Reading Genesis 1:1–5

Verse 1: a story that opens with a perfect

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

The verse is only seven words long, so you can read every one.

בָּרָא, "bara", means "he created": a Qal perfect, third person masculine singular. A story often opens with a perfect like this, and then a chain of consecutive imperfects carries it forward. The subject is אֱלֹהִים, "Elohim". It is plural in form, but when it means the one God it normally takes a singular verb, as here. Next comes אֵת, the object indicator (it marks the thing acted on and is not translated), and הַשָּׁמַיִם, "the heavens", with the article הַ. Then וְאֵת, "and (object marker)", and הָאָרֶץ, "the earth". "Heavens and earth" is a pair that means "everything".

The first word, בְּרֵאשִׁית, has no article, which is one reason translators divide. Many read the verse as a complete sentence, as the BSB does: "In the beginning God created…". Others read it as a time clause: "When God began to create the heavens and the earth…". Both are grammatically possible, and translations differ because of it. In this lesson we follow the first, more common reading.

Verse 2: setting the scene

Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Genesis 1:2

There is not one consecutive imperfect here. Nothing happens in sequence yet, because the verse paints a picture of how things stood. The only finite verb is הָיְתָה, "was", a Qal perfect, and the rest is nouns. The construct appears twice: פְּנֵי תְהוֹם is "the surface of the deep", and וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים is "the spirit of God". In a construct chain, the word that follows adds "of" to the word before it.

The last verb is מְרַחֶפֶת, a Piel participle, feminine singular: "hovering". It is feminine because רוּחַ "spirit" is a feminine noun. A participle pictures an action as under way, which suits a scene that is held still like a photograph.

Verses 3–5: the story moves

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Genesis 1:3

Here the narrative begins to move. וַיֹּאמֶר, "vayomer", "and he said", is a consecutive imperfect. The spoken word יְהִי, "yehi", is a jussive, a "let it be" addressed to a third person, so "let there be". It is followed at once by וַיְהִי, "vayhi", "and there was". It is the same verb הָיָה in a different form, and you can hear the word fulfilled in the sound.

And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.

Genesis 1:4

The chain continues: וַיַּרְא, "and he saw", and וַיַּבְדֵּל, "and he separated", which is a Hiphil. אֶת־ is again the object indicator, and הָאוֹר is "the light". כִּי־ here means "that", and טוֹב is "good". (The database's grammar tags for these two words are unusual, so go by the meaning.)

God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day.

Genesis 1:5

וַיִּקְרָא, "and he called", opens the naming. Look at לָאוֹר: the preposition לְ has merged with the article to give "to the light". Hebrew naming reads "he called to the light: Day", with לְ before the thing named. New words appear here too. יוֹם "day" is very common, over 1,900 times. לָיְלָה "night" occurs about 230 times and בֹקֶר "morning" about 210. עֶרֶב "evening" is its usual partner.

The last phrase is, literally, "and there was evening and there was morning: day one". The word translated "the first" is אֶחָד, "echad", which is the ordinary word for "one". Hebrew does not say "first day" here but "day one", and from the second day on it uses ordinal numbers ("second", "third"). The BSB and 개역한글 both say "first", which is fine in English, but it is useful to know the Hebrew has the plain cardinal. You met this very word in the first alphabet lesson.

Summary

Genesis 1:1–5 opens with a perfect, בָּרָא; verse 2 sets the scene with a perfect and a participle; and from verse 3 a chain of consecutive imperfects (וַיֹּאמֶר, וַיְהִי, וַיַּרְא, וַיַּבְדֵּל, וַיִּקְרָא) drives the story. Constructs (פְּנֵי תְהוֹם), a participle (מְרַחֶפֶת) and the preposition merged with the article (לָאוֹר) all appeared along the way. You read five verses without a single new label. Next we read the Shema.

Words in this lesson

• יוֹםyomday1,933 times in the OT
• לַ֫יְלָהlaylahnight233 times in the OT
• בֹּ֫קֶרboqermorning214 times in the OT

Practice