Genesis Chapter 1
Genesis 1 is the first chapter of the first book of the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament. In the beginning there was formlessness and void: chaos. God creates order out of chaos and then he creates life.
Annotated Commentary with Links
| 1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. | The Hebrew word for God used here is Elohim, one of several names used for God. It is the plural of the word El, or God, so it could be translated Gods. Later, in the Bible, the word JHVH (Yahweh) is used. The Hebrew word for heavens is shamayim, and it is always plural. The Hebrew word for earth is erets. |
| 2The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. | Before creation, there was chaos and water. God created the earth out of this Chaos. Spirit of God is ruach Elohim. Ruach is used often in the Bible and is sometimes translated as breath. The Hebrew translated as formless and void and is tohu wa bohu. Some translations render this phrase as “without form and void.” Together, these two words give an impression a wasteland, chaos, or the absence of life. |
| 3The God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light, | |
| 4God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. | |
| 5God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. | |
| 6God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” | The Hebrew word translated here as expanse is raqia. Raqia has also been translated as firmament or dome. |
| 7God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expansion from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. | God uses the raqia to separate the chaos of the waters. |
| 8God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day. | The waters above the raqia become the sky. |
| 9God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. | God separates the waters beneath the raqia and forms dry land, the earth (Hebrew erets). |
| 10God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good. | |
| 11Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. | |
| 12The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. | |
| 13There was evening and there was morning, a third day. | The Hebrew word for day is yom. In the Old Testament, yom is mostly used for a 24-hour period, but it is sometimes used for an indeterminate period of time, as in “In that day…” The interpretation of the use of yom in Genesis 1 usually depends on a commentator’s view of creation. Those that favor a 7-day creation argue for a literal 24-hour period. Those that favor a longer period of creation (i.e millions of years) argue for an indeterminate period of time. |
| 14Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; | |
| 15and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. | |
| 16God made the two great lights, the great light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. | |
| 17God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth; | |
| 18and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. | |
| 19There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. | |
| 20Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” | |
| 21God created the great sea monsters and every living create that moves, with which the waters swamped after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. | The Hebrew word translated as sea monsters is tanninim. In some English translations it is written as whales, but in the Greek Septuagint it is translated as drachon, or dragons. In the Psalms, it is often translated as leviathan. We get a hint of a great sea creature, dangerous and destructive, but part of God’s creation. |
| 22God blessed them saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” | |
| 23There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. | |
| 24God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. | |
| 25God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good. | |
| 26God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and one all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” | |
| 27God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. | |
| 28God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” | |
| 29God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. | |
| 30To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so. | |
| 31God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. |
Next: Genesis 2
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