Creation Stories in Genesis 1 and 2 and Enuma Elish

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In conclusion, the two chapters of the Genesis to have the same general idea and the same story of the creation of the world. However, there are differences in the text to consider, like the way Adam was created, both texts offer a different version and this causes confusions to the readers. Moreover, the order of each element that is created differs in each text and the time take for creation also is different in both texts. Additionally, when both texts are compared to Enuma Elish, there are a couple of similarities and contradictions. Firstly, the major difference is that the creation of humankind is told differently, in the genesis a man is created out of dust by the God and in Enuma Elish, Marduk creates the humankind out of Kingu’s blood vessels. Furthermore, these texts agree on the state of the earth before the creation, it is said that it was an empty and chaotic place. However, Genesis states that there was a God before the creation and there weren’t any Gods according to Enuma Elish. Lastly, there is a difference between the Genesis and the Enuma Elish concerning the purpose of the creation of the humankind. In the biblical version, the humankind is created by God to look after all the living creatures, over whom the man was given dominion and in Enuma Elish the humankind is created by Marduk for the purpose of labour.

Reference List

- Genesis, the primeval history: creation culminating in Sabbath. Line 1-2.

- Citation from The Babylonian Genesis, Tablet 1, Line 6.

- Genesis, the primeval history: creation culminating in Sabbath. Line 1-2.

- Babylonian Genesis, Tablet 1, line 7

- Genesis, the primeval history: creation culminating in Sabbath. Line 1

- Genesis, the primeval history: creation culminating in Sabbath. Line 6-7

- Babylonian Genesis, Tablet 4, line 5-9

- Genesis, the primeval history: creation culminating in Sabbath. Line 26-31