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Genesis · Young's Literal Translation

Genesis 1 Young's Literal Translation

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About YLT
  • Individual translator
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Textus Receptus
  • Protestant (66 books)
  • Very literal
  • 1898
  • Public domain

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

1 In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth — 2 the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness [is] on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters, 3 and God saith, 'Let light be;' and light is. 4 And God seeth the light that [it is] good, and God separateth between the light and the darkness, 5 and God calleth to the light 'Day,' and to the darkness He hath called 'Night;' and there is an evening, and there is a morning — day one. 6 And God saith, 'Let an expanse be in the midst of the waters, and let it be separating between waters and waters.' 7 And God maketh the expanse, and it separateth between the waters which [are] under the expanse, and the waters which [are] above the expanse: and it is so. 8 And God calleth to the expanse 'Heavens;' and there is an evening, and there is a morning — day second. 9 And God saith, 'Let the waters under the heavens be collected unto one place, and let the dry land be seen:' and it is so. 10 And God calleth to the dry land 'Earth,' and to the collection of the waters He hath called 'Seas;' and God seeth that [it is] good. 11 And God saith, 'Let the earth yield tender grass, herb sowing seed, fruit-tree (whose seed [is] in itself) making fruit after its kind, on the earth:' and it is so. 12 And the earth bringeth forth tender grass, herb sowing seed after its kind, and tree making fruit (whose seed [is] in itself) after its kind; and God seeth that [it is] good; 13 and there is an evening, and there is a morning — day third. 14 And God saith, 'Let luminaries be in the expanse of the heavens, to make a separation between the day and the night, then they have been for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and they have been for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth:' and it is so. 16 And God maketh the two great luminaries, the great luminary for the rule of the day, and the small luminary — and the stars — for the rule of the night; 17 and God giveth them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth, 18 and to rule over day and over night, and to make a separation between the light and the darkness; and God seeth that [it is] good; 19 and there is an evening, and there is a morning — day fourth. 20 And God saith, 'Let the waters teem with the teeming living creature, and fowl let fly on the earth on the face of the expanse of the heavens.' 21 And God prepareth the great monsters, and every living creature that is creeping, which the waters have teemed with, after their kind, and every fowl with wing, after its kind, and God seeth that [it is] good. 22 And God blesseth them, saying, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and the fowl let multiply in the earth:' 23 and there is an evening, and there is a morning — day fifth. 24 And God saith, 'Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind:' and it is so. 25 And God maketh the beast of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, and God seeth that [it is] good. 26 And God saith, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the heavens, and over cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that is creeping on the earth.' 27 And God prepareth the man in His image; in the image of God He prepared him, a male and a female He prepared them. 28 And God blesseth them, and God saith to them, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the heavens, and over every living thing that is creeping upon the earth.' 29 And God saith, 'Lo, I have given to you every herb sowing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which [is] the fruit of a tree sowing seed, to you it is for food; 30 and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to every creeping thing on the earth, in which [is] breath of life, every green herb [is] for food:' and it is so. 31 And God seeth all that He hath done, and lo, very good; and there is an evening, and there is a morning — day the sixth.

Cross references (26)

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

  1. 1 John 1:1–3; Hebrews 11:3; Isaiah 45:18; Revelation 4:11; Hebrews 1:10
  2. 2 Jeremiah 4:23; Psalm 104:30; Isaiah 45:18; Psalm 33:6; Job 26:7
  3. 3 2 Corinthians 4:6; John 1:5; Isaiah 45:7; Isaiah 60:19; 1 John 1:5
  4. 4 Ecclesiastes 2:13; Genesis 1:18; Ecclesiastes 11:7; Genesis 1:31; Genesis 1:12
  5. 5 Psalm 74:16; Isaiah 45:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:5; Psalm 104:20; Genesis 8:22
  6. 6 Jeremiah 51:15; Job 37:18; Psalm 33:6; Job 26:7–8; Jeremiah 10:12–13
  7. 7 Proverbs 8:28–29; Psalm 148:4; Matthew 8:27; Job 38:8–11; Genesis 1:9
  8. 9 2 Peter 3:5; Jonah 1:9; Jeremiah 5:22; Psalm 95:5; Ecclesiastes 1:7
  9. 10 Deuteronomy 32:4
  10. 11 Hebrews 6:7; Psalm 104:14–17; Psalm 147:8; Genesis 1:29; Psalm 65:9–13
  11. 12 Mark 4:28; Isaiah 55:10–11; Matthew 13:24–26; Galatians 6:7; Luke 6:44
  12. 14 Psalm 104:19–20; Deuteronomy 4:19; Psalm 74:16–17; Jeremiah 31:35; Psalm 148:3
  13. 16 Psalm 136:7–9; Deuteronomy 4:19; Psalm 8:3; Psalm 74:16; Psalm 148:5
  14. 17 Psalm 8:3; Psalm 8:1; Job 38:12
  15. 18 Jeremiah 31:35; Psalm 19:6
  16. 20 Psalm 104:24–25; Genesis 2:19; 1 Kings 4:33; Psalm 148:10; Genesis 1:30
  17. 21 Psalm 104:24–26; Genesis 1:25; Genesis 8:19; Genesis 8:17; Genesis 6:20
  18. 22 Job 40:15; Genesis 8:17; Genesis 1:28; Psalm 107:38; Genesis 35:11
  19. 24 Psalm 50:9–10; Genesis 6:20; Genesis 8:19; Job 40:15; Psalm 148:10
  20. 25 Jeremiah 27:5; Job 12:8–10; Genesis 2:19–20; Job 26:13
  21. 26 Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24; Psalm 8:4–8; Genesis 3:22; Genesis 5:1
  22. 27 Matthew 19:4; Ephesians 2:10; Genesis 5:1–2; Mark 10:6; Genesis 2:21–25
  23. 28 Genesis 9:1; Genesis 9:7; Leviticus 26:9; Psalm 128:3–4; Genesis 22:17–18
  24. 29 Genesis 9:3; Psalm 104:14–15; Psalm 145:15–16; Psalm 104:27–28; Acts 14:17
  25. 30 Psalm 104:14; Psalm 147:9; Psalm 145:15–16; Job 40:15; Job 40:20
  26. 31 1 Timothy 4:4; Psalm 104:24; Psalm 19:1–2; Exodus 20:11; Psalm 104:31

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).

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. 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)

  4. 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)

  5. 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)