Genesis 1
1
Heaven and Earth
1-2First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.
3-5God spoke: “Light!”
And light appeared.
God saw that light was good
and separated light from dark.
God named the light Day,
he named the dark Night.
It was evening, it was morning—
Day One.
6-8God spoke: “Sky! In the middle of the waters;
separate water from water!”
God made sky.
He separated the water under sky
from the water above sky.
And there it was:
he named sky the Heavens;
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Two.
9-10God spoke: “Separate!
Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place;
Land, appear!”
And there it was.
God named the land Earth.
He named the pooled water Ocean.
God saw that it was good.
11-13God spoke: “Earth, green up! Grow all varieties
of seed-bearing plants,
Every sort of fruit-bearing tree.”
And there it was.
Earth produced green seed-bearing plants,
all varieties,
And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts.
God saw that it was good.
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Three.
14-15God spoke: “Lights! Come out!
Shine in Heaven’s sky!
Separate Day from Night.
Mark seasons and days and years,
Lights in Heaven’s sky to give light to Earth.”
And there it was.
16-19God made two big lights, the larger
to take charge of Day,
The smaller to be in charge of Night;
and he made the stars.
God placed them in the heavenly sky
to light up Earth
And oversee Day and Night,
to separate light and dark.
God saw that it was good.
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Four.
20-23God spoke: “Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life!
Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!”
God created the huge whales,
all the swarm of life in the waters,
And every kind and species of flying birds.
God saw that it was good.
God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean!
Birds, reproduce on Earth!”
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Five.
24-25God spoke: “Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind:
cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds.”
And there it was:
wild animals of every kind,
Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug.
God saw that it was good.
26-28God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them
reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself,
and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”
God created human beings;
he created them godlike,
Reflecting God’s nature.
He created them male and female.
God blessed them:
“Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”
29-30Then God said, “I’ve given you
every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth
And every kind of fruit-bearing tree,
given them to you for food.
To all animals and all birds,
everything that moves and breathes,
I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.”
And there it was.
31God looked over everything he had made;
it was so good, so very good!
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Six.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Bereshis 1
1
PARASHAS BERESHIS
1In the beginning Elohim bara hashomayim (the heavens) and haaretz (the earth).#1:1 Ps 51:10
2And the earth was tohu vavohu (without form, and void); and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Ruach Elohim was hovering upon the face of the waters.
3And Elohim said, Let there be light: and there was light.#1:3 Ps 33:6,9
4And Elohim saw the light, that it was tov (good); and Elohim divided the ohr (light) from the choshech (darkness).
5And Elohim called the light Yom (Day), and the darkness He called Lailah (Night). And the erev (evening) and the boker (morning) were Yom Echad#1:5 Mk 16:2 (Day One, the First Day).
6And Elohim said, Let there be a raki'a (expanse, dome, firmament) in the midst of the mayim (waters), and let it divide the mayim from the mayim.
7And Elohim made the raki'a, and divided the waters under the raki'a from the waters which were above the raki'a; and it was so.
8And Elohim called the raki'a Shomayim (Heaven). And the erev and the boker were Yom Sheni (Day Two, the Second Day).
9And Elohim said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the yabashah (dry land) appear; and it was so.
10And Elohim called the yabashah Eretz (Earth); and the mikveh (gathering together of the waters) called He Seas; and Elohim saw that it was tov.
11And Elohim said, Let the earth bring forth vegetation, the herb yielding zera (seed), and the fruit tree yielding pri (fruit) after its kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth; and it was so.
12And the earth brought forth vegetation, and herb yielding zera (seed) after its kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after its kind; and Elohim saw that it was tov (good).
13And the erev and the boker were Yom Shlishi (Day Three, the Third Day).#1:13 Ex 19:11,15-16; Josh 1:11; Num 19:11-16; Jon 1:17; Hos 6:2; 2Kgs 20:5,8; Ezra 6:15; 1C 15:4,20; Notice on Yom HaShlishi (The Third Day, Gn 1:13) is Yom HaBikkurim of the Bria HaOlam, the Firstfruits of the Creation of the World; just as Hos 6:2 indicates Yom HaShlishi is the time marker of the Techiyas HaMesim (Resurrection of the Dead), so Yom HaBikkurim fell on Nisan 16, and became a time marker delineating the countdown from the Resurrection of Moshiach Nisan 16, 3793 (33 C.E.) to Shavuos, 3793 and the Matan HaTevilah BeRuach Hakodesh. Lv 23:11.
14And Elohim said, Let there be lights in the raki'a of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for otot (signs), and for mo'adim (seasons), and for yamim (days), and shanim (years);
15And let them be for lights in the raki'a of the heaven to give light upon the earth; and it was so.
16And Elohim made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; He made the kokhavim (stars) also.
17And Elohim set them in the raki'a of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and Elohim saw that it was tov.
19And the erev and the boker were Yom Revi'i (Day Four, the Fourth Day).
20And Elohim said, Let the waters bring forth an abundance of living creatures, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open raki'a of heaven.
21And Elohim created great sea creatures, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth in abundance, after their kind, and every winged fowl after its kind; and Elohim saw that it was tov.
22And Elohim blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23And the erev and the boker were Yom Chamishi (Day Five, the Fifth Day).
24And G-d said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind; and it was so.
25And G-d made the beast of the earth after its kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind; and G-d saw that it was tov.
26And G-d said, Let Us make man in Our tzelem, after Our demut: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon ha'aretz (the earth).
27So G-d created humankind in His own tzelem, in the tzelem Elohim (image of G-d) created He him; zachar (male) and nekevah (female) created He them.
28And G-d blessed them, and G-d said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29And G-d said, Hinei, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of kol ha'aretz (all the earth), and every etz (tree), in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food.
30And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for food; and it was so.
31And G-d saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was tov me'od (very good). And the erev and the boker were Yom Shishi (Day Six, the Sixth Day).
THE ORTHODOX JEWISH BIBLE
FOURTH EDITION © Artists For Israel Intl Inc., 2002-2011, 2021.