Hebrew Bible

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child death, animal death, and death.

The Book of Genesis (named after the Greek word for “origin”) describes the creation of the world and the establishment of G-d’s covenant with Abraham’s family. The Hebrew title of book, Bereshit, comes from the opening words of the text, “in the beginning.” Genesis is structured in two main parts: Chapters 1-11, which deal with the primeval history of humanity, and Chapters 12-50, which focus on G-d’s relationship with Abraham and his family. 

Genesis begins with the story of creation. Chapter 1 narrates a broad view of G-d creating the cosmos, including the Earth and all its creatures. Chapter 2 offers a more detailed scene of humanity’s creation with the placement of the first two humans, Adam and Eve, into the Garden of Eden. The following scene, in Chapter 3, shows Adam and Eve’s temptation by the serpent, their disobedience of G-d’s command, and their expulsion from the garden. The remainder of the early section of Genesis focuses on the tragedies that beset humanity outside the Garden, as seen when Adam and Eve’s son Cain murders his brother, Abel.