Passage
Genesis 1.1-3
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.
- 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. (Genesis 1:1-5, 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.
- 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. (Genesis 1:1-5, 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.
- 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 (Genesis 1:1-5, 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.
- 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. (Genesis 1:1-5, YLT)
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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
- TBD
- TBD
Quoted in
Arguments and defeaters:
- 100 Questions for Evolutionists, via Genesis 1.1
- Anselms Four-Dimensionalist Eternity, via Genesis 1.1
- Aquinas Five Ways, via Genesis 1.1
- Argument from Cosmology (Guillen), via Genesis 1.1
- Argument from the Creation of Time, via Genesis 1.1
- Argument from the Genetic Code, via Genesis 1.1
- Argument from the Impossibility of an Actual Infinite Past, via Genesis 1.1
- Argument from the Pre-Given Logos, via Genesis 1.3
- Argument from the Universal Imagination Convergence, via Genesis 1.1
- Argument from Thermodynamics, via Genesis 1.1
- Bible Scientific Errors Objection Defeater, via Genesis 1.1
- Biogenesis Argument, via Genesis 1.1
- Build the Cosmological Argument, via Genesis 1.1
- Carbon-14 in Deep-Time Specimens Argument, via Genesis 1.1
- Christian God is the Only True God, via Genesis 1.1
- Contingency Argument, via Genesis 1.1
- Cumulative Case for the Deity of Christ, via Genesis 1.1
- Elohim Is a Divine Council Objection Defeater, via Genesis 1.1
- Fine-Tuning Argument, via Genesis 1.1
- First Way - Motion, via Genesis 1.1
- Information Argument, via Genesis 1.1
- Interdependency Argument, via Genesis 1.1
- Kalam Cosmological Argument, via Genesis 1.1
- Miller-Urey Reframe Argument, via Genesis 1.1
- Necessary Being is an Intelligent Mind, via Genesis 1.1
- OT Polytheism Objection Defeater, via Genesis 1.1
- Second Way - Efficient Causality, via Genesis 1.1
- Signature in the Cell Argument, via Genesis 1.1
- Six Day Creation Falsified Objection Defeater, via Genesis 1.1, Genesis 1.2
- Third Way - Contingency, via Genesis 1.1
Concepts:
- 20 Arguments for Old Earth, via Genesis 1.1
- A Quick-Glance Guide to Aquinas Five Ways, via Genesis 1.1
- Abiogenesis Under the Microscope, via Genesis 1.1
- Are There Other Gods, via Genesis 1.1
- Bible Anticipates Science, via Genesis 1.1
- Big Bang, via Genesis 1.1, Genesis 1.2
- Borde-Guth-Vilenkin Theorem, via Genesis 1.1
- Causal Principle, via Genesis 1.1
- Christianity, via Genesis 1.1
- Cosmological Arguments, via Genesis 1.1
- Divine Gender Polarity and Feminine Imagery, via Genesis 1.2
- DNA, via Genesis 1.1
- Edge of Evolution, via Genesis 1.1
- Eternity (Divine), via Genesis 1.1
- Evolution, via Genesis 1.1
- Expansion of the Universe, via Genesis 1.1
- Genesis ANE Myth Borrowing Objection, via Genesis 1.1
- Genesis Hermeneutics, via Genesis 1.1, Genesis 1.3
- Genesis Interpretation Spread, via Genesis 1.1, Genesis 1.2, Genesis 1.3
- Hexaemeron Tradition, via Genesis 1.1, Genesis 1.1-2
- Idealism, via Genesis 1.1
- Information Argument for Design, via Genesis 1.1
- Law of Biogenesis, via Genesis 1.1
- Laws of the Universe as Witness to Design, via Genesis 1.1
- Methodological Naturalism, via Genesis 1.1
- Multiverse, via Genesis 1.1
- Old Earth Creationism, via Genesis 1.1, Genesis 1.2
- Old Testament Witness to the Deity of Christ, via Genesis 1.1
- Origins and Cosmology, via Genesis 1.1, Genesis 1.3-2
- OT Polytheism Objection, via Genesis 1.1
- Pantheism, via Genesis 1.1
- Paraclete, Identity and Recipients, via Genesis 1.2
- Pneumatology, via Genesis 1.2
- Process Theism, via Genesis 1.1
- Soul and Spirit, Origin and Awareness, via Genesis 1.1
- Teleological Arguments, via Genesis 1.1
- Trinity, via Genesis 1.2
- Trinity OT Stack (Five Texts), via Genesis 1.2, Genesis 1.3
- Trinity Plural-Hebrew-Noun Stack, via Genesis 1.1
- Two Powers in Heaven, via Genesis 1.1
- Water and Life, via Genesis 1.2
- Water Older Than the Sun, via Genesis 1.1-2, Genesis 1.2
- Young Earth Creationism, via Genesis 1.1
- Young's Literal Translation, via Genesis 1.1, Genesis 1.2
- Zero and the Metaphysics of Nothing, via Genesis 1.1
People:
- Gerald Schroeder, via Genesis 1.3
- Henry Morris, via Genesis 1.1, Genesis 1.2
- John Currid, via Genesis 1.1-11
- John Walton, via Genesis 1.2
- Maimonides, via Genesis 1.1
- Nachmanides, via Genesis 1.1
- Philo of Alexandria, via Genesis 1.1
- Plato, via Genesis 1.1
Lexicon:
- G0746 - arche, via Genesis 1.1
- G2889 - kosmos, via Genesis 1.1
- G3004 - lego, via Genesis 1.3
- G3056 - logos, via Genesis 1.3
- H0410 - el, via Genesis 1.1
- H0430 - elohim, via Genesis 1.1
- H1254 - bara, via Genesis 1.1, Genesis 1.3
- H1285 - berith, via Genesis 1.1
- H1697 - dabar, via Genesis 1.1, Genesis 1.3-31
- H1961 - hayah, via Genesis 1.3
- H2896 - tov, via Genesis 1.1
- H6213 - asah, via Genesis 1.1
- H7218 - rosh, via Genesis 1.1
- H7225 - reshit, via Genesis 1.1
- H7307 - ruach, via Genesis 1.1, Genesis 1.1-2, Genesis 1.2, Genesis 1.3
- H7706 - shaddai, via Genesis 1.1
Guides:
Other pages:
Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org
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.