The Book of Genesis
Genesis is the first book of the Bible and the book of beginnings. It tells how God made the heavens and the earth, how sin entered the world through the first man and woman, and how God chose one family, Abraham's, and promised that all the families of the earth would be blessed through it.
The book falls into two large parts. Chapters 1 to 11 range over the whole world: creation, the garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood, and the tower of Babel. Chapters 12 to 50 narrow to one family across four generations: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and his twelve sons, among them Joseph, whose rise in Egypt keeps the family alive through a famine.
Genesis lays the ground for the rest of Scripture: God as Creator, people made in God's image, the reach of sin, and the promises to Abraham that later books keep returning to. Jewish and Christian tradition has long attributed it to Moses; the book itself names no author, and scholars differ on how it reached its final form.
The Genesis study opens with an overview of the book, then follows it in order from the first verse to Joseph's death. In Your Bible App, it comes as short, fun rounds that make the beginnings stick.
Key people
Adam and Eve
The first man and woman, made in God's image and placed in the garden of Eden.
Noah
A righteous man who built the ark and came through the flood with his family.
Abraham
Called to leave his country for a land God would show him, he received the promises that shape the rest of the book.
Sarah
Abraham's wife, who bore Isaac, the promised son, in her old age.
Jacob
Isaac's son, renamed Israel, whose twelve sons head the family that became the nation of Israel.
Joseph
Sold into Egypt by his brothers, he rose to rule the land and saved his family from famine.
Themes
Creation
God makes an ordered, good world and creates humanity in His own image.
Sin and its spread
From the garden onward, wrongdoing spreads through families and nations, from Cain to the flood to Babel.
Covenant and promise
God promises Abraham land, descendants and blessing for all nations, and the promise passes to Isaac and Jacob.
God at work through hardship
God works through flawed people and painful events, turning harm into good, as Joseph tells his brothers at the end of the book.
Key verses
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.
Genesis quiz: sample questions
With what claim does the book of Genesis open?
- That God brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt
- That God had chosen David to be king
- That a temple would be built for the LORD in Jerusalem
- That God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning
- That the law was given at Sinai
Show the answer
Answer: That God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning
Why: The first verse of Genesis declares that God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning, and that claim frames everything the book goes on to narrate.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1 gives the man and woman a charge to rule. Which living things does the book name in that charge?
- The serpent, more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made
- The ravens that brought bread and meat morning and evening
- The locusts that covered the face of the whole land until it was black
- The livestock of Egypt in the field, struck by a severe plague
- The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every creature that crawls upon the earth
Show the answer
Answer: The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every creature that crawls upon the earth
Why: Genesis 1:28 names the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every creature that crawls upon the earth as the ones the man and woman are to rule over.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”
Genesis records God's own words about the covenant sign given after the flood. According to the text, where does God say He has set it?
- On the foreheads of the servants of God
- In the clouds
- On the doorframes of the houses
- On the east side of the garden of Eden
- On two tablets of stone
Show the answer
Answer: In the clouds
Why: God says He has set His rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Him and the earth. The sign stands where the whole earth can see it.
I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
Genesis turns from the story of the whole world to the story of one family when God calls one man to leave his country. Which person does Genesis name in that call?
- Abraham, son of Terah
- Joshua, son of Nun
- Moses, the lawgiver of Israel
- Solomon, son of David
- David, son of Jesse
Show the answer
Answer: Abraham, son of Terah
Why: The opening chapters of Genesis range over the whole world, and then at Genesis 12:1 God tells Abram to leave his country for a land that God will show him. From that point the book follows this one family. The other men named here appear in later books.
Then the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you.
Which person does Genesis name as the son of Jacob who was sold into Egypt and later placed over the whole land by Pharaoh?
- Gideon, son of Joash
- Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel
- Elijah the Tishbite
- David, son of Jesse
- Joshua, son of Nun
- Samuel, son of Elkanah and Hannah
Show the answer
Answer: Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel
Why: The closing section of Genesis follows Joseph, who was sold into Egypt by his brothers and then set over the land by Pharaoh. David, Samuel, Elijah, Gideon and Joshua all appear in later books.
Pharaoh also told Joseph, “I hereby place you over all the land of Egypt.”
Frequently asked questions
What is the book of Genesis about?
Genesis tells of the beginning of the world and of humanity, then of the family of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, through whom God promised to bless all nations. It ends with Jacob's family living in Egypt.
Who wrote the book of Genesis?
Jewish and Christian tradition has long attributed Genesis, with the rest of the first five books of the Bible, to Moses. The book itself does not name its author, and scholars hold different views on how it reached its final form.
What does the name Genesis mean?
Genesis comes from a Greek word meaning origin or beginning, the title used in the early Greek translation of the Old Testament. The Hebrew title, Bereshit, is the book's first word and means "In the beginning."
Coming soon to the App Store
Play the Genesis study in Your Bible App: short, fun rounds from the first verse to Joseph. Seriously fun. Have a question about Your Bible App? We read every e-mail.