Genesis 1:2-3 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 1:1-2

In these verses we have the work of creation in its epitome and in its embryo. I. In its epitome, Gen. 1:1; where we find, to our comfort, the first article of our creed, that God the Father Almighty is the Maker of heaven and earth, and as such we believe in him. 1. Observe, in this verse, four things:? (1.) The effect produced?the heaven and the earth, that is, the world, including the whole frame and furniture of the universe, the world and all things therein, Acts 17:24. The world is a... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 1:3-5

We have here a further account of the first day's work, in which observe, 1. That the first of all visible beings which God created was light; not that by it he himself might see to work (for the darkness and light are both alike to him), but that by it we might see his works and his glory in them, and might work our works while it is day. The works of Satan and his servants are works of darkness; but he that doeth truth, and doeth good, cometh to the light, and coveteth it, that his deeds may... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 1:2

And the earth was without form, and void ,.... It was not in the form it now is, otherwise it must have a form, as all matter has; it was a fluid matter, the watery parts were not separated from the earthy ones; it was not put into the form of a terraqueous globe it is now, the sea apart, and the earth by itself, but were mixed and blended together; it was, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem paraphrase it, a waste and desert, empty and destitute of both men and beasts; and it may... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 1:3

And God said ,.... This phrase is used, nine times in this account of the creation; it is admired by Longinus the Heathen in his treatise "of the Sublime", as a noble instance of it; and it is most beautifully paraphrased and explained in Psalm 33:6 as expressive of the will, power, authority, and efficacy of the divine Being; whose word is clothed with power, and who can do, and does whatever he will, and as soon as he pleases; his orders are always obeyed. Perhaps the divine Person... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 1:2

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. God seems at first to have created the elementary principles of all things; and this formed the grand... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 1:3

And God said, Let there be light - אור ויהי אור הי Yehi or , vaihi or . Nothing can be conceived more dignified than this form of expression. It argues at once uncontrollable authority, and omnific power; and in human language it is scarcely possible to conceive that God can speak more like himself. This passage, in the Greek translation of the Septuagint, fell in the way of Dionysius Longinus, one of the most judicious Greek critics that ever lived, and who is highly celebrated over... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 1:2

Verse 2 2.And the earth was without form and void. I shall not be very solicitous about the exposition of these two epithets, תוהו, (tohu,) and בוהו, (bohu.) The Hebrews use them when they designate anything empty and confused, or vain, and nothing worth. Undoubtedly Moses placed them both in opposition to all those created objects which pertain to the form, the ornament and the perfection of the world. Were we now to take away, I say, from the earth all that God added after the time here... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 1:3

Verse 3 3.And God said Moses now, for the first time, introduces God in the act of speaking, as if he had created the mass of heaven and earth without the Word. (48) Yet John testifies that ‘without him nothing was made of the things which were made,’ (John 1:3.) And it is certain that the world had been begun by the same efficacy of the Word by which it was completed. God, however, did not put forth his Word until he proceeded to originate light; (49) because in the act of distinguishing... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:1-2

II. As to the precise manner in which it was imparted to its author, THE VISION THEORY of Kurtz, though declared by Kalisch to be "a complicated tissue of conjectures and assumptions utterly destitute of every , the faintest and remotest , Biblical foundation ," is perhaps, with certain modifications, the best. Rejecting the idea of a series of creative tableaux without any solid substratum of actual fact, there is clearly nothing in the nature of the case to discredit the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:2

And the earth . Clearly the earth referred to in the preceding verse, the present terrestrial globe with its atmospheric firmament, and not simply "the land" as opposed to "the skies" (Murphy); certainly not "the heavens" of Genesis 1:1 as well as the earth (Delitzsch); and least of all "a section of the dry land in Central Asia" (Buckland, Pye Smith). It is a sound principle of exegesis that a word shall retain the meaning it at first possesses till either intimation is made by the writer... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 1:1-2

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 1:3-5

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 1:2

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 1:3

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 1:2

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 1:3

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 1:2

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 1:3

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:1-2

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:2

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