Passage

Genesis 1.16

Book: Genesis · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"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."

"17. And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth, 18. and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:14-18, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"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."

"17. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth, 18. and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:14-18, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"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.}"

"17. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18. And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:14-18, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"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;"

"17. and God giveth them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth, 18. and to rule over day and over night, and to make a separation between the light and the darkness; and God seeth that [it is] good;" (Genesis 1:14-18, 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.