In the beginning, God created . . . Genesis 1:1 NASB The – Of course, by now you know that the word here is bere’shiyt. There is no definite article. That means there is no “the” in this text. Try reading the text without the “the” and things change – dramatically. We have already learned…
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 NASB In the Beginning – This was written on January 1st, 2009. Recently a reader questioned something about it, and when I looked at what I wrote 14 years ago, I had to agree. It needed some changes. So, for those of you…
When God began to create heaven and earth—the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water—God said . . . Genesis 1:1-2 JPS A wind from God – One might reasonably argue that this text forms the backbone of the Western…
When God started creating, He chose to abdicate control. Genesis 1:1 Skip Moen paraphrase When – “Bereshit, ‘in the beginning,’ describes not the clarities of origin and cause, but the potentialities of purpose.”[1] So writes Avivah Zornberg, reflecting on Rashi’s comment on creation. Potentialities demand alternatives. Things might not work out as we expect, and…
“In the end God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 modified End – Well, of course, it doesn’t read this way. Everyone knows that Genesis 1:1 is about the beginning, not the end. But maybe we need to think of it differently. God always starts what He finishes, and in this case, He…
When God began to create heaven and earth—the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water— God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. Genesis 1:1-3 JPS Tanakh Began to create– I’m guessing that you’ve never read the opening verses of…
And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” Genesis 3:11 NASB Have you eaten – God asks Adam two questions. Neither one of them makes any sense. “Who told you that you were naked?” But no one told him…
In the beginning . . . Genesis 1:1 NASB Beginning – Of course, this isn’t the real beginning. It isn’t even the beginning of all of these investigations called “Today’s Word.” But it is a beginning, and with that in mind, a few things must be said. Beginnings happen all the time. Every day is…
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 NASB In the beginning – We just can’t get away from the opening verse, can we? Genesis 1:1 stands as a clarion call for everything that’s different about the Hebrew worldview. Not only does it soundly deny all of the opening ideas of…
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham Matthew 1:1 NASB Genealogy – Abraham Heschel asks, “What is the pedigree of the Christian Gospel? These are the words with which the New Testament begins: [citing Matthew 1:1]. Yet the powerful fascination with the world of Hellenism has…
