Genesis 1 Brenton's English Septuagint

About Brenton

Individual translator
OT: Septuagint (Greek)
Septuagint Old Testament (no New Testament)
Formal (word for word)
1844
Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

Notes on this text (2)

Square brackets mark words Brenton supplied for English sense.
Old Testament only (no New Testament). First printed 1844; the 1851 edition added the deuterocanonical books.

Brenton Brenton's English Septuagint

WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)

1 In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth.

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

2 But the earth was unsightly and unfurnished, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God moved over the water.

2 The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.

3 God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

4 And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness.

4 God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night, and there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

5 God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it be a division between water and water, and it was so.

6 God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”

7 And God made the firmament, and God divided between the water which was under the firmament and the water which was above the firmament.

7 God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven, and God saw that it was good, and there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

8 God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.

9 And God said, Let the water which is under the heaven be collected into one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And the water which was under the heaven was collected into its places, and the dry land appeared.

9 God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;” and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gatherings of the waters he called Seas, and God saw that it was good.

10 God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit-tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and it was so.

11 God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth;” and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and God saw that it was good.

12 The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with their seeds in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.

13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, to divide between day and night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years.

14 God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years;

15 And let them be for light in the firmament of the heaven, so as to shine upon the earth, and it was so.

15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth;” and it was so.

16 And God made the two great lights, the greater light for regulating the day and the lesser light for regulating the night, the stars also.

16 God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.

17 And God placed them in the firmament of the heaven, so as to shine upon the earth,

17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth,

18 and to regulate day and night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.

19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth reptiles having life, and winged creatures flying above the earth in the firmament of heaven, and it was so.

20 God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”

21 And God made great whales, and every living reptile, which the waters brought forth according to their kinds, and every creature that flies with wings according to its kind, and God saw that they were good.

21 God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Increase and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the creatures that fly be multiplied on the earth.

22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind, quadrupeds and reptiles and wild beasts of the earth according to their kind, and it was so.

24 God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;” and it was so.

25 And God made the wild beasts of the earth according to their kind, and cattle according to their kind, and all the reptiles of the earth according to their kind, and God saw that they were good.

25 God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man according to our image and likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the flying creatures of heaven, and over the cattle and all the earth, and over all the reptiles that creep on the earth.

26 God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 And God made man, according to the image of God he made him, male and female he made them.

27 God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them, saying, Increase and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the seas and flying creatures of heaven, and all the cattle and all the earth, and all the reptiles that creep on the earth.

28 God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

29 And God said, Behold I have given to you every seed-bearing herb sowing seed which is upon all the earth, and every tree which has in itself the fruit of seed that is sown, to you it shall be for food.

29 God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.

30 And to all the wild beasts of the earth, and to all the flying creatures of heaven, and to every reptile creeping on the earth, which has in itself the breath of life, even every green plant for food; and it was so.

30 To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so.

31 And God saw all the things that he had made, and, behold, they were very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

31 God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

Cross references (26)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences

What the Fathers said

Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).

How these were chosen

“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).

Quotes verse 1:1 Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies (Book I, Chapters XVIII–XIX)
Moses, then, they declare, by his mode of beginning the account of the creation, has at the commencement pointed out the mother of all things when he says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth;" for, as they maintain, by naming these four,--God, beginning, heaven, and earth,--he set forth their Tetrad.
Read in context · Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885)
Quotes verse 1:1 Augustine of Hippo, Confessions (Book IV, Chapters VIII–XII)
And who is this but our God, the God that created heaven and earth, and filleth them, because by filling them He created them?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
Quotes verse 1:2 Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures (Lecture III)
… but the heavens are from the waters: the earth is the place of men, but the earth is from the waters: and before the whole six days' formation of the things that were made, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
Quotes verse 1:5 Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit (Chapter XXVII)
… bound to "seek those things which are above," but because the day seems to us to be in some sense an image of the age which we expect, wherefore, though it is the beginning of days, it is not called by Moses first, but one. For he says "There was evening, and there was morning, one day," as though the …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)
Quotes verse 1:31 John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Book II, Chapters IV–VI)
Light, therefore, being the work of the Creator and being made good (for God saw all that He made, and behold they were exceeding good ) produced darkness at His free-will.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 9 (1899)

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What the Fathers said