Kejadian 1:1

The Creation of the World

1:1 In the beginning ¹  God ²  created ³  the heavens and the earth. ⁴ 

Kejadian 14:19

14:19 He blessed Abram, saying,

“Blessed be Abram by ⁵  the Most High God,

Creator ⁶  of heaven and earth. ⁷ 

Kejadian 14:22

14:22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand ⁸  to the Lord, the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, and vow ⁹ 

Mazmur 115:15-16

115:15 May you be blessed by the Lord,

the creator ¹⁰  of heaven and earth!

115:16 The heavens belong to the Lord, ¹¹ 

but the earth he has given to mankind. ¹² 

Yesaya 42:5

42:5 This is what the true God, ¹³  the Lord, says –

the one who created the sky and stretched it out,

the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it, ¹⁴ 

the one who gives breath to the people on it,

and life to those who live on it: ¹⁵ 

Yesaya 66:1

66:1 This is what the Lord says:

“The heavens are my throne

and the earth is my footstool.

Where then is the house you will build for me?

Where is the place where I will rest?

Yeremia 10:10-12

10:10 The Lord is the only true God.

He is the living God and the everlasting King.

When he shows his anger the earth shakes.

None of the nations can stand up to his fury.

10:11 You people of Israel should tell those nations this:

‘These gods did not make heaven and earth.

They will disappear ¹⁶  from the earth and from under the heavens.’ ¹⁷ 

10:12 The Lord is the one who ¹⁸  by his power made the earth.

He is the one who by his wisdom established the world.

And by his understanding he spread out the skies.

Yeremia 27:5

27:5 “I made the earth and the people and animals on it by my mighty power and great strength, ¹⁹  and I give it to whomever I see fit. ²⁰ 

Daniel 4:32

4:32 You will be driven from human society, and you will live with the wild animals. You will be fed grass like oxen, and seven periods of time will pass by for you before ²¹  you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.”

Daniel 4:34-35

4:34 But at the end of the appointed time ²²  I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up ²³  toward heaven, and my sanity returned to me.

I extolled the Most High,

and I praised and glorified the one who lives forever.

For his authority is an everlasting authority,

and his kingdom extends from one generation to the next.

4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing. ²⁴ 

He does as he wishes with the army of heaven

and with those who inhabit the earth.

No one slaps ²⁵  his hand

and says to him, ‘What have you done?’

[1:1]  ¹ tn The translation assumes that the form translated “beginning” is in the absolute state rather than the construct (“in the beginning of,” or “when God created”). In other words, the clause in v. 1 is a main clause, v. 2 has three clauses that are descriptive and supply background information, and v. 3 begins the narrative sequence proper. The referent of the word “beginning” has to be defined from the context since there is no beginning or ending with God.

[1:1]  sn In the beginning. The verse refers to the beginning of the world as we know it; it affirms that it is entirely the product of the creation of God. But there are two ways that this verse can be interpreted: (1) It may be taken to refer to the original act of creation with the rest of the events on the days of creation completing it. This would mean that the disjunctive clauses of v. 2 break the sequence of the creative work of the first day. (2) It may be taken as a summary statement of what the chapter will record, that is, vv. 3-31 are about God’s creating the world as we know it. If the first view is adopted, then we have a reference here to original creation; if the second view is taken, then Genesis itself does not account for the original creation of matter. To follow this view does not deny that the Bible teaches that God created everything out of nothing (cf. John 1:3) – it simply says that Genesis is not making that affirmation. This second view presupposes the existence of pre-existent matter, when God said, “Let there be light.” The first view includes the description of the primordial state as part of the events of day one. The following narrative strongly favors the second view, for the “heavens/sky” did not exist prior to the second day of creation (see v. 8) and “earth/dry land” did not exist, at least as we know it, prior to the third day of creation (see v. 10).

[1:1]  ² sn God. This frequently used Hebrew name for God (אֱלֹהִים,’elohim ) is a plural form. When it refers to the one true God, the singular verb is normally used, as here. The plural form indicates majesty; the name stresses God’s sovereignty and incomparability – he is the “God of gods.”

[1:1]  ³ tn The English verb “create” captures well the meaning of the Hebrew term in this context. The verb בָּרָא (bara’) always describes the divine activity of fashioning something new, fresh, and perfect. The verb does not necessarily describe creation out of nothing (see, for example, v. 27, where it refers to the creation of man); it often stresses forming anew, reforming, renewing (see Ps 51:10; Isa 43:15, 65:17).

[1:1]  ⁴ tn Or “the entire universe”; or “the sky and the dry land.” This phrase is often interpreted as a merism, referring to the entire ordered universe, including the heavens and the earth and everything in them. The “heavens and the earth” were completed in seven days (see Gen 2:1) and are characterized by fixed laws (see Jer 33:25). “Heavens” refers specifically to the sky, created on the second day (see v. 8), while “earth” refers specifically to the dry land, created on the third day (see v. 10). Both are distinct from the sea/seas (see v. 10 and Exod 20:11).

[14:19]  ⁵ tn The preposition לְ (lamed) introduces the agent after the passive participle.

[14:19]  ⁶ tn Some translate “possessor of heaven and earth” (cf. NASB). But cognate evidence from Ugaritic indicates that there were two homonymic roots ָקנָה (qanah), one meaning “to create” (as in Gen 4:1) and the other “to obtain, to acquire, to possess.” While “possessor” would fit here, “creator” is the more likely due to the collocation with “heaven and earth.”

[14:19]  ⁷ tn The terms translated “heaven” and “earth” are both objective genitives after the participle in construct.

[14:22]  ⁸ tn Abram takes an oath, raising his hand as a solemn gesture. The translation understands the perfect tense as having an instantaneous nuance: “Here and now I raise my hand.”

[14:22]  ⁹ tn The words “and vow” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[115:15]  ¹⁰ tn Or “maker.”

[115:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the heavens [are] heavens to the Lord.”

[115:16]  ¹² tn Heb “to the sons of man.”

[42:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “the God.” The definite article here indicates distinctiveness or uniqueness.

[42:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and its offspring” (so NASB); NIV “all that comes out of it.”

[42:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and spirit [i.e., “breath”] to the ones walking in it” (NAB, NASB, and NRSV all similar).

[10:11]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “The gods who did not make…earth will disappear…” The sentence is broken up in the translation to avoid a long, complex English sentence in conformity with contemporary English style.

[10:11]  ¹⁷ tn This verse is in Aramaic. It is the only Aramaic sentence in Jeremiah. Scholars debate the appropriateness of this verse to this context. Many see it as a gloss added by a postexilic scribe which was later incorporated into the text. Both R. E. Clendenen (“Discourse Strategies in Jeremiah 10,” JBL 106 [1987]: 401-8) and W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:324-25, 334-35) have given detailed arguments that the passage is not only original but the climax and center of the contrast between the Lord and idols in vv. 2-16. Holladay shows that the passage is a very carefully constructed chiasm (see accompanying study note) which argues that “these” at the end is the subject of the verb “will disappear” not the attributive adjective modifying heaven. He also makes a very good case that the verse is poetry and not prose as it is rendered in the majority of modern English versions.

[10:11]  sn This passage is carefully structured and placed to contrast the Lord who is living and eternal (v. 10) and made the heavens and earth (v. 12) with the idols who did not and will disappear. It also has a very careful concentric structure in the original text where “the gods” is balanced by “these,” “heavens” is balance by “from under the heavens,” “the earth” is balanced by “from the earth,” and “did not make” is balanced and contrasted in the very center by “will disappear.” The structure is further reinforced by the sound play/wordplay between “did not make” (Aram לָא עֲבַדוּ [la’ ’avadu]) and “will disappear” (Aram יֵאבַדוּ [ye’vadu]). This is the rhetorical climax of Jeremiah’s sarcastic attack on the folly of idolatry.

[10:12]  ¹⁸ tn The words “The Lord is” are not in the text. They are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation here because of the possible confusion of who the subject is due to the parenthetical address to the people of Israel in v. 11. The first two verbs are participles and should not merely be translated as the narrative past. They are predicate nominatives of an implied copula intending to contrast the Lord as the one who made the earth with the idols which did not.

[27:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “by my great power and my outstretched arm.” Again “arm” is symbolical for “strength.” Compare the similar expression in 21:5.

[27:5]  ²⁰ sn See Dan 4:17 for a similar statement.

[4:32]  ²¹ tn Aram “until.”

[4:34]  ²² tn Aram “days.”

[4:34]  ²³ tn Aram “lifted up my eyes.”

[4:35]  ²⁴ tc The present translation reads כְּלָא (kÿla’), with many medieval Hebrew MSS, rather than כְּלָה (kÿlah) of BHS.

[4:35]  ²⁵ tn Aram “strikes against.”