Genesis 1 is a poem!

Few know this fact.

Author

Alfred Larsen
September 16, 2023

We’ve all heard the arguments over Genesis 1. However, one aspect of Genesis 1 always seems to get overlooked: It’s a poem!

Our translation recognizes this fact and we’ve tried to restore it! Yes, we’ve tried our best to add a poetic cadence so modern readers can better understand what ancient readers experienced when they read it (at least, as much as reasonably possible in modern English).

For example, the start of Genesis in our translation says:

❝

In the beginning,
The God created the sky and the land.
But the land was ugly and unfinished,
Darkness covered its depth,
And God’s Breath moved over its waters.

Then The God spoke, and He said:
‘May the light come to be.’
So, the light came to be,
And God saw that the light was beautiful.

Then The God brought a division
Between the light and the darkness.
He called the light the daytime
And the darkness, the night.

So came the evening and the morning
Of the very first day.

Genesis 1:1-5

As you can see, we’ve attempted to give it a poetic cadence. Doing this really changes the feel of the text quite dramatically. It also sounds much nicer, and even more beautiful. Of course, it makes sense that it would be a poem. In the past, texts were often transmitted as poems because few people could read and write.

However, there’s more!

Genesis Chapter 1 stops too early! Yes, the chapter division between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 is in the wrong place! Remember, the chapter numbers are not original. The vast majority of them were added by an Englishman called Stephen Langton in 1227 AD. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury.

And Steve mucked up!

The poem in Genesis 1 actually continues on until Genesis 2:3. Then, after the poem ends, the story turns into a narrative. So not only do most modern translations destroy any poetic cadence to the text, but they cut it off too early!

Geez, thanks, Steve!

A statue of Stephen Langton, the Englishman who gave us our chapter divisions.

Today, we can be aware of Steve’s error and appreciate that Genesis 1 is a single poem until the end of Genesis 2:3.

If you haven’t read Genesis 1 (and Genesis 2:1-3 !) in our translation yet, please check it out at https://2001translation.org/read/genesis

Warm regards

The 2001 Translation

The picture of the statue of Stephen Langton was by Wikimedia user Linda Spashett (Storye book) and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.5)