Translation

This “Translation” section is a translation of Genesis 1 and 2 without comment. It is based on the Hebrew text as well as a comparison of the major versions of Genesis. These versions[1] include the ESV, the NETB, the NASB, the NIV, the CSB, the NKJV, and the KJV. Other sources are also considered. Italicized words are used in the version below to emphasize some of the variations from those versions, particularly in the translation of the waw consecutives and in the tenses of the verbs. For chapter 1 the bracketed headings indicate the segment divisions mentioned in the “Explanations” section as well as the end-of-day (EOD) statements.

Chapter 1

[Initial Creation]

¹ At a starting-point God created the heavens and the earth.

[Subsequent Observation]

² But the earth had become without form and void. And darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the water.

[Day 1 – Creative/Reconstructive]

³ Then God said “Let there be light,” and there was light.

[Day 1 – Observation/Follow-up]

⁴ So God saw that the light was good. Now God had separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ And God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”

[Day 1 – EOD]

And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

[Day 2 – Creative/Reconstructive]

⁶ Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the water from the water.” ⁷ Thus God made the expanse and separated the water which was under the expanse from the water which was above the expanse. And it was so.

[Day 2 – Observation/Follow-up]

⁸ So God called the expanse “sky.”

[Day 2 – EOD]

And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

[Day 3 – Creative/Reconstructive 1]

⁹ Then God said, “Let the water below the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry ground appear.” And it was so.

[Day 3 – Observation/Follow-up 1]

¹⁰ So God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathering together of the water he called “sea.” And God saw that it was good.

[Day 3 – Creative/Reconstructive 2]

¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the land.” And it was so.

[Day 3 – Observation/Follow-up 2]

¹² So the land had brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

[Day 3 – EOD]

¹³ And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

[Day 4 – Creative/Reconstructive]

¹⁴ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse, the sky, to separate the day from the night. And they will be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, ¹⁵ and they will be lights in the expanse, the sky, to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.

[Day 4 – Observation/Follow-up]

¹⁶ So God had made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. Also, he had made the stars. ¹⁷ And God had set them in the expanse, the sky, to give light upon the earth, ¹⁸ to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

[Day 4 – EOD]

¹⁹ And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

[Day 5 – Creative/Reconstructive][2]

²⁰ Then God said, “Let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the land across the expanse, the sky.” ²¹ Thus God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.

[Day 5 – Observation/Follow-up]

So God saw that it was good. ²² And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water of the sea, and let the birds multiply on the land.”

[Day 5 – EOD]

²³ And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

[Day 6 – Creative/Reconstructive 1]

²⁴ Then God said, “Let the land bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: cattle and creeping things and animals of the land according to their kinds.” And it was so.

[Day 6 – Observation/Follow-up 1]

²⁵ So God had made the animals of the land according to their kinds, and the cattle according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

[Day 6 – Creative/Reconstructive 2]

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the land and over every creeping thing that creeps on the land.” ²⁷ Thus God created the human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

[Day 6 – Observation/Follow-up 2]

²⁸ So God blessed them. Thus God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the land and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every animal that moves on the land.”

[Day 6 – Gifting of Food]

²⁹ Then God said, “Behold, I give you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the land, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every animal of the land and to every bird of the sky and to everything that creeps on the land, everything that has the breath of life, I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

[Day 6 – Final Assessment]

³¹ So God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

[Day 6 – EOD]

And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Chapter 2

¹ Thus the sky and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. ² Now on the seventh day God had finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

³ So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work which God for making had created.

⁴ (These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.)

⁵ When no shrub of the field had yet been on the land and no plant of the field had yet sprouted up (for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there had been no human being to work the ground, ⁶ and a mist had been going up from the land and had been watering the entire surface of the ground), ⁷ then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

⁸ Then the LORD God planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹ Thus out of the ground the LORD God had caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰ (A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divides and becomes four headwaters. ¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one which flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. ¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one which winds through the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which runs along east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.)

¹⁵ Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ¹⁶ Then the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.”

¹⁸ Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make for him a complementary-to-him helper.”

¹⁹ Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every animal of the field and every bird of the sky. And he brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Then whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So the man gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the sky and to every animal of the field. But for Adam there was not found a complement suitable for him.

²¹ Then the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² So the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman. And he brought her to the man.

²³ Then the man said, “This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of a man.”

²⁴ (Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife; thus, they become one flesh.)

²⁵ And the two, the man and woman, were naked, but they were not ashamed.

 

Endnotes

[1] Versions include: the English Standard Version (ESV, 2016), the New International Version (NIV, 2011), The New American Standard Bible (NASB, 1995), The NET Bible (NETB, 2011), the Christian Standard Bible (CSB, 2017), the New King James Version (NKJV, 1982), and the King James Version (KJV, 1769).

[2] See commentary regarding the segment placement of verse 21.