Adam was created in twelve hours. According to Sanhedrin 38b, Rabbi Yohanan bar Hanina mapped each hour of the first man's first day onto a specific stage of formation.
In the first hour, God gathered dust. Not from one place—from the entire earth. Rav Meir taught that the dust came from all over the world. Adam's torso was formed from Babylonian soil, his head from the dust of the Land of Israel, and his limbs from the dust of every other land. Rav Aha added, with dark humor, that his buttocks were fashioned from Akra De'agma, a swampy district outside Babylon.
In the second hour, an undefined figure was shaped. In the third, his limbs were stretched out. In the fourth, a soul was breathed into him. In the fifth, he stood. In the sixth, he named every animal. In the seventh, Eve was paired with him. In the eighth—the Talmud's timing is deliberately shocking—they went to bed as two and came down as four. Cain and Abel were born immediately. In the ninth hour, Adam was commanded not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. In the tenth, he sinned. In the eleventh, he was judged. In the twelfth, he was expelled from the Garden of Eden.
All of human history—creation, marriage, parenthood, law, sin, judgment, exile—compressed into a single day.
Before creating Adam, God consulted the angels. The first group objected: "What is man that You are mindful of him?" (Psalms 8:5). God burned them with fire. The second group objected and was also burned. The third group, having watched two sets of angels incinerated, said: "The entire world is Yours; whatever You wish to do, do." And then, after the Flood and the Tower of Babel, the surviving angels said: "Didn't the first group speak correctly?" God replied: "Even to old age I am the same, and even to gray hairs I will carry" (Isaiah 46:4). He would bear with humanity despite everything.