Genesis 1 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Reading text of Genesis 1 · Genesis: all chapters · Genesis 2 compared →
Same 8 Similar 10 Different 2 Divergent 9 Disparate 2
Disparate in this chapter: 1:2, 1:20
Each verse is rendered independently from the Hebrew (Rabbinic reading tradition) and from the Greek (Saints reading tradition). The badge classifies the relationship between the two readings; the note beneath examines the difference and records attributed Jewish and Christian interpretation. Disparate verses are marked in red. Where the two sources number a verse differently, each column shows its own reference.
Day One
1:1 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Greek · Saints priority
In the beginning God made heaven and earth.
H uses “created”; G uses “made.” Hebrew’s plural-form “heavens” and Greek’s singular “heaven” name the same cosmic realm here.
Rabbinic — Rashi on Genesis 1:1: His plain-sense reading connects 1:1–3 as a temporal opening. The independent opening clause used here is another grammatical construal; neither should be confused with a different Hebrew manuscript.
1:2 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
The earth was waste and empty, and darkness was over the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Greek · Saints priority
But the earth was unseen and unformed, and darkness was over the abyss; and the Spirit of God was being carried over the water.
H describes desolation and emptiness; G describes invisibility and lack of formation. Hovering and being carried also differ. Both ruach and pneuma can mean spirit or wind; capitalization records a translation decision, not a grammatical proof.
1:3 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Greek · Saints priority
God said, “Let light come into being,” and light came into being.
Both narrate the fulfillment of God’s command. The different verbal constructions do not establish opposing accounts of creation.
1:4 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.
Greek · Saints priority
God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.
Both give divine evaluation followed by separation.
1:5 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. There was evening and there was morning: day one.
Greek · Saints priority
God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. There was evening and there was morning: day one.
Both use “one,” rather than an ordinal “first,” in this closing formula.
Second Day
1:6 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate water from water.”
Greek · Saints priority
God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it separate water from water.” And it was so.
G places the fulfillment formula here; H places it at 1:7. “Expanse” and “firmament” preserve the lexical distinction without making the English words decide an entire ancient cosmology.
1:7 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God made the expanse and separated the waters below the expanse from the waters above the expanse. And it was so.
Greek · Saints priority
God made the firmament, and God separated the water below the firmament from the water above the firmament.
H has “And it was so” here; G has it in 1:6 and repeats God as the subject of separation.
1:8 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God called the expanse Heavens. There was evening and there was morning: a second day.
Greek · Saints priority
God called the firmament Heaven. And God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning: a second day.
G includes an explicit declaration of goodness absent from this Hebrew verse. Neither edition is silently harmonized to the other.
Third Day
1:9 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.
Greek · Saints priority
God said, “Let the water below heaven be gathered into one gathering, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. The water below heaven was gathered into its gatherings, and the dry land appeared.
G adds a narrated fulfillment and renders H’s “place” as “gathering.” The addition does not by itself determine its historical origin.
1:10 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering of the waters He called Seas. God saw that it was good.
Greek · Saints priority
God called the dry land Earth, and the gatherings of the waters He called Seas. God saw that it was good.
H’s collective gathering corresponds to G’s plural gatherings; the naming and evaluation agree.
1:11 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit according to their kind, with their seed in them, upon the earth.” And it was so.
Greek · Saints priority
God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants sowing seed according to kind and likeness, and fruit trees bearing fruit, with their seed in them according to kind, upon the earth.” And it was so.
G explicitly gives the plants both kind and likeness. H specifies kind for the fruit trees here; its plant-kind phrase comes in 1:12.
1:12 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed according to their kind, and trees bearing fruit with their seed in them according to their kind. God saw that it was good.
Greek · Saints priority
The earth brought forth vegetation: plants sowing seed according to kind and likeness, and fruit trees bearing fruit, with their seed in them according to kind, upon the earth. God saw that it was good.
G retains the added likeness formula, explicitly calls the trees fruitful, and closes their description with “upon the earth.”
1:13 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
There was evening and there was morning: a third day.
Greek · Saints priority
There was evening and there was morning: a third day.
The day-closing formula agrees.
Fourth Day
1:14 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate day from night; and let them be for signs and appointed times, and for days and years.
Greek · Saints priority
God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to illuminate the earth and to separate day from night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years.
G adds illumination of the earth to this opening command. H’s appointed times and G’s seasons can overlap; neither alone specifies only modern astronomical seasons.
1:15 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
Let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to shine upon the earth.” And it was so.
Greek · Saints priority
Let them give light in the firmament of heaven, so as to shine upon the earth.” And it was so.
Both state the lights’ function and the command’s fulfillment. Greek phainein means shining here, not merely appearing.
1:16 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars.
Greek · Saints priority
God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars.
The Greek term archē has the sense of rule in this context; “beginnings of the day” would misrepresent its function here.
1:17 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God set them in the expanse of the heavens to shine upon the earth,
Greek · Saints priority
God set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth,
The placement and purpose agree; the chosen spatial terms remain distinct.
1:18 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.
Greek · Saints priority
to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.
Both give rule, separation, and divine evaluation.
1:19 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
There was evening and there was morning: a fourth day.
Greek · Saints priority
There was evening and there was morning: a fourth day.
The day-closing formula agrees.
Fifth Day
1:20 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God said, “Let the waters swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the expanse of the heavens.”
Greek · Saints priority
God said, “Let the waters bring forth creeping things with living souls, and birds flying above the earth along the firmament of heaven.” And it was so.
H separately commands aquatic swarming and avian flight. G places both creature groups after “let the waters bring forth” and adds fulfillment. This changes the grammatical presentation of their emergence, without supplying a modern biological theory.
1:21 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good.
Greek · Saints priority
God made the great sea creatures and every living soul of moving creatures that the waters brought forth according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to kind. God saw that they were good.
H uses “created” and swarming; G uses “made” and bringing forth. Ancient creature terms are retained without forcing a modern species identification.
1:22 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas; and let the birds multiply upon the earth.”
Greek · Saints priority
God blessed them, saying, “Increase and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas; and let the birds multiply upon the earth.”
“Be fruitful” becomes “increase.” Both express a blessing of reproductive abundance.
1:23 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
There was evening and there was morning: a fifth day.
Greek · Saints priority
There was evening and there was morning: a fifth day.
The day-closing formula agrees.
Sixth Day
1:24 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creeping things, and wild animals of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.
Greek · Saints priority
God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to kind: four-footed animals, creeping things, and wild animals of the earth according to kind.” And it was so.
H names livestock; G uses the broader descriptive class of four-footed animals. G uses a different term for livestock in 1:25.
1:25 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God made the wild animals of the earth according to their kinds, and the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind. God saw that it was good.
Greek · Saints priority
God made the wild animals of the earth according to kind, and the livestock according to kind, and all the creeping things of the earth according to their kinds. God saw that they were good.
The creature groups agree. G uses plural agreement for goodness and earth where H specifies ground.
1:26 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
Greek · Saints priority
God said, “Let us make humankind according to our image and according to likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
Both have the plural deliberation and image-and-likeness language. G does not repeat “our” with likeness. The grammar alone does not identify the addressees.
Rabbinic — Rashi on Genesis 1:26: He understands the plural as God consulting the heavenly household to teach humility, while stressing that the angels did not assist in creation.
1:27 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God created humankind in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Greek · Saints priority
God made humankind; according to the image of God He made him; male and female He made them.
G lacks H’s first “in his image,” while retaining the following image clause. Singular “him” and plural “them” belong to both texts’ collective description of humanity.
1:28 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
Greek · Saints priority
God blessed them, saying, “Increase and multiply, and fill the earth and exercise dominion over it; and rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, all the livestock, all the earth, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
G explicitly includes livestock and all the earth in its dominion list. These phrases had been imported into the draft’s Hebrew column and are removed there.
1:29 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed-bearing fruit; they shall be food for you.
Greek · Saints priority
God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant sowing seed upon all the earth, and every tree with seed-bearing fruit within it; they shall be food for you.
Both give seed-bearing vegetation as food; G expresses the seed-bearing quality more repetitively.
1:30 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
And to every wild animal of the earth, every bird of the sky, and everything that moves upon the earth in which there is a living soul, I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
Greek · Saints priority
And to all the wild animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth, which has within it a soul of life, I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
Both continue the grant of food; “I give” supplies the verb carried forward from 1:29. The expressions for living creatures differ slightly.
1:31 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning: the sixth day.
Greek · Saints priority
God saw all the things that He had made, and behold, they were very good. There was evening and there was morning: a sixth day.
H’s collective singular and definite sixth day correspond to G’s plural evaluation and anarthrous day. “Very” versus “exceedingly” would not establish stronger Greek approval.
Reading text of Genesis 1 · Genesis: all chapters · Genesis 2 compared →
Saints Translation · Companion comparison edition · working draft awaiting specialist review.