Genesis Done

I've finally got down pat the entire first chapter of Genesis, King James Version, by heart. All the creeping things and herbs bearing seed and fruit yielding seed and winged fowls and such. And, it turns out, I only have about 3 more verses to learn in order to have all of the first chapter of Exodus learned by heart. I only have the first few verses of any of the other books of the bible learned so far, though. I am trying to know the first word of every book of the Bible, and this should help me remember the order of the books in the Old Testament.

I learned the first word of the books in the New Testament in just about one sitting. Since half of it begins simply with "Paul". The rest are the names of the few other writers, or words like the. God is in there once to begin a book (the book of Hebrews). Though, of course, now that I have the first word for each of those, the aim is to move right along. I think I have the first little bit of each verse of the four gospels. And the other books should be easy as they all say who is writing and then who they are writing to and give you a sense of the purpose of the writer, or how they see their calling, etc. It helps make it easier to remember.

A similar thing helps with the Old Testament. Except that there is the added sense of placing everything along a history timeline. The first year of Cyrus King of Persia, for instance, or of Darius. Knowing that the last book of both halves of the Bible begin with an ominous air. Malachi is "The burden" of Malachi, as he sees the end of things. And The Book of Revelations is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which, as you know, is also about The End of things.

At least 4 books in the Bible begin with beginnings, Genesis, of course, with "In the beginning" and the Gospel of John which also begins "In the beginning", Matthew, which is "The book of the generation" of Jesus Christ and Mark which follows Matthew and is "The beginning of the gospel" of Jesus Christ. You could add to that 1 Chronicles which begins with Adam, I suppose, as well.

I suspect that remembering the verses in other chapters will take a little more study to learn well, than these 'verse 1's.

I'll be back to let you know my progress!

Genesis 1:27

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, created he them, male and female created he them.


That's the verse I've learned. Now I'm working on verse 28 which goes

And God blessed them and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living creature upon the earth.

I think that's it. I'm also making good progress with the other books of the Bible. Soon enough I will be able to focus on finishing Exodus 1.

Genesis 1:26

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.


I'm still working on memorizing this verse, but at least I have moved on to memorizing the entire verse, instead of just the first half.

Exodus 1:15 says

And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah and the name of the other, Puah.

Honestly, I think I have that down and could move on to the next verse, but just to make sure I'm giving myself another day on Exodus 1:15.

Leviticus 1:3

The first part goes like this:

If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd

The first part of Numbers 1:2 that I am now learning goes:

Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel

I am now learning Deuteronomy 1:2

(There are eleven days journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kardeshbarnea)

I am learning the rest of Joshua 1:1, I already have Now after the death of Moses it came to pass
and now I'm adding

that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,

I am continuing  learning Judges 1:1. I already have "Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass" and now I'm adding

that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying,

I've got the first line of Ruth, which says "Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled,"
and I'm finishing that sentence off with:

that there was a feminine in the land. And a certain man, of Bethlehemjudah

I thought I'd start the next sentence since it is similar to the beginning verse of 1 Samuel. In that verse I've learned "Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim." Now I'm adding

of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah.

I've learned the start of 2 Samuel 1:1, which goes "Now it came to pass", but keep forgetting the next part, so I'm still learning that, which goes

after the death of Saul

1 Kings 1:1 has been easy so far, and I have memorized "Now King David was old, and stricken in years" and the next part says

and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat.

2 Kings begins "Then Moab rebelled" and now I'm ready to learn the next part which says

against Israel after the death of Ahab.

Now I can start memorizing 1 Chronicles 1:1, which is super short and easy

Adam, Sheth, Enosh.

It is the first book of the Bible to begin with nothing but names. You'd think it was Numbers or some earlier book, but no, it's not til Chronicles that this happens. Once I have this down, I can begin learning 2 Chronicles.

1st Chronicles is the 13th book of the Bible. I feel like I'm making good progress.

I've learned the most verses of Genesis, where I've memorized all of the first 25 verses and most of verse 26. I've learned the next most verses in Exodus, where I've learned all of the first 14 verses.

Genesis 1:14 says And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days, and years.

Exodus 1:14 says And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field; all their service wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

The verse in Genesis is God deciding to give enlightenment to the whole world. Not just physical light, which is done, but intellectual and social enlightenment, by making lights that can be used as signs, seasons, days, and years. It is a great gift to give and has such foresight, but hopeful foresight. The verse in Exodus is a man who was worshipped as a god, as the kings of Egypt were, who has led his people to enslave their neighbors, to look at the world and people and the future with fear and loathing and dread. What a contrast!

The next book that I've learned more than one verse for, is Leviticus, where I have learned the first two verses.

The 2nd verse of Genesis 1 says

And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

The 2nd verse of Exodus names four of the tribes of Jacob

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah

The 2nd verse of Leviticus says:

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering to the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.

These verses are rather disparate and it's not so easy to find anything to compare them with. But, the 2nd verse of Genesis describes what was and what God did. The verse in Leviticus states what the Lord wants Moses to say to his people about what they should bring as an offering. The verse in Exodus is telling us who these people were descended from.

Genesis 1:25

I've got Genesis 1:24 under my belt now, and 25.

And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth, after his kind; and God saw that it was good.

I'm now working on verse 26, which brings Man onto the scene.

And God said, Let us create man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air.


Something like that. There's more, which I still need to learn.

In Exodus I am now at the part where the king of Egypt is getting increasingly morbid.

And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives

the rest of that verse tells who they were, but I'm not sure I've quite got the wording correct:

of which the name of the one was Shiphra and the name of the other Puah.

Leviticus, I believe, I have the first two verses down pat now. I'm ready to work on verse 3!

Numbers, I have all of the first down, finally and am ready to start memorizing verse 2.

Deuteronomy, I have the first verse memorized also and can now move on to the 2nd verse.

I have begun memorizing the first verse of Joshua, so far I have:

Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass

I have also started with verse 1 of Judges, and have:

Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass

The Book of Ruth begins:

Now it came to pass

and then it says something like "in the days when the judges ruled"

1 Samuel 1:1 begins
Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim

But I haven't memorized the rest of that verse yet.

2 Samuel, I believe, begins with Now it came to pass, but then follows up with possibly 'that Moab rebelled' or maybe it just starts 'Then Moab rebelled'.

1Kings 1:1 is easy to begin with, saying
Now King David was old and stricken in years

2 Kings 1:1, though, I cannot recall for sure.