The Bible, King James Version, Book 1: Genesis

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. There is no other opening line in English literature quite like it. Genesis is where everything starts: light parting from darkness, order rising from chaos, humanity named and placed in a garden that will not keep them. Here are the stories that have echoed through centuries of art, literature, and culture, the serpent in the tree, the first murder, the flood that drowned the world, the tower that reached for heaven and was scattered by God. Here too is Abraham, called from Ur to become the father of nations, his faith tested by a command that still haunts readers. The King James Version, translated in 1611, gave these ancient narratives a language of staggering beauty and power. Genesis is not merely the beginning of the Bible; it is the beginning of the Western imagination. For believers, it is sacred truth. For readers of literature, it is simply indispensable.