This chapter presents the first account of God creating the world. There is a pattern to this account: "God said ... God saw that it was good ... This was evening and morning, the first day." Translators should preserve this pattern in their versions.
This account of creation is told within the framework of ancient Hebrew ideas about the universe: the earth was resting with water around it and below it. Over the earth was something like a vast dome, called "an expanse between the waters" (1:6), on top of which was more water. Translators should try to keep these original images in their work, even though readers in their project language might have a completely different idea of what the universe is like.
Genesis 1 presents the ancient Hebrew idea of a day: it begins with sunset, lasts through the night and continues through the daylight hours until the next sunset. This pattern should be preserved in translation, even if readers in the project language define "day" differently.
Some languages and cultures speak of the world as if it has always existed, as if it had no beginning. But "very long ago" is different from "in the beginning," and you need to be sure that your translation communicates correctly.
This expression occurs often in this chapter. It can be difficult to translate, because God is not shown as talking to a particular person. If God is talking to a thing, it is something not yet in existence. Translators should find the most natural way in the project language to signal the idea that God spoke things into existence; he created the world and the things in it by simply commanding that they should exist.
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"This is about how God made the heavens and the earth in the beginning." This statement summarizes the rest of the chapter. Some languages translate it as "A very long time ago God created the heavens and the earth." Translate it in a way that shows this actually happened and is not just a folk story.
This refers to the start of the world and everything in it.
"the sky, the ground, and everything in them"
This refers here to the sky.
God had not yet put the world in order.
"the water" or "the deep water" or "the vast water"
"the surface of the water" or "the water"
This is a command. By commanding that light should exist, God made it exist. (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-imperative)
"God considered the light and was pleased with it." "Good" here means "pleasing" or "suitable."
"separated the light and the darkness" or "made it light at one time and dark at another." This refers to God creating the daytime and the night time.
God did these things on the first day that the universe existed.
This refers to the whole day. The writer speaks of the whole day as if it were these two parts. In the Jewish culture, a day begins when the sun sets. (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-merism)
These are commands. By commanding that the expanse should exist and that it divide the waters, God made it exist and divide the waters. (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-imperative)
large empty space. The Jewish people thought of this space as being shaped like the inside of dome or the inside of a bowl that is turned upside down.
"in the water"
"In this way God made the expanse and divided the waters." When God spoke, it happened. This sentence explains what God did when he spoke.
"It happened like that" or "That is what happened." What God commanded happened just as he said it should. This phrase appears throughout the chapter and has the same meaning wherever it appears.
This refers to the whole day. The writer speaks of the whole day as if it were these two parts. In the Jewish culture, a day begins when the sun sets. See how you translated this in Genesis 1:5. (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-merism)
This refers to the second day that the universe existed. See how you translated "the first day" in Genesis 1:5 and decide if you should translate this the same way.
This can be translated with an active verb. This is a command. By commanding that the waters gather together, God made them gather together. Alternate translation: "Let the waters ... gather" or "Let the waters ... come together" (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-activepassive and /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-imperative)
The water had covered the land. Now the water would move aside and some of the land would be uncovered. This is a command. By commanding that dry land should appear, God made it appear. Alternate translation: "let dry land become visible" or "let the dry land become clear" or "let the land be uncovered" (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-imperative)
This refers to land that is not covered with water. It does not refer to land that is too dry for farming.
"It happened like that" or "That is what happened." What God commanded happened just as he said it should. This phrase appears throughout the chapter and has the same meaning wherever it appears. See how you translated it in Genesis 1:7.
"the part that was dry 'earth,' and"
Here "it" refers to the land and the sea. See how you translated this in Genesis 1:4.
This is a command. By commanding that vegetation should sprout on the earth, God made it sprout. Alternate translation: "Let vegetation sprout up on the earth" or "Let vegetation grow on the earth" (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-imperative)
"vegetation, each plant that bears seed and each tree that bears fruit" or "vegetation. Let them be plants that produce seeds and fruit trees that produce fruit." Here "vegetation" is used here as a general term that includes all plants and trees.
These are kinds of vegetation that have soft stems, rather than woody stems.
"trees that bear fruit with seeds in them"
The seeds would produce plants and trees that would be like the ones they came from. In this way, the plants and trees would "reproduce themselves" .
"It happened like that" or "That is what happened." What God commanded happened just as he said it should. This phrase appears throughout the chapter and has the same meaning wherever it appears. See how you translated this in Genesis 1:7.
Here "it" refers to the vegetation, plants, and trees. See how you translated this in Genesis 1:10.
This refers to the whole day. The writer speaks of the whole day as if it were these two parts. In the Jewish culture, a day begins when the sun sets. See how you translated this in Genesis 1:5. (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-merism)
This refers to the third day that the universe existed. See how you translated "the first day" in Genesis 1:5 and decide if you should translate this the same way.
This is a command. By commanding that lights should exist, God made them exist. (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-imperative)
"things that shine in the sky" or "things that give light in the sky." This refers to the sun, moon, and stars.
"in the expanse of the sky" or "in the large space of the sky"
"to separate the day from the night." This means "to help us tell the difference between day and night." The sun means it is daytime, and the moon and stars mean it is nighttime.
This is a command. By commanding that they should serve as signs, God made them serve as signs. Alternate translation: "Let them serve as signs" or "let them show" (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-imperative)
Here this means something that reveals or points to something.
The sun, moon, and stars show the passing of time. This enables us to know when it is time for events that happen each week, month, or year.
times that are set aside for festivals and other things that people do
This is a command. By commanding that they should light the earth, God made them light the earth. (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-imperative)
"to shine light on the earth" or "to brighten the earth." The earth does not self-shine but it is lit and so reflects light.
"It happened like that" or "That is what happened." What God commanded happened just as he said it should. This phrase appears throughout the chapter and has the same meaning. See how you translated this in Genesis 1:7.
"In this way God made the two great lights." This sentence explains what God did when he spoke.
"the two large lights" or "the two bright lights." The two great lights are the sun and the moon.
The lights that controlled the day are spoken of as if they were a human ruler that controlled what people do. Alternate translation: "to direct the daytime as a ruler directs a group of people" or "to mark the times of the day" (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-personification and /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-metaphor)
This refers only to the daylight hours.
"the smaller light" or "the dimmer light"
"in the heavens" or "in the open space of the sky"
"to separate the light from the darkness" or "to make it light at one time and dark at another." See how you translated this in Genesis 1:4.
Here "it" refers to the sun, moon, and stars. See how you translated this in Genesis 1:4.
This refers to the whole day. The writer speaks of the whole day as if it were these two parts. In the Jewish culture, a day begins when the sun sets. See how you translated this in Genesis 1:5. (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-merism)
This refers to the fourth day that the universe existed. See how you translated "the first day" in Genesis 1:5 and decide if you should translate this the same way.
This is a command. By commanding that living creatures should fill the waters, God made them exist. Some languages may have one word that refers to all kinds of fish and sea animals. Alternate translation: "Let the waters be full of many living things" or "Let many animals that swim live in the oceans" (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-imperative)
This is a command. By commanding that birds should fly, God made them fly. (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-imperative)
"animals that fly" or "flying things"
"the open space of the sky" or "the sky"
"In this way God created"
"large animals that live in the sea"
Living things of the same "kind" are like the ones they came from. See how you translated "kind" in Genesis 1:11,12.
"every flying thing that has wings." If the word for birds is used, it may be more natural in some languages to simply say "every bird," since all birds have wings.
Here "it" refers to the birds and the fish. See how you translated this in Genesis 1:4.
"blessed the animals that he had made"
This is God's blessing. He told the sea animals to produce more sea animals like themselves, so that there would be many of them in the seas. The word "multiply" explains how they are to be "fruitful." (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-doublet and /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-idiom)
increase greatly in number
This is a command. By commanding that birds should multiply, God made birds multiply. (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-imperative)
"animals that fly" or "flying things." See how you translated this in Genesis 1:20.
This refers to the whole day. The writer speaks of the whole day as if it were these two parts. In the Jewish culture, a day begins when the sun sets. See how you translated this in Genesis 1:5. (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-merism)
This refers to the fifth day that the universe existed. See how you translated "the first day" in Genesis 1:5 and decide if you should translate this the same way.
"Let the earth produce living things" or "Let many living animals live on the earth." This is a command. By commanding that the earth should produce living creatures, God made the earth produce living creatures. (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-imperative)
"so that each kind of animal will produce more of its own kind"
This shows that God created all kinds of animals. If your language has another way of grouping all the animals, you can use that, or you can use these groups.
animals that people look after
"small animals"
"wild animals" or "dangerous animals"
"It happened like that" or "That is what happened." What God commanded happened just as he said it should. This phrase appears throughout the chapter and has the same meaning. See how you translated this in Genesis 1:7.
"In this way God made the beasts"
Here "it" refers to the living creatures on the earth. See how you translated this in Genesis 1:4.
The word "us" here refers to God. God was saying what he intended to do. The pronoun "us" is plural. Possible reasons for the plural use are 1) the plural form suggests that God is discussing something with the angels that make up his heavenly court or 2) the plural form foreshadows the later New Testament implications that God exists in the form of the Holy Trinity. Some translate it as "Let me make" or "I will make." If you do this, consider adding a footnote to say that the word is plural. (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-pronouns)
human beings
These two phrases mean the same thing and emphasize that God made mankind to be like him. This verse does not tell in what ways God made people to be like himself. God does not have a body, so it does not mean that people would look like God. Alternate translation: "to truly be like us" (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-doublet and /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-pronouns)
"rule over" or "have authority over"
These two sentences mean the same thing and emphasize that God created people in his own image. (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-parallelism)
The way that God created man was different from the way he created everything else. Do not specify that he created man by simply speaking, as in the preceding verses.
The word "them" refers to the man and woman God had created.
God told the man and the woman to produce more people like themselves so that there would be many of them. The word "multiply" explains how they are to be "fruitful." See how you translated this in Genesis 1:22. (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-doublet and /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-idiom)
Fill the earth with people.
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God continues speaking.
"all the birds that fly in the sky"
"that breathes." This phrase emphasizes that these animals had a different kind of life than the plants. Plants do not breathe, and were to be used as food for the animals. Here "life" means physical life.
"It happened like that" or "That is what happened." What God commanded happened just as he said it should. This phrase appears throughout the chapter and has the same meaning. See how you translated it in Genesis 1:7.
"This is true and important: it"
Now when God looked at everything he had made, it was "very good. "See how you translated "it was good" in Genesis 1:10.
This refers to the whole day. The writer speaks of the whole day as if it were these two parts. In the Jewish culture, a day begins when the sun sets. See how you translated this in Genesis 1:5. (See: /WA-Catalog/en_tm?section=jit#figs-merism)
This refers to the sixth day that the universe existed. See how you translated "the first day" in Genesis 1:5 and decide if you should translate this the same way.