The Law (Torah)
The book of Genesis
The book of beginnings: creation, the fall, the flood, the nations, and the families of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
Moses is named as the writer of parts of the Law (Exodus 17:14; 24:4; Deuteronomy 31:9), and Jesus and the apostles speak of “Moses” writing it (Luke 24:44; John 5:46–47). Genesis carries the story from creation to the death of Joseph. Moses, raised in Pharaoh’s court and taught by God on Sinai, could have drawn on family records, which Genesis itself seems to signal with the repeated phrase “the generations of” (Genesis 2:4; 5:1; 6:9). Its first readers were the Israelites who had just left Egypt.
Kinds of writing
- Narrative 91%
- Genealogy 7%
- Prophecy 2%
Key verses
Creation. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1 (World English Bible)
The first promise of a Savior. I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.
Genesis 3:15 (World English Bible)
God's promise to Abram. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treats you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.
Genesis 12:2-3 (World English Bible)
Abram's faith counted as righteousness. He believed in Yahweh, who credited it to him for righteousness.
Genesis 15:6 (World English Bible)
God meant it for good. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today.
Genesis 50:20 (World English Bible)
People
AdamEveNoahAbrahamSarahIsaacJacobJoseph
Places
EdenAraratBabelUrHaranHebronEgypt
On the timeline
CreationThe FallThe global FloodThe Tower of BabelGod calls AbramAbraham offers Isaac on MoriahJoseph sold into slaveryJacob's family moves to Egypt
The New Testament quotes or alludes to Genesis 24 times (counted in the site’s Old in the New).
Dating notes
Written in the wilderness between the Exodus and Moses’ death (Ussher: 1491–1451 BC). The conventional conservative date for the Exodus is 1446 BC, which would put the writing 45 years later than shown here; this timeline follows Ussher’s 1491 BC. Many modern scholars hold that the Pentateuch was put together from several sources over centuries after Moses; the traditional view, which this timeline follows, is that Moses wrote it, with small later touches such as the account of his death.