Genesis 1:2 BSB — MannaFest

Genesis 1:2

Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

KJV

And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

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Commentary

2 voices

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

The earth was without form and void - The original term תהו tohu and בהו bohu, which we translate without form and void, are of uncertain etymology; but in this place, and wherever else they are used, they convey the idea of confusion and disorder. From these terms it is probable that the ancient Syrians and Egyptians borrowed their gods, Theuth and Bau, and the Greeks their Chaos.

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 660: “Light—Natural And Spiritual” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1865)

THIS is, no doubt, a literal and accurate account of God's first day's work in the creation of the world, but the first creation is not the subject of this morning's discourse—we would rather direct your minds to the second creation of God. Every man who is saved by Divine Grace is a new creation. The great work which Jesus Christ is accomplishing in the world, by the Holy Spirit through the Word, is the making all things new. We believe the old creation to have been typical of the new and we shall so use it.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

14 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וְהָאָ֗רֶץ	ve.ha.'A.retz	and the earth	H776 →
הָיְתָ֥ה	ha.ye.Tah	<it> was	H1961 →
תֹ֙הוּ֙	to.hu	formlessness	H8414 →
וָבֹ֔הוּ	va.Vo.hu	and emptiness	H922 →
וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ	ve.Cho.shekh	and darkness	H2822 →
עַל־	'al-	[was] over	H5921 →
פְּנֵ֣י	pe.Nei	[the] surface of	H6440 →
תְה֑וֹם	te.Hom	[the] deep	H8415 →
וְר֣וּחַ	ve.Ru.ach	and [the] spirit of	H7307 →
אֱלֹהִ֔ים	'E.lo.Him	God	H430 →
מְרַחֶ֖פֶת	me.ra.Che.fet	[was] hovering	H7363 →
עַל־	'al-	over	H5921 →
פְּנֵ֥י	pe.Nei	[the] surface of	H6440 →
הַמָּֽיִם׃	ha.Ma.yim	the waters	H4325 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Psalms 33:6
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.
leads to
- Job 33:4
  The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Hebrews 11:3
  By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
Through
Jeremiah 4:23
I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light.
leads to
- Matthew 24:29
  Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will…
- Mark 13:24–25
  But in those days, after that tribulation: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;
- Isaiah 13:10
  For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.
- Joel 3:15–16
  The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine.
- Luke 21:25–26
  There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among the nations, bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the surging of the waves.
Through
Isaiah 45:18
For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens—He is God; He formed the earth and fashioned it; He established it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be…
leads to
- Isaiah 42:5
  This is what God the LORD says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to…
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.

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