Genesis 1:1

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

King James Version (KJV)

Other Translations

In the beginning God created the Heauen, and the Earth.
- King James Version (1611) - View 1611 Bible Scan

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- New American Standard Version (1995)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- American Standard Version (1901)

At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
- Basic English Bible

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- Darby Bible

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
- Webster's Bible

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- World English Bible

In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth --
- Youngs Literal Bible

IN THE beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
- Jewish Publication Society Bible

Bible commentary

Wesley's Notes for Genesis 1:1


1:1 Observe here. 1. The effect produced, The heaven and the earth - That is, the world, including the whole frame and furniture of the universe. But 'tis only the visible part of the creation that Moses designs to give an account of. Yet even in this there are secrets which cannot be fathomed, nor accounted for. But from what we see of heaven and earth, we may infer the eternal power and godhead of the great Creator. And let our make and place, as men, mind us of our duty, as Christians, which is always to keep heaven in our eye, and the earth under our feet. Observe 2. The author and cause of this great work, God. The Hebrew word is Elohim; which (1.) seems to mean The Covenant God, being derived from a word that signifies to swear. (2.) The plurality of persons in the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The plural name of God in Hebrew, which speaks of him as many, tho' he be but one, was to the Gentiles perhaps a favour of death unto death, hardening them in their idolatry; but it is to us a favour of life unto life, confirming our faith in the doctrine of the Trinity, which, tho' but darkly intimated in the Old Testament, is clearly revealed in the New. Observe 3. The manner how this work was effected; God created, that is, made it out of nothing. There was not any pre - existent matter out of which the world was produced. The fish and fowl were indeed produced out of the waters, and the beasts and man out of the earth; but that earth and those waters were made out of nothing. Observe 4. When this work was produced; In the beginning - That is, in the beginning of time. Time began with the production of those beings that are measured by time. Before the beginning of time there was none but that Infinite Being that inhabits eternity. Should we ask why God made the world no sooner, we should but darken counsel by words without knowledge; for how could there be sooner or later in eternity?


Discussion for Genesis 1:1

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  •  To be added to 3 pages: book.php, verse.php, and bookcomments.php. Using an include with a comments function to make cleaner instead of using redundant code would be best.  Must not use queries embedded within functions.  Must not do a query for each comment.  Must NOT use jquery or any other libraries, frameworks, templates, or linking to any external servers.  Must be efficient and keep to 1-2 queries for all comments. 4 queries absolute max for page.  Up to 10 replies deep  Must have
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  • Achilles ssenyondo for verse 1
    Man is just blessed with limited knowledge about God,thanks to God who chose to bless man among all the animals that were created
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  • The reason mans knowledge of God made nature conflicts with the bible is mans knowledge of nature is growing. For an example. Man believed the sun and stars moved around the earthand it turns out the earth is spinning so it appears that the universe is moving around us. When the bible says God created the heaven and the earth it is talking about the whole universe. Heaven is all of the space in the universe and earth is all of the matter or atoms in the universe. We didn 't name our planet Earth until many years after the bible was written. To think the bible is talking about the tiny planet we live on is just about the same as thinking God created the heaven and the grain of salt. If you believe the universe is revolving around the Earth you are not using the knowledge that man has provided us. I 'm sure in time the facts that mans knowledge gives us will let us understand the bible mores and more because I believe the bible is and will always be advanced above mans knowledge
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  • Sandra for verse 1
    Before Day 1 there was zero or initial beginning . Time was non-relevant. God in his infinite wisdom is one and only one. The dimension of God is expressed as the Spirit of God versus the wisdom of God. The beginning of all things represents the initialization of the Heaven and earth as in initializing a variable by setting it to zero. So many times we start with Day 1 in relating to God 's creation when we should be starting at zero since that signifies the beginning
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  • Kalume kombe for verse 1
    we believe that Gods name appears in plural form: that is God the father and the Son and the Holy. Its a contradiction to again came out and say before heaven and earth were made God created Jesus who later used him to create heavens and earth.
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  • Billy Davis for verse 1
    7 words in the Hebrew. 7 stands for perfection. You can not improve on perfection. The sun the moon the stars would not be created until three days later then Adam on the sixth day. There is a pattern being set here. Exo.20:11 This pattern is that man would work six days and rest on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a type of the Kingdom which all those who will believe ALL that the prophets have spoken will receive very soon. The reason that Satan know the time is short is because this pattern is not messed up in Satan 's mind. Adam was created just over 6018 years ago according to the generations listed in Genesis 5 11 and then in Matt.1 and Luke 3. We are running on overtime this is the mercy of our loving heavenly Father waiting on His children to come to perfection as the Messiah told us to do in Matt.5:48. So what is your excuse?
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