Genesis 1: God creates the heavens and the earth

Says God (אֱלֹהִים) creates, speaks, sees, separates, names, makes, blesses, and gives throughout Genesis 1. Speeches of God open the works (1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 28, 29). Six numbered days each close with evening and morning (1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). Humankind is made in God’s image, male and female, blessed and commissioned (1:26–28). “And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good.” (1:31, BSB).

Implies Israel’s God is the sole Creator. Sun, moon, stars, sea creatures, and land animals are creatures under him, not rival gods. The link of John 1:1–3 to this chapter is already drawn; see the notes on John 1.

Uncertain No lean is taken here on the syntax of 1:1–3; תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ; רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים; “Let Us” (1:26, BSB); the content of image and likeness; the creation days; what רָקִיעַ (BSB “an expanse”) commits the text to; or how dominion is lived out. Grounds are in the Hebrew notes and the unit notes. Genesis 2:1–3 is the next paragraph, not this unit. Whether 1:1 alone teaches creation out of nothing is left with the historical note on that question.