Bereshit, The Book of Beginnings

A New Translation with Commentary

David B. Friedman

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN:
  9781606087343
  9781498253826
• eBook ISBN:
  9781498271783
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

In this work, the author brings the book of Bereshit (Genesis) to life by his idiomatic, easily understood translation of the Masoretic text. Dr. Friedman takes many ancient Hebrew idioms and unfolds them and their significance for the reader. Additionally, the reader enters into the flow of the text through his commentary, one that is based on unique Jewish approaches to understanding this foundational biblical book. This translation is both scholarly and artistic; upholding the holiness of the text while casting new looks at it, as is done when assessing the life of Yakov (Jacob). There is a special appendix to the translation and commentary that is found in chapter 37, when the life of Joseph is featured. In this fresh, insightful translation and commentary, the reader will enjoy immersing himself or herself in the Bible's classic first book, the 'Book of the Beginning.'

Chapter 1

1 At the very beginning, God dynamically created the heavenly bodies and the earth.1

2 Earth was chaotic and without order, and darkness blanketed earth’s surface. God’s spirit hovered over the waters.

3 Then God declared, “Let light exist!”, and light came into being.

4 Since God knew that the light was good, He separated the light from the darkness.2

5 God named the light “day,” and the darkness “night.”

6 Together, evening and morning made up the entire first day.3

7 Then God said, “There will be a separating space in the midst of the waters, and it will divide between the waters that are above the space from those that are below the space.” Then it happened that way.

8 So God made the separating space, and it divided between the waters. God named this space the “sky.” Together, evening and morning made up the entire second day.

9 God then said that the waters under the sky shall gather in one place, giving way to dry land. And it happened that way.

10 So God named the dry land “the ground,” and the pooling of waters He named “the seas”;

God knew that this was good.

11 Then God said, “The ground will sprout grasses and plants on the earth, and will produce fruit trees that bear fruit of its given species, with reproductive seeds within it.” And it happened that way.

12 So the ground bore grasses and plants, each producing reproductive seeds of its own species, as well as fruit trees that each reproduced after its own kind. And God knew that this was good.

13 Together, evening and morning made up the entire third day.

14 Then God said, “There will be lights in the sky of the heavens to separate between day and night, and to be signs of the appointed times, to mark the days and the years.4

15 They will function as lights in the sky of the heavens, providing light for the earth.” And it happened that way.

16 God made two great lights, the greater light (the sun) to rule over the day, and the lesser light (the moon) to rule over the night. God also fashioned the stars.

17 Then God set them in the sky of the heavens to provide light for the earth,

18 and to rule over day and night, as well as to separate between light and darkness. God knew that this was good.

19 So, together, evening and morning made up the entire fourth day.

20 Then God said, “The seas will be filled with aquatic life; and birds will fly over the earth, in the firmament of the sky.”

21 So God created dinosaurs, each species after its own kind. And God knew that this was good.5

22 Then God blessed them, saying, “Multiply in number, and fill the seas; but the birds will multiply on dry land.”

23 So, together evening and morning made up the entire fifth day.

24 Then God said, “The dry land will be the habitat for animals, each one reproducing after its own species—domestic animals, reptiles and wild animals, each fitting their own species.” And it happened that way.

25 So God formed animal life on dry land, each according to its species; both domestic animals according to their species and reptiles according to their species. God knew that this was good.

26 Then God said, “Let’s create humans in our image, according to our features; they will have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, domestic animals, and over all earth, including the reptiles that crawl on land.”6

27 So God created mankind in His image. He created mankind in God’s image; He made them male and female.

28 Then God blessed them, saying to them, “Reproduce and be numerous, fill the earth and take it over; take dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air and over all reptiles that crawl on the ground.”

29 God then said, “Look, I am providing you with all kinds of vegetation and seeds that are found over the entire earth; every fruit tree that is found will provide you with food.7

30 Every animal on earth, bird of the sky, and reptile on land, every living creature, will eat from all kinds of green vegetation.” And it happened that way.

31 God took stock of everything that He made, and indeed, it was very good! Together, evening and morning made up the entire sixth day.

1. v. 1: By dynamically, I mean with incredible power and action. The Torah gives us a picture of a moving, explosive speaking of God’s energy that burst into creative action. When one realizes that there are some 100 billion galaxies that we know of, perhaps we gain some sense of the power that the Almighty is depicted as using in creating the heavenly bodies.

2. v. 4: This phrase, “God knew that it was good” (Hebrew: va’yar Elohim ki tov, literally reads, “God saw that it was good.” In ancient Jewish thought, seeing something’s true reality and perceiving its real meaning meant to “know it.” That is the sense that the text is giving to us in both v. 4 and in verses 10, 12 and 17. In v. 21 this same phrase is used, and its sense is amplified in that God declared His entire creation very good. God’s declaration that light should exist was quite dynamic, i.e., “(God) speaks” (verse 1.3). “The result is light, the energizing of the vast cosmos through the marvelous electro-magnetic force system which maintains all structures and processes in matter. These varied energies include not only visible light, but also all the short-wave radiations (ultraviolet, x-rays, etc.) and the long-wave radiations (infrared, radio waves, etc.), as well as heat, sound, electricity, magnetism, molecular interactions, etc. ‘Light,’ the most basic form of energy, is mentioned specifically, but its existence necessarily implies the activation of all forms of electro-magnetic energies” (taken from http://www.icr.org/bible/gen/). From this short description of what 1.3 entailed, we get a picture for how detailed, intricate, and powerful the reality is that was spoken into being. I refer the reader to two excellent works that explore the relationship between the biblical text of creation and modern science: one is Permission to Believe, by Lawrence Kelemen, the other is Genesis and the Big Bang Theory, by Gerald Schroeder. An excellent on-line article addresses the creation of the world from both a traditional Jewish and scientific point of view. It is from Dr. Moshe Kaveh, and is found at http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/bereshit/kaveh.Html.

3. ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 12
• Chapter 13
• Chapter 14
• Chapter 15
• Chapter 16
• Chapter 17
• Chapter 18
• Chapter 19
• Chapter 20
• Chapter 21
• Chapter 22
• Chapter 23
• Chapter 24
• Chapter 25
• Chapter 26
• Chapter 27
• Chapter 28
• Chapter 29
• Chapter 30
• Chapter 31
• Chapter 32
• Chapter 33
• Chapter 34
• Chapter 35
• Chapter 36
• Chapter 37
• Chapter 38
• Chapter 39
• Chapter 40
• Chapter 41
• Chapter 42
• Chapter 43
• Chapter 44
• Chapter 45
• Chapter 46
• Chapter 47
• Chapter 48
• Chapter 49
• Chapter 50
• Glossary
• Bibliography