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Course 5 · Lesson 7.3

A worked example from the Old Testament

12 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 5 outline

Module 1: What the Languages Are and What This Course Can Do

  1. The languages of the Bible: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek
  2. What an introduction can and cannot do: no fluency, and why
  3. Biblical Hebrew in brief: history, script and sound
  4. Koine Greek in brief: history, script and sound

Module 2: Hebrew Fundamentals

  1. The Hebrew alphabet, reading right to left, and the vowel points
  2. Roots, nouns, gender, number and the construct chain
  3. Hebrew verbs: perfect, imperfect and the seven stems in outline
  4. A core Hebrew vocabulary and how to learn it

Module 3: Greek Fundamentals

  1. The Greek alphabet, accents and breathing marks
  2. Nouns, cases and the definite article
  3. Greek verbs: tense, aspect, voice and mood in outline
  4. A core Greek vocabulary and how to learn it

Module 4: The Texts: Masoretic, Septuagint and New Testament Manuscripts

  1. The Masoretic Text and the codices that preserve it
  2. The Septuagint and where translators consult it
  3. Greek New Testament manuscripts and printed editions
  4. How variants are recorded in footnotes and critical editions

Module 5: How Translations Are Made

  1. Formal and dynamic equivalence, and the middle positions
  2. Who translates: committees, churches and traditions of translation
  3. Hard cases: idioms, word play, gender and untranslatable words
  4. Reading a translation’s preface to learn its principles

Module 6: Tools for the Reader

  1. Interlinear Bibles: what they show and what they hide
  2. Lexicons and concordances: how to read an entry
  3. How to do a word study, step by step
  4. Common word study errors and how to avoid them

Module 7: Evaluating Translation Differences

  1. Locating the Hebrew or Greek words behind a verse
  2. Types of translation differences: text, grammar, word meaning and style
  3. A worked example from the Old Testament
  4. A worked example from the New Testament
  5. Knowing your limits, and when to ask a specialist

All courses

Program / Course 5: Biblical Languages / Lesson 7.3

What you will learn

  • Apply the procedure of the module to one Old Testament verse, Genesis 1:1.
  • Locate the Hebrew words, sort the differences by type and state the main arguments for each reading.
  • Describe how the translations and traditions have handled the verse.
  • Write a conclusion that says what can be known without Hebrew and what cannot.

The big idea

Genesis 1:1 is a short verse with a well known difference between translations. Most render it as a complete sentence, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Others render it as a subordinate clause, When God began to create the heavens and the earth. The difference is mainly one of grammar, and it touches the question of how the verse relates to later teaching about creation. This lesson works through the verse step by step as a model, with the claims kept modest.

Key terms

Absolute state
The ordinary form of a Hebrew noun when it is not linked to a following noun.
Construct state
A form that links a noun to the word that follows, giving a sense like of.
Subordinate clause
A clause that depends on another clause, such as when God began.
Relative clause
A clause that describes a noun, such as the beginning that God created.
Creation from nothing
The teaching, often called by its Latin name creatio ex nihilo, that God made the world without pre existing matter.
Accent
In the Masoretic Text, a sign that marks the stress of a word and also its place in the structure of the sentence.

Background

The verse is among the most famous in the Bible and among the most discussed in the history of interpretation. Its Hebrew is short: seven words. Almost every word has been the subject of comment. This lesson takes only one question, the grammar of the first word, bereshit, and shows how a student uses the tools of this course to understand a dispute without claiming to settle it.

The point of a worked example is the method. The student follows the steps: locate the words, check the text, sort the differences, consider the evidence and write a limited conclusion. The same steps could be applied to any verse. The next lesson does the same for a New Testament passage.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Locate the words and the text

The Masoretic Text reads bereshit bara elohim et hashamayim ve et ha aretz. An interlinear gives: in beginning, created, God, object marker, the heavens, and object marker, the earth. The verb bara, created, is a perfect form of a verb used in the Old Testament with God as its subject. The word bereshit consists of the preposition be, in, and the noun reshit, beginning. There is no article before reshit, and the word is not followed by another noun.

On the text, there is no significant variant. The Septuagint reads en arche epoiesen ho theos, in the beginning God made, treating the first word as an independent opening, and the Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient versions agree in the main. The difference between translations does not come from a difference in the text.

Step 2: Compare the translations

The King James Version reads In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Most older and many modern translations read in the same way. The New Jewish Publication Society translation reads When God began to create heaven and earth, and then continues with the earth being unformed. The New Revised Standard Version also uses a clause, In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, and gives the alternative in a note. Some modern translations print one reading in the text and the other in a footnote.

The student sorts the difference. It is not a textual difference, because the manuscripts agree. It is not mainly a difference of word meaning, though creation is a rich word. It is a difference of grammar: is bereshit an absolute noun, giving a sentence on its own, or in construct with the following verb, giving a clause that depends on what follows?

Step 3: The arguments

For the sentence reading, the traditional one, there are these points. The ancient versions, including the Septuagint, the Latin and the Aramaic Targums, read the first word as the opening of an independent sentence. The Masoretic accent under the first word marks a pause, which fits a complete first clause. The word reshit is used elsewhere without the article as an absolute noun, as in Isaiah 46:10, which speaks of the end from the beginning. A sentence reading also fits the style of a solemn opening.

For the clause reading, the arguments are these. The word reshit is in a form that is often found in construct, and a construct would explain the lack of an article. The medieval Jewish commentator Rashi read the verse as In the beginning of God’s creating, and took it to introduce the following verses. Some scholars compare the opening of other ancient creation stories in the Near East, which begin with a when clause. Those who hold this reading note that the Masoretic vowels would then need some adjustment or an unusual construction, because the verb bara is pointed as a finite form and not as the infinitive that a construct would normally govern. This is one reason the matter is still discussed.

Step 4: Consider what depends on it

Some have thought that the clause reading would undermine the teaching that God made the world from nothing, since it could suggest that unformed matter existed when God began to create. Others reply that the teaching does not rest on this verse alone. In the Christian tradition it is often supported by other passages, such as 2 Maccabees 7:28, which Catholic and Orthodox Christians receive as Scripture, and Hebrews 11:3, and by the reasoning of the fathers. Many Protestant theologians hold the same teaching on the basis of Scripture as a whole. Within Jewish tradition, views of this question have varied, and many Jewish thinkers have affirmed creation from nothing on other grounds.

So the grammatical question is real, but the doctrine is not decided by it alone. A student who sees this can discuss the verse calmly. People on both sides of the grammatical question may hold the same doctrine, and people on the same side may differ.

Step 5: Write a conclusion with limits

A sound conclusion, written in the student’s own words, might read: The difference between In the beginning God created and When God began to create is a difference of grammar and not of text. The Hebrew form permits both. The ancient versions and the weight of tradition favor the sentence reading; some modern scholars and a respected medieval commentator favor the clause reading. The writer cannot judge between them without reading Hebrew and the technical literature, and would ask a specialist. For the doctrine of creation, the verse is one witness among several.

  1. Do the translations follow the same Hebrew text?
  2. Which of the four types of difference is this one?
  3. What are the strongest arguments for each reading?
  4. What does the Septuagint show about how early readers took it?
  5. What depends on the difference, and what does not?
  6. What would a specialist be able to tell me that I cannot tell?

Examples

Two renderings side by side

A student places In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth beside When God began to create heaven and earth. The student notes that the first is a complete sentence and the second begins a longer one. A footnote in some Bibles gives the alternative.

The verse in John

The Gospel of John opens with the words In the beginning, which echo Genesis 1:1 in Greek. A student can see that the Septuagint’s en arche is the model, and that the early church read the opening of Genesis as an independent statement.

A note in a modern Bible

A modern translation prints the sentence reading in the text and puts the other in a footnote with the words Or, When God began to create. The footnote tells the reader that the grammar allows both.

Different perspectives

Catholic

The Catholic tradition reads Genesis 1:1 as the first affirmation that God is the creator of all, and the Church’s teaching on creation from nothing was set out in councils and in the Catechism. Catholic translations commonly use the sentence reading, with notes.

Orthodox

Orthodox tradition reads the Septuagint’s In the beginning God made, and the Greek fathers drew from it the teaching of creation from nothing. The book of Genesis is read in the Orthodox services of Lent.

Protestant

Protestants have mostly followed the sentence reading and read the verse as an affirmation of God’s creation of all things. A number of modern Protestant commentators discuss the clause reading and some accept it, while holding the same doctrine on other grounds.

Jewish

Jewish tradition includes both readings. Rashi favored the clause reading, while other medieval commentators defended the sentence reading. Jewish thinkers such as Maimonides discussed creation from nothing as a matter of reasoning and belief beyond the grammar of one verse.

Scholarly

Scholars are divided. Many hold that the sentence reading is better supported by the ancient versions and the pointing. Others hold that the clause reading is grammatically stronger. Most agree that the verse does not by itself decide the question of creation from nothing.

Why it matters

A single verse can show how the tools of this course work together and where they stop. The student sees a real dispute, learns the arguments and learns to hold a conclusion with care. The same pattern will be needed whenever translations differ on a verse of importance.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Translations that read When God began are denying creation.

Correction: They are taking a grammatical position. Many who hold it affirm the doctrine of creation on other grounds.

Misunderstanding: The Hebrew clearly says In the beginning God created, and the other reading is a modern invention.

Correction: The clause reading goes back to medieval Jewish commentary. Both readings have a history and defenders.

Misunderstanding: The plural form Elohim shows that Genesis 1:1 teaches the Trinity.

Correction: The word has a plural form but takes a singular verb for the God of Israel. Christian and Jewish interpreters explain this in different ways. The form alone does not settle a doctrine.

Misunderstanding: If experts disagree, nothing can be known about the verse.

Correction: Much is known: the text is secure, the words are clear and the dispute is narrow. Knowing exactly what is disputed is itself knowledge.

Knowledge check

What is the difference in grammar behind the two readings of Genesis 1:1?

The first word, bereshit, may be an absolute noun, giving a complete sentence, In the beginning God created. Or it may be in construct with the following verb, giving a clause, When God began to create. The Hebrew words are the same in both. The difference is how they are related.

Is the difference a textual difference? Why or why not?

No. The manuscripts and ancient versions agree on the words. The difference arises from the grammar of the first word and the clause that follows it. A student can check this in the apparatus of a critical edition and in footnotes, which do not list a variant.

Give one argument for each reading.

For the sentence reading, the ancient versions including the Septuagint take the verse as a complete sentence, and the Masoretic accent marks a pause after the first word. For the clause reading, reshit is often found in construct, and Rashi read the verse that way. Each argument has replies.

Does the grammar of the verse decide the doctrine of creation from nothing?

No. Christians support the doctrine from other passages, such as Hebrews 11:3 and, for Catholic and Orthodox Christians, 2 Maccabees 7:28, and from the reasoning of the fathers. Some Jewish thinkers hold the doctrine on other grounds. The verse is one witness, and the doctrine does not stand or fall on its grammar.

Think it through

  1. What do you gain by knowing the exact point at which two translations disagree?
  2. How can a reader hold a doctrine and still treat a grammatical question openly?
  3. What difference does it make that the dispute goes back to medieval commentators?
  4. Which part of the procedure would you most like to practice?

Independent assignment

Your own worked example

In your own notebook, write 600 to 900 words. Choose a different Old Testament verse where translations differ, such as Exodus 3:14, Proverbs 8:22 or Psalm 22:16. Follow the five steps of this lesson: locate the words and the text, compare at least four translations, sort the differences by type, state the strongest arguments for each reading as their defenders would, and write a conclusion with a statement of limits. Do not send this to anyone.

Further study