Online Bible Home The Bible Link Exchange
Login
1 At the first online bible study online bible explanation 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 online bible study online bible explanation was moving on the face of the waters. 3 And online bible study online bible explanation said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And online bible study online bible explanation, looking on the light, saw that it was good: and online bible study online bible explanation made a division between the light and the dark, 5 Naming the light, Day, and the dark, Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 6 And online bible study online bible explanation said, Let there be a solid arch stretching over the waters, parting the waters from the waters. 7 And online bible study online bible explanation made the arch for a division between the waters which were under the arch and those which were over it: and it was so. 8 And online bible study online bible explanation gave the arch the name of Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. 9 And online bible study online bible explanation said, Let the waters under the heaven come together in one place, and let the dry land be seen: and it was so. 10 And online bible study online bible explanation gave the dry land the name of Earth; and the waters together in their place were named Seas: and online bible study online bible explanation saw that it was good. 11 And online bible study online bible explanation said, Let grass come up on the earth, and plants producing seed, and fruit-trees giving fruit, in which is their seed, after their sort: and it was so. 12 And grass came up on the earth, and every plant producing seed of its sort, and every tree producing fruit, in which is its seed, of its sort: and online bible study online bible explanation saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. 14 And online bible study online bible explanation said, Let there be lights in the arch of heaven, for a division between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for marking the changes of the year, and for days and for years: 15 And let them be for lights in the arch of heaven to give light on the earth: and it was so. 16 And online bible study online bible explanation 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. 17 And online bible study online bible explanation put them in the arch of heaven, to give light on the earth; 18 To have rule over the day and the night, and for a division between the light and the dark: and online bible study online bible explanation saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. 20 And online bible study online bible explanation said, Let the waters be full of living things, and let birds be in flight over the earth under the arch of heaven. 21 And online bible study online bible explanation 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 online bible study online bible explanation saw that it was good. 22 And online bible study online bible explanation gave them his blessing, saying, Be fertile and have increase, making all the waters of the seas full, and let the birds be increased in the earth. 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. 24 And online bible study online bible explanation said, Let the earth give birth to all sorts of living things, cattle and all things moving on the earth, and beasts of the earth after their sort: and it was so. 25 And online bible study online bible explanation made the beast of the earth after its sort, and the cattle after their sort, and everything moving on the face of the earth after its sort:
Online Bible Search
By Chapter
By Content

Genesis 1 (48 Explanations)Add to list
1 Chapters
Genesis 1 [ Maximize]
[Bookmark link]

1 No princípio criou Deus os céus e a terra. 2 A terra era sem forma e vazia; e havia trevas sobre a face do abismo, mas o Espírito de Deus pairava sobre a face das águas. 3 Disse Deus: haja luz. E houve luz. 4 Viu Deus que a luz era boa; e fez separação entre a luz e as trevas. 5 E Deus chamou à luz dia, e às trevas noite. E foi a tarde e a manhã, o dia primeiro. 6 E disse Deus: haja um firmamento no meio das águas, e haja separação entre águas e águas. 7 Fez, pois, Deus o firmamento, e separou as águas que estavam debaixo do firmamento das que estavam por cima do firmamento. E assim foi. 8 Chamou Deus ao firmamento céu. E foi a tarde e a manhã, o dia segundo. 9 E disse Deus: Ajuntem-se num só lugar as águas que estão debaixo do céu, e apareça o elemento seco. E assim foi. 10 Chamou Deus ao elemento seco terra, e ao ajuntamento das águas mares. E viu Deus que isso era bom. 11 E disse Deus: Produza a terra relva, ervas que dêem semente, e árvores frutíferas que, segundo as suas espécies, dêem fruto que tenha em si a sua semente, sobre a terra. E assim foi. 12 A terra, pois, produziu relva, ervas que davam semente segundo as suas espécies, e árvores que davam fruto que tinha em si a sua semente, segundo as suas espécies. E viu Deus que isso era bom. 13 E foi a tarde e a manhã, o dia terceiro. 14 E disse Deus: haja luminares no firmamento do céu, para fazerem separação entre o dia e a noite; sejam eles para sinais e para estações, e para dias e anos; 15 e sirvam de luminares no firmamento do céu, para alumiar a terra. E assim foi. 16 Deus, pois, fez os dois grandes luminares: o luminar maior para governar o dia, e o luminar menor para governar a noite; fez também as estrelas. 17 E Deus os pôs no firmamento do céu para alumiar a terra, 18 para governar o dia e a noite, e para fazer separação entre a luz e as trevas. E viu Deus que isso era bom. 19 E foi a tarde e a manhã, o dia quarto. 20 E disse Deus: Produzam as águas cardumes de seres viventes; e voem as aves acima da terra no firmamento do céu. 21 Criou, pois, Deus os monstros marinhos, e todos os seres viventes que se arrastavam, os quais as águas produziram abundantemente segundo as suas espécies; e toda ave que voa, segundo a sua espécie. E viu Deus que isso era bom. 22 Então Deus os abençoou, dizendo: Frutificai e multiplicai-vos, e enchei as águas dos mares; e multipliquem-se as aves sobre a terra. 23 E foi a tarde e a manhã, o dia quinto. 24 E disse Deus: Produza a terra seres viventes segundo as suas espécies: animais domésticos, répteis, e animais selvagens segundo as suas espécies. E assim foi. 25 Deus, pois, fez os animais selvagens segundo as suas espécies, e os animais domésticos segundo as suas espécies, e todos os répteis da terra segundo as suas espécies. E viu Deus que isso era bom. 26 E disse Deus: Façamos o homem à nossa imagem, conforme a nossa semelhança; domine ele sobre os peixes do mar, sobre as aves do céu, sobre os animais domésticos, e sobre toda a terra, e sobre todo réptil que se arrasta sobre a terra. 27 Criou, pois, Deus o homem à sua imagem; à imagem de Deus o criou; homem e mulher os criou. 28 Então Deus os abençoou e lhes disse: Frutificai e multiplicai-vos; enchei a terra e sujeitai-a; dominai sobre os peixes do mar, sobre as aves do céu e sobre todos os animais que se arrastam sobre a terra. 29 Disse-lhes mais: Eis que vos tenho dado todas as ervas que produzem semente, as quais se acham sobre a face de toda a terra, bem como todas as árvores em que há fruto que dê semente; ser-vos-ão para mantimento. 30 E a todos os animais da terra, a todas as aves do céu e a todo ser vivente que se arrasta sobre a terra, tenho dado todas as ervas verdes como mantimento. E assim foi. 31 E viu Deus tudo quanto fizera, e eis que era muito bom. E foi a tarde e a manhã, o dia sexto.

Genesis 2
Next
Genesis 1: 31
Genesis 1: 29
Genesis 1: 29
Genesis 1: 28
Genesis 1: 26
Genesis 1: 28
Genesis 1: 26
Genesis 1: 26
Genesis 1: 26
Genesis 1: 24
Genesis 1: 22
Genesis 1: 24
Genesis 1: 21
Genesis 1: 20
Genesis 1: 20
Genesis 1: 20
Genesis 1: 16
Genesis 1: 16
Genesis 1: 14
Genesis 1: 14
Genesis 1: 14
Genesis 1: 14
Genesis 1: 11
Genesis 1: 12
Genesis 1: 11
Genesis 1: 9
Genesis 1: 9
Genesis 1: 8
Genesis 1: 6
Genesis 1: 7
Genesis 1: 6
Genesis 1: 4
Genesis 1: 5
Genesis 1: 3
Genesis 1: 3
Genesis 1: 3
Genesis 1: 2
Genesis 1: 2
Genesis 1: 2
Genesis 1: 1
Genesis 1: 1
Genesis 1: 1
Explanation [Maximize]

Literary Approach to Genesis One

By Michael Sacasas - Sep 27, 2009 10:35 PM

Warning

The article you are about to read has not been validated. This site cannot guarantee the accuracy or the validity of its content. This is the internet after all and the articles could be written by anyone. Please read it only as a source of reference and consider it only as someone else's opinion.

I understand. Let me read it.

The first step in evaluating a text from a literary perspective is to determine what genre best describes the text. To decide what genre a text belongs to, simply ask what kind of writing it is. For example is it fiction or non-fiction? Is it history or mystery? Is it romance or comedy? The kind of genre will help us determine what to expect from the text. For example, we have different expectations when we read a newspaper than when we read a novel.

Some have suggested that Genesis one is myth. This statement is true, if by myth one means a class of metaphysical writing intended to address questions of origin and meaning. But the classification does not fit if one means a class of fanciful writing that is necessarily untrue in any sense. Some have suggested that Genesis one is a hymn. Yet the chapter lacks the typical elements of Hebrew poetry, specifically parallelism between lines. Is Genesis one history? Not by the standards of today’s academic historical writing. But certainly a historical event, the beginning of the universe, is being described. Is it science? Recall our discussion in the last lesson. The language, subject matter, purpose and standards of Genesis one are not those of the scientific disciplines. Is it theology? Yes, but not if one defines theology as dry, abstract propositions about God. So how best do we class Genesis one? One author (Waltke) has suggested that Genesis one is an

'artistic, literary representation of creation.'

So what are the implications of this classification? We must temper our expectations of the text in keeping with its genre, being careful not to expect what the genre does not promise (scientific information), nor missing what it intends to communicate (the nature of God, man, etc.).

Genesis one also employs certain literary devices to shape its account of creation. Certain recurring formulas appear throughout the chapter:

  1. announcement: 'And God said ...'
  2. command: 'Let there be ...'
  3. fulfillment: 'And it was so ...'
  4. execution: 'And God made ...'
  5. approval: 'God saw that it was good ...'
  6. naming/blessing: 'God called/God blessed ...'
  7. chronological frame: 'a second day ...'

These formulas occur regularly and organize the account. Not coincidentally, there are seven each of formulas 3 — 7. ‘Seven’ in various places in the Hebrew Bible carries the symbolic weight of completion or perfection.

Interestingly there is a correspondence among the days of creation as described in Genesis one. The first set of three days correspond to the second set with the seventh day set off by itself. The days one and four, two and five, three and six are paired. It seems clear that there is some connection between what is made in those pairs of days. For example, light appears in first day and the light giving celestial bodies in the third. The correspondence can be described as that between habitat and inhabitants or realms and regents. The first set of three days also may be seen as God ordering the environments and the second set as God filling the ordered environments.

This careful organization of the days is quite obviously a literary construction meant to give an imaginative order to God’s work of creation. However, as explained earlier, we should not read the account as a careful scientific explanation of the origins of the universe. It is unlikely that even in the pre-scientific age readers missed the incongruity of having light without sun, moon and stars!


Comments

jttilley - Oct 13, 2009 8:09 AM

Genesis 1 could very easily be a true explanation of the creation, and the order in which God created things in 6 days. Michael Sacasas has made a big assumption which he gives as a strong reason for categorizing Genesis 1 as an “artistic, literary representation of creation” rather then a brief explanation of the actual creation. The assumption is that there could not have been light without the sun, moon and stars as its source. This is contrary to the bible and therefore a false assumption.

In Paul’s account of his conversion with Jesus on the road to Damascus he says in Acts 22:6, "And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.” The light did not come from the sun, moon, or stars but from the 3rd heaven, as Paul later refers to it, where it is believed that he admits visiting in 2 Corinthians 12:2, and where God has made his throne (Isaiah 66:1).

In Revelations 21:23 in the description of the new Jerusalem it says, “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” Clearly it is reasonable to assume that God is the source of light spoken of on day 1.

Also in Genesis 1:4 it says that ”…God divided the light from the darkness.” Why would this need to be specified if the light came from a source like the sun? God is infinite and there is nowhere that God is not, so it is easy to see how if God is the source that after creating light there would be no darkness until he separated the light from the darkness. So in the 1st day God created light, in the 4th day he created sources of light apart from Himself. There is no need to write off Genesis 1 off as “a class of metaphysical writing intended to address questions of origin and meaning,” or as “an artistic, literary representation of creation.”



Add a comment
and internet biblical study internet biblical explanation saw that it was good. 26 And internet biblical study internet biblical explanation 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. 27 And internet biblical study internet biblical explanation made man in his image, in the image of internet biblical study internet biblical explanation he made him: male and female he made them. 28 And internet biblical study internet biblical explanation gave them his blessing and said to them, Be fertile and have increase, and make the earth full and be masters of it; be rulers over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing moving on the earth. 29 And internet biblical study internet biblical explanation said, See, I have given you every plant producing seed, on the face of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit producing seed: they will be for your food: 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and every living thing moving on the face of the earth I have given every green plant for food: and it was so. 31 And online bible study online bible explanation saw everything which he had made and it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Powered by Seam 2.2.2.Final and RichFaces. Generated by seam-gen.

English español Deutsch français 中文 中文 (中国) 日本語 한국어 Nederlands italiano português русский العربية català Tagalog Tiếng Việt українська Persian ไทย Türkçe Bahasa Melayu עברית български Ελληνικά