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How to Use this Bible
The Bible is huge — ​sixty-six books in one. It may look daunting to try to read
it on your own. But the Bible tells God’s story about himself, ­people, heaven,
and earth. In this epic from God, he used different guys to write about battles,
victories, kings and queens, supernatural
visions, promises, tragedies, all kinds of
0
families, and so much more. Each character,
0
story, and message has something to with
3  /   Genesis 2:7
God’s
creation,
character,
and
compassion.
wild an i mals, and over all the crea­
Thus the heav ens and the earth
were com plet ed in all their vast
0
tures that move along the ground.”
To
get started, read a little
ar ray. bit at a time,
So God created mankind in his own
By the sev enth day God had fin ished
image,
and
features
to been
navigate
the
0
the work he had
do ing; so on
in the use
image of the
God he special
created
the sev enth day he rest ed from all his
them;
work. Then God blessed the sev­
male and female he created
pages.
enth day and made it holy, be cause
Who wro
te this boo
k?
There is som
e debate
about who
many scho
wrote Gen
lars beli
esis. How
ever,
eve Moses
wrote it.
Why was
this boo
k written
?
Genesis tells
how God
created the
beings. It
universe and
also covers
the special
human
Abraham.
promises
God mad
e to
2
a
27
What do
we learn
about God
in this boo
k?
God
created all
things. He
sin. God pro
loves peo
ple, but he
mises, how
will
eve
punish
r, to save
Who are
people who
the key
trust him.
people in
this boo
k?
The
3 
them.
28  God blessed them and said to
them, “Be fruit ful and in crease in
num ber; fill the earth and sub due it.
Rule over the fish in the sea and the
birds in the sky and over ev ery liv ing
crea ture that moves on the ground.”
29  Then God said, “I give you ev­
ery seed­bear ing plant on the face of
the whole earth and ev ery tree that
has fruit with seed in it. They will
be yours for food. 30  And to all the
beasts of the earth and all the birds
in the sky and all the crea tures that
move along the ground — ev ery thing
that has the breath of life in it — I
give ev ery green plant for food.” And
it was so.
31  God saw all that he had made,
and it was very good. And there was
eve ning, and there was morn ing —
the sixth day.
on it he rest ed from all the work of
cre at ing that he had done.
Adam and Eve
Book Introductions
This is the ac count of the heav ens and
4 
the earth when they were cre at ed, when
’S
HAT TH
5 
b
6 
c
7  Then
the Lord God formed a man d
from the dust of the ground and breathed
a  26 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text
b  5 Or land ;
(see Syriac); Masoretic Text the earth
c  6 Or mist
d  7 The Hebrew for
also in verse 6
man (adam) sounds like and may be related to the
Hebrew for ground (adamah) ; it is also the name
Adam (see verse 20).
Genesis 1:1 – 2:22
the Lord
the earth and setting,
the
A quick look
at God
the made author,
heav ens.
Now no shrub
had yet
ap peared you
on the
and background
will
help
earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the
God had not sent rain on the earth
understand Lord
characters
and
and the
there was
no one to work the ground,
but streams came up from the earth and
wa tered the
whole sur face of the ground.
stories in each
book.
God is an all-powerful, all-knowing  supreme 
being. He created everything: the universe and its planets 
and stars, Earth and its animals, plants, mountains, and 
waters. God is so amazing that his voice formed each new 
thing. He saved his most prized creation for last: Adam and 
Eve, the first man and woman. God lets  people understand who 
he  is  and  what  he’s  like  through  his  creations.  Everywhere  and  everything 
shows God’s design, creativity, and power.
With  humans  he  even  gave  his  breath  to  give  them  life —  kind  of  like 
heavenly CPR. So every person, even if they don’t know about God, bears 
God’s  divine  design.  “He  who  forms  the  mountains,  creates  the  wind,  and 
who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads 
on the heights of the earth —  the L ord  God Almighty is his name” (Amos 4:13).
G
De
Makin’ It Real
Think the Bible is too ancient
to make sense today? You’ll be
surprised. Get the scoop on what
boys like you can learn from the
Bible — ​no matter what century you
live in.
Genesis
2
most importa
nt people
Noah, Abr
in this boo
aham and
k are Ada
Sarah, Isaa
m and Eve
Rachel, and
,
c and Reb
Joseph.
ekah, Jaco
b and
When did
this hap
pen?
0 No one kno
ws when
the creation
Abraham
or the floo
was born
d occurred.
about 215
Joseph died
0 BC. His
about 180
great-gran
0 BC.
dson
Where did
this hap
pen?
0 Genesis 1–1
1 happen
ed in Mes
took place
opotamia.
in Canaan
Genesis 12–
, which is
land. The
36
also called
rest of Gen
the promis
esis
ed
took place
What are
in Egypt.
some of
the stories
in this boo
0 God creates
k?
the
0 God creates universe . . . . . . . .
0 Adam and Adam and Eve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Genesis 1
0 Noah buil Eve sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Genesis 2
0 God sends ds an ark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Genesis 3
0 God gives a flood to punish sin . . . . . . . . . . . Genesis 6
0 Abraham promises to Abraham . . . . . . . . Genesis 7–8
.......
ys for a city
/   Genesis 19:15
Genesis 21 
0 Jacob stea pra
.......
12
.
0 Jacob’s nam ls Esau’s blessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . Genesis 18
0 Joseph’s bro e is changed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Genesis 27
.......
t
­
hese­men,­for­they­have­come­un­
der­the­
thers sell him
Sodom and Gomorrah
Destroyed
Gen
0 Joseph become
esis 32
into slavery
19
. . . . . Gen
s a ruler .
tec­t . ion­of­my­roof.”
esis 37
.......
The­ two­ an­gels­ ar­r ived­
at­ . . . pro­
. . Genesis
9  “Get­
out­ of­
our­
39–
41 way,”­ they­ re­plied.­
Sod­om­in­the­eve­ning,­and­
Lot­was­sit­ting­in­the­gate­ “This­ fel­low­ came­ here­ as­ a­ for­eign­er,­
way­of­the­city.­When­he­saw­them,­he­got­ and­now­he­­wants­to­play­the­­judge!­­We’ll­
t
­
reat­
you­
w
­
orse­
than­
them.”­ They­ kept­
up­to­meet­them­and­­bowed­down­with­
his­ face­ to­ the­ ­g round.­ 2  “My­ ­lords,”­ he­ bring­ing­pres­sure­on­Lot­and­­moved­for­
ward­to­­break­down­the­door.
said,­“please­turn­­aside­to­your­ser­vant’s­
10  But­the­men­in­side­­reached­out­and­
house.­You­can­wash­your­feet­and­­spend­
pulled­Lot­back­into­the­­house­and­shut­
the­­night­and­then­go­on­your­way­ear­ly­in­
the­door.­ 11  Then­they­­struck­the­men­who­
the­morn­ing.”
were­at­the­door­of­the­­house,­­young­and­
“No,”­ they­ an­s wered,­ “we­ will­ ­spend­
old,­with­blind­ness­so­that­they­­could­not­
the­­night­in­the­square.”
3  But­he­in­sist­ed­so­strong­ly­that­they­ find­the­door.
12  The­ two­ men­ said­ to­ Lot,­ “Do­ you­
did­go­with­him­and­en­tered­his­­house.­
have­any­one­else­here­—­­sons­in­law,­sons­
He­ pre­pared­ a­ meal­ for­ them,­ bak­i ng­ or­daugh­ters,­or­any­one­else­in­the­city­who­
bread­with­out­­yeast,­and­they­ate.­ 4  Be­fore­ be­longs­to­you?­Get­them­out­of­here,­ 13  be­
they­had­gone­to­bed,­all­the­men­from­ cause­we­are­go­ing­to­de­stroy­this­­place.­
ev­ery­ part­ of­ the­ city­ of­ Sod­om­—­­both­ The­out­cry­to­the­Lord­­against­its­peo­ple­
young­ and­ old­—­­sur­round­ed­ the­ ­house.­ is­so­­great­that­he­has­sent­us­to­de­stroy it.”
5  They­­called­to­Lot,­“Where­are­the­men­
14  So­ Lot­ went­ out­ and­ ­s poke­ to­ his­
who­came­to­you­to­night?­­Bring­them­out­ sons­in­law,­ who­ were­ ­pledged­ to­ mar­
to­us­so­that­we­can­have­sex­with­them.” ry­ a ­ his­ daugh­ters.­ He­ said,­ “Hur­r y­ and­
6  Lot­ went­ out­side­ to­ meet­ them­ and­
get­out­of­this­­place,­be­cause­the­Lord­is­
shut­the­door­be­hind­him­ 7  and­said,­“No,­ ­about­to­de­stroy­the­city!”­But­his­sons­in­
my­­f riends.­­Don’t­do­this­wick­ed­­t hing.­ law­­thought­he­was­jok­ing.
8  Look,­ I­ have­ two­ daugh­ters­ who­ have­
15  With­the­com­ing­of­dawn,­the­an­gels­
nev­er­ ­slept­ with­ a­ man.­ Let­ me­ ­bring­ ­urged­Lot,­say­ing,­“Hur­r y!­Take­your­wife­
them­out­to­you,­and­you­can­do­what­you­
like­with­them.­But­­don’t­do­any­thing­to­ a  14­ Or were married to­ ­ ­ ­
What’s the Big Deal?
While everything in the Bible is
important, certain ­people, places, and
things stand out. Find out who’s who,
what’s what, and how they connect to
God. You’ll discover the adventures and
challenges of mankind.
Makin’ it real
H
Genesis 19
mm, over tHere is the best-looking place to build my 
new  house,  Lot  thought.  The  grass  was  green;  there  was 
plenty of water; he could have a garden estate. So Lot took 
it  (Genesis  13:10 – 11).  But  the  best  land  was  right  next  to  the  worst 
people. Lot pitched his tents too close to wicked Sodom, and he wasn’t 
able to resist their evil influence. He even offered his daughters to them.
Though  you  don’t  get  to  choose  where  you  live,  you  do  choose  your 
friends  and  who  influences  you.  If  you  don’t  surround  yourself  with 
friends and family who serve God, you may wind up getting too close 
to those who don’t serve God. Ultimately, you may be persuaded to do 
what’s wrong along with them. Choose your friends carefully; find ones 
that will help you face and conquer temptations and threats.