Genesis 1
The full text of Genesis 1 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."
7 So God made the expanse and separated the waters under the expanse from the waters above it. And it was so.
8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered to one place, and let the dry ground appear." And it was so.
10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so.
12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years,
15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so.
16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.
17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth,
18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
20 And God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky."
21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters teem, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth."
23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24 And God said, "Let the land bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so.
25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created human beings in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and every living creature that moves on the ground."
29 Then God said, "Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
30 And to every wild animal and every bird in the sky and every creature that moves along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Translation notes (12)
- Genesis 1:1a This verse can also be translated as, "When God began to create the heavens and the earth." Both this reading and the main translation are grammatically possible, as the exact meaning of the Hebrew phrase bere'shit bara' is genuinely debated.
- Genesis 1:2a The Hebrew phrase tohu va-vohu means "formless and empty," a rhyming pair describing a trackless waste and void. It can also be translated as "a formless wasteland."
- Genesis 1:2b The Hebrew phrase ruach 'elohim can mean "the Spirit of God," "a wind from God," or "a mighty wind." The word ruach can mean spirit, wind, or breath, and 'elohim can be used to express a superlative (meaning "mighty"). The phrase is deliberately designed to have multiple possible meanings.
- Genesis 1:6a The Hebrew word raqia means "a stretched-out or beaten-out expanse." It is traditionally translated as "firmament," but sometimes as "vault" or "dome." The Hebrew text does not specify whether this structure is solid.
- Genesis 1:6b The doubled 'waters' is deliberate; verse 7 distinguishes the waters above the expanse from the waters below (cf. Gen 7:11).
- Genesis 1:7a Hebrew raqia' from the root rq', 'to beat or hammer out' (used of pounded metal in Exod 39:3; Num 17:4); LXX stereoma, Vulgate firmamentum. The author envisions a solid structure dividing the upper from the lower waters. Traditionally 'firmament'; NIV 'vault'; NRSV/CEB 'dome.'
- Genesis 1:8a The Hebrew word shamayim can mean "sky" (referring to the visible heavens) or "heavens" (in a cosmic or spiritual sense); here, the immediate context points to the atmospheric expanse that separates the waters.
- Genesis 1:10a The Hebrew word 'erets can mean "earth," "land," or "ground"; in this verse, it refers to the dry land as a counterpart to the seas.
- Genesis 1:26a The Hebrew word 'adam here refers to "humankind" or "human beings" collectively, not the proper name Adam, which appears starting in chapters 2-5. The plural pronouns "they" and "them" in verses 26-27 follow the Hebrew text.
- Genesis 1:26b The plural phrase "Let us" (na'aseh) has been understood in several ways: as a plural of deliberation or majesty, as God addressing the heavenly court, or (in Christian interpretation) as referring to a plurality within God. The Hebrew text does not specify which meaning is intended, and the ambiguity is preserved.
- Genesis 1:27a This verse is rendered as poetry, forming a Hebrew tricolon (a three-line poetic unit) with the word bara' ("created") repeated three times. The collective term ha-'adam ("humankind") is later referred to by the plural pronoun "them"; the phrase "male and female" (zakar u-neqevah) indicates that both together constitute the divine image.
- Genesis 1:28a The Hebrew word kavash ("subdue") is a strong verb meaning to bring something under control, and it is translated as "subdue" rather than a softer term. The word radah ("rule") denotes governance, here specifically over the animal world.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is Trinity Bible's own translation of Scripture, made directly from the original Hebrew rather than revised from an older English Bible. Completed in 2026, it is the most modern English Bible translation available, and it is exclusive to Trinity Bible. Reading the TBV here on the web is free — the full study edition, with original-language tools and notes on every verse, lives in the Trinity Bible app.
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