IN GENESIS

THE BOOK OF GENESIS IN LYRIC VERSE

C by Ronald Gordon Ziegler, Ph.D. c 1980 to my Mother Elizabeth Barbara Gordon Ziegler 10/21/23

PART I THE PRIMITIVE HISTORY

THE STORY OF THE CREATION CHAPTER ONE

IN THE BEGINNING God created the heavens and earth; and this earth was waste and void and darkness covered the abyss, and the spirit of God was stirring above the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light, and it was good. God separated the light away from the darkness and called the light the Day, and the Darkness Night, and there was evening and morning, the first day. Then God said, "A firmament in the midst of the waters, let there be, to divide the waters." And so it was. And dividing the waters, He made the firmament, separating those that were below from those that were above it, developing it just so. And God called the firmament Heaven. In this way, there was evening and morning of the second day. Then God said, "Let the waters be gathered in one place beneath the heavens and let the dry land show its face and appear." And so it was. God called the dry land Earth and the assembled waters He called Seas. And God saw that it had worth. "Let the Earth bring forth vegetation, seedling plants and all kind of fruit trees whose fruit bear their seed," God said, and his design was fulfilled and God saw that it was good this way. And there was evening and morning, there was the third day. And God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to part day separate from the nightime;" and God worked His art. "Let them serve as signs," He said, "for fixing seasons, days, and years; let them to shed light on the earth from where they in the heavens appear. And so it was God made two great lights, the great one to rule the day, and the smaller one the nightime, and He made the stars to stay where He had set them in the firmament of the heavens to shed light upon the earth to rule the day and to rule the night and to separate the light from dark. And God saw it was good this way. And there was evening and morning of another, the fourth, day. Then God said, "Let the waters abound with life;" above earth He let winged creatures fly in the air. And so it was He set great sea monsters He had created and all kinds of living things swimming with which the waters abound, and birds of wing of all kinds. And God saw that it was good, and with these words, "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the waters of the sea; and let the birds multiply upon the earth." He blessed them in this way. And there was evening and morning, and there was the fifth day. "Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures," God then said, "cattle, crawling creatures, wild animals." And it was as He had said. God made wild beasts of all kinds and creatures crawling on the ground and every kind of cattle with which the earth abounds. And God saw it was good and said, "Let us make mankind in our image and our likeness, with free will and with mind; and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea and the birds of the air and cattle and all creatures that there be on the earth." God created him in His image, female and male. The God blessed them saying to them, "Be fruitful, do not fail, and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it as your own. Have dominion over all the beasts and birds and fish I have sown." In splendor all creation shined, beauty robed the earth, sky, and sea, and man stood erect, the king of it all, in noble dignity. God also said, "See, I give you, every seed-bearing plant on earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit to be your food from birth; and the green plants I give for food to every beast I have made." And so it was. And God saw that all that He had laid out in the universe was very good in all of its array. And there was evening and morning; and there was the sixth day. Continue