Creation – Day Three
A new translation of Gen 1:9-13
After … um … slightly more than two months (!), we’ve finished our discussion of the first two days of creation, as recounted in the first 8 verses of the Bible. Here’s my translation of the next 5 verses, telling the story of the third day of creation, that we’ll be using for the next series of posts.
I’ll remind you that I’m not claiming my translation is better than other translations; I’m trying to achieve three things by making a new translation:
to study the text carefully and see whether I understand it well enough to translate it
to make details of the Hebrew text as clear as I can in English
to get myself, and therefore you, to look at the text with fresh eyes.
I’m doing all this with the perhaps unfashionable aim of trying to let the long-dead human author of these words have his say now in the 21st century. In the Babylonian Talmud there is a famous statement about what this kind of thing achieves:
When a statement is made in the name of a departed scholar, his lips move in the grave. [Yevamot 97a]
We cannot name the original writer of these words, but we can keep his voice fresh.
Here’s the translation we’ll be working with:
9 God thought, Let the water that is under the sky gather into one place so that the dry land can be seen. And it was so. 10 God named the dry land Earth, and the gathering of water he named Seas. God saw that it was good. 11 God thought, Let the earth sprout greenery, plants producing seed, fruit trees making fruit of their species with their own seeds in them, on the earth. And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth greenery, plants producing seed of their own species, fruit trees making fruit of their own species with their own seeds in them. And God saw that it was good. 13 There was an evening and then a morning, a third day.
And here it is once more, verse by verse, with the Hebrew text and recordings of it by me:
9 God thought, Let the water that is under the sky gather into one place so that the dry land can be seen. And it was so.
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים יִקָּו֨וּ הַמַּ֜יִם מִתַּ֤חַת הַשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ אֶל־מָק֣וֹם אֶחָ֔ד וְתֵרָאֶ֖ה הַיַּבָּשָׁ֑ה וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃
10 God named the dry land Earth, and the gathering of water he named Seas. God saw that it was good.
וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ לַיַּבָּשָׁה֙ אֶ֔רֶץ וּלְמִקְוֵ֥ה הַמַּ֖יִם קָרָ֣א יַמִּ֑ים וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹהִ֖ים כִּי־טֽוֹב׃
11 God thought, Let the earth sprout greenery, plants producing seed, fruit trees making fruit of their species with their own seeds in them, on the earth. And it was so.
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים תַּֽדְשֵׁ֤א הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ דֶּ֔שֶׁא עֵ֚שֶׂב מַזְרִ֣יעַ זֶ֔רַע עֵ֣ץ פְּרִ֞י עֹ֤שֶׂה פְּרִי֙ לְמִינ֔וֹ אֲשֶׁ֥ר זַרְעוֹ־ב֖וֹ עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃
12 The earth brought forth greenery, plants producing seed of their own species, fruit trees making fruit of their own species with their own seeds in them. And God saw that it was good.
וַתּוֹצֵ֨א הָאָ֜רֶץ דֶּ֠שֶׁא עֵ֣שֶׂב מַזְרִ֤יעַ זֶ֙רַע֙ לְמִינֵ֔הוּ וְעֵ֧ץ עֹֽשֶׂה־פְּרִ֛י אֲשֶׁ֥ר זַרְעוֹ־ב֖וֹ לְמִינֵ֑הוּ וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹהִ֖ים כִּי־טֽוֹב׃
13 There was an evening and then a morning, a third day.
וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם שְׁלִישִֽׁי׃ פ
As a reminder of where we are in the story, light was created on Day One and Sky on Day Two. Now it is time for the other main character introduced in v. 1, Earth, to be created. But for the first time, God will have two thoughts on this day, not just one.
Once again I’ll note for those who are just joining us that my discussion of “God thought” can be found here. I won’t repeat it now but will go on, next time, immediately with “Let the water that is under the sky gather into one place.”