Let there be light

Last updated
.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#3a3;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}
de Holanda, Francisco (1545), "The First Day of Creation", De Aetatibus Mundi Imagines. Francisco de Holanda, The First day of Creation.jpg
de Holanda, Francisco (1545), "The First Day of Creation", De Aetatibus Mundi Imagines .

"Let there be light" is an English translation of the Hebrew יְהִי אוֹר (yehi 'or) found in Genesis 1:3 of the Torah, the first part of the Hebrew Bible. In Old Testament translations of the phrase, translations include the Greek phrase γενηθήτω φῶς (genēthḗtō phôs) and the Latin phrases fiat lux and lux sit.

Contents

Genesis 1

The phrase comes from the third verse of the Book of Genesis. In the King James Bible, it reads, in context:

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, and it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

Origin and etymology

In biblical Hebrew, the phrase יְהִי אוֹר (yəhî ’ôr) is made of two words. יְהִי (yəhî) is the third-person masculine singular jussive form of "to exist" and אוֹר (’ôr) means "light."

In the Koine Greek Septuagint the phrase is translated "καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός γενηθήτω φῶς καὶ ἐγένετο φῶς" — kaì eîpen ho Theós genēthḗtō phôs kaì egéneto phôs. Γενηθήτω is the imperative form of γίγνομαι, "to come into being."

The original Latinization of the Greek translation used in the Vetus Latina was lux sit ("light – let it exist" or "let light exist"), which has been used occasionally, although there is debate as to its accuracy. [1]

In the Latin Vulgate Bible, the Hebrew phrase יְהִי אוֹר is translated in Latin as fiat lux. In context, the translation is "dixitque Deus fiat lux et facta est lux" ("And said God let there be light, and there was light"). Literally, fiat lux would be translated as "let light be made" (fiat is the third person singular present passive subjunctive form of the verb facio, [2] meaning "to do" or "to make"). The Douay–Rheims Bible translates the phrase, from the Vulgate, as "Be light made. And light was made."

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Names of God in Judaism</span> Names given to God in Judaism

Judaism considers some names of God so holy that, once written, they should not be erased: יהוה, אֲדֹנָי, אֵל, אֱלֹהִים, שַׁדַּי, and צְבָאֽוֹת ; some also include I Am that I Am. Early authorities considered other Hebrew names mere epithets or descriptions of God, and wrote that they and names in other languages may be written and erased freely. Some moderns advise special care even in these cases, and many Orthodox Jews have adopted the chumras of writing "G-d" instead of "God" in English or saying Ṭēt-Vav instead of Yōd-Hē for the number fifteen or Ṭēt-Zayin instead of Yōd-Vav for the Hebrew number sixteen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enoch</span> Biblical figure prior to Noahs flood

Enoch is a biblical figure and patriarch prior to Noah's flood, and the son of Jared and father of Methuselah. He was of the Antediluvian period in the Hebrew Bible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elohim</span> Word for deity or deities in the Hebrew Bible

Elohim, the plural of אֱלוֹהַּ‎, is a Hebrew word meaning "gods" or "godhood". Although the word is plural, in the Hebrew Bible it most often takes singular verbal or pronominal agreement and refers to a single deity, particularly the God of Israel in the majestic plural. In other verses it refers to the singular gods of other nations or to deities in the plural.

<i>Vetus Latina</i> Bible translations into Latin before Jeromes Vulgate

Vetus Latina, also known as Vetus Itala, Itala ("Italian") and Old Italic, and denoted by the siglum , is the collective name given to the Latin translations of biblical texts that preceded the Vulgate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nephilim</span> Beings from the Hebrew Bible

The Nephilim are mysterious beings or people in the Hebrew Bible who are described as being large and strong. The Hebrew word Nephilim is sometimes translated as "giants", and sometimes taken to mean "the fallen ones". Their origins are disputed. Some, including the author of the Book of Enoch, view them as offspring of fallen angels and humans. Others view them as offspring of the descendants of Seth and Cain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Young's Literal Translation</span> 1862 translation of the Bible into English

Young's Literal Translation (YLT) is a translation of the Bible into English, published in 1862. The translation was made by Robert Young, compiler of Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible and Concise Critical Comments on the New Testament. Young used the Textus Receptus (TR) and the Masoretic Text (MT) as the basis for his translation. He wrote in the preface to the first edition, "It has been no part of the Translator's plan to attempt to form a New Hebrew or Greek Text—he has therefore somewhat rigidly adhered to the received ones." Young produced a "Revised Version" of his translation in 1887, but he stuck with the Received Text. He wrote in the preface to the Revised Edition, "The Greek Text followed is that generally recognized as the 'Received Text,' not because it is thought perfect, but because the department of Translation is quite distinct from that of textual criticism, and few are qualified for both. If the original text be altered by a translator, the reader is left in uncertainty whether the translation given is to be considered as that of the old or of the new reading." A new Revised Edition was released ten years after Robert Young's death on October 14, 1888. The 1898 version was based on the TR, easily confirmed by the word "bathe" in Revelation 1:5 and the word "again" in Revelation 20:5. The "Publishers' Note to the Third Edition" explains, "The work has been subjected to a fresh revision, making no alteration on the principles on which the Translation proceeds, but endeavouring to make it as nearly perfect in point of accuracy on its present lines as possible."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genesis 1:3</span> Third verse of the first chapter in the Book of Genesis

Genesis 1:3 is the third verse of the first chapter in the Book of Genesis. In it God made light by declaration: God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. It is a part of the Torah portion known as Bereshit.

Deus is the Latin word for "god" or "deity". Latin deus and dīvus ("divine") are in turn descended from Proto-Indo-European *deiwos, "celestial" or "shining", from the same root as *Dyēus, the reconstructed chief god of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon.

"They have pierced my hands and my feet", or "They pierced my hands and my feet" is a phrase that occurs in some English translations of Psalm 22:16. The text of the Hebrew Bible is obscure at this point, and Jewish and some Christian commentators translate this line differently, although there is no evidence of a deliberate mistranslation.

"I Am that I Am" is a common English translation of the Hebrew phrase אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה‎‎ – also "I am who (I) am", "I will become what I choose to become", "I am what I am", "I will be what I will be", "I create what(ever) I create", or "I am the Existing One". The traditional English translation within Judaism favours "I will be what I will be" because the imperfective aspect in Modern Hebrew is normally used for future tense and there is no present tense with direct object of the verb "to be" in the Hebrew language.

The Koine Greek term Ego eimi, literally 'I am' or 'It is I', is an emphatic form of the copulative verb εἰμι that is recorded in the Gospels to have been spoken by Jesus on several occasions to refer to himself not with the role of a verb but playing the role of a name, in the Gospel of John occurring seven times with specific titles. It is connected to the passage in Exodus 3:14 in which God gives his name as אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה, Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, translated most basically as "I am that I am" or "I shall be what I am". In the Hebrew Bible, it is the personal name of God, revealed directly to Moses. These usages have been the subject of significant Christological analysis.

Pele-joez-el-gibbor-abi-ad-sar-shalom is a prophetic name or title which occurs in Isaiah 9:5 in the Hebrew Bible or Isaiah 9:6 in English Bibles. It is one of a series of prophetic names found in chapters 7, 8 and 9 of the Book of Isaiah, including most notably Immanuel and Maher-shalal-hash-baz in the previous chapter, which is a reference to the impending plunder of Samaria and Damascus by the king of Assyria.

Koine Greek, also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-regional form of Greek spoken and written during the Hellenistic period, the Roman Empire and the early Byzantine Empire. It evolved from the spread of Greek following the conquests of Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC, and served as the lingua franca of much of the Mediterranean region and the Middle East during the following centuries. It was based mainly on Attic and related Ionic speech forms, with various admixtures brought about through dialect levelling with other varieties.

"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" is a phrase that appears both in the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible, in the Book of Psalms, as well as in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, as one of the sayings of Jesus on the cross, according to Matthew 27:46 and also Mark 15:34.

Textual variants in the Hebrew Bible manuscripts arise when a copyist makes deliberate or inadvertent alterations to the text that is being reproduced. Textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible has included study of its textual variants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Job 3</span>

Job 3 is the third chapter of the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is anonymous; most scholars believe it was written around the 6th century BCE. This chapter belongs to the Dialogue section of the book, comprising Job 3:1–31:40.

Textual variants in the Book of Exodus concerns textual variants in the Hebrew Bible found in the Book of Exodus.

Textual variants in the Book of Deuteronomy concerns textual variants in the Hebrew Bible found in the Book of Deuteronomy.

Textual variants in the Book of Genesis concerns textual variants in the Hebrew Bible found in the Book of Genesis.

There are textual variants in the Hebrew Bible found in the Book of Leviticus.

References

  1. "But What Does It Mean?". The Daily. The University of Washington. 1999-05-25. Retrieved 2014-09-01.
  2. "Verbix, verb conjugator".