Merce Segarra - My First Bible

God created the world step by step. The first step was to create light in the daytime and darkness at night. Secondly, He created the sky, the seas, the mountains, the trees and the flowers.

Thirdly, He created the sun, the moon and the stars. Fourthly, He created the animals. And in the fifth and final step, He created humans to love the earth.

The first man and the first woman that God created were called Adam and Eve and they lived in a marvelous place: The Garden of Eden.

God told them they could eat the fruit from any tree, except the one in the very middle of the garden.

But an evil serpent convinced them to eat it. When God discovered that they had tasted the forbidden fruit, He became angry and banished them from the garden.

The earth became ever more populated. Many people were not good and they forgot about God, except for Noah.

God asked him to build a large boat, an ark, because He was going to flood the earth, but Noah and his family could save themselves.

God asked Noah to board a pair of each kind of animal onto the ark, as well as himself and his family.

Then it rained for forty days and forty nights and everything was flooded. But Noah, his family and the animals were safe, because they were in the ark.

When it finally stopped raining, they left the ark. And as a promise that He would never harm the earth again, God made a rainbow.

Abraham and Sarah were a married childless couple of advanced age. One day, God told Abraham to go and live in another place, which He would indicate to him.

Abraham obeyed and together with his wife took their sheep and goats and they began the journey to an unknown destination.

One night, Abraham heard God tell him:

This is the earth, which I give to you and your children.

But I have no children, replied Abraham sadly. And I cant have any now. Im too old.

Look at the sky, Abraham. Can you see the stars?

Abraham nodded.

And can you count them? God asked him.

No. Nobody can, replied Abraham.

Then God said to him:

Listen to me carefully, Abraham. You will have a son and youll have grandchildren.

God kept his promise. One year later, Sarah had a son called Isaac.

Isaac and Rebecca had twin sons, called Esau and Jacob, who were very different from one another. When Jacob grew up, he decided to live in his uncles house very far away.

One night, while traveling, he slept resting his head upon a stone and he had a dream: He saw a long ladder that reached up to the heavens and angels going up and down. God was at the top and He said to him: Jacob, I will never abandon you. And also, I will give you lots of children and land. From that day onwards, Jacob was never afraid again.

Jacob had twelve sons. One was called Joseph, and Jacob loved him so much that he gave him a very beautiful tunic.

His brothers were jealous of him. So, one day, while the flocks were grazing, they robbed him of his tunic and sold him to some merchants who took him far away, to Egypt.

While Joseph was in Egypt, God protected him. Also, He gave him the ability to interpret the meanings of dreams.

One day, the King of Egypt (the Pharaoh) summoned him, because he wanted to know the meaning of two dreams he had had. They meant that Egypt would have seven years in a row of good harvests, followed by seven years of poverty and famine. Joseph advised him to store up the food during the seven years of abundance to feed the people when the years of poverty arrived.