58:1.1

He said to me, “In the beginning, when the earth was made, before the portals of the world were fixed and before the gatherings of the winds blew, before the voices of the thunder sounded and before the flashes of the lightning shone, before the foundations of paradise were laid, before the fair flowers were seen, before the powers of the earthquake were established, before the innumerable army of angels were gathered together, before the heights of the air were lifted up, before the measures of the firmament were named, before the footstool of Zion was established, before the present years were reckoned, before the imaginations of those who now sin were estranged, and before they were sealed who have gathered faith for a treasure— then I considered these things, and they all were made through me alone, and not through another; just as by me also they will be ended, and not by another.”

This is the history of the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made the earth and the heavens. No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground, but a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground. Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became the source of four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon: it flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and onyx stone are also there. The name of the second river is Gihon. It is the same river that flows through the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel. This is the one which flows in front of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it. Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

“But on the sixth day, you commanded the earth to produce before you cattle, animals, and creeping things. Over these, you ordained Adam as ruler over all the works that you have made. Of him came all of us, the people whom you have chosen.