Passage

Genesis 1.20-21

Book: Genesis · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"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. 19. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day."

"20. And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21. And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that moveth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind: and God saw that it was good."

"22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. 23. And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day." (Genesis 1:18-23, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"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. 19. There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day."

"20. God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.” 21. God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good."

"22. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23. There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day." (Genesis 1:18-23, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"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. 19. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day."

"20. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. ^{moving: or, creeping} ^{life: Heb. soul} ^{fowl: Heb. let fowl fly} ^{open: Heb. face of the firmament of heaven} 21. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good."

"22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day." (Genesis 1:18-23, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"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; 19. and there is an evening, and there is a morning, day fourth."

"20. And God saith, 'Let the waters teem with the teeming living creature, and fowl let fly on the earth on the face of the expanse of the heavens.' 21. And God prepareth the great monsters, and every living creature that is creeping, which the waters have teemed with, after their kind, and every fowl with wing, after its kind, and God seeth that [it is] good."

"22. And God blesseth them, saying, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and the fowl let multiply in the earth:' 23. and there is an evening, and there is a morning, day fifth." (Genesis 1:18-23, 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.