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Selected Verse: Genesis 1:1 - Basic English

Verse         Translation Text
Ge 1:1 Basic English At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
  King James In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
THE CREATION OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. (Gen 1:1-2)

In the beginning--a period of remote and unknown antiquity, hid in the depths of eternal ages; and so the phrase is used in Pro 8:22-23.

God--the name of the Supreme Being, signifying in Hebrew, "Strong," "Mighty." It is expressive of omnipotent power; and by its use here in the plural form, is obscurely taught at the opening of the Bible, a doctrine clearly revealed in other parts of it, namely, that though God is one, there is a plurality of persons in the Godhead--Father, Son, and Spirit, who were engaged in the creative work (Pro 8:27; Joh 1:3, Joh 1:10; Eph 3:9; Heb 1:2; Job 26:13).

created--not formed from any pre-existing materials, but made out of nothing.

the heaven and the earth--the universe. This first verse is a general introduction to the inspired volume, declaring the great and important truth that all things had a beginning; that nothing throughout the wide extent of nature existed from eternity, originated by chance, or from the skill of any inferior agent; but that the whole universe was produced by the creative power of God (Act 17:24; Rom 11:36). After this preface, the narrative is confined to the earth.
 
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36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever. So be it.
24 The God who made the earth and everything in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, is not housed in buildings made with hands;
13 By his wind the heavens become bright: by his hand the quickly moving snake was cut through.
2 But now, at the end of these days, it has come to us through his Son, to whom he has given all things for a heritage, and through whom he made the order of the generations;
9 And make all men see what is the ordering of the secret which from the first has been kept in God who made all things;
10 He was in the world, the world which came into being through him, but the world had no knowledge of him.
3 All things came into existence through him, and without him nothing was.
27 When he made ready the heavens I was there: when he put an arch over the face of the deep:
22 The Lord made me as the start of his way, the first of his works in the past.
23 From eternal days I was given my place, from the birth of time, before the earth was.
1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was waste and without form; and it was dark on the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the waters.
1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was waste and without form; and it was dark on the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the waters.
1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
25 He made answer and said, Look! I see four men loose, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not damaged; and the form of the fourth is like a son of the gods.
13 And the king said to her, Have no fear: what do you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a god coming up out of the earth.
1 The Lord is King, let the earth have joy; let all the sea-lands be glad.
1 A Psalm. Of Asaph. God is in the meeting-place of God; he is judging among the gods.
7 You made him a little lower than the angels; you gave him a crown of glory and honour, and made him ruler over all the works of your hands:
6 And again, when he is sending his only Son into the world, he says, Let all the angels of God give him worship.
7 You made him a little lower than the angels; you gave him a crown of glory and honour, and made him ruler over all the works of your hands:
6 And again, when he is sending his only Son into the world, he says, Let all the angels of God give him worship.
1 Of David. I will give you praise with all my heart: I will make melody to you before the gods.
7 Shamed be all those who give worship to images, and take pride in false gods; give him worship, all you gods.
6 You have made him ruler over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet;
27 For it is the only thing he has for covering his skin; what is he to go to sleep in? and when his cry comes up to me, I will give ear, for my mercy is great.
7 If a man puts money or goods in the care of his neighbour to keep for him, and it is taken from the man's house, if they get the thief, he will have to make payment of twice the value.
8 If they do not get the thief, let the master of the house come before the judges and take an oath that he has not put his hand on his neighbour's goods.
6 Then his master is to take him to the gods of the house, and at the door, or at its framework, he is to make a hole in his ear with a sharp-pointed instrument; and he will be his servant for ever.
6 I said, You are gods; all of you are the sons of the Most High:
1 And the Lord said to Moses, See I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.
16 And he will do the talking for you to the people: he will be to you as a mouth and you will be to him as God.
34 In answer, Jesus said, Is there not a saying in your law, I said, You are gods?
13 And the king said to her, Have no fear: what do you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a god coming up out of the earth.
10 Have we not all one father? has not one God made us? why are we, every one of us, acting falsely to his brother, putting shame on the agreement of our fathers?
30 But if the Lord does something new, opening the earth to take them in, with everything which is theirs, and they go down living into the underworld, then it will be clear to you that the Lord has not been honoured by these men.
27 And God made man in his image, in the image of God he made him: male and female he made them.
21 And God made great sea-beasts, and every sort of living and moving thing with which the waters were full, and every sort of winged bird: and God saw that it was good.
1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
10 Making clear from the first what is to come, and from past times the things which have not so far come about; saying, My purpose is fixed, and I will do all my pleasure;
7 The fear of the Lord is the start of knowledge: but the foolish have no use for wisdom and teaching.
10 And at the first, his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
27 And God made man in his image, in the image of God he made him: male and female he made them.
21 And God made great sea-beasts, and every sort of living and moving thing with which the waters were full, and every sort of winged bird: and God saw that it was good.
1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
3 Now this man went up from his town every year to give worship and to make offerings to the Lord of armies in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there.
33 And Abraham, after planting a holy tree in Beer-sheba, gave worship to the name of the Lord, the Eternal God.
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord came to him, and said, I am God, Ruler of all; go in my ways and be upright in all things,
2 And Abram said, What will you give me? for I have no child and this Eliezer of Damascus will have all my wealth after me.
18 And Melchizedek, king of Salem, the priest of the Most High God, took bread and wine,
7 And the Lord God made man from the dust of the earth, breathing into him the breath of life: and man became a living soul.
4 These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were made.
22 And the Lord God said, Now the man has become like one of us, having knowledge of good and evil; and now if he puts out his hand and takes of the fruit of the tree of life, he will go on living for ever.
27 And God made man in his image, in the image of God he made him: male and female he made them.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth.
14 For I will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the children of Judah; I, even I, will give him wounds and go away; I will take him away, and there will be no helper.
9 And the priest will be like the people; I will give them punishment for their evil ways, and the reward of their acts.
35 But someone will say, How do the dead come back? and with what sort of body do they come?
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were gone; and there was no more sea.
2 And I saw the holy town, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, like a bride made beautiful for her husband.
17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever; because in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he took his rest and had pleasure in it.
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have taken an oath to the Lord, the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth,
19 And blessing him, said, May the blessing of the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth, be on Abram:
10 Make a clean heart in me, O God; give me a right spirit again.
10 And the Lord said, See, this is what I will undertake: before the eyes of your people I will do wonders, such as have not been done in all the earth or in any nation: and all your people will see the work of the Lord, for what I am about to do for you is greatly to be feared.
30 But if the Lord does something new, opening the earth to take them in, with everything which is theirs, and they go down living into the underworld, then it will be clear to you that the Lord has not been honoured by these men.
1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God made man, he made him in the image of God;
2 Male and female he made them, naming them Man, and giving them his blessing on the day when they were made.
27 And God made man in his image, in the image of God he made him: male and female he made them.
18 For the hill-country of Gilead will be yours...the woodland and cut down...its outskirts will be yours...get the Canaanites out, for they have iron war-carriages...strong.
15 Then Joshua said to them, If you are such a great people, go up into the woodlands, clearing a place there for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, if the hill-country of Ephraim is not wide enough for you.
2 And the earth was waste and without form; and it was dark on the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the waters.
10 Making clear from the first what is to come, and from past times the things which have not so far come about; saying, My purpose is fixed, and I will do all my pleasure;
1 From the first he was the Word, and the Word was in relation with God and was God.
1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
16 And God made the two great lights: the greater light to be the ruler of the day, and the smaller light to be the ruler of the night: and he made the stars.
16 And God made the two great lights: the greater light to be the ruler of the day, and the smaller light to be the ruler of the night: and he made the stars.
6 And God said, Let there be a solid arch stretching over the waters, parting the waters from the waters.
53 May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, be our judge. Then Jacob took an oath by the Fear of his father Isaac.
22 Till he came, who was very old, and the decision was made and the authority was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came when the saints took the kingdom.
18 But the saints of the Most High will take the kingdom, and it will be theirs for ever, even for ever and ever.
20 But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit became hard with pride, he was put down from his place as king, and they took his glory from him:
18 As for you, O King, the Most High God gave to Nebuchadnezzar, your father, the kingdom and great power and glory and honour:
6 A son gives honour to his father, and a servant has fear of his master: if then I am a father, where is my honour? and if I am a master, where is the fear of me? says the Lord of armies to you, O priests, who give no value to my name. And you say, How have we not given value to your name?
1 Ephraim's food is the wind, and he goes after the east wind: deceit and destruction are increasing day by day; they make an agreement with Assyria, and take oil into Egypt.
12 The deceit of Ephraim and the false words of Israel are about me on every side. ...
5 For as a young man takes a virgin for his wife, so will your maker be married to you: and as a husband has joy in his bride, so will the Lord your God be glad over you.
5 For your Maker is your husband; the Lord of armies is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is he who takes up your cause; he will be named the God of all the earth.
3 And one said in a loud voice to another, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of armies: all the earth is full of his glory.
1 Give now a cry for help; is there anyone who will give you an answer? and to which of the holy ones will you make your prayer?
1 Let your mind be turned to your Maker in the days of your strength, while the evil days come not, and the years are far away when you will say, I have no pleasure in them;
7 Because much talk comes from dreams and things of no purpose. But let the fear of God be in you.
2 Let Israel have joy in his maker; let the children of Zion be glad in their King.
3 I have not got wisdom by teaching, so that I might have the knowledge of the Holy One.
10 The fear of the Lord is the start of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One gives a wise mind
36 And you will no longer put people in mind of the word of weight of the Lord: for every man's word will be a weight on himself; for the words of the living God, of the Lord of armies, our God, have been twisted by you.
10 But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and an eternal king: when he is angry, the earth is shaking with fear, and the nations give way before his wrath.
8 And the voice of the Lord came to my ears, saying, Whom am I to send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I, send me.
6 O God, let their teeth be broken in their mouths; let the great teeth of the young lions be pulled out, O Lord.
23 And what other nation in the earth, like your people Israel, did a god go out to take for himself, to be his people, and to make a name for himself, and to do great and strange things for them, driving out a nation and its gods from before his people?
8 Trouble is ours! Who will give us salvation from the hands of these great gods? These are the gods who sent all sorts of blows on the Egyptians in the waste land.
19 And Joshua said to the people, You are not able to be the servants of the Lord, for he is a holy God, a God who will not let his honour be given to another: he will have no mercy on your wrongdoing or your sins.
23 And after hearing the voice which came out of the dark while the mountain was burning with fire, all the heads of your tribes and your chiefs came to me,
7 For what great nation has a god so near to them as the Lord our God is, whenever we are turned to him in prayer?
7 And there he made an altar, naming the place El-beth-el: because it was there he had the vision of God when he was in flight from his brother.
53 May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, be our judge. Then Jacob took an oath by the Fear of his father Isaac.
7 But your father has not kept faith with me, and ten times he has made changes in my payment; but God has kept him from doing me damage.
13 And when God sent me wandering from my father's house, I said to her, Let this be the sign of your love for me; wherever we go, say of me, He is my brother.
7 Come, let us go down and take away the sense of their language, so that they will not be able to make themselves clear to one another.
22 And the Lord God said, Now the man has become like one of us, having knowledge of good and evil; and now if he puts out his hand and takes of the fruit of the tree of life, he will go on living for ever.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth.