Genesis 1:1 is the first verse of the first chapter in the Book of Genesis in the Bible and forms the opening of the Genesis creation narrative.
Video Genesis 1:1
Hebrew text
In the Masoretic Text the verse consists of 7 words and 28 letters and is as follows:
- Vocalized: ??????????? ?????? ???????? ??? ??????????? ????? ????????
- Transliterated: Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'aretz.
The first word is b'reishit, or bereishit (????????????). The definite article (i.e., the Hebrew equivalent of "the") is missing, but implied. The complete word literally means "in [the] beginning [of]". The same construction is found elsewhere in the Hebrew bible, usually dealing with the beginning of a reign.
The second word is the Hebrew verb bara (????) ("([he] created/creating"). It is in the masculine form, so that "he" is implied. A peculiarity of this verb is that it is always used with God as its subject, meaning that only God can "bara"; it is the characteristic verb for God's creative activity in Genesis 1. "Bara" is also used in Genesis 2 verses 3 and 4. John Walton claims that the meaning of "bara" is not "create" in the modern sense, but to differentiate/separate and to allocate roles - e.g., in the creation of Adam and Eve, God allocates gender roles to "male and female".
Elohim (??????) is the generic word for God, whether the God of Israel or the gods of other nations. It is used throughout Genesis 1, and contrasts with the phrase Elohim YHWH, "God YHWH", introduced in Genesis 2.
Et (????) is a particle used in front of the direct object of a verb; in this case, it indicates that "the heavens and the earth" is what is being created. The word ha preceding shamayim (heavens) and aretz (earth) is the definite article, equivalent to the English word "the".
Maps Genesis 1:1
English translation
Genesis 1:1-2 can be translated into English in at least three ways:
- As a statement that the cosmos had an absolute beginning (In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth).
- As a statement describing the condition of the world when God began creating (When in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was untamed and shapeless).
- Taking all of Genesis 1:2 as background information (When in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the earth being untamed and shapeless, God said, Let there be light!).
The idea that God created the universe out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo) has become central to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but it is not found directly in Genesis, nor in the entire Hebrew Bible, and is not the preferred option. The Priestly authors of Genesis 1, writing around 500-400 BCE, had been concerned not with the origins of matter (the material which God formed into the habitable cosmos), but with the fixing of destinies. This was still the situation in the early 2nd century CE, although early Christian scholars were beginning to see a tension between the idea of world-formation and the omnipotence of God. By the beginning of the 3rd century this tension was resolved, world-formation was overcome, and creation ex nihilo had become a fundamental tenet of Christian theology.
See also
- Genesis 1:2
- Parashat Bereshit
References
Citations
Bibliography
Further reading
- Curzon, David. Modern poems on the Bible: an anthology. Phila: Jewish Publication Society, 1994.
- Full translation of Rashi on Genesis 1:1
- "Genesis 1:1." Online Parallel Bible. [1]
- Jewish Publication Society. The Torah: The Five Books of Moses (3rd ed). Philadelphia: 1999.
- Kselman, John S. "Genesis" in Harper's Bible Dictionary.
- Rosenbaum and Silberman. Pentateuch with Rashi's Commentary.
- The Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha
- Torat Chaim Chumash. Mossad HaRav Kook. 1986
- Urbach, Ephraim E. The Sages: the world and wisdom of the rabbis of the Talmud.
- Von Rad, Gerhard. Genesis: A commentary. Phila: The Westminster Press, 1972
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