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Genesis 1:1 is the first Bible verse of the first chapter in the Book of Genesis, and contains the first words of the Bible. The verse begins the account of creation according to Genesis and its translation and interpretation is a major theological issue.

The first word in the original Hebrew is בְּרֵאשִׁית, transliterated as Bereishit, B'reishit, or Breishis. In Judaism it begins the Torah portion (parshah) Bereishit, which ends at Genesis 5:31. In Hebrew, בְּרֵאשִׁית translates literally as "At/in [the] head [of]," implying "in [the] beginning." The three middle letters of the Hebrew alphabet within the word בְּרֵאשִׁית, Bereishit, are ר, א, and ש, which are pronounced as reish when part of the word, but can also be read as rosh when read without the vowels. Rosh is the word for "head" as spelled and pronounced in Hebrew (as in Rosh Hashanah, ראש השנה, ro'sh hash-shānāh, "the head (beginning) [of] the year".)

The word "Genesis" in English is from the Greek word Γένεσις, having the meanings of "birth," "creation," "cause," "beginning," "source," and "origin."

Contents 1 Text 2 Analysis 2.1 According to Judaism 2.1.1 Names of God 2.1.2 Meaning of the first word: Bereishit 2.1.3 Genesis Rabbah 2.1.4 Midrashic 2.1.5 Rabbi Akiva's view 2.1.6 Rashi's view 2.1.7 Kabbalah 2.2 Christian views 2.3 Biblical criticism 3 Secular usages 3.1 Art and popular culture 4 See also 5 Sources 6 External links

• In the Masoretic text:
  • Unvocalized: בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ
  • Vocalized and punctuated: בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ
  • Transliterated: Bereishit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'aretz.
  • Word-by-word literal equivalent: (In the) beginning filled God the heavens and the earth.
    • Note: The word et (אֵת) is a Hebrew particle that points to the direct object that it comes in front of. The particle has not been included in the literal equivalent above. The word ha (preceding shamayim and aretz) is a definite article equivalent to the English definite the.

• English translations:

Translation	Text
New Revised Standard Version	In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,
King James Version	In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
American Standard Version	In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
New American Bible	In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,
Bible in Basic English	At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
Darby Bible	In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Jewish Publication Society (3rd ed.)	When God began to create heaven and Earth—
Aryeh Kaplan's The Living Torah	In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
Webster's Bible Translation	In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
World English Bible	In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Young's Literal Translation	In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth.
Concordant Version	Created by the Elohim were the heavens and the earth.

The Hebrew name of God used in Genesis 1:1, like in all of Genesis's first chapter, is Elohim. This word choice may be contrasted with the Tetragrammaton, which appears throughout the second telling of creation, in Genesis 2. The documentary hypothesis usually attributes Genesis 1:1 to the priestly source.

The verb in the verse is bara ("filled" or "fattened"). The verb bara typically signifies a divine activity and it occurs 48 times in the Hebrew Bible (Even-Shoshan concordance).

The opening word of the verse, b'reishit (or Bereishit), has a known meaning, though the precise meaning is open to interpretation, which is highly significant because it contributes to both biblical thought and subsequent religious doctrines. The word b'reishit lacks the definite article ("the"). Various English translations put it as "in the beginning," "in the beginning when," "at the beginning," "during the beginning," or "when [God] began." The root of the first word Bereishit בראשית is ראש "head" -- being the central core word (ראש can be pronounced as rosh which is the Hebrew for "head"). Furthermore, the first letter ב means "in" or "at", and the last letters ית imply "of". The use of the word "head" implies something "at the top", as in "head" of something. In this case it is the "head" or "start" of Creation, which is possibly where the idea to translate it as "in the beginning" originates.

Classical Judaism's exegesis of the verse begins with the first letter, Bet ב. In midrash, Genesis Rabbah 1:10 recognizes that the letter is closed on three sides, and accordingly reads this as a sign to not speculate about the beginning of God or whatever preceded the creation account.

Rabbinic Judaism considered why the Torah begins with verse 1:1ff. at all. Rhetorically, midrashic sources hypothesize that the Torah could begin with another key point, such as the first commandment to Israel (Exodus 12:1). In the end, some suggest that the world was created for the sake of the Torah itself.

Similarly, midrash Genesis Rabbah (1:1) actually opens by declaring that the first word of the verse means "with the Torah" and it suggests that the Divine Architect used the Torah as a blueprint. (Cf. Philo, De opificio mundi 17-20 and John 1:1)

Midrashic and medieval rabbinic commentary also focus on the different word choices for the divine in verse 1:1ff. and 2.4ff. Thus, God in the first creation account acts from the attribute of "Judgment" in contradistinction to "Mercy". For instance, Rashi declares that the world could not survive under pure judgment and hence, as seen by chapter 2, God gave precedence to divine mercy.

In midrash, the schools of Shammai and Hillel disagree about the order of creation, due to the conflicting ordering of the heavens and earth in Gen. 1:1 and 2:4. Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai reportedly tries to reconcile this conflict, arguing for simultaneous creation "like a pot and a lid". (Cp. the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitiones I:27, per Urbach).

Rabbi Akiva reportedly is challenged to explain the two uses in verse 1:1 of the word ‘et (this word marks the accusative state (direct object) and cannot be directly translated in English). Rabbi Akiva declares that each ‘et amplifies the creation account by hinting at specific celestial and earthly entities.

For many, Genesis 1:1 indicates not so much the literal order or manner of creation as much as the foundational claim that there is a God who created the world. Rabbi Akiva argued that just as a house proves the existence of the builder and a garment of the weaver, so the world testifies to God as the creator. Rabbi Akiva was one of the first postulators of this hypothesis, known as the "first cause" (or "prime mover") arguments for the existence of God.

The foremost medieval rabbinic commentator, Rashi argues that the verse does not signify the order of creation, or else it would have used other wording (barishonah or "at first"):

...It was not necessary to begin the Torah except from "This month is to you," (Exodus 12:2)...the first commandment that the Israelites were commanded, (for the main purpose of the Torah is its commandments)...Now for what reason did He commence with "In the beginning?" Because of [the verse] "The strength of His works He related to His people, to give them the inheritance of the nations" (Psalm 111 :6). For if the nations of the world should say to Israel, "You are robbers, for you conquered by force the lands of the seven nations [of Canaan]," they will reply, "The entire earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it and gave it to whomever He deemed proper When He wished, He gave it to them, and when He wished, He took it away from them and gave it to us." [1]

Furthermore, he notes, were the verse to signify order then the waters (v.2) would be deemed to have been created before the heavens and earth.

Those who hold to the ex nihilo hypothesis believe that God created matter itself, through the creation of atoms, molecules, heat, and stars. Others disagree and view God as "ordering" the matter, such as in a multi-dimensional space-time continuum. This is in line with the view of God as "master architect" rather than "creator." Some kabbalists suggest that God must have withdrawn some of his own being (tzimtzum) in order to create or order the universe.

Gerhard von Rad commented that the use of the verb in the verse (rather than other words such as qanah or yatzar) "contains the idea both of complete effortlessness and creatio ex nihilo [a Latin phrase meaning "out of nothing"], since it is never connected with any statement of the material...[Genesis 1] moves not so much between the poles of nothingness and creation as between the poles of chaos and cosmos." Some Christian scholars agree; Saint Augustine wrote that: "the Bible says (and the Bible never lies): 'In the beginning God made heaven and earth.' It must be inferred that God has created nothing before that; 'in the beginning' must refer to whatever he made before all his other works. Thus there can be no doubt that the world was not created in time but with time." (Confessions IX:6).

Some thinkers, such as Thomas Aquinas, compared and correlated Christian doctrine with Aristotelian theory.

Not unlike the later rabbinic midrash that envisions God as creating with a pre-existent Torah, some early Christian exegesis of Genesis 1:1 put the emphasis on a logocentric account of creation. Hence, the Gospel of John begins with "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."

• Urbach (185) argues that Akiva’s creative exposition “sought to controvert a Gnostic explanation.”

The verse and especially the phrase "in the beginning" are referenced in popular culture. In poetry the verse is sometimes cited:

• "In the beginning God created slums
  and garbage dumps
  He looked out from his balcony
  And saw they were gorgeous..." (from "Genesis" by Nicanor Parra)
• "Yet at the first verse, a hair-thin net of cracks
  appears, each crack a vast highway, and wildly we
  leap
  on this first, this universal, cobble, BREISHIT.
  'In-the-beginning.'
  Or maybe, 'In-the-beginning-of.' Of what, you may
  Ask-of 'making'? No...
  ELOHIM. The third word of the Bible is
  God. Well literally "gods" but by convention-
  except in pagan contexts-through Christians, too,
  find Trinity adumbrations here, faint rushes
  of the Presence-packed Unseen...
  ...The
  lovely
  sentence, the terrible world-the beginning. Inerrant,
  perfect, the first verse of the Bible." (from "The First Verse" by Anne Winters)

• Creation according to Genesis

• Full translation of Rashi on Genesis 1:1
• Curzon, David. Modern poems on the Bible: an anthology. Phila: Jewish Publication Society, 1994.
• Kselman, John S. “Genesis” in Harper’s Bible Dictionary.
• The Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha
• Rosenbaum and Silberman. Pentateuch with Rashi’s Commentary.
• Torat Chaim Chumash. Mossad HaRav Kook. 1986
• Urbach, Ephraim E. The Sages: the world and wisdom of the rabbis of the Talmud.
• Von Rad, Gerhard. Genesis: A commentary. Phila: The Westminster Press, 1972
• Jewish Publication Society. The Torah: The Five Books of Moses (3rd ed). Philadelphia: 1999.
• "Genesis 1:1." Online Parallel Bible. [2]

• avoision.com: An attempt to recreate the verse from a random assortment of letters.