The Modern Poetry Version, 2025
Genesis 1
1 When God began to select his temple,
God’s spirit hovering over the elemental,
the earth indistinguishable and empty,
over the ocean surface darkness plenty.
2 And God said “Become Light” and then came light.
3 And God saw that good light,
and God called them day and night.
God divided the light He had seen
from the darkness He divided between.
4 And then the first time ended and the new time began.
5 And God said “Become separate between waters” and then came the sky.
6 So God did divide the waters
and God called it “heaven” between waters.
He divided the ocean under the sky
from the waters that fall from up high.
7 And then the second time ended and the new time began.
8 And God said “Become gathered together” to the ocean and then came dry land.
9 God called the waters Sea and the land Earth
and God told the good land to give birth.
Each kind its own seed, vegetation had sprouted,
the good seeds from each plant, the earth they crowded.
10 And then the third time ended and the new time began.
11 And God said “Become visible above” and then the lights of heaven were seen.
12 Between day and night for signs, seasons, days, and years,
God had made in the heavens all the many spheres.
Lesser light for the night and by day a great light to shine,
God divided day and night, all to his good design.
13 And then the fourth time ended and the new time began.
14 And God said “Become abundant with life” and then the creatures filled the waters and sky.
15 So God made in the oceans, many great and small creatures,
and for the sky he made many birds with winged features.
God said to the good life “Be fruitful and multiply”,
the birds and the fish to God did it satisfy.
16 And then the fifth time ended and the new time began.
17 And God said “Become dwellers of land” and then the creatures filled the earth.
18 And it was so that livestock, creeping thing, and beast,
each creature its own kind increased.
God made them beats, livestock, and creeping thing,
he saw it good for all that the earth did bring.
19 And God said “We will make mankind our representatives, to become like us.
20 They will rule over the fish, the birds, and all the livestock,
rule over all that on the earth does creep or walk.”
So God did make mankind to be like Him,
male and female, like Him He did make them.
21 And God blessed them with this saying
“Be fruitful and multiply” to fill the earth he was relaying.
“Subdue and dominate the earth and all its creatures”
God gave all of them all the plants for food and made mankind teachers.
22 That is what happened, very good was God’s plan,
and then the sixth time ended and the new time began.
23 With this, the universe was completed, including all of its vast array.
In the seventh time God rested, that is why it’s called ‘Today’
God made the seventh holy. God blessed the work he had completed,
because on it he stopped working, his temple had all it needed.
The RISV Version, with updates as new information is learned
Chapter 1 "Earth"
1 God began to plan his temple when the earth was indistinguishable and empty, with the surface of the waters' depths shrouded in darkness, and with God's wind quivering over the surface of the waters,
2 God said “Become light!” And then came light.
3 And God saw that good light. God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “daytime” and the darkness “night.”
4 Then the first time ended and the new time began.
5 And God said, “Become separate between waters so that waters are divided from waters."
6 And God did separate the water beneath from the water above. So that is what happened: God called the space “heaven”.
7 Then the second time ended and the new time began.
8 And God said to the waters under heaven “Become gathered together into one place" and then came dry ground.
9 So that is what happened: God called the dry land “earth” and he called the gathered waters “seas” and God saw that it was good.
10 And God said to the earth “Sprout vegetation, the seed-bearing plant, and the fruit tree with its seed in the fruit that it gives to the earth.”
11 So that is what happened: The earth sprouted vegetation, including the seed-bearing plant and the fruit tree containing its seed. And God saw that it was good.
12 Then the third time ended and the new time began.
13 And God said “Become bright above heaven!" to distinguish the day from the night that became signs for days, appointed liturgical times, and years, to serve as light in the sky to shine on the earth.
14 So that is what happened: God made the two lights great—the light that ruled the day greater and the light that ruled the night lesser, that is the stars. And God gave them the expanse to shine on the earth, and to rule the day, and in the night, distinguish light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
15 Then the fourth time ended and the new time began.
16 And God said to the waters “Become abundant with living creatures!" And flying creatures soared above the earth across the expanse of the sky.
17 God planned to greatly increase every sea creature and living thing that moves, after which the waters teemed with their kind, and every flying creature to their kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them by saying to the waters, “Be fruitful and multiply in the seas and the birds multiply on the earth!”
18 Then the fifth time ended and the new time began.
19 And God said “Become a kind of living creature on the earth!" Livestock, creeping thing, and beast, each a kind of the earth.
20 So that is what happened: And God did it. Each kind of beast on the earth and each kind of livestock, and everything of a kind crept onto the earth. And God saw that it was good.
21 And God said, “We will teach mankind to be our representative, to become like us!" so they can hold sway over the fish in the seas, over the birds in the sky, over the animals, over all the earth, and over all the things that move on the earth.
22 So God did teach mankind to be his image; in the image he gave the gods; He chose them, male and female. God blessed them and God said to them “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and cultivate it! Have sway over the fish in the seas, over the birds in the sky, and over all the living things that move on the earth!”
23 And God said “Behold! I have provided to you every seed-bearing plant that grows throughout the earth, and every tree whose fruit holds its seed that to you will be food, and every beast of the earth, every bird of the air, everything that creeps on the earth that has life in it, and every green plant for food!”
24 So that is what happened. And God saw that everything he did was very good!
25 Then the sixth time ended and the new time began.
26 With that, the temple was completed, including all of its inhabitants. And God ended, by the seventh period, the work He had done. And He rested, on the seventh period, from the work He had done. Then God blessed that seventh time and He sanctified it, because in it God rested from the work that he decided and accomplished!
My Thoughts
Off the work of scholars like Walton, Stanhope, and Heiser, I use the dependent clause on verse 1 and don't apply the definitive article to "beginning". This gives the sentence the rendering "When God began". While you can still use the definitive article, you can't quite escape the dependent clause here but you would end up with "In the beginning, God... when the earth was as yet". I also combined two verses here as to complete the thought before moving on.
As for the translation choices of "select" and "temple", the idea that "bara" can be translated as "select" is not unique to me. While I can't remember who I read that also argues for this (can update when I find it again) my journey to understanding this word starts with how it can be applied to actions of God. He takes something and gives it something new, be it purpose or be it order. Sometimes it involves breaking something down in a way first. For Genesis 1, the poem is about how we got here and what we mean, so the word "bara" must be in relation to that. Part of why "select" has also to do with "temple" being the other word I picked.
For the phrase "heaven and earth" to be seen as "temple" I look to, not how often the phrase is connected to worship, but how often the phrase is used to describe a specific place. While earth or the face of the earth will be used to talk about an undefined location on the ground, and heaven or heavens for an undefined place above the ground, the idiom of both is often connected to talk about someone with a clear location. It is also used in the NT texts in relation to talks about the temple in Jerusalem. It describes the meeting place of heaven and earth, much like what the dwelling of the LORD in the middle of the camp represented, a design that informed the layout of the temple.
The author of Hebrews echos the idea that the temple on Earth is a reflection of the temple in Heaven as many things on Earth are. This suggest that God's plan for Earth was always to reflect his dwelling so that he could dwell with us and we would be more familiar with his abode. When the old temple "heaven and earth" pass away, He can dwell within us as the new heaven and earth.
This brings me to the connection of the two words where I can now see that this is an action of selecting the Earth 'now formless and void' to serve as His temple but it must be ordered from chaos. The selection is more than just picking a planet out of trillions but rather that this was God's plan.
The use of "And God said", as it is repeated in that way (and), to say that the statements made by God are a collection of one plan, not given at different times, but given at once, accompanies God either speaking to the other gods, the earth, or to the waters that exist in Genesis 1 RISV. This only changes when God talks to creatures directly where the conversation gets longer. These are things God says because they are all part of the plan that God made and is being revealed as the story goes on. The passage of time being less important than the idea that God is there to see his good work being done.
I decided to use "yom" as a period of time. More than that, I base the translation that reads "then the X time ended and the new time began" as a repeated rhyming break between God's acts. It appears to me as using the terms 'evening' and 'morning' as a break rather than passing time. The evening is the ending of the current events and the morning is the beginning of new events. Light and Dark are repeated in the first few verses and there is emphasis on these being distinguished. The day, when there is more light, is important for work but the night, when the light is lesser, is for signs. This is also tied to why I include the seventh period in the first chapter.
With "And God" and "Then the" there is also "So that is". I've tried to keep these markers distinct and consistent throughout in order to point to how each identifies the sentence or description to follow. One to call out what happened together with other things, the second to point to an order of events, while the third revisits the prior sentences giving us a closer look at what God did.
Some of the other translation choices might be more striking. They explain themselves by their own use. This is what I think is being communicated by the author and thus why I picked the words.
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