Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God (Elohim) created [by forming from nothing] the heavens and the earth. [Heb 11:3] |
Bible Question: Can anyone tell me exactly what happened between verse one and two of Genesis? |
Bible Answer: Hi Thirsty, I would like to suggest an explanation to your question. Genesis 1:1-3 reads thus: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 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. And God said, 'Let there be light...'" You can think of Genesis 1:1 as the introduction to Genesis 1. What does it introduce? The Creation. And God as the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Verse 1 tells you what the chapter is about. Exactly how God went about creating the world is the subject of the subsequent verses. Verse 2 presents the first picture of the earth - the earth in the beginning stages of creation. Remember that Creation was progressive: first there was the empty, formless mass cloaked in darkness (vs 2); then there was light and the sequence of day and night (vs 3-5); then God made the sky (vs 6-8); then dry ground and vegetation (vs 9-13); and so on and so forth until God made man on day six of Creation week (vs 26). If the above explanation is incomprehensible, let me demonstrate with an illustration. Imagine Moses sitting with a group of kids. He tells them, "Kids, you see this world, God made it! Let me tell you what happened. At first, there was nothing, but then God made something out of nothing! But before God made the trees, animals and people, the earth was just an empty, dark, formless mass. Then God made light, the sky, vegetation...etc." This is a simplification, but I hope it helps. May God bless you. |