Passage

Genesis 1.14

Book: Genesis · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"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."

"14. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years:"

"15. and let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16. And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also." (Genesis 1:12-16, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"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."

"14. God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years;"

"15. and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16. God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars." (Genesis 1:12-16, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"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."

"14. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: ^{the day: Heb. between the day and between the night}"

"15. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. ^{to rule the day: Heb. for the rule of the day, etc.}" (Genesis 1:12-16, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"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."

"14. And God saith, 'Let luminaries be in the expanse of the heavens, to make a separation between the day and the night, then they have been for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years,"

"15. and they have been for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth:' and it is so. 16. And God maketh the two great luminaries, the great luminary for the rule of the day, and the small luminary, and the stars, for the rule of the night;" (Genesis 1:12-16, 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.