Context: Genesis (Hebrew Bereshit — "in the beginning") is the book of origins: of creation, humanity, sin, and the people of Israel. Attributed to Moses, likely composed from earlier oral and written traditions, it serves as the foundation of all subsequent biblical theology.

Structure and content: Chapters 1–11 form the "primeval history": creation in six days, the fall of Adam and Eve in Eden, Cain's murder of Abel, the flood and Noah, the Tower of Babel. These narratives are universal in character — cosmogonic and etiological — explaining humanity's fractured condition and the distance between Creator and creature. They deliberately contrast with the polytheism of Mesopotamian myths (Enuma Elish, Epic of Gilgamesh).

From chapter 12, the narrative narrows to the patriarchal history: the call of Abram and the three divine promises — land, numerous descendants, and blessing to all nations (12:1–3). This is followed by Isaac, Jacob (renamed Israel), and the twelve sons who will found the tribes. The book closes with the saga of Joseph — betrayed, sold into slavery, and raised to viceroy of Egypt — a paradigm of divine providence that transforms evil into good.

Central theology: Genesis establishes the covenant (berith), creational monotheism, and humanity as imago Dei (1:26–27). The promise of 3:15 — the "seed of the woman" who will crush the serpent's head — is regarded by the Christian tradition as the first messianic prophecy (protoevangelium).