Genesis 1: God Creates the Heavens and the Earth

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. (BSB)

Says The chapter opens, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (1:1, BSB). God is the subject of the first verb, בָּרָא, and of the speeches, namings, makings, and blessings that follow. Six numbered days each close with evening and morning. Humankind is made in God’s image, male and female, blessed and commissioned (1:26–28). The unit ends, “And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good.” (1:31, BSB). Genesis 2:1–3, the seventh day, is the next paragraph and is not treated here.

Implies Israel’s God is the sole Creator. The greater and lesser lights, the stars, the great sea creatures, and the beasts of the earth are creatures under him, not rival gods. That boundary is held throughout what follows. The link of John 1:1–3 to this chapter is already drawn; see the notes on John 1.

Uncertain No lean is taken in this commentary on the syntax of 1:1–3; on תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ; on רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים; on whom “Let Us” addresses (1:26, BSB); on the content of image and likeness; on how the creation days relate to time; on what רָקִיעַ, the BSB’s “an expanse” requires as a physical picture; or on how dominion is lived out, beyond what the language itself implies. Grounds for each question are given in the unit discussions and in the Hebrew, Greek, and historical notes.

Says The consonants of 1:1 allow an independent clause and a temporal clause. בְּרֵאשִׁית has a disjunctive accent. בָּרָא is a Qal perfect, third person masculine singular; אֱלֹהִים is its subject. The BSB’s “In the beginning” is one reading of that opening word. The noun has no article. The same verb בָּרָא is used of God again at 1:21 and three times at 1:27; other works in the chapter use עָשָׂה, made, as in “So God made the expanse” (1:7, BSB) and “God made two great lights” (1:16, BSB). The two verbs stand together in the chapter. Neither verb, taken alone, settles whether 1:1 teaches creation out of nothing. See the Hebrew note.

Uncertain Which syntax the author intended. No lean is taken here. (1) An independent clause: 1:1 is a complete sentence; 1:2 describes the earth’s state; 1:3 begins the speeches. The grounds are the disjunctive accent, the Greek ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν, early Jewish renderings that take 1:1 as a complete clause, and John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1, BSB), whose Ἐν ἀρχῇ matches the form of the Greek of Gen 1:1. The note on John 1:1 prefers the independent reading for its own purpose; that preference is neither adopted nor contradicted here. See the note on John 1:1. (2) A temporal clause, When God began to create, with the main clause in 1:2 or in 1:3. The grounds are that רֵאשִׁית here has no article and often stands in construct, and that Gen 2:4 uses בְּיוֹם in “in the day that the Lord God made them” (2:4, BSB) for a broader when. The syntax of 1:1–3 does not by itself settle creation out of nothing. That question is left as the historical note on it leaves it.

In 2 Macc 7:28 a mother bids her son know “that God did not make them out of the things that existed”; whether she means absolute nothing is debated. That question is left as the historical notes leave it, and no lean is taken here on Gen 1:1. See the historical notes.

Says Verse 2 continues, “Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” (1:2, BSB). The Hebrew of the first clause is הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ. The BSB’s “formless and void” is one English display of that pair. The same pair recurs in “I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void” (Jer 4:23, BSB). The two nouns stand in parallel in Isa 34:11. תֹהוּ stands alone in Deut 32:10, and in “He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited” (Isa 45:18, BSB). See the Hebrew note.

Uncertain What the pair describes. No lean is taken here: an unformed and unfilled earth, later filled and distinguished in the six days; a desolate waste; or a chaotic state, named together with the deep and the darkness. A reading of הָיְתָה as became, so that the earth became formless and void after 1:1, is named. A waw plus noun plus qatal clause normally means was. That grammatical observation is the counter-ground; it is not turned into a lean.

Says The second half of 1:2 has מְרַחֶפֶת, a Piel participle feminine, agreeing with רוּחַ. The Greek has πνεῦμα θεοῦ ἐπεφέρετο. The same stem is used of the eagle in “As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young” (Deut 32:11, BSB). See the Hebrew note, and the note on that verse in Deuteronomy 32.

Uncertain How רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים is to be read. No lean is taken here. (1) The Spirit of God, with the personal agency later texts ascribe to God’s Spirit: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.” (Ps 33:6, BSB); “When You send Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth.” (Ps 104:30, BSB). The BSB’s capital S in “the Spirit of God” is the typography of that reading; it is not a feature of the Hebrew. (2) The wind or breath of God, since רוּחַ often means wind or breath, and a wind from God is later sent over the earth (Gen 8:1). (3) A mighty wind, taking אֱלֹהִים as an intensifying genitive; that use is debated. A Trinitarian reading of the Spirit in 1:2 is a later Christian reading for those who hold it, not a sense fixed by the Hebrew alone.

Note ID: note.exegetical.Gen.1.1-Gen.1.2.the-beginning

Note ID: note.exegetical.Gen.1.1-Gen.1.31.overview

Says The works of days one to six are opened by God’s speech (1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 28, 29). Each of those six days closes with evening and morning (1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). The first speech is “Let there be light,” and “there was light.” (1:3, BSB). “And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.” (1:4, BSB). God called the light “day” and the darkness “night”: “And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.” (1:5, BSB). The Hebrew of that last phrase is יוֹם אֶחָד, day one, a cardinal number without the article. The BSB’s “the first day” adds an article and uses an ordinal. See the Hebrew note.

Says Days two and three form realms. God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, to separate the waters from the waters.” (1:6, BSB). “So God made the expanse and separated the waters beneath it from the waters above. And it was so.” (1:7, BSB). God called the expanse “sky”: “And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.” (1:8, BSB). The Hebrew noun named in 1:8 is שָׁמָיִם, the same noun rendered “heavens” in 1:1; the BSB uses “sky” for the name and “an expanse” for רָקִיעַ. Lights are later set “in the expanse of the sky” (1:14, BSB), and birds fly “in the open expanse of the sky” (1:20, BSB). The Greek of 1:6–8 has στερέωμα. See the Hebrew note, and the Greek note.

Uncertain What physical picture רָקִיעַ requires. No lean is taken here. (1) A solid dome, as in a common ancient picture of the world, which the text uses. The grounds are the waters above a structure the Greek calls firm, and the related Hebrew verb of beating out or spreading out. (2) Sky or atmosphere, with the waters above as clouds. The grounds are that birds fly on its face (1:20) and that the lights shine upon the earth (1:15, 17). (3) Language of appearance, with no commitment to a physical model. The ground is that the text names and uses the expanse and does not describe its material. Ancient Near Eastern pictures of the cosmos are background only; see the historical note. They do not fix the meaning.

Says Day three turns to the waters under the sky and to the dry land. God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” “And it was so.” (1:9, BSB). God called the dry land “earth” and the gathering of waters “seas”: “And God saw that it was good.” (1:10, BSB). Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind.” “And it was so.” (1:11, BSB). The earth produces that vegetation, and God sees that it is good (1:12). The day closes with evening and morning, “the third day” (1:13, BSB).

Uncertain The wording of 1:9. The printed wording is the Masoretic מָקוֹם, place, with the Samaritan Pentateuch; the BSB’s “into one place” follows it. The named alternative is מקוה, gathering, in a Qumran Genesis fragment, with the Greek συναγωγὴν (εἰς συναγωγὴν μίαν). Confidence is low. No lean is taken. Both readings are presented here, and no argument is built on either. See the variant note, and the textual note.

Hendel (1998, pp. 24–25) holds that מָקוֹם replaced an earlier מקוה, but calls the choice not decisive. The variant note gives his grounds, a second Qumran fragment, and the Greek plus that follows in 1:9.

Implies The pattern of these first three days, and of the three that follow, presents God as the one who orders what he makes. The lights, the sea creatures, and the land animals that will fill these realms are creatures under him, not rivals. The pattern itself does not decide how the days relate to time. That question is taken up next, on equal terms, with no lean.

The creation days

Says The six days close with evening and morning (1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). יוֹם is used of the light in 1:5. Day one is יוֹם אֶחָד, without an article; only day six has the article on the ordinal, which the BSB renders “the sixth day” (1:31). In 2:4, בְּיוֹם is broader, “in the day that the Lord God made them” (2:4, BSB). The seventh day, in 2:2–3, which is context only here, has no evening-and-morning line. “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested.” (Exod 20:11, BSB). “for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed” (Exod 31:17, BSB). See the Hebrew note, and the note on the creation days.

Uncertain How the days relate to time. Five views follow, on equal terms, in the same form. All are held in conservative evangelical reading, and several may be combined. No lean is taken here.

Literal (calendar) days. The six days are ordinary days. The grounds are numbered יוֹם with evening and morning, and the wording of Exod 20:11 and 31:17. The objection is that 2:4 uses יוֹם more broadly, and that the work of day six, read with Gen 2:7–23, is crowded into one ordinary day.

Day-age. Each day is a long period. The grounds are that יוֹם can name a period, as in 2:4; that the seventh day is not closed by evening and morning; and that day six holds a great deal of work. The objection is that evening and morning with numbered days are naturally heard as ordinary days.

Framework. Days one to three are realms, and days four to six are their inhabitants; light precedes the luminaries. The week is a literary frame, not a sequence of time. The grounds are that pairing of days, and the conditions described in Gen 2:5. The objection is that the refrain and Exod 20:11 present sequence.

Analogical days. God’s workdays are like a human week: ordered and real, but not necessarily twenty-four hours long. The grounds are Exod 20:11 and 31:17, including “rested and was refreshed” (Exod 31:17, BSB). The objection is that the likeness is still told in the language of ordinary days.

Temple-cosmology. The seven days inaugurate the cosmos as God’s temple, and rest is enthronement. The grounds are “Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength.” (Ps 132:8, BSB) and “This is My resting place forever and ever” (Ps 132:14, BSB), and “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool.” (Isa 66:1, BSB). Temple background of a general kind is gathered in the historical note; it does not fix the meaning. The objection is that Genesis 1 itself names no temple.

The age of the earth is a question these views often address. It is not argued here.

Historic readings of the six days are gathered in the historical notes. Philo says the six days reflect not God’s need of time but the order created things required. Josephus says the world was made in six days, and that Moses said “one day” rather than “first.” Basil writes that “twenty-four hours fill up the space of one day.” Augustine holds that God could have created all at once, and that six signifies perfection. Calvin rejects creation “in a moment”: God “took the space of six days” to suit “the capacity of men.” These are their views. They do not decide how the days relate to time, and no lean is taken here. See the historical notes.

Note ID: note.exegetical.Gen.1.3-Gen.1.25.days-pattern

Note ID: note.exegetical.Gen.1.6-Gen.1.8.firmament

Note ID: note.exegetical.Gen.1.1-Gen.1.31.creation-days-views

Says Day four fills the expanse named on day two. God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky” (1:14, BSB), “to distinguish between the day and the night,” and “let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years” (1:14, BSB). They are “to shine upon the earth” (1:15, BSB), and “And it was so.” (1:15, BSB). “God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well.” (1:16, BSB). He set them in the expanse to shine upon the earth, to preside over day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness, and he saw that it was good (1:17–18). The day closes with evening and morning, “the fourth day” (1:19, BSB). They are made, set, and assigned. They are not named as sun and moon. See the Hebrew cross-reference note on the lights and the seasons.

Implies The greater light, the lesser light, and the stars are creatures under the God who made them. They rule day and night only as they are set to do so. They are not rival gods.

Says Day five fills the waters and the expanse. God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.” (1:20, BSB). “So God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters teemed according to their kinds, and every winged bird after its kind. And God saw that it was good.” (1:21, BSB). The verb at 1:21 is again בָּרָא. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” (1:22, BSB). The day closes with evening and morning, “the fifth day” (1:23, BSB).

Says The first part of day six fills the dry land. God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, land crawlers, and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” “And it was so.” (1:24, BSB). “God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that crawls upon the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” (1:25, BSB). Humankind is still to come, in 1:26–28, after these creatures have been made.

Implies Sea creatures, birds, livestock, crawlers, and beasts are created according to their kinds, and they are good as God made them. They are not objects of worship. “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen.” (Rom 1:25, BSB). “and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Rom 1:23, BSB). Those lines are already drawn to this chapter; see the notes on Romans 1. They are agreed with here. They are not restated as a new argument.

Says The expanse of days two and four is the same noun (1:6–8, 14–17). What was said of רָקִיעַ under 1:6–8 is not repeated as a new decision. No lean is taken on the physical picture. See the note on the firmament, and the historical note.

Minor variants

The differences between the Greek and the Masoretic text listed here are taken from the textual note. No Hebrew original is reconstructed from them. The Masoretic wording is printed at each of the places below. At 1:9 that printed wording is מָקוֹם, already treated above, where the named alternative is also presented and no argument is built on either. See the textual note, and the Greek note.

• 1:6–8. The Greek has καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως at the end of 1:6, after the command, as the Masoretic text places “And it was so.” at the end of 1:7 and on other days. The Greek also has καὶ ἴδεν ὁ θεὸς ὅτι καλόν at 1:8, an approval line as on the other days; the Masoretic text has no such line on day two. Implies Both differences are explainable from context. The Samaritan Pentateuch agrees with the Masoretic wording at both places.

• 1:9. The printed wording is מָקוֹם, place, with the Samaritan Pentateuch; the BSB’s “into one place” follows it. The named alternative is מקוה, gathering, in a Qumran Genesis fragment, with the Greek συναγωγὴν. Confidence is low. No lean is taken, and no argument is built on either. See the variant note.

• 1:14. The Greek adds εἰς φαῦσιν τῆς γῆς, and καὶ ἄρχειν τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ τῆς νυκτός. The first of those pluses has a counterpart in the Samaritan wording of 1:15. Whether these pluses reflect another Hebrew wording or Greek leveling is Uncertain.

• 1:20. The Greek adds καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως. The Masoretic text has no “And it was so.” at 1:20.

• 1:27. For בְּצַלְמוֹ בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים the Greek has only κατ’ εἰκόνα θεοῦ, without an equivalent of the first בְּצַלְמוֹ.

• 1:28. The Greek λέγων corresponds to the Masoretic wording and God said to them, and is not a plus. The Greek plus at 1:28 is καὶ πάντων τῶν κτηνῶν καὶ πάσης τῆς γῆς.

Uncertain Whether the differences at 1:14–28 reflect other Hebrew wording or Greek leveling, as the textual note leaves that question. Other inner-Greek details listed in that note are not repeated here.

Says The second part of day six turns to humankind. God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.” (1:26, BSB). נַעֲשֶׂה is a Qal imperfect, first person common plural. The suffixes on בְּצַלְמֵנוּ and כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ are the same first person plural. אָדָם here has no article; it names humankind, and 1:27 speaks of them as “male and female.” The capitals in the BSB’s “Let Us” and “Our” are English house style, not a feature of the Hebrew. The BSB’s “to rule” renders וְיִרְדּוּ, and let them rule. See the Hebrew note.

Says The next verse returns to the singular: “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (1:27, BSB). The first verb is וַיִּבְרָא, and he created, and בָּרָא follows twice; the suffix on בְּצַלְמוֹ is singular. “male and female He created them” stands in the same verse as the image words. Image and likeness take בְּ and כְּ in 1:26; the prepositions swap in Gen 5:1, 3, and the image stands alone in “for in His own image God has made mankind.” (Gen 9:6, BSB). “In the day that God created man, He made him in His own likeness.” (Gen 5:1, BSB). The Greek of 1:26 has κατ’ εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ’ ὁμοίωσιν. See the Hebrew note, and the Greek note.

Let Us, image, and dominion

Uncertain Whom us addresses. No lean is taken here. (1) A plural of majesty, or of self-deliberation, in which God speaks of himself in the plural and then creates in the singular (1:27). (2) Address to the heavenly court, as in 1 Kgs 22:19, “all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left” (BSB); “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” (Isa 6:8, BSB); “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil.” (Gen 3:22, BSB); and “Come, let Us go down and confuse their language” (Gen 11:7, BSB). On this reading, 1:27 still keeps the creating and the image with God alone. (3) A plurality within the one God, set beside the singular verb of 1:27. (4) Address to the earth or to the creation, a minority reading. The verse itself does not name the addressee. See the Hebrew note. Theophilus hears “Let Us make” as spoken to his Word and Wisdom. That is a historic Christian reading of the third option named above. It is not adopted as a lean. See the historical note.

Uncertain What the image and the likeness are. No lean is taken here. (1) Capacities such as reason and moral nature. (2) Relationship with God and with one another, including the male and female of 1:27. (3) Royal representation, the image linked to the rule that follows in the same speech. (4) A historic distinction of image from likeness; see the historical note. Whether the two nouns differ in sense, or are near synonyms, is itself open; Gen 5:1, 3, where the prepositions swap and a son is in Adam’s likeness and image, is the main ground for near-synonymy. The views may be combined. They are not decided by the grammar alone.

Says The commission uses two verbs. וְיִרְדּוּ is and let them rule (BSB “to rule”). וְכִבְשֻׁהָ is subdue it, in “fill the earth and subdue it” (1:28, BSB). God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.” (1:28, BSB). Both verbs follow the image words, stand inside the blessing, and run over the animals listed. Plants are given for food in 1:29–30. Psalm 8 speaks of mankind as “ruler of the works of Your hands” (Ps 8:6, BSB), with the same creatures under his feet; see the Hebrew cross-reference note.

Implies The rule is delegated and accountable to God. It is spoken by God, it comes after the image words, and it stands under the blessing. The human pair does not rule as an independent god.

Uncertain How that rule is lived out. Stewardship, a royal-priestly vocation, and a cultural mandate are readings of the commission. No lean is taken on those readings. An alternative to the inference just drawn is that the verbs say that humans rule, and do not themselves say how the rule is held. Modern applications lie outside this commentary.

Says Food is assigned by speech. Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed.” (1:29, BSB). “They will be yours for food” (1:29, BSB). To every beast, bird, and crawling creature “that has the breath of life in it” God has given “every green plant for food” (1:30, BSB). “And it was so.” (1:30, BSB). “And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.” (1:31, BSB). The verdict covers all that he had made. The day closes with evening and morning. The BSB’s “the sixth day” places the article where the Hebrew has it only on the ordinal. See the note on 1:29–31.

Implies Plant food for humans and for animals stands inside that verdict on all God made. Later permissions in the canon are not taken up here.

New Testament reading

Says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1, BSB). “He was with God in the beginning.” (John 1:2, BSB). John 1:1 Ἐν ἀρχῇ matches the form of the Greek of Gen 1:1, ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεός. That is agreement of form, not a claim about which text was used. “Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:3, BSB). “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5, BSB). See the notes on John 1, and the Greek cross-reference note. Those records are agreed with.

Implies John gives the Word the role of God’s creative speech in Genesis 1, as the notes on John 1 already set out. The deity of the Word is not argued from this chapter.

Says “For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.” (Col 1:16, BSB). The verb is ἐκτίσθη; the Greek of Gen 1:1 has ἐποίησεν.

Implies Colossians reads the heavens and the earth of Gen 1:1 in terms of the Son.

Uncertain A specifically verbal link is not established; the pair heaven and earth is common. No lean is taken here.

Says “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” (Heb 11:3, BSB). The Greek has ῥήματι θεοῦ.

Implies Hebrews takes up Genesis 1’s “And God said” as creation by God’s word.

Uncertain Whether Heb 11:3 teaches creation out of nothing, or only from what is invisible, is left as the historical note on that question leaves it. No lean is taken here on Gen 1:1.

Says Matthew 19:4 has “from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’” (Matt 19:4, BSB). That pair agrees in form with the Greek of Gen 1:27, ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ ἐποίησεν αὐτούς. Mark 10:6 has “from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’” (Mark 10:6, BSB). At Matt 19:4, SBLGNT has κτίσας; the Robinson–Pierpont text has ποιήσας, the same verb as the Greek of Gen 1:27. Form agreement is not a claim about which text was used. The marriage teaching of Matthew 19 and Mark 10 is out of scope.

Says “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse.” (Rom 1:20, BSB). The lines already cited from Rom 1:23 and 1:25, and the later use of male and female in Rom 1:26–27, are also drawn to this chapter. See the notes on Romans 1. They are agreed with. They are not used here to open a new argument.

Genesis 2:1–3 follows at once. “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.” (2:1, BSB). “And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work.” (2:2, BSB). “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day He rested from all the work of creation that He had accomplished.” (2:3, BSB). Those verses are the next paragraph. They are pointed to here only. They are not treated in this unit, and no record is made on them.

Note ID: note.exegetical.Gen.1.26-Gen.1.28.image-and-dominion

Note ID: note.exegetical.Gen.1.29-Gen.1.31.very-good

Note ID: note.exegetical.Gen.1.1-Gen.1.31.new-testament-reading