Manuscript Bible Study Resource Genesis Download Bible study resources: www.scottishbiblesociety.org www.scottishbiblesociety.org/equip MANUSCRIPT • GENESIS The book of Genesis is foundational to understanding the rest of the Old Testament, and indeed, the entire Bible. Here we find answers to the fundamental questions of life: What kind of world do we live in? What is God like? What is humanity like? What is life for? What has gone wrong with the world? After an opening prologue (Genesis 1:1-2:3), the book is structured using the phrase, “This is the account of ” (2:4, 5:1, 6:9, 10:1, 11:10, 11:27, 25:12, 25:19, 36:1, 36:9, 37:2). THE INTRO The first eleven chapters of Genesis cover the creation of the heavens and earth (Gen 1-2), the fall of humanity (Gen 3), the stories of Adam’s family (Gen 4-5), Noah’s family and the flood (Gen 6-9), and move from families to nations, culminating at the tower of Babel (Gen 10-11). This set of studies covers the first eleven chapters of Genesis, using the manuscript method (described below). It is possible to do a manuscript study of all eleven chapters, reading and marking the text of each. Alternatively, one or more chapters can be studied in a single session. OVERVIEW Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New International Version - UK (NIVUK) Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Download Bible study resources: www.scottishbiblesociety.org/equip MANUSCRIPT • GENESIS The manuscript method of Bible Study is an incredibly simple and effective way to study the Bible. Using a Bible passage printed out on paper, the passage is read and observations marked with coloured pens. The aim is to read the Bible for ourselves and hear God speak through his Word. Manuscript does not assume Bible knowledge but instead gives everyone an opportunity to read the Biblical text and share and apply what they have learned. THE METHOD Preparation 1. Print a copy of the passage manuscript for everyone taking part. 2. Provide coloured pens or pencils that folk can use to make notes and marks on their manuscript. Study Pray to begin, that God would speak, and that everyone would hear. 1. Read the text aloud together. 2. Mark sections – where you think the author might make a new paragraph break. Try to summarise in a few words what each section is about. Have a go at summarising what the entire passage is about. Do this individually, then feedback to the group. 3. Think about the six big questions in the passage: who, what, where, when, how and why. Using the coloured pens, underline, circle, or put a box around key phrases, themes or words that repeat. Draw lines between phrases, themes and words that are related. Do this individually, then discuss one-to-one or as a whole group what you have observed. 4. As a group, discuss the why of the passage – what is the author trying to say, what does this mean? Identify the key message(s). 5. Individually, in one-to-one’s, or as a whole group, discuss how to apply this passage: what is God saying through it, and how should we respond to what God is saying? Close in prayer, asking that God would continue to speak through His Word, and that in hearing Him, we would delight to obey. Download Bible study resources: www.scottishbiblesociety.org/equip MANUSCRIPT • GENESIS Genesis 1-2:3 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, 2 darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And 3 God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he 4 separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day’, and the darkness he called ‘night’. 5 And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day. And God said, ‘Let there be a vault 6 between the waters to separate water from water.’ So God made the vault and separated the water 7 under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault ‘sky’. And there was 8 evening, and there was morning – the second day. And God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be 9 gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry ground ‘land’, 10 and the gathered waters he called ‘seas’. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, ‘Let the land 11 produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, 12 according to their various kinds.’ And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed 13 according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw 14 that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the third day. And God said, ‘Let 15 there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs 16 to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light 17 on the earth.’ And it was so. God made two great lights – the greater light to govern the day and the 18 lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give 19 light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God 20 saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the fourth day. And God 21 said, ‘Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of 22 the sky.’ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water 23 teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its 24 kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number 25 and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.’ And there was evening, and 26 there was morning – the fifth day. And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to 27 their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each 28 according to its kind.’ And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the Download Bible study resources: www.scottishbiblesociety.org/equip MANUSCRIPT • GENESIS Genesis 1-2:3 29 livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to 30 their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our 31 likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and 32 all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created mankind 33 in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God 34 blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule 35 over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the 36 ground.’ Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and 37 every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth 38 and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground – everything that has 39 the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw all that he had 40 made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day. Thus the 41 heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished 42 the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed 43 the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had 44 done. Download Bible study resources: www.scottishbiblesociety.org/equip MANUSCRIPT • GENESIS Genesis 2:4-25 1 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made 2 the earth and the heavens. Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet 3 sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the 4 ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then 5 the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of 6 life, and the man became a living being.