In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1 ASV). The Hebrew word for God in 1:1 is "Elohim," a plural Hebrew word. God said, "Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth" (Genesis 1:26 AMPC). These two verses in Genesis are a testimony of the Trinity, showing that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all present at creation.
And God said, "Let there be a firmament [the expanse of the sky] in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters [below] from the waters [above]." And God made the firmament [the expanse] and separated the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the firmament Heavens. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day" (Genesis 1:6-8 AMPC). The "firmament" or "expanse" could refer to a pre-Flood water vapor canopy surrounding Earth, helping to explain peoples' long ages in chapter 5.
There was evening and there was morning (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31 AMPC). The repeated phrase "evening and morning" indicates that these are literal, 24-hour days. This is expounded upon in Exodus 20:8-11. [Earnestly] remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (withdrawn from common employment and dedicated to God). Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it, you shall not do any work, you, or your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your domestic animals, or the sojourner within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it [set it apart for His purposes] AMPC).
And God said, "Let the earth put forth [tender] vegetation: plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit whose seed is in itself, each according to its kind, upon the earth. And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed according to their own kinds and trees bearing fruit in which was their seed, each according to its kind." And God saw that it was good (suitable, admirable) and He approved it (Genesis 1:11-12, 21, 24-25 AMPC). Everything produces after its kind. This goes against the theory of evolution, which says living things can mutate from one kind to another.
Based on the rivers named, a possible location for the Garden of Eden was in modern-day Iraq. The first is named Pishon; it is the one flowing around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. The gold of that land is of high quality; bdellium (pearl?) and onyx stone are there. The second river is named Gihon; it is the one flowing around the whole land of Cush. The third river is named Hiddekel [the Tigris]; it is the one flowing east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates (Genesis 2:11-14 AMPC).
Now the Lord God said, "It is not good (sufficient, satisfactory) that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him" (Genesis 2:18 AMPC). Calling a wife a "helper" for her husband is not demeaning but a high honor. The man being alone before the woman was made is the only thing before sin that God said was not good. Men and women were created with different roles but equal value.
Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’” “No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it" (Genesis 3:1-6 CSB). Satan twisted God's Word with Eve. God never said they couldn't eat from every tree. He tempted Eve to question God's goodness. The devil uses the same tactics today. Be aware of them so you can recognize and stand against them.
The man replied, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.” So the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate" (Genesis 3:12-13 CSB).
So the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel. He said to the woman: I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children with painful effort. Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you. And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life" (Genesis 3:14-17 CSB). To curse means to impose a ban or barrier or paralysis on movement or other capabilities. God cursed all serpents as a reminder to us of what happened here.
God said, "I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel" (Genesis 3:15 CSB). This is the first prophetic promise about Jesus.
The Lord God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them (Genesis 3:21 CSB). The first sacrifice for sin is found here. According to the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22 AMPC).
The Lord God said, “Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove the man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life" (Genesis 3:22-24 CSB). God driving humanity out of the Garden was both an act of judgment and mercy, judgment for their sin, and mercy because if they had eaten from the tree of life, they would have lived forever in their sinful state without redemption, forever under God's judgment.
