; it flows around the country of Havilah
12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
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(Pure gold is found there and also rare perfume and precious stones.)
13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: this river goes round all the land of Cush.
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The second river is the Gihon; it flows around the country of Cush.
14 And the name of the third river is Tigris, which goes to the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
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The third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria, and the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to do work in it and take care of it.
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Then the Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it.
16 And the Lord God gave the man orders, saying, You may freely take of the fruit of every tree of the garden:
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He told him, "You may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden,
17 But of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not take; for on the day when you take of it, death will certainly come to you.
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except the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad. You must not eat the fruit of that tree; if you do, you will die the same day."
18 And the Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be by himself: I will make one like himself as a help to him
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Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to live alone. I will make a suitable companion to help him."
19 And from the earth the Lord God made every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and took them to the man to see what names he would give them: and whatever name he gave to any living thing, that was its name.
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So he took some soil from the ground and formed all the animals and all the birds. Then he brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and that is how they all got their names.
20 And the man gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the air and to every beast of the field; but Adam had no one like himself as a help.
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So the man named all the birds and all the animals; but not one of them was a suitable companion to help him.
21 And the Lord God sent a deep sleep on the man, and took one of the bones from his side while he was sleeping, joining up the flesh again in its place:
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Then the Lord God made the man fall into a deep sleep, and while he was sleeping, he took out one of the man's ribs and closed up the flesh.
22 And the bone which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman, and took her to the man.
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He formed a woman out of the rib and brought her to him.
23 And the man said, This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh: let her name be Woman because she was taken out of Man.
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Then the man said, "At last, here is one of my own kind - Bone taken from my bone, and flesh from my flesh. "Woman' is her name because she was taken out of man."
24 For this cause will a man go away from his father and his mother and be joined to his wife; and they will be one flesh.
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That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united with his wife, and they become one.
25 And the man and his wife were without clothing, and they had no sense of shame.
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The man and the woman were both naked, but they were not embarrassed.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.