Passage

Genesis 1.1-11

Book: Genesis · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2. And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. 6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8. And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. 9. And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11. And God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit-trees bearing fruit after their kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth: and it was so."

"12. And the earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after their kind: and God saw that it was good. 13. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day." (Genesis 1:1-13, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2. The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4. God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. 5. God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day. 6. God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7. God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8. God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day. 9. God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10. God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good. 11. God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth”; and it was so."

"12. The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with their seeds in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 13. There was evening and there was morning, a third day." (Genesis 1:1-13, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. ^{the light from: Heb. between the light and between the darkness} 5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. ^{And the evening: Heb. And the evening was, and the morning was} 6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. ^{firmament: Heb. expansion} 7. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. ^{grass: Heb. tender grass}"

"12. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13. And the evening and the morning were the third day." (Genesis 1:1-13, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth, 2. the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness [is] on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters, 3. and God saith, 'Let light be;' and light is. 4. And God seeth the light that [it is] good, and God separateth between the light and the darkness, 5. and God calleth to the light 'Day,' and to the darkness He hath called 'Night;' and there is an evening, and there is a morning, day one. 6. And God saith, 'Let an expanse be in the midst of the waters, and let it be separating between waters and waters.' 7. And God maketh the expanse, and it separateth between the waters which [are] under the expanse, and the waters which [are] above the expanse: and it is so. 8. And God calleth to the expanse 'Heavens;' and there is an evening, and there is a morning, day second. 9. And God saith, 'Let the waters under the heavens be collected unto one place, and let the dry land be seen:' and it is so. 10. And God calleth to the dry land 'Earth,' and to the collection of the waters He hath called 'Seas;' and God seeth that [it is] good. 11. And God saith, 'Let the earth yield tender grass, herb sowing seed, fruit-tree (whose seed [is] in itself) making fruit after its kind, on the earth:' and it is so."

"12. And the earth bringeth forth tender grass, herb sowing seed after its kind, and tree making fruit (whose seed [is] in itself) after its kind; and God seeth that [it is] good; 13. and there is an evening, and there is a morning, day third." (Genesis 1:1-13, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
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Quoted in

John Currid

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.