Tuesday 4 February 2020

English translation of Genesis 1 and 2

Below is my translation of Genesis 1 and 2. It is quite a literal translation with an attempt to use the same word when the construct is the same, or within a sentence of phrase where the word repetition is obvious in the Hebrew.

It is based on the LEB and ESV, with aspects of NASB, NIV, and occasionally the Greek Old Testament (LES). It follows the Hebrew text rather than the Greek text. I do not speak Hebrew or Greek so have attempted to ensure that my translation is in line with the above translations.

Word order follows English usage; Hebrew may place the verb before the subject, or the adjective after the noun. Although I have tried to match longer phrases to the Hebrew word order. I have not attempted to include the definite article every time, though I have tended to use "the" rather than "a" if an article is needed and the definite article is present in the Hebrew. I have tried to maintain consistent singulars and plurals in the nouns as much is possible given the constraints of English phraseology. "You" is second person singular and "you*" is second person plural.

I have used the word "flyer" as the Hebrew encompasses winged creatures, not just birds.

Paragraphing is based on previous posts identifying the parallels between Genesis 1 and 2.
I think structure is of use; during this process I noticed a parallelism on the seventh day which I have not seen mentioned previously (though it may be noted in commentaries). This is formatted as poetry.


Genesis

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
    And God said, “Let there be light!” And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God separated between the light and between the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
     And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate between the waters and the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated between the waters which were under the expanse and between the waters which were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse the Heavens. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
     And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered to one place, and let the dry ground appear.” And it was so. And God called the dry ground Earth, and the gathered waters he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, fruit trees producing fruit—according to their kind–with their seed in them, on the earth.” And it was so. And the earth brought forth vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kind, and trees bearing fruit with their seed in them, according to their kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
     And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate between the day and between the night. And let them be for signs, and for times, and for days and years, and let them be as lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth.” And it was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the smaller light to rule the night, and the stars. And God put them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth and to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate between the light and between the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
     And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let flyers fly above the earth above the face of the expanse of the heavens. And God created the great dragons and every living creature that moves with which the waters swarm, according to their kind, and all winged flyers according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the flyers multiply on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.
     And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kind: livestock and moving things, and creatures of the earth according to its kind.” And it was so. And God made creatures of the earth according to its kind and the livestock according to its kind, and every moving thing on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the flyers of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every moving thing that moves on the earth.”
And God created man in his image,
in the image of God he created him,
male and female he created them.
    And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and the flyers of the heavens, and over everything that moves on the earth.”
     And God said, “Look, I have given to you* every plant that yields seed which is on the face of the whole earth, and every tree that yields seed in its fruit. You* shall have them for food.” And to every creature of the earth and to every flyer of the heavens, and to everything that moves on the earth—that which has the breath of life—every green plant as food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.
     And the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them.
And God finished on the seventh day his work that he had done.
And he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
And God blessed the seventh day and he sanctified it, because on it he rested from all his work of creating that God had to do.
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
     In that day Yahweh God made earth and heaven. And every bush of the field was not yet on the earth and every herb of the field had not yet sprung up, because Yahweh God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. And a mist would rise from the earth and water the whole face of the ground.
     And Yahweh God formed the man of dust from the ground, and he blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
     And Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.
     And Yahweh God caused to spring up from the ground every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food. And the tree of life was in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And a river flowed out from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four headwaters. The name of the first is Pishon. It encompasses the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stones are there. And the name of the second river is Gihon. It encompasses the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel. It flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. And Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it.
     And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “From every tree of the garden you may freely eat. And from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you shall certainly die.”
     And Yahweh God said, “It is not good that the man is alone. I will make for him a helper corresponding to him.”
     And Yahweh God formed out of the ground every creature of the field and every flyer of the heavens, and he brought each to the man to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called the living creature, that was its name. And the man gave names to all the livestock and to the flyers of the heavens and to all the creatures of the field. And for the man there was not found a helper corresponding to him. And Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place. And Yahweh God built the rib, which he had taken from the man, into a woman and brought her to the man. And the man said, “This one this time.
“bone from my bones
and flesh from my flesh;
she shall be called ‘Woman,’
because from man she was taken.”
    Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cling to his wife, and they shall be as one flesh.
    And both of them were naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.

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