Two Translations of Genesis 1:1-2

Excerpt

Two significant and differing interpretations of Genesis 1:1–2 are believed to be true today. The first reads: “When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was formless and empty.” This translation focuses on the state of the land before God began the creative activity that is recorded in the Genesis account. Those who accept this interpretation believe that God’s past involvement with creation began after the earth already existed in a formless and empty state. That is, the earth was formless and empty, and then God began to create. According to this view, Genesis does not address how the earth originally came into existence in its formless and empty state, but what God did with the world already in existence.

The second translation reads: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was empty, a formless mass ….” This traditional interpretation teaches that God created everything out of nothing. Therefore, his first step was to create the earth, which before that time did not exist, and he created it without form and population (empty). God then proceeded to shape and populate the world he had made as witnessed by the Genesis account. More

Hughes, Robert B., and J. Carl Laney. Tyndale Concise Bible Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001. Print. The Tyndale Reference Library.

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