Genesis 1:1
From Textus Receptus
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:1 is the first Bible verse of the first chapter in the Book of Genesis, and contains the first words of the Bible. The verse begins the account of creation according to Genesis and its translation and interpretation is a major theological issue.
The first word in the original Hebrew is בְּרֵאשִׁית, transliterated as Bereishit, B'reishit, or Breishis. In Judaism it begins the Torah portion (parshah) Bereishit, which ends at Genesis 5:31. In Hebrew, בְּרֵאשִׁית (bereishit) translates literally as "At/in [a] head [of]," implying "in [a] beginning." The three middle letters of the Hebrew alphabet within the word בְּרֵאשִׁית, Bereishit, are ר, א, and ש, which are pronounced as reish when part of the word, but can also be read as rosh when read without the vowels. Rosh is the word for "head" as spelled and pronounced in Hebrew (as in Rosh Hashanah, ראש השנה, ro'sh hash-shānāh, "the head (beginning) [of] the year".)
The word "Genesis" in English is from the Greek word Γένεσις, having the meanings of "birth," "creation," "cause," "beginning," "source," and "origin."
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Masoretic text
בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ
בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים הַשָּמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ.
Transliterated: Bereishit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'aretz.
Other Translations
- Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. Septuagint
- In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram. Vulgate
English Translations
- In the bigynnyng God made of nouyt heuene and erthe. Wycliffe
- In the begynnynge God created heaven and erth. Tyndale
- In the beginning God created heaven, and earth. Douay-Rheims Bible
- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. American Standard Version
- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Revised Standard Version
- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. New American Standard Version
- When God began to create heaven and Earth … Jewish Publication Society (3rd ed.)
- In the beginning, when God created the universe … Good News Bible
- In the beginning God created heaven and earth. The Living Torah
- In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth … New Revised Standard Version
- First this: God created the Heavens and Earth – all you see, all you don't see. The Message
