Jewish Genesis - (Bereshit)

(Editor's Note: There are a number of subtle differences from Christian versions. This seems interesting, since they are both based on the exact same original source texts. The variations are therefore because of the differing perspectives of the scholars in the two religions who translated the texts. A reader might also want to look at a Literal Translation of the Christian Genesis, to see the original word sequences, as understood from the Christian perspective.)

Bereshit (Genesis) 1

1. When God began to create the heaven and the earth -

2. the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water -

3. God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

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

5. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day.

6. God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water, that it may separate water from water."

7. God made the expanse, and it separated the water which was below the expanse from the water which was above the expanse. And it was so.

8. God called the expanse Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

9. God said, "Let the water below the sky be gathered into one area, that the dry land may appear." And it was so.

10. God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering of waters He called Seas. And God saw that this was good.

11. And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation; seed - bearing plants, fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it." And it was so.

12. The earth brought forth vegetation: seed - bearing plants of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that this was good.

13. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

14. God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate day from night; they shall serve as signs for the set times - the days and the years;

15. and they shall serve as light in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth." And it was so.

16. God made the two great lights, the greater light to dominate the day and the lesser to dominate the night, and the stars.

17. And God set them in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth,

18. to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that this was good.

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

20. God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and birds that fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky."

21. God created the great sea monsters, and all the living creatures of every kind that creep, which the waters brought forth in swarms; and all the winged birds of every kind. And God saw that this was good.

22. God blessed them saying, "Be fertile and increase, fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.

23. And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

24. God said, "Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts of every kind." And it was so.

25. God made wild beasts of every kind and cattle of every kind, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. And God saw that this was good.

26. And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things.

Footnotes:

1. Rashi said that that the text would have been written slightly differently if its primary purpose had been to teach the order in which creation took place. Later authors used the translation "In the beginning" as proof that God created out of nothing (ex nihilo), but it is not likely that the biblical author was concerned with this problem.

2. (The deep) echoes the Mesopotamian creation story where it is told that heaven and earth were formed from the carcass of the sea dragon, Tiamat. (wind from God) (ruach) can mean both wind and spirit. Wind provides a closer parallel to Babylonian texts than the traditional "spirit of God."

More Footnotes

6.(an expanse) (rakia) suggests a firm vault or dome over the earth.

21. (the great sea monsters) As elsewhere in the Bible, enemy forces against God in the sea. Variously named Nahar, Yam, Leviathan, Rahab.

26. (Let us make man) Either a majestic plural or spoken to an angelic court. (Christian theology takes this to indicate the triune nature of God.)

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