"IT MAY be surprising to some students of the Bible that the translation and meaning of the opening
words of the Bible are disputed.
For 2,000 years the first verse of the Bible has been officially translated into Western languages with the familiar words, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Now three authorized versions of the Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Protestant communities translate the first verse of the Bible differently. ++
In 1962 the New Jewish Version (N.J.V.) appeared with the translation, "When God began to create the heaven and the earth ..."
* The New American Bible (N.A.B.) of Roman Catholics, which appeared in 1970, reads, "In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth. . . . Then God said . . ."
+ The Protestant New English Bible (N.E.B.) of 1972 reads, "In the beginning of creation, when God made heaven and earth the earth was without form and void....
Translations using the word when no longer have a complete sentence at the end of verse 1.
Accordingly, verse 1 is taken as a dependent or subordinate clause. Verse 2 is then conceived as a parenthesis, and verse 3 becomes the main clause of the sentence.
Among the implications of the innovative translations indicated above are the following:
(1) Genesis 1:1 cannot be conceived of as stating or implying creation out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo);
(2) nothing is stated about the beginning of time;
(3) heaven and earth, darkness, deep, and water already exist when God begins His creative activity; and
(4) the first creative act of God is the creation of light." Gerhard Hasel
Mr. Hasel went on to explain why those newer re-written versions were wrong and why the original interpretation of Genesis 1:1, for the past several thousand years, is correct.
Now as for those who wrote the newer versions so as to undermine Genesis 1:1....
For 2,000 years the first verse of the Bible has been officially translated into Western languages with the familiar words, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Now three authorized versions of the Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Protestant communities translate the first verse of the Bible differently. ++
In 1962 the New Jewish Version (N.J.V.) appeared with the translation, "When God began to create the heaven and the earth ..."
* The New American Bible (N.A.B.) of Roman Catholics, which appeared in 1970, reads, "In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth. . . . Then God said . . ."
+ The Protestant New English Bible (N.E.B.) of 1972 reads, "In the beginning of creation, when God made heaven and earth the earth was without form and void....
Translations using the word when no longer have a complete sentence at the end of verse 1.
Accordingly, verse 1 is taken as a dependent or subordinate clause. Verse 2 is then conceived as a parenthesis, and verse 3 becomes the main clause of the sentence.
Among the implications of the innovative translations indicated above are the following:
(1) Genesis 1:1 cannot be conceived of as stating or implying creation out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo);
(2) nothing is stated about the beginning of time;
(3) heaven and earth, darkness, deep, and water already exist when God begins His creative activity; and
(4) the first creative act of God is the creation of light." Gerhard Hasel
Mr. Hasel went on to explain why those newer re-written versions were wrong and why the original interpretation of Genesis 1:1, for the past several thousand years, is correct.
Now as for those who wrote the newer versions so as to undermine Genesis 1:1....
Add thou not unto his words,
lest he reprove thee,
and thou be found a liar.
Proverbs 30:6
