Genesis 2:1
in Genesis 2Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
KJV
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
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This verse in Genesis 2
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
No permanent change has ever since been made in the course of the world, no new species of animals been formed, no law of nature repealed or added to. They could have been finished in a moment as well as in six days, but the work of creation was gradual for the instruction of man, as well, perhaps, as of higher creatures (Job 38:7).
This site's exposition
the heavens and the earth were completed
on Genesis 2:1-3
The heavens and the earth were completed, and God finished His work by the seventh day and rested. The seventh day alone is left open at its end, and Hebrews 4:9 reads that as a rest still held out to God's people. God blessed and sanctified the day, so the first thing set apart in Scripture is a piece of time. Exodus 20:11 grounds the Sabbath on these verses.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
From what toil did God rest? For the creatures that came to be on the first day came to be by implication, except for the light, which came through his word.
You see, in saying at this point that God rested from his works, Scripture teaches us that he ceased creating and bringing from nonbeing into being on the seventh day, whereas Christ, in saying that "my father is at work up until now and I am at work," reveals his unceasing care for us: he calls "work" the maintenance of created things, bestowal of permanence on them and governance of them through all time. If this wasn't so, after all, how would everything have subsisted, without the guiding hand above directing all visible things and the human race as well?
The Medieval Church2 voices
In recapitulating the Divine works, Scripture says (Genesis 2:1): "So the heavens and the earth were finished and all the furniture of them"
Under the law the people were ordered to work for six days and to rest on the seventh … because the Lord completed the creation of the world in six days and desisted from his work on the seventh.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The creatures made both in heaven and earth are the hosts or armies of them, which denotes them to be numerous, but marshalled, disciplined, and under command. How great is the sum of them!
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
And all the host of them - The word host signifies literally an army, composed of a number of companies of soldiers under their respective leaders; and seems here elegantly applied to the various celestial bodies in our system, placed by the Divine wisdom under the influence of the sun. From the original word צבא tsaba, a host, some suppose the Sabeans had their name, because of their paying Divine honors to the heavenly bodies. From the Septuagint version of this place, πας ὁ κοσμος αυτων, all their ornaments, we learn the true meaning of the word κοσμος, commonly translated world, which signifies a decorated or adorned whole or system. And this refers to the beautiful order, harmony, and regularity which subsist among the various parts of creation. This translation must impress the reader with a very favorable opinion of these ancient Greek translators; had they not examined the works of God with a philosophic eye, they never could have given this turn to the original.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
- The Seventh Day 1. צבא tsābā' “a host in marching order,” a company of persons or things in the order of their nature and the progressive discharge of their functions. Hence, it is applied to the starry host Deu 4:19, to the angelic host 1Ki 22:19, to the host of Israel Exo 12:41, and to the ministering Levites Num 4:23. κόσμος kosmos. 2. חשׁביעי chashebı̂y‛ı̂y. Here השׁשׁי hashshı̂y is read by the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint, the Syriac, and Josephus.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
“The host of the earth” are those which have been mentioned: beasts, creeping things, fish, and all growing things, and also man.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְכֻלּ֛וּ | vaykhulu | and they were completed | H3615 → | 208 times |
| הַשָּׁמַ֥יִם | hashamayim | the heavens | H8064 → | 421 times |
| וְהָאָ֖רֶץ | vehaaretz | and the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| וְכָל־ | vekhol | and all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| צְבָאָֽם׃ | tzevaam | host their | H6635 → | 485 times |
וַיְכֻלּ֛וּand they were completed
vaykhuluH3615 →208 times
הַשָּׁמַ֥יִםthe heavens
hashamayimH8064 →421 times
וְהָאָ֖רֶץand the earth
vehaaretzH776 →2504 times
וְכָל־and all
vekholH3605 →5413 times
צְבָאָֽם׃host their
tzevaamH6635 →485 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 1:1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
it leads to
- 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.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- John 1:1–3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
- 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…
- Revelation 4:11
“Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things; by Your will they exist and came to be.”
- Hebrews 1:10
And: “In the beginning, O Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
- Hebrews 11:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies16
On this chapter
About Genesis
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Homilies on the Gospels 2.17; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 1.32-33; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 10.18; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary (church-history corpus).