A Note on the Richness of the Hebrew Text of Genesis 1:1

The Book of Genesis begins with a simple, profound statement: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The name for God in this passage is Elohim, which means "power, strength, glory."[1] The idea is that He is the transcendent Creator. Interestingly, the name Elohim is plural, but the verb which accompanies it, "create," is singular. Genesis 1:1, therefore, is the earliest echo of both the Trinity and Unity of God. What God creates is the heavens and the earth, a way to refer to "all of creation."[2]

The word translated "created" is bārā'. There are two primary terms for "create" in the Hebrew language:

'āśāh: This verb in its base sense is translated "do, make."[3] In the context of creation, it carries the idea of the fashioning of an object[4] from materials that already exist. Cf. Gen. 8:6; 33:17; Ex. 25:10-11, 13, 17; Ps. 86:9; 95:5; 96:5 Within Genesis 1:1-3:1, the word appears in: 1:7, 11, 12, 16, 25, 26, 31; 2:2 (2x), 2:4, 18; 3:1, but not in 1:1.

bārā': This verb is employed in the Old Testament exclusively "for God's activity."[5] The word refers to ex nihilo, God's creation of all created matter from nothing. Within Genesis 1:1-2:25, the word appears in: 1:1, 21, 27 (3x); 2:3, 4, 22. Interestingly, bārā' is used in reference to the creation of: the universe (1:1; 2:3, 4), the great sea monsters (1:21), and mankind.

Thus, several points may be made from the Hebrew text of Genesis 1:1:


1) The Omnipotence of God
2) The Trinity/Unity of God
3) God's Creation of the Universe Out of Nothing

What an amazing verse, and what an amazing language!

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[1] John J. Davis, Paradise to Prison: Studies in Genesis (Salem, WI: Sheffield, 1998), 42.

[2] David W. Cotter, Genesis, in Berit Olam: Studies in Hebrew Narrative and Poetry, ed. David W. Cotter, Jerome T. Walsh, and Chris Franke (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2003), 15.

[3] F. Brown, S. Driver, and C. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2005), 793.

[4] R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke, eds. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, vol. 2 (Chicago: Moody, 1980), s.v. " עָשָׂה," by Thomas E. McComiskey.

[5] Davis, Paradise to Prison: Studies in Genesis, 40.