1In the beginning GOD1 created the heavens and the earth. 2Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. The SPIRIT OF GOD2 was hovering over the surface of the waters.3
3GOD SAID,4 “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. 5God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.
6God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse, and it was so. 8God called the expanse sky. There was evening and there was morning, the second day.
9God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear,” and it was so. 10God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called Seas. God saw that it was good. 11God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed in it, on the earth,” and it was so. 12The earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with its seed in it, after their kind: and God saw that it was good. 13There was evening and there was morning, the third day.
14God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; 15and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the earth,” and it was so. 16God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars. 17God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the earth, 18and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. 19There was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
20God said, “Let the waters abound with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.” 21God created the large sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good. 22God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23There was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
24God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind,” and it was so. 25God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.
26God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; he made them male and female.5 28God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. 30To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food.” And it was so.
31God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
- 1:1 God, English translation of elohim, which is related to allah (Arabic) and alaha (Syriac), all of which translate as “God,” and refer to the one true creator God. ↩︎
- 1:2 SPIRIT OF GOD, not an impersonal force or created being, but the uncreated, eternal essence of God himself. Also called the Holy Spirit, he is given to and resides within every follower of ‘ISA AL-MASIH, empowering them to live a life pleasing to God. ↩︎
- 1:2 hovering over the surface of the waters, Here at creation, the SPIRIT OF GOD is said to be “hovering” over the water, as if waiting for something. The bird-like imagery appears again at the water baptism of Prophet ‘ISA Ibn Maryam in the Injil, Matthew 3:16-17, which says: ‘ISA, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the SPIRIT OF GOD descending on him like a dove. Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved SON, with whom I am well pleased.” ↩︎
- 1:3 GOD SAID, this phrase occurs 10 times in this chapter as God speaks the universe into being from nothing over the 6 days of creation. All things were created by the uncreated, eternal Word of God. As the Injil, John 1:1,3 says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him. Without him nothing was made that has been made.” Later, this same Word of God would enter the universe he created, as a human being, as the Injil in John 1:14 states: “The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only SON of the FATHER, full of grace and truth.” ↩︎
- 1:27 he made them male and female, is quoted by Prophet ‘ISA AL-MASIH in the Holy Injil, Matthew 19:4, which says, “He [‘ISA] answered, ‘Haven’t you read that from the beginning he [God] made them male and female‘”? ↩︎