The Syntax of Genesis 1:1–3
General Articles
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6573/11647Keywords:
Biblical Hebrew, fronting, Genesis 1, parenthesis, relative clause, syntaxAbstract
It is well known that Gen 1:1–3 contains considerably more linguistic complexity than readers may initially notice. As the first verses in the Hebrew Bible, they have engendered significant theological and scholarly analysis and been caught up in the modern “creation-science” debate. Yet, for all this attention, the linguistic details are often overlooked or, in some cases, disregarded in favour of ideologically-bound analyses that preference tradition over plain grammatical sense. In this essay, I address two basic linguistic issues methodically: (1) the grammar of the first orthographic word, bereshit, and its implications for the syntactic analysis of verse 1, and (2) the syntactic analysis of verse 2. I conclude that there are only two linguistically plausible analyses of Gen 1:1–3, neither of which matches the traditional rendering “In the beginning, God created ... ”.
Metrics
References
Baasten, Martin F. J. 2007. “First Things First: The Syntax of Gen 1:1–3 Revisited.” In Studies in Hebrew Literature and Jewish Culture Presented to Albert Van Der Heide on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth Birthday, edited by M. F. J. Baasten and R. Munk, 169–88. Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6202-5_9
Bekins, Peter J. 2013. “Non-Prototypical Uses of the Definite Article in Biblical Hebrew.” Journal of Semitic Studies 58 (2): 225–40. https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgt001
Brayford, Susan. 2007. Genesis. Septuagint Commentary Series. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004155527.i-468
Brown, William P. 1993. Structure, Role, and Ideology in the Hebrew and Greek Texts of Genesis 1:1–2:3. Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series 132. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press.
Chambers, Nathan. 2019. “Genesis 1.1 as the First Act of Creation.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 43 (3): 385–94. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309089217734746
Cook, John A. 2012. Time and the Biblical Hebrew Verb: The Expression of Tense, Aspect, and Modality in Biblical Hebrew. Linguistic Studies in Ancient West Semitic 7. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781575066813
Dresher, B. Elan. 1994. “The Prosodic Basis of the Tiberian Hebrew System of Accents.” Language 70 (1): 1-52. https://doi.org/10.2307/416739
Hasel, Gerhard F. 1971. “Recent Translations of Gen 1:1: A Critical Look.” The Bible Translator 22: 145–67. https://doi.org/10.1177/000608447102200403
Holmstedt, Robert D. 2006. “The Story of Ancient Hebrew ʾăšer.” Ancient Near Eastern Studies 43: 7–26. https://doi.org/10.2143/ANES.43.0.2018762
Holmstedt, Robert D. 2008. “The Restrictive Syntax of Genesis i 1.” Vetus Testamentum 58: 56–67. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853308X246333
Holmstedt, Robert D. 2009. “Word Order and Information Structure in Ruth and Jonah: A Generative-Typological Analysis.” Journal of Semitic Studies 54 (1): 111–39. https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgn042
Holmstedt, Robert D. 2014. “Constituents at the Edge in Biblical Hebrew.” Kleine Untersuchungen zur Sprache des Alten Testamentsund seiner Umwelt 17: 109–56.
Holmstedt, Robert D. 2016. The Relative Clause in Biblical Hebrew. Linguistic Studies in Ancient West Semitic 10. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781575064208
Holmstedt, Robert D. 2019. “The Syntax of Poetry in Biblical Hebrew: ‘Parallelism’, requiescat in pace.” Vetus Testamentum 69 (4): 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-12341379
Holmstedt, Robert D. 2020. “Parenthesis in Biblical Hebrew as Noncoordinative Nonsubordination.” Brill’s Journal of Asiatic Languages and Linguistics 12: 99–118. https://doi.org/10.1163/18776930-01201003
Kautzsch, Emil. 1910. Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar. Trans. A. E. Cowley. 2nd Eng. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Kerr, Robert M. 2013. “Once Upon a Time. Gn 1:1 Reconsidered: Some Remarks on an Incipit Problem.” Kleine Untersuchungen zurSprache des Alten Testamentsund seiner Umwelt 15: 33–47.
Poythress, Vern S. 2017. “Genesis 1:1 is the First Even, Not a Summary.” Westminster Theological Journal 79: 97–121.
Smith, Mark. S. 2010. The Priestly Vision of Genesis 1. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1hqdhc8
Strawn, Brent A. 2022. “bĕ-rēšît, ‘With ‘Wisdom,’ in Genesis 1.1 (MT).” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 46 (3): 358–87. https://doi.org/10.1177/03090892211032244
Van Wolde, Ellen J. 2009. “Why the Verb ברא Does Not Mean ‘to Create’ in Genesis 1.1-2.4a.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 34 (1): 3–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309089209348155
Waltke, Bruce K., and M. O’Connor. 1990. An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
Walton, John H. 2009. The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Whitefield, Rodney. 2013. “Genesis 1:1 and the Revised Translation ‘When God began to create ....’” Accessed August 7, 2019. http://www.creationingenesis.com/Genesis_1__1_and_the_Revised_Translation_When_God_began_to_create.pdf.
Wilson, Daniel J. 2019. “Wayhî and Theticity in Biblical Hebrew.” Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 45 (1): 89–118.
Wilson, Josh. 2018a. “Linguistic Traits of Hebrew Relator Nouns and Their Implications for Translating Genesis 1:1.” Answers Research Journal 11: 1–21. https://assets.answersingenesis.org/doc/articles/pdf-versions/arj/v11/hebrew_relator_ nouns.pdf.
Wilson, Josh. 2018b. “Syntactical Features of Hebrew Genitive Clauses and Their Implications for Translating Genesis 1:1.” Answers Research Journal 11: 341–58. Accessed August 10, 2019. https://assets.answersingenesis.org/doc/articles/pdf-versions/arj/v11/hebrew_genesis_1_1.pdf.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Unisa PressAccepted 2022-11-08
Published 2023-02-17
