Passage

Genesis 1.1-2

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." (Genesis 1:1-4, 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." (Genesis 1:1-4, 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}" (Genesis 1:1-4, 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," (Genesis 1:1-4, 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.

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Quoted in

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.