Gen 1:1: bara', "create"

Says בָּרָא (bara') in 1:1 is a Qal perfect, third masculine singular (OSHB). BDB glosses it "shape, create" and notes its use "always of divine activity." In Gen 1:1–2:3 the verb occurs six times, always with God as subject: 1:1 (the heavens and the earth); 1:21 וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים, of the great sea creatures and every living creature; three times in 1:27 (וַיִּבְרָא, then בָּרָא twice), of humankind, "male and female" (BSB); and 2:3, of all God's work.

Says Beside it stands the commoner verb עָשָׂה ('asah, "do, make," BDB). God "made" the expanse (1:7), the two great lights (1:16) and the beasts (1:25), and saw "all that He had made" (1:31, BSB), כָּל־אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה. Gen 2:3 joins the two verbs: אֲשֶׁר־בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים לַעֲשׂוֹת. Gen 1 itself does not define a difference between them.

Uncertain Whether בָּרָא by itself means creating without any existing material. The usage in Gen 1 shows God alone as its subject; it does not show what the verb excludes. No lean is taken here; the wider question is set out in note.historical.Rom.4.1-Rom.4.25.creation-from-nothing.