3 John, Part 3

Posted on September 1, 2025 by admin

This is a continuation of my notes on 3 John for the preaching class I’m taking. The Call to Action in 3 John is fairly clear in the text (3 John 1:11 ESV).

Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God [Table].

The Greek verb translated do…imitate and imitate in both contrasting halves of the statement—Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good—is one occurrence of μιμοῦ, a 2^nd person singular form of μιμέομαι in the present tense and imperative mood: “to imitate, emulate, follow, use as a model.” But how should I approach the next sentence?

It reminds me of a relatively well-known Nietzsche quote: “I am afraid we are not rid of God because we still have faith in grammar.”¹ Glenn Nicholls, a self-described Nietzschean Psychotherapist, explained:

The death of God is the death of all foundational thinking. When God died grammar died, and yet because of a firm faith (mostly not seen as faith) both remain because we are unable or unwilling to come up with something better that would allow us to move on…Grammar has filled our God-shaped hole and while we still have faith in grammar we can not come to terms with the death of foundations.

Grammar has a primary and secondary function. The primary function structures reality…

[Nietzsche] uses Descartes’ statement, ‘I think therefore I am’ to illustrate the primary function. Nietzsche points out that even the first word of the statement requires faith. To say ‘I’ is to believe ‘I’ exists and is constant. ‘I think…’ requires the belief that ‘I’ is an agent of thought. It has seduced us into conceding the dualism of cause and effect that says there is a thinker doing the thinking. These are just some among many values inherent in grammar…

Grammar is a form of theology: a justification by faith.²

Another writer, William Eaton, approached it a slight bit differently:

My understanding of this sentence has been that belief in God is fundamentally belief that there is a logic to the universe and that this latter belief is also reflected in our attachment to lesser logics or organizing systems. Until we recognize the arbitrariness of grammar and the meaninglessness of its usefulness, we have not faced up to the arbitrariness and meaninglessness of existence. Or so Nietzsche proposed, with his signature combination of rage and playfulness.³

How do I approach Whoever does good? I can’t refrain from forming opinions in English: I expect an indefinite pronoun, Whoever, a 3^rd person singular form of the verb “to do,” does, and a noun or adjective in the accusative case as the verb’s direct object, good. What I find, however, is ὁ ἀγαθοποιῶν: no pronoun, no verb and no noun or adjective. The singular article ὁ is in the nominative case and ἀγαθοποιῶν is a singular participle of the verb ἀγαθοποιέω in the present tense and nominative case. A nominative participle functions more like a noun than a verb, though a present participle does refer to now. Technically:

A participle is considered a “verbal adjective”. It is often a word that ends with an “-ing” in English (such as “speaking,” “having,” or “seeing”). It can be used as an adjective, in that it can modify a noun (or substitute as a noun), or it can be used as an adverb and further explain or define the action of a verb.

For example:
Adjectival use: “The coming One will come and will not delay.” Heb 10:37
Adverbial use: “But speaking truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things.” Eph 4:15⁴

This particular “verbal adjective” is called “a ‘substantive’ to take the place of a noun.”⁵ In other words—Whoever does good—functions as a somewhat awkward and potentially misleading noun, the subject of this clause. But consider the other options the ESV translators had at their disposal: 1) The do-gooder: “an earnest often naive humanitarian or reformer”⁶ or 2) The good doer: “an animal that with normal care produces or develops especially well.”⁷ (“The good-doing” or “The doing-good” do not appear yet in dictionaries.)

I consider Whoever does good a “somewhat awkward” translation of ὁ ἀγαθοποιῶν because I find it difficult to hear a word string, consisting of an indefinite pronoun, a verb and a noun or adjective, as a ‘substantive’ verbal adjective functioning as the noun “Whoever-does-good.” And in a religious culture formed and nurtured by expository preaching that difficulty is amplified.

A few quotes from Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon ⁸ by Bryan Chapell follow:

John A. Broadus, the father of modern expository preaching…concludes that in an expository sermon, “the application of the sermon [e.g., “the call to action” as the human response to the fallen condition focus] is not merely an appendage to the discussion or a subordinate part of it, but is the main thing to be done.”⁹

Exposition does not merely involve the transmission of biblical information. It also demands establishment of the biblical basis for an action or a belief that God requires of his people.¹⁰

Experienced [expository] preachers also try to avoid using passive verbs and negative wording in main points.⁴⁹ Homiletics instructors refer to this as taking out the be’s (i.e., passive being verbs) and the not’s. This is done first because application clauses worded with passive verbs do not exhort people to do anything…¹¹

This bias against passive being verbs (which becomes a preference for action verbs to be performed by people) can shift one’s attention away from the actual verb—ἐστιν (ESV: is), a 3^rd person singular form of εἰμί in the present tense and indicative mood—to the ‘substantive’ verbal adjective functioning as a noun simply because it sounds more like something to do: Whoever does good. That shift in focus misses the real action of the clause—ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν (“from God exists”)—even as it shifts attention away from the works of God (“Whoever-does-good from God exists”) to the works of people (“the one who does good becomes¹² from God”).

A visiting Pastor—who was actually a former Pastor and now is a sort of Pastor of Pastors in an urban ministry—related the following story about that ministry:

So this is a group of networking the networkers, and we’re like, “what can we do together.” These are all guys that…do what I do and they want to see the body come together, and out of that—you see this when you watch the news, there’s a murder all the time, right? People get shot. And one of the Pastors here…he had a lady get shot outside of his church—baby in the backseat. The car rolls down the street, hits his church building, real gently. Here is this Pastor now with a lady who’s passed and a little baby. And he reached out to his faith community: where are my colleagues from my other churches, what can we do with this pain? And he found out, I really don’t have anybody; I don’t have any relationships.

And so we said, you know what? What if the church will be the first to knock at the door of someone who lost a loved one, and said, “We’re here to tell you that God loves you?” So we did that by God’s grace.

And I still remember, we said, does this even work, to see white guys show up, six-three, blonde hair, blue eyes? I mean, that might be the end of—who-knows-what. My girls were a little worried about all the adventures Daddy’s on every now and then. And this would be one of them.

So, I remember being at the home of a father who just lost his fifteen-year-old daughter. And we had a plate of fettuccine and a couple of gift cards, and he knew we were coming. And we said, “We just want to pray with you.” And he started to weep. And he said, “I was about to do something stupid” (which means retaliate, a lot of this is perpetual), “and God sent you here today to show me the power of love.”

This is a beautiful example of working out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12-16 ESV).

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure [Table].

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world [Table], holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

To understand this “beautiful example” as something accomplished by God’s willing (τὸ θέλειν) and God’s working (τὸ ἐνεργεῖν), both the desire and the effort,¹³ probably requires some interpretation (as well as some faith).

And one of the Pastors here…he had a lady get shot outside of his church—baby in the backseat. The car rolls down the street, hits his church building, real gently.

The clause “he had a lady get shot outside of his church” doesn’t actually mean that this particular Pastor hired a contract killer or in some other way orchestrated a woman’s murder outside of his church. It means that God brought the murder of this particular woman to this particular Pastor’s attention. The key words are “real gently.” Had the woman’s car done significant damage to the church building, other concerns might have taken precedence. This interpretation of these word strings is corroborated by the very next word string:

Here is this Pastor now with a lady who’s passed and a little baby.

One assumes, that the “proper authorities” were summoned and that they dealt with the immediate issues, not that this Pastor was left “holding the bag” for the care of this woman’s remains and a living child (not to mention a bloodied, damaged vehicle). Still, such a dramatic and immediate presentation made this particular issue difficult, if not impossible, to put out of mind.

And he reached out to his faith community: where are my colleagues from my other churches, what can we do with this pain? And he found out, I really don’t have anybody; I don’t have any relationships.

The religious institution to which this particular church and Pastor owed its name was unresponsive to this particular issue; so this particular Pastor turned apparently to a “renegade” band, “a group of networking the networkers,” who owed their individual names to many different religious institutions.

And so we [this is a group of networking the networkers, and we’re like, “what can we do together.” These are all guys that…do what I do and they want to see the body come together] said, you know what? What if the church will be the first to knock at the door of someone who lost a loved one, and said, “We’re here to tell you that God loves you?”

Granted, this sounds like any other human institution with money to burn, a solution looking for a problem, grasping at whatever straw might make them look good enough to secure more funding, but I am willing to believe that this particular group has not yet fully metastasized as a merely human institution. I am willing to believe that this particular solution to this particular problem and the people who carried it to fruition ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν (“from God exists”) for two reasons.

First, is the doers’ approbation and ascription: “So we did that by God’s grace” (e.g., Whoever does good is from God).¹⁴ Second, is the prophetic utterance of the one who received God’s grace: “God sent you here today to show me the power of love.” Perhaps, a third thing is worth mentioning. The teen-age daughters who worried about the adventures their six-three, blonde hair, blue-eyed Daddy embarked on were black, sitting in the front row before me. Daddy and Mommy are both white. There’s a story there and, frankly, I don’t know it. But I can surmise that this particular white man was especially prepared by God to “show up” at “the home of a [black] father who just lost his fifteen-year-old daughter.”

This “beautiful example” goes awry if one pays too much attention to what “Whoever-does-good” did:

What if the church will be the first to knock at the door of someone who lost a loved one, and said, “We’re here to tell you that God loves you?”…And we had a plate of fettuccine and a couple of gift cards, and he knew we were coming. And we said, “We just want to pray with you.”

Then one begins to organize, routinize and institutionalize the grace of God, both to will and to work for his good pleasure,¹⁵ with applications derived from what was done:

Representatives of the church should:

– be first to knock at the door of someone who lost a loved one.

– inform the bereaved of their impending visit.

– bring a plate of fettuccine and a couple of gift cards.

– say: “We’re here to tell you that God loves you.”

– pray with the bereaved.

If these applications become the rule of a nascent Do-Gooder Ministry, the Good Doers of this nascent Do-Gooder Ministry have taken one giant step away from the certainty of “Whoever-does-good from God exists” to the more wishful thinking of “Whoever-obeys-our-rule becomes from God.” I believe wholeheartedly that God is so gracious He plays along with this for a time, at least until the fully mature Do-Gooder Institution expels Him entirely in favor of its own ways and means.

In 1636, after some 17,000 Puritans had migrated to New England, Harvard was founded in anticipation of the need for training clergy for the new commonwealth…by vote of the Great and General Court, the governing legislative body of colonial-era Massachusetts Bay Colony, one of the original Thirteen Colonies.¹⁶

Now I consider Mr. Eaton’s description of his father relative to Nietzsche’s father, “a Lutheran pastor^[16] and former teacher.”¹⁷

Nietzsche’s father was a pastor. My father has been a sort of atheist pastor. A professor descended from New England Puritans, he has been obsessed with how people should behave, the most rational social policies. By virtuous comportment and gardening, woodworking, drawing, piano-playing he has striven relentlessly to prove that he for one is among the divinely elected. But he has had no use for the word God and has scorned organized religion, the Roman Catholic Church in particular. (Part of the last wave of the so-called Enlightenment, he would not have my sisters or I study Latin—the “dead language” of the Church.)¹⁸

Does Mr. Eaton’s description of his father resemble the certainty of “Whoever-does-good from God exists” or the more wishful thinking of “Whoever-obeys-our-rule becomes from God” or the final stage of human organization, routinization and institutionalization once God has left the building? I ask the the same question about Saul’s (aka Paul’s) description of himself (Philippians 3:4b-6):

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless [Table].

And I ask the same question about myself when I tried to love like God by turning Paul’s description of love into rules I set out to obey in (by means of) the flesh. This drives me back to the text: Ἀγαπητέ, μὴ μιμοῦ τὸ κακὸν ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀγαθόν. And here all three questions resolve to one: What is τὸ ἀγαθόν (“the good”)?

So now I’ll ask what I should have asked in the beginning of this essay: How does Jesus relate to ἀγαθόν?

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? [Table] So, every healthy (ἀγαθὸν) tree bears good fruit, but the diseased (τὸ δὲ σαπρὸν) tree bears bad fruit. A healthy (ἀγαθὸν) tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased (σαπρὸν) tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits [Table].¹⁹

Here, regarding fruit trees as an analogy for recognizing τῶν ψευδοπροφητῶν (ESV: false prophets), ἀγαθὸν (ESV: healthy) was contrasted, δὲ (ESV: but), to τὸ σαπρὸν (ESV: the diseased) tree which καρποὺς πονηροὺς ποιεῖ (ESV: bears bad fruit). The ἀγαθὸν, healthy tree bears good fruit, καρποὺς καλοὺς ποιεῖ.

So, “Man is the Measure of All Things”?²⁰ I remember turning up my nose at the sour fruit my mother made into delicious pies. Perhaps, “Woman is the measure of all things” would be more apt, certainly more in keeping with the zeitgeist of the times. Joshua J. Mark wrote in an article on World History Encyclopedia online:

Protagoras of Abdera (l.c. 485-415 BCE) is most famous for his claim that “Of all things the measure is Man, of the things that are, that they are, and of the things that are not, that they are not” (DK 80B1) usually rendered simply as “Man is the Measure of All Things”. Along these same lines, he also maintained that, if there were gods – as the Greeks, of course, believed – there was no way of knowing what they were like or what they might want from humanity by way of service and worship…

Protagoras lived and worked in ancient Athens as a sophist, a highly paid teacher of the upper class youth of the city, who instructed his pupils in how to speak well and, especially, how to win court cases. Athens was particularly litigious and law suits were common; knowing how to turn a jury to side with one’s claims was a highly prized skill and, it seems, Protagoras was very good at this.²¹

Mr. Mark explained, “Almost all of what we know of Protagoras comes from Plato, who completely rejected his relativism and, although Plato may be presenting a highly prejudicial view of the man, his work remains the primary sources modern day scholars have to work with.”²² Then he quoted an example of Socrates’ dialectical method: “In the dialogue of the Theatetus, Plato argues against Protagoras’ view through his central character of Socrates delivering the following criticism:”

If what each man believes to be true through sensation is true for him – and no man can judge of another’s experience better than the man himself, and no man is in a better position to consider whether another’s opinion is true or false than the man himself, but…each man is to have his own opinions for himself alone, and all of them are to be right and true – then how, my friend, was Protagoras so wise that he should consider himself worthy to teach others and for huge fees? And how are we so ignorant that we should go to school to him, if each of us is the measure of his own wisdom? (161B)

Jesus continued to describe the ἀγαθὸν (ESV: healthy) tree as one that cannot, οὐ δύναται, bear, ποιεῖν, bad, πονηροὺς, fruit, καρποὺς. Is this a definitional statement? Woman—the owner of a fruit tree in this case, as the measure of all things—defines a healthy (ἀγαθὸν) fruit tree as one that cannot make bad (πονηροὺς) fruit? Or, is this actual knowledge about fruit trees from the Maker of fruit trees? The answers to these questions are yes and yes and yes. I’ll consider the last first:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 1:11, 12 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:11, 12 (NET)	Genesis 1:11, 12 (NETS)	Genesis 1:11, 12 (English Elpenor)
And G-d said: ‘Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit-tree bearing fruit after its kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth’ And it was so [Table].	God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: plants yielding seeds and trees on the land bearing fruit with seed in it, according to their kinds.” It was so.	And God said, “Let the earth put forth herbaceous vegetation, seeding seed according to kind and according to likeness, and a fruit-bearing tree producing fruit of which its seed is in it according to kind, on the earth.” And it became so [Table].	And God said, Let the earth bring forth the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit-tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and it was so.
And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after its kind; and G-d saw that it was good (טֽוֹב) [Table].	The land produced vegetation—plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good (ṭôḇ, טוב).	And the earth brought forth herbaceous vegetation, seeding seed according to kind and according to likeness, and a fruit-bearing tree producing fruit of which its seed is in it according to kind, on the earth. And God saw that it was good (καλόν) [Table].	And the earth brought forth the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and God saw that it was good (καλόν).

God’s assessment of the fruit trees He created is טֽוֹב (ṭôḇ) in Hebrew, which was translated καλόν in Greek in the Septuagint. Both adjectives καλόν (good) and καλοὺς (good) are forms of καλός. Yes, Jesus described “actual knowledge about fruit trees from the Maker of fruit trees.”

And yes, Jesus’ statement is definitional: every healthy (ἀγαθὸν) tree bears good (καλοὺς) fruit; A healthy (ἀγαθὸν) tree cannot bear bad (πονηροὺς) fruit by definition. Why? A tree that bears bad fruit is σαπρὸν (ESV: diseased). More to the point it no longer ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν (“from God exists”); it is not as He made it: טֽוֹב (ṭôḇ) in Hebrew, καλόν in Greek, good in English translation.

And yes, woman—as the measure of all things—is in complete agreement with God’s definition of a healthy (ἀγαθὸν) fruit tree as one that cannot make bad (πονηροὺς) fruit. If the women of the household, whether slave or free, with all their God-given cleverness and creativity (or their gregarious “consultations” with other women of other households), could not make something delicious out of the fruit of a given fruit tree, it was no longer a fruit tree. It was firewood.

Granted, Jesus’ purpose in his saying was to martial all of this insight to determine if a given prophet ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν (“from God exists”). I’ll pick this up in another essay.

3 John, Part 4

Back to 3 John, Part 5

Back to 3 John, Part 6

Back to 3 John, Part 7

Back to 3 John, Part 8

Back to Exploration, Part 16

¹ Who Am I? Part 12

² From ‘I am afraid we are not rid of God because we still have faith in grammar…’ by Glenn Nicholls

³ From “I am afraid we are not rid of God because we still have faith in grammar” by William Eaton

⁴ From Greek Participles: Simple Definition of the Participle, Learn Biblical Greek on Resources for Learning New Testament Greek online.

⁵ From Greek Participles: Use of the Greek Participle: Substantively, Learn Biblical Greek on Resources for Learning New Testament Greek online.

⁶ From the entry: do-gooder on the Merriam-Webster Dictionary online.

⁷ From the entry: good doer on the Merriam-Webster Dictionary online.

⁸ Christ-Centered Preaching, Chapter 1

⁹ Christ-Centered Preaching, Chapter 4, Part 1

¹⁰ Christ-Centered Preaching, Chapter 4, Part 1

¹¹ Exploration, Part 3

¹² This is another possible understanding of ἐστιν (ESV: is), a form of εἰμί.

¹³ Philippians 2:13 (NET)

¹⁴ 3 John 1:11b (ESV) Table

¹⁵ Philippians 2:13b (ESV) Table

¹⁶ From History of Harvard University, an entry on Wikipedia online.

¹⁷ From Friedrich Nietzsche: Life: Youth (1844-1868), an entry on Wikipedia online.

¹⁸ From “I am afraid we are not rid of God because we still have faith in grammar” by William Eaton

¹⁹ Matthew 7:15-20 (ESV)

²⁰ From “Protagoras of Abdera: Of All Things Man Is The Measure,” by Joshua J. Mark on World History Encyclopedia online.

²¹ Ibid.

²² Ibid.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Part 6

Posted on August 30, 2022 by admin

This is a continuation of my intent to become much more familiar with the Greek translation of יְהֹוָ֨ה (Yᵊhōvâ) and יֱהֹוִה֙ (yᵊhōvâ) in the Septuagint. Genesis 2:4 marked the first occurrence of יְהֹוָ֥ה (Yᵊhōvâ) in the Masoretic text. Only the Elpenor version of the Septuagint seemed to corroborate that first occurrence with the Greek word Κύριος. None of the other occurrences thus far received any validation from the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 2:8 (Tanakh)	Genesis 2:8 (NET)	Genesis 2:8 (NETS)	Genesis 2:8 (English Elpenor)
And HaShem (יְהֹוָ֧ה) G-d (אֱלֹהִ֛ים) planted a garden eastward, in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed.	The Lord (Yᵊhōvâ, יהוה) God (‘ĕlōhîm, אלהים) planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed.	And the Lord (κύριος) God (ὁ θεὸς) planted an orchard in Edem toward the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.	And God (ὁ Θεὸς) planted a garden eastward in Edem, and placed there the man whom he had formed.

Here, it is the BLB Septuagint rather then the Elpenor which corroborated the Masoretic text’s יְהֹוָ֧ה (Yᵊhōvâ) with κύριος.

Primed by the graciousness of God’s word¹–He gives the gifts He deems appropriate to whomever He chooses to give them–I can hear this as the graciousness of God. He did not leave the man (‘āḏām, האדם) he had formed² naked and afraid in the wild. He prepared a garden or orchard (Hebrew: gan, גן; Greek: παράδεισον, a form of παράδεισος) for him in Eden (ʿēḏen, בעדן), which means pleasure.

Moses continued to describe the garden in pleasure:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 2:9 (Tanakh)	Genesis 2:9 (NET)	Genesis 2:9 (NETS)	Genesis 2:9 (English Elpenor)
And out of the ground made HaShem (יְהֹוָ֤ה) G-d (אֱלֹהִים֙) to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.	The Lord (Yᵊhōvâ, יהוה) God (ĕlōhîm’, אלהים) made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.)	And out of the earth God (ὁ θεὸς) furthermore made to grow every tree that is beautiful to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the orchard’s midst and the tree for knowing what is knowable of good and evil.	And God (ὁ Θεὸς) made to spring up also out of the earth every tree beautiful to the eye and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of learning the knowledge of good and evil.

This occurrence of יְהֹוָ֤ה (Yᵊhōvâ) in the Masoretic text wasn’t corroborated by either version of the Septuagint.

In another essay I called Genesis 1:11, 12 an example of the authority of God’s word: “He spoke and the earth obeyed Him” (Genesis 1:11, 12 NET) [See Table below].

God said, “Let the land (‘ereṣ, הארץ) produce (dāšā’, תדשא) vegetation: plants yielding seeds and trees on the land bearing fruit with seed in it, according to their kinds.” It was so. The land (‘ereṣ, הארץ) produced (yāṣā’, ותוצא) vegetation—plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.

Now I have two additional pieces of information:

Genesis 2:5 (NET) [See Table below]	Genesis 2:9 (NET) [See Table below]
Now no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted (ṣāmaḥ, יצמח), for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.	The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow (ṣāmaḥ, ויצמח) from the soil (‘ăḏāmâ, האדמה), every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.)

Was it seeds that the land (‘ereṣ, הארץ) produced (yāṣā’, ותוצא)? Or was it the land’s plans, ideas or designs that God saw…was good? The same Hebrew word תוצא (yāṣā’) occurred in Genesis 1:24 (NET) [Table]:

God said, “Let the land produce (yāṣā’, תוצא) living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” It was so.

Regarding the trees of Eden the land’s “obedience” was effected (not surprisingly any longer) by God who made all kinds of trees grow (ṣāmaḥ, ויצמח) from the soil (‘ăḏāmâ, האדמה). And this exercise keeps me aware that God’s word is not sometimes true and other times powerful, sometimes authoritative and others gracious. His word is all of the above all of the time. The patterns simply helped me recognize these various aspects of his word.

The description of pleasure continued:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 2:10-14 (Tanakh)	Genesis 2:10-14 (NET)	Genesis 2:10-14 (NETS)	Genesis 2:10-14 (English Elpenor)
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became four heads [Table].	Now a river flows from Eden to water the orchard, and from there it divides into four headstreams.	Now a river goes out of Edem to water the orchard; from there it divides into four sources [Table].	And a river proceeds out of Edem to water the garden, thence it divides itself into four heads.
The name of the first is Pishon; that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;	The name of the first is Pishon; it runs through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.	The name of the first one is Phison; it is the one that encircles the whole land of Heuilat, there where the gold is;	The name of the one, Phison, this it is which encircles the whole land of Evilat, where there is gold.
and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone.	(The gold of that land is pure; pearls and lapis lazuli are also there.)	now the gold of that land is good, and carbuncle and light green stone are there.	And the gold of that land is good, there also is carbuncle and emerald.
And the name of the second river is Gihon; the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Cush.	The name of the second river is Gihon; it runs through the entire land of Cush.	And the second river’s name is Geon; it is the one that encircles the whole land of Ethiopia.	And the name of the second river is Geon, this it is which encircles the whole land of Ethiopia.
And the name of the third river is Tigris; that is it which goeth toward the east of Asshur And the fourth river is the Euphrates.	The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.	And the third river is the Tigris; it is one that goes over against the Assyrians. As for the fourth river, it is the Euphrates.	And the third river is Tigris, this is that which flows forth over against the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

I won’t comment much here on antediluvian geography, nor attempt to use tantalizing Hebrew words like כוש (kûš), חדקל (ḥideqel), אשור (‘aššûr) or פרת (pᵊrāṯ) to locate Eden on a modern map. I grew up in Missouri near the center of the North American continent. I’ve walked up a hill, stood on a road cut, looked down on the highway and out over the landscape, trying to imagine the bottom of a warm shallow sea.

It was all in my imagination, a story to tell beginning Geology students on a field trip. A fresh look at the fossils at our feet revealed that these organisms probably didn’t live here, probably didn’t even die here. They were not bent and folded organisms crushed by the weight of sediments like so many fallen caryatids. They were broken pieces, fairly well sorted according to size and density.

If I imagine that the water carrying these pieces also had larger more dense pieces as well as smaller less dense pieces, I can imagine a relative measure of the flow of this water when these pieces fell out of suspension in this particular location. Though this particular imagination feels more sciency than my former imagination, it’s still just my imagination. I can’t pinpoint a place on a map upstream where larger more dense pieces of the same organisms fell out of suspension, or downstream where smaller pieces fell out. All I see are miles and miles of fossils of about this size embedded in a silt-sized limestone matrix.

My point is that the four distributaries described in Genesis 2:10-14 were planned and engineered by God. I’m more familiar post flood with river deltas, water following the path of least resistance as it flows downhill.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 2:15 (Tanakh)	Genesis 2:15 (NET)	Genesis 2:15 (NETS)	Genesis 2:15 (English Elpenor)
And HaShem (יְהֹוָ֥ה) G-d (אֱלֹהִ֖ים) took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.	The Lord (Yᵊhōvâ, יהוה) God (‘ĕlōhîm, אלהים) took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it.	And the Lord (κύριος) God (ὁ θεὸς) took the man whom he had formed and put him in the orchard to till and keep it.	And the Lord (Κύριος) God (ὁ Θεὸς) took the man whom he had formed, and placed him in the garden of Delight, to cultivate and keep it.

Here יְהֹוָ֥ה (Yᵊhōvâ) was translated Κύριος in both versions of the Septuagint. An article I read while preparing this essay highlighted the Lord God’s graciousness to Adam, providing him with something meaningful to do in the garden, as it gave me an interesting contrast to what passes for human intelligence.

Yuval Noah Harari, historian, futurist, and World Economic Forum (WEF) adviser, said, “We just don’t need the vast majority of the population” in the early 21st century given modern technologies’ rendering human labor economically and militarily “redundant.”³

Mr. Harari explained:⁴

In the 20th century, what was common to all the stories — the liberal, the fascist, the communist — is that the big heroes of the story were the common people, not necessarily all people, but if you lived, say, in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, life was very grim, but when you looked at the propaganda posters on the walls that depicted the glorious future, you were there…

Now, when people look at the posters on the walls, or listen to TED talks, they hear a lot of these…big ideas and big words about machine learning and genetic engineering and blockchain and globalization, and they are not there…‘The future doesn’t need me. You have all these smart people in California and in New York and in Beijing, and they are planning this amazing future with artificial intelligence and bio-engineering and in global connectivity and whatnot, and they don’t need me…’

The Lord God continued:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 2:16, 17 (Tanakh)	Genesis 2:16, 17 (NET)	Genesis 2:16, 17 (NETS)	Genesis 2:16, 17 (English Elpenor)
And HaShem (יְהֹוָ֣ה) G-d (אֱלֹהִ֔ים) commanded the man, saying: ‘Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat [Table];	Then the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ, יהוה) God (‘ĕlōhîm, אלהים) commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard,	And the Lord (κύριος) God (ὁ θεὸς) commanded Adam, saying, “You shall eat for food of every tree that is in the orchard [Table],	And the Lord (Κύριος) God (ὁ Θεὸς) gave a charge to Adam, saying, Of every tree which is in the garden thou mayest freely eat,
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die’ [Table].	but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.”	but of the tree for knowing good and evil, of it you shall not eat; on the day that you eat of it, you shall die by death” [Table].	but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil– of it ye shall not eat, but in whatsoever day ye eat of it, ye shall surely die.

Here, too, יְהֹוָ֣ה (Yᵊhōvâ) in the Masoretic text was corroborated by Κύριος in both versions of the Septuagint. While there is every reason to believe that the Lord God’s command to Adam was every bit as true, powerful, authoritative and gracious as every other word He had spoken, I can hear it as arbitrary, capricious, deceitful even evil. That says far more about me and my evil desire than it does about the Lord God or his word. It seems important to highlight that the tree of life was not included in this prohibition.

I’ll pick this up in another essay. A table mentioned above comparing English translations of Genesis 1:11, 12 follows:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 1:11, 12 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:11, 12 (NET)	Genesis 1:11, 12 (NETS)	Genesis 1:11, 12 (English Elpenor)
And G-d said: ‘Let the earth (הָאָ֨רֶץ֙) put forth (תַּדְשֵׁ֤א) grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit-tree bearing fruit after its kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth’ And it was so [Table].	God said, “Let the land (‘ereṣ, הארץ) produce (dāšā’, תדשא) vegetation: plants yielding seeds and trees on the land bearing fruit with seed in it, according to their kinds.” It was so.	And God said, “Let the earth (γῆ) put forth (βλαστησάτω) herbaceous vegetation, seeding seed according to kind and according to likeness, and a fruit-bearing tree producing fruit of which its seed is in it according to kind, on the earth.” And it became so [Table].	And God said, Let the earth (γῆ) bring forth (βλαστησάτω) the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit-tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and it was so.
And the earth (הָאָ֜רֶץ) brought forth (וַתּוֹצֵ֨א) grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after its kind; and G-d saw that it was good [Table].	The land (‘ereṣ, הארץ) produced (yāṣā’, ותוצא) vegetation—plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.	And the earth (γῆ) brought forth (ἐξήνεγκεν) herbaceous vegetation, seeding seed according to kind and according to likeness, and a fruit-bearing tree producing fruit of which its seed is in it according to kind, on the earth. And God saw that it was good [Table].	And the earth (γῆ) brought forth (ἐξήνεγκεν) the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and God saw that it was good.

A table mentioned above comparing English translations of Genesis 2:5 follows:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 2:5 (Tanakh)	Genesis 2:5 (NET)	Genesis 2:5 (NETS)	Genesis 2:5 (English Elpenor)
No shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up (יִצְמָ֑ח); for HaShem G-d had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground [Table];	Now no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted (ṣāmaḥ, יצמח), for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.	and all verdue of the field before it came to be (γενέσθαι) upon the earth and all herbage of the field before it sprang up, for God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was not a human to till the earth [Table],	and every herb of the field before it was (γενέσθαι) on the earth, and all the grass of the field before it sprang up, for God had not rained on the earth, and there was not a man to cultivate it.

A table mentioned above comparing English translations of Genesis 2:9 follows:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 2:9 (Tanakh)	Genesis 2:9 (NET)	Genesis 2:9 (NETS)	Genesis 2:9 (English Elpenor)
And out of the ground (הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה) made HaShem G-d to grow (וַיַּצְמַ֞ח) every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.	The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow (ṣāmaḥ, ויצמח) from the soil ‘(ăḏāmâ, האדמה), every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.)	And out of the earth (γῆς) God furthermore made to grow (ἐξανέτειλεν) every tree that is beautiful to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the orchard’s midst and the tree for knowing what is knowable of good and evil.	And God made to spring up (ἐξανέτειλεν) also out of the earth (γῆς) every tree beautiful to the eye and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of learning the knowledge of good and evil.

Tables comparing Genesis 2:8; 2:9; 2:11; 2:12; 2:13; 2:14 and 2:15 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET; and tables comparing Genesis 2:8; 2:9; 2:11; 2:12; 2:13; 2:14 and 2:15 in the BLB and Elpenor versions of the Septuagint with the English translations from Hebrew and Greek follow.

Genesis 2:8 (Tanakh)	Genesis 2:8 (KJV)	Genesis 2:8 (NET)
And HaShem G-d planted a garden eastward, in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed.	And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.	The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed.

Genesis 2:8 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 2:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐφύτευσεν κύριος ὁ θεὸς παράδεισον ἐν Εδεμ κατὰ ἀνατολὰς καὶ ἔθετο ἐκεῗ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὃν ἔπλασεν	Καὶ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ Θεὸς παράδεισον ἐν ᾿Εδὲμ κατὰ ἀνατολὰς καὶ ἔθετο ἐκεῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὃν ἔπλασε
Genesis 2:8 (NETS)	Genesis 2:8 (English Elpenor)
And the Lord God planted an orchard in Edem toward the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.	And God planted a garden eastward in Edem, and placed there the man whom he had formed.

Genesis 2:9 (Tanakh)	Genesis 2:9 (KJV)	Genesis 2:9 (NET)
And out of the ground made HaShem G-d to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.	And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.	The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.)

Genesis 2:9 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 2:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐξανέτειλεν ὁ θεὸς ἔτι ἐκ τῆς γῆς πᾶν ξύλον ὡραῗον εἰς ὅρασιν καὶ καλὸν εἰς βρῶσιν καὶ τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς ἐν μέσῳ τῷ παραδείσῳ καὶ τὸ ξύλον τοῦ εἰδέναι γνωστὸν καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ	καὶ ἐξανέτειλεν ὁ Θεὸς ἔτι ἐκ τῆς γῆς πᾶν ξύλον ὡραῖον εἰς ὅρασιν καὶ καλὸν εἰς βρῶσιν καὶ τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ παραδείσου καὶ τὸ ξύλον τοῦ εἰδέναι γνωστὸν καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ
Genesis 2:9 (NETS)	Genesis 2:9 (English Elpenor)
And out of the earth God furthermore made to grow every tree that is beautiful to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the orchard’s midst and the tree for knowing what is knowable of good and evil.	And God made to spring up also out of the earth every tree beautiful to the eye and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of learning the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:11 (Tanakh)	Genesis 2:11 (KJV)	Genesis 2:11 (NET)
The name of the first is Pishon; that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;	The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;	The name of the first is Pishon; it runs through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

Genesis 2:11 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 2:11 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὄνομα τῷ ἑνὶ Φισων οὗτος ὁ κυκλῶν πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν Ευιλατ ἐκεῗ οὗ ἐστιν τὸ χρυσίον	ὄνομα τῷ ἑνὶ Φισῶν· οὗτος ὁ κυκλῶν πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν Εὐιλάτ, ἐκεῖ οὗ ἐστι τὸ χρυσίον
Genesis 2:11 (NETS)	Genesis 2:11 (English Elpenor)
The name of the first one is Phison; it is the one that encircles the whole land of Heuilat, there where the gold is;	The name of the one, Phison, this it is which encircles the whole land of Evilat, where there is gold.

Genesis 2:12 (Tanakh)	Genesis 2:12 (KJV)	Genesis 2:12 (NET)
and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone.	And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.	(The gold of that land is pure; pearls and lapis lazuli are also there.)

Genesis 2:12 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 2:12 (Septuagint Elpenor)
τὸ δὲ χρυσίον τῆς γῆς ἐκείνης καλόν καὶ ἐκεῗ ἐστιν ὁ ἄνθραξ καὶ ὁ λίθος ὁ πράσινος	τὸ δὲ χρυσίον τῆς γῆς ἐκείνης καλόν· καὶ ἐκεῖ ἐστιν ὁ ἄνθραξ καὶ ὁ λίθος ὁ πράσινος
Genesis 2:12 (NETS)	Genesis 2:12 (English Elpenor)
now the gold of that land is good, and carbuncle and light green stone are there.	And the gold of that land is good, there also is carbuncle and emerald.

Genesis 2:13 (Tanakh)	Genesis 2:13 (KJV)	Genesis 2:13 (NET)
And the name of the second river is Gihon; the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Cush.	And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.	The name of the second river is Gihon; it runs through the entire land of Cush.

Genesis 2:13 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 2:13 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ὄνομα τῷ ποταμῷ τῷ δευτέρῳ Γηων οὗτος ὁ κυκλῶν πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν Αἰθιοπίας	καὶ ὄνομα τῷ ποταμῷ τῷ δευτέρῳ Γεῶν· οὗτος ὁ κυκλῶν πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν Αἰθιοπίας
Genesis 2:13 (NETS)	Genesis 2:13 (English Elpenor)
And the second river’s name is Geon; it is the one that encircles the whole land of Ethiopia.	And the name of the second river is Geon, this it is which encircles the whole land of Ethiopia.

Genesis 2:14 (Tanakh)	Genesis 2:14 (KJV)	Genesis 2:14 (NET)
And the name of the third river is Tigris; that is it which goeth toward the east of Asshur And the fourth river is the Euphrates.	And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.	The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

Genesis 2:14 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 2:14 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ὁ ποταμὸς ὁ τρίτος Τίγρις οὗτος ὁ πορευόμενος κατέναντι Ἀσσυρίων ὁ δὲ ποταμὸς ὁ τέταρτος οὗτος Εὐφράτης	καὶ ὁ ποταμὸς ὁ τρίτος Τίγρις· οὗτος ὁ προπορευόμενος κατέναντι ᾿Ασσυρίων. ὁ δὲ ποταμὸς ὁ τέταρτος Εὐφράτης
Genesis 2:14 (NETS)	Genesis 2:14 (English Elpenor)
And the third river is the Tigris; it is one that goes over against the Assyrians. As for the fourth river, it is the Euphrates.	And the third river is Tigris, this is that which flows forth over against the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

Genesis 2:15 (Tanakh)	Genesis 2:15 (KJV)	Genesis 2:15 (NET)
And HaShem G-d took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.	And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.	The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it.

Genesis 2:15 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 2:15 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔλαβεν κύριος ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὃν ἔπλασεν καὶ ἔθετο αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ ἐργάζεσθαι αὐτὸν καὶ φυλάσσειν	Καὶ ἔλαβε Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὃν ἔπλασε, καὶ ἔθετο αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τῆς τρυφῆς, ἐργάζεσθαι αὐτὸν καὶ φυλάσσειν
Genesis 2:15 (NETS)	Genesis 2:15 (English Elpenor)
And the Lord God took the man whom he had formed and put him in the orchard to till and keep it.	And the Lord God took the man whom he had formed, and placed him in the garden of Delight, to cultivate and keep it.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Part 7

¹ Genesis 1:22-23; Genesis 1:28; Genesis 1:29-30; Genesis 2:1-3

² Genesis 2:8b (NET)

³ Robert Kraychik, “WEF Adviser Yuval Harari: ‘We Just Don’t Need the Vast Majority of the Population’ in Today’s World,” Breitbart

⁴ Ibid.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Part 3

Posted on August 13, 2020 by admin

I intend to become much more familiar with the Greek translation of יְהֹוָ֨ה (y^ehôvâh) and יֱהֹוִה֙ (y^ehôvih) in the Septuagint. To do that I decided to start at the beginning, noting all divine references.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 1:1, 2 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:1, 2 (NET)	Genesis 1:1, 2 (NETS)	Genesis 1:1, 2 (English Elpenor)
IN THE beginning G-d (אֱלֹהִ֑ים) created the heaven and the earth.	In the beginning God (‘elohiym, אלהים) created the heavens and the earth.	In the beginning God (θεὸς) made the sky and the earth.	IN the beginning God (Θεὸς) made the heaven and the earth.
Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit (וְר֣וּחַ) of G-d (אֱלֹהִ֔ים) hovered over the face of the waters.	Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit (ruwach, ורוח) of God (‘elohiym, אלהים) was moving over the surface of the water.	Yet the earth was invisible and unformed, and darkness was over the abyss, and a divine (θεοῦ) wind (πνεῦμα) was being carried along the water.	But the earth was unsightly and unfurnished, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit (πνεῦμα) of God (Θεοῦ) moved over the water.

Thus far I have the plural אֱלֹהִ֑ים (‘elohiym, translated Θεὸς, God) and וְר֣וּחַ (ruwach, translated πνεῦμα, spirit, wind) אֱלֹהִ֔ים (‘elohiym, translated Θεοῦ, of God, divine). I was raised on an abbreviated version of Lord Acton’s maxim:

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.

It’s difficult to say now if I would’ve learned more from this fuller treatment or rebelled more against it. Still, I find myself searching almost instinctively for a limit on the power and authority of אֱלֹהִ֔ים (‘elohiym).

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 1:3-5 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:3-5 (NET)	Genesis 1:3-5 (NETS)	Genesis 1:3-5 (English Elpenor)
And G-d (אֱלֹהִ֖ים) said: ‘Let there be light’ And there was light.	God (‘elohiym, אלהים) said, “Let there be light.” And there was light!	And God (θεός) said, “Let light come into being.” And light came into being.	And God (Θεός) said, Let there be light, and there was light.
And G-d (אֱלֹהִ֛ים) saw the light, that it was good; and G-d (אֱלֹהִ֔ים) divided the light from the darkness.	God (‘elohiym, אלהים) saw that the light was good, so God (‘elohiym, אלהים) separated the light from the darkness.	And God (θεὸς) saw the light, that it was good. And God (θεὸς) separated between the light and between the darkness.	And God (Θεὸς) saw the light that it was good, and God (Θεὸς) divided between the light and the darkness.
And G-d (אֱלֹהִ֤ים) called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night And there was evening and there was morning, one day.	God (‘elohiym, אלהים) called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day.	And God (θεὸς) called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. And it came to be evening, and it came to be morning, day one.	And God (Θεὸς) called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night, and there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

The Hebrew word translated good was ט֑וֹב (towb). It was translated καλόν (a form of καλός) in the Septuagint. This beautiful good could be the limit I seek on the power and authority of אֱלֹהִ֔ים (‘elohiym). Granted, its meaning is his own. But I’ll take what I can get in the face of such fearful power and authority.

Years ago, studying this opening chapter, I realized it wasn’t instructional in the sense that I could read it and then go out and create the heaven and the earth. Encouraged by Paul’s instruction to Timothy—Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness [Table], that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good (ἀγαθὸν, a form of ἀγαθός) work^[1]—I was casting about for some useful instruction here. It dawned on me finally that this chapter describes the word of God (before sin entered the world through one man and death through sin^[2]).

And G-d said: ‘Let there be light’ And there was light.^[3] God’s word is powerful: He spoke and it happened as He said.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 1:6-8 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:6-8 (NET)	Genesis 1:6-8 (NETS)	Genesis 1:6-8 (English Elpenor)
And G-d (אֱלֹהִ֔ים) said: ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters’.	God (‘elohiym, אלהים) said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate water from water.”	And God (θεός) said, “Let a firmament come into being in the midst of the water, and let it be a separator between water and water.”	And God (Θεός) said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it be a division between water and water, and it was so.
And G-d (אֱלֹהִים֘) made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.	So God (‘elohiym, אלהים) made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. It was so.	And God (θεὸς) made the firmament, and God (θεὸς) separated between the water that was under the firmament and between the water that was above the firmament.	And God (Θεὸς) made the firmament, and God (Θεὸς) divided between the water which was under the firmament and the water which was above the firmament.
And G-d (אֱלֹהִ֛ים) called the firmament Heaven And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.	God (‘elohiym, אלהים) called the expanse “sky.” There was evening, and there was morning, a second day.	And God (θεὸς) called the firmament Sky. And God (θεὸς) saw that it was good. And it came to be evening, and it came to be morning, a second day.	And God (Θεὸς) called the firmament Heaven, and God (Θεὸς) saw that it was good, and there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

The word good (καλόν, a form of καλός) is repeated here in the Septuagint, though not in the Masoretic text. And G-d said: ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters’. And G-d made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.^[4] God’s word is true: He did what He said and made it so.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 1:9, 10 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:9, 10 (NET)	Genesis 1:9, 10 (NETS)	Genesis 1:9, 10 (English Elpenor)
And G-d (אֱלֹהִ֗ים) said: ‘Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear’ And it was so.	God (‘elohiym, אלהים) said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear.” It was so.	And God (θεός) said, “Let the water that is under the sky be gathered into one gathering, and let the dry land appear.” And it became so. And the water that was under the sky was gathered into their gatherings, and the dry land appeared.	And God (Θεός) said, Let the water which is under the heaven be collected into one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And the water which was under the heaven was collected into its places, and the dry land appeared.
And G-d (אֱלֹהִ֤ים) called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas; and G-d (אֱלֹהִ֖ים) saw that it was good.	God (‘elohiym, אלהים) called the dry ground “land” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God (‘elohiym, אלהים) saw that it was good.	And God (θεὸς) called the dry land Earth, and the systems of the waters he called Seas. And God (θεὸς) saw that it was good.	And God (Θεὸς) called the dry land Earth, and the gatherings of the waters he called Seas, and God (Θεὸς) saw that it was good.

Here both the Masoretic text and Septuagint reiterated the qualifier good (towb, טֽוֹב; καλόν, a form of καλός) and the power of God’s word: And G-d said: ‘Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear’ And it was so.^[5] His power and authority (Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25) were described vividly in the Septuagint: And the water which was under the heaven was collected into its places, and the dry land appeared.^[6]

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 1:11-13 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:11-13 (NET)	Genesis 1:11-13 (NETS)	Genesis 1:11-13 (English Elpenor)
And G-d (אֱלֹהִ֗ים) said: ‘Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit-tree bearing fruit after its kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth’ And it was so.	God (‘elohiym, אלהים) said, “Let the land produce vegetation: plants yielding seeds and trees on the land bearing fruit with seed in it, according to their kinds.” It was so.	And God (θεός) said, “Let the earth put forth herbaceous vegetation, seeding seed according to kind and according to likeness, and a fruit-bearing tree producing fruit of which its seed is in it according to kind, on the earth.” And it became so.	And God (Θεός) said, Let the earth bring forth the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit-tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and it was so.
And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after its kind; and G-d (אֱלֹהִ֖ים) saw that it was good.	The land produced vegetation—plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God (‘elohiym, אלהים) saw that it was good.	And the earth brought forth herbaceous vegetation, seeding seed according to kind and according to likeness, and a fruit-bearing tree producing fruit of which its seed is in it according to kind, on the earth. And God (θεὸς) saw that it was good.	And the earth brought forth the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and God (Θεός) saw that it was good.
And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.	There was evening, and there was morning, a third day.	And it came to be evening, and it came to be morning, a third day.	And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

Again, both the Masoretic text and Septuagint reiterated the qualifier good (towb, טֽוֹב; καλόν, a form of καλός). And G-d said: ‘Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit-tree bearing fruit after its kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth’ And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after its kind; and G-d saw that it was good.^[7] God’s word is authoritative: He spoke and the earth obeyed Him.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 1:14-19 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:14-19 (NET)	Genesis 1:14-19 (NETS)	Genesis 1:14-19 (English Elpenor)
And G-d (אֱלֹהִ֗ים) said: ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years;	God (‘elohiym, אלהים) said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years,	And God (θεός) said, “Let luminaries come into being in the firmament of the sky for illumination of the earth, to separate between the day and between the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years,	And God (Θεός) said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, to divide between day and night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years.
and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth’ And it was so.	and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” It was so.	and let them be for illumination in the firmament of the sky so as to give light upon the earth. And it became so.	And let them be for light in the firmament of the heaven, so as to shine upon the earth, and it was so.
And G-d (אֱלֹהִ֔ים) made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars.	God (‘elohiym, אלהים) made two great lights—the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also.	And God (θεὸς) made the two great luminaries, the great luminary for rulership of the day and the lesser luminary for rulership of the night, and the stars.	And God (Θεὸς) made the two great lights, the greater light for regulating the day and the lesser light for regulating the night, the stars also.
And G-d (אֱלֹהִ֖ים) set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,	God (‘elohiym, אלהים) placed the lights in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth,	And God (θεὸς) set them in the firmament of the sky so as to give light upon the earth	And God (Θεὸς) placed them in the firmament of the heaven, so as to shine upon the earth,
and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and G-d (אֱלֹהִ֖ים) saw that it was good.	And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God (‘elohiym, אלהים) saw that it was good.	and to rule the day and the night and to separate between the light and between the darkness. And God (θεὸς) saw that it was good.	and to regulate day and night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God (Θεός) saw that it was good.
And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.	There was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.	And it came to be evening, and it came to be morning, a fourth day.	And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Here is another example of the truth of God’s word: He did what He said and made it so. And good occurs in both the Masoretic text (towb, טֽוֹב) and Septuagint (καλόν, a form of καλός). Jesus gave the following insight how the beautiful goodness of the works of אֱלֹהִ֖ים (‘elohiym) serves to limit the abuses of power and authority one expects of human rule (Matthew 5:43-48 NET):

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you [Table], so that you may be like your Father in heaven,^[8] since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they? And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do? Even the Gentiles^[9] do the same, don’t they? So then, be perfect (τέλειοι, a form of τέλειος), as^[10] your heavenly^[11] Father is perfect (τέλειος).

The origin and development stories^[12] of the socially constructed reality I inhabit deny the truth, power and authority of the word of אֱלֹהִ֔ים (‘elohiym). Though the work of creation scientists has helped me break through this intellectual barrier to faith, these days I find it is quicker to imagine standing before the judgment seat of Christ and using any aspect^[13] of these stories as an excuse for having disbelieved Him. To paraphrase Paul (Galatians 3:1-5): Did I receive the Spirit—and a continuous infusion of God’s own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—by socially constructed origin and development stories or by believing what I heard in Christ?

I’ll pick this up in another essay.

Tables comparing Genesis 1:1; 1:2; 1:3; 1:4; 1:5; 1:6; 1:7; 1:8; 1:9; 1:10; 1:11; 1:12; 1:13; 1:14; 1:15; 1:16; 1:17; 1:18 and 1:19 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET; and tables comparing Genesis 1:1; 1:2; 1:3; 1:4; 1:5; 1:6; 1:7; 1:8; 1:9; 1:10; 1:11; 1:12; 1:13; 1:14; 1:15; 1:16; 1:17; 1:18 and 1:19 in the BLB and Elpenor versions of the Septuagint with the English translations from Hebrew and Greek follow. Following these are tables comparing Matthew 5:45 and 5:47, 48 in the NET and KJV.

Genesis 1:1 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:1 (KJV)	Genesis 1:1 (NET)
IN THE beginning G-d created the heaven and the earth.	In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.	In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν	ΕΝ ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν
Genesis 1:1 (NETS)	Genesis 1:1 (English Elpenor)
In the beginning God made the sky and the earth.	IN the beginning God made the heaven and the earth.

Genesis 1:2 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:2 (KJV)	Genesis 1:2 (NET)
Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of G-d hovered over the face of the waters.	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.	Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water.

Genesis 1:2 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος καὶ σκότος ἐπάνω τῆς ἀβύσσου καὶ πνεῦμα θεοῦ ἐπεφέρετο ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος	ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος, καὶ σκότος ἐπάνω τῆς ἀβύσσου, καὶ πνεῦμα Θεοῦ ἐπεφέρετο ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος
Genesis 1:2 (NETS)	Genesis 1:2 (English Elpenor)
Yet the earth was invisible and unformed, and darkness was over the abyss, and a divine wind was being carried along the water.	But the earth was unsightly and unfurnished, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God moved over the water.

Genesis 1:3 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:3 (KJV)	Genesis 1:3 (NET)
And G-d said: ‘Let there be light’ And there was light.	And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.	God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light!

Genesis 1:3 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός γενηθήτω φῶς καὶ ἐγένετο φῶς	καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· γενηθήτω φῶς· καὶ ἐγένετο φῶς
Genesis 1:3 (NETS)	Genesis 1:3 (English Elpenor)
And God said, “Let light come into being.” And light came into being.	And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.

Genesis 1:4 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:4 (KJV)	Genesis 1:4 (NET)
And G-d saw the light, that it was good; and G-d divided the light from the darkness.	And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.	God saw that the light was good, so God separated the light from the darkness.

Genesis 1:4 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶδεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ φῶς ὅτι καλόν καὶ διεχώρισεν ὁ θεὸς ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ σκότους	καὶ εἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸ φῶς, ὅτι καλόν· καὶ διεχώρισεν ὁ Θεὸς ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ σκότους
Genesis 1:4 (NETS)	Genesis 1:4 (English Elpenor)
And God saw the light, that it was good. And God separated between the light and between the darkness.	And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness.

Genesis 1:5 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:5 (KJV)	Genesis 1:5 (NET)
And G-d called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night And there was evening and there was morning, one day.	And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.	God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day.

Genesis 1:5 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ φῶς ἡμέραν καὶ τὸ σκότος ἐκάλεσεν νύκτα καὶ ἐγένετο ἑσπέρα καὶ ἐγένετο πρωί ἡμέρα μία	καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸ φῶς ἡμέραν καὶ τὸ σκότος ἐκάλεσε νύκτα. καὶ ἐγένετο ἑσπέρα καὶ ἐγένετο πρωΐ, ἡμέρα μία
Genesis 1:5 (NETS)	Genesis 1:5 (English Elpenor)
And God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. And it came to be evening, and it came to be morning, day one.	And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night, and there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Genesis 1:6 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:6 (KJV)	Genesis 1:6 (NET)
And G-d said: ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters’.	And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.	God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate water from water.”

Genesis 1:6 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός γενηθήτω στερέωμα ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ ἔστω διαχωρίζον ἀνὰ μέσον ὕδατος καὶ ὕδατος καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως	Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· γενηθήτω στερέωμα ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ ἔστω διαχωρίζον ἀνὰ μέσον ὕδατος καὶ ὕδατος. καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως
Genesis 1:6 (NETS)	Genesis 1:6 (English Elpenor)
And God said, “Let a firmament come into being in the midst of the water, and let it be a separator between water and water.”	And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it be a division between water and water, and it was so.

Genesis 1:7 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:7 (KJV)	Genesis 1:7 (NET)
And G-d made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.	And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.	So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. It was so.

Genesis 1:7 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ στερέωμα καὶ διεχώρισεν ὁ θεὸς ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ ὕδατος ὃ ἦν ὑποκάτω τοῦ στερεώματος καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ ἐπάνω τοῦ στερεώματος	καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸ στερέωμα, καὶ διεχώρισεν ὁ Θεὸς ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ ὕδατος, ὃ ἦν ὑποκάτω τοῦ στερεώματος, καὶ ἀναμέσον τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ ἐπάνω τοῦ στερεώματος.
Genesis 1:7 (NETS)	Genesis 1:7 (English Elpenor)
And God made the firmament, and God separated between the water that was under the firmament and between the water that was above the firmament.	And God made the firmament, and God divided between the water which was under the firmament and the water which was above the firmament.

Genesis 1:8 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:8 (KJV)	Genesis 1:8 (NET)
And G-d called the firmament Heaven And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.	And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.	God called the expanse “sky.” There was evening, and there was morning, a second day.

Genesis 1:8 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ στερέωμα οὐρανόν καὶ εἶδεν ὁ θεὸς ὅτι καλόν καὶ ἐγένετο ἑσπέρα καὶ ἐγένετο πρωί ἡμέρα δευτέρα	καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸ στερέωμα οὐρανόν. καὶ εἶδεν ὁ Θεός, ὅτι καλόν, καὶ ἐγένετο ἑσπέρα καὶ ἐγένετο πρωΐ, ἡμέρα δευτέρα
Genesis 1:8 (NETS)	Genesis 1:8 (English Elpenor)
And God called the firmament Sky. And God saw that it was good. And it came to be evening, and it came to be morning, a second day.	And God called the firmament Heaven, and God saw that it was good, and there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

Genesis 1:9 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:9 (KJV)	Genesis 1:9 (NET)
And G-d said: ‘Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear’ And it was so.	And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.	God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear.” It was so.

Genesis 1:9 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός συναχθήτω τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ὑποκάτω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ εἰς συναγωγὴν μίαν καὶ ὀφθήτω ἡ ξηρά καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως καὶ συνήχθη τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ὑποκάτω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ εἰς τὰς συναγωγὰς αὐτῶν καὶ ὤφθη ἡ ξηρά	Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· συναχθήτω τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ὑποκάτω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ εἰς συναγωγὴν μίαν, καὶ ὀφθήτω ἡ ξηρά. καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως. καὶ συνήχθη τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ὑποκάτω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ εἰς τὰς συναγωγὰς αὐτῶν, καὶ ὤφθη ἡ ξηρά
Genesis 1:9 (NETS)	Genesis 1:9 (English Elpenor)
And God said, “Let the water that is under the sky be gathered into one gathering, and let the dry land appear.” And it became so. And the water that was under the sky was gathered into their gatherings, and the dry land appeared.	And God said, Let the water which is under the heaven be collected into one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And the water which was under the heaven was collected into its places, and the dry land appeared.

Genesis 1:10 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:10 (KJV)	Genesis 1:10 (NET)
And G-d called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas; and G-d saw that it was good.	And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.	God called the dry ground “land” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:10 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ὁ θεὸς τὴν ξηρὰν γῆν καὶ τὰ συστήματα τῶν ὑδάτων ἐκάλεσεν θαλάσσας καὶ εἶδεν ὁ θεὸς ὅτι καλόν	καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ὁ Θεὸς τὴν ξηρὰν γῆν καὶ τὰ συστήματα τῶν ὑδάτων ἐκάλεσε θαλάσσας. καὶ εἶδεν ὁ Θεός, ὅτι καλόν
Genesis 1:10 (NETS)	Genesis 1:10 (English Elpenor)
And God called the dry land Earth, and the systems of the waters he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.	And God called the dry land Earth, and the gatherings of the waters he called Seas, and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:11 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:11 (KJV)	Genesis 1:11 (NET)
And G-d said: ‘Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit-tree bearing fruit after its kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth’ And it was so.	And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.	God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: plants yielding seeds and trees on the land bearing fruit with seed in it, according to their kinds.” It was so.

Genesis 1:11 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:11 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός βλαστησάτω ἡ γῆ βοτάνην χόρτου σπεῗρον σπέρμα κατὰ γένος καὶ καθ᾽ ὁμοιότητα καὶ ξύλον κάρπιμον ποιοῦν καρπόν οὗ τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ κατὰ γένος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως	καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· βλαστησάτω ἡ γῆ βοτάνην χόρτου σπεῖρον σπέρμα κατὰ γένος καὶ καθ᾿ ὁμοιότητα, καὶ ξύλον κάρπιμον ποιοῦν καρπόν, οὗ τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ κατὰ γένος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως
Genesis 1:11 (NETS)	Genesis 1:11 (English Elpenor)
And God said, “Let the earth put forth herbaceous vegetation, seeding seed according to kind and according to likeness, and a fruit-bearing tree producing fruit of which its seed is in it according to kind, on the earth.” And it became so.	And God said, Let the earth bring forth the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit-tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and it was so.

Genesis 1:12 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:12 (KJV)	Genesis 1:12 (NET)
And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after its kind; and G-d saw that it was good.	And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.	The land produced vegetation—plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:12 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:12, 13a (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐξήνεγκεν ἡ γῆ βοτάνην χόρτου σπεῗρον σπέρμα κατὰ γένος καὶ καθ᾽ ὁμοιότητα καὶ ξύλον κάρπιμον ποιοῦν καρπόν οὗ τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ κατὰ γένος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ εἶδεν ὁ θεὸς ὅτι καλόν	καὶ ἐξήνεγκεν ἡ γῆ βοτάνην χόρτου σπεῖρον σπέρμα κατὰ γένος καὶ καθ᾿ ὁμοιότητα, καὶ ξύλον κάρπιμον ποιοῦν καρπόν, οὗ τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ κατὰ γένος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς (13) καὶ εἶδεν ὁ Θεός, ὅτι καλόν
Genesis 1:12 (NETS)	Genesis 1:12 (English Elpenor)
And the earth brought forth herbaceous vegetation, seeding seed according to kind and according to likeness, and a fruit-bearing tree producing fruit of which its seed is in it according to kind, on the earth. And God saw that it was good.	And the earth brought forth the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:13 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:13 (KJV)	Genesis 1:13 (NET)
And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.	And the evening and the morning were the third day.	There was evening, and there was morning, a third day.

Genesis 1:13 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:13b (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐγένετο ἑσπέρα καὶ ἐγένετο πρωί ἡμέρα τρίτη	καὶ ἐγένετο ἑσπέρα καὶ ἐγένετο πρωΐ, ἡμέρα τρίτη
Genesis 1:13 (NETS)	Genesis 1:13 (English Elpenor)
And it came to be evening, and it came to be morning, a third day.	And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

Genesis 1:14 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:14 (KJV)	Genesis 1:14 (NET)
And G-d said: ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years;	And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:	God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years,

Genesis 1:14 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:14 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός γενηθήτωσαν φωστῆρες ἐν τῷ στερεώματι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ εἰς φαῦσιν τῆς γῆς τοῦ διαχωρίζειν ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς νυκτὸς καὶ ἔστωσαν εἰς σημεῗα καὶ εἰς καιροὺς καὶ εἰς ἡμέρας καὶ εἰς ἐνιαυτοὺς	Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· γενηθήτωσαν φωστῆρες ἐν τῷ στερεώματι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ εἰς φαῦσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, τοῦ διαχωρίζειν ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς νυκτός· καὶ ἔστωσαν εἰς σημεῖα καὶ εἰς καιροὺς καὶ εἰς ἡμέρας καὶ εἰς ἐνιαυτούς
Genesis 1:14 (NETS)	Genesis 1:14 (English Elpenor)
And God said, “Let luminaries come into being in the firmament of the sky for illumination of the earth, to separate between the day and between the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years,	And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, to divide between day and night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years.

Genesis 1:15 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:15 (KJV)	Genesis 1:15 (NET)
and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth’ And it was so.	And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.	and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” It was so.

Genesis 1:15 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:15 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔστωσαν εἰς φαῦσιν ἐν τῷ στερεώματι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὥστε φαίνειν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως	καὶ ἔστωσαν εἰς φαῦσιν ἐν τῷ στερεώματι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ὥστε φαίνειν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως
Genesis 1:15 (NETS)	Genesis 1:15 (English Elpenor)
and let them be for illumination in the firmament of the sky so as to give light upon the earth. And it became so.	And let them be for light in the firmament of the heaven, so as to shine upon the earth, and it was so.

Genesis 1:16 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:16 (KJV)	Genesis 1:16 (NET)
And G-d made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars.	And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.	God made two great lights—the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also.

Genesis 1:16 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:16 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τοὺς δύο φωστῆρας τοὺς μεγάλους τὸν φωστῆρα τὸν μέγαν εἰς ἀρχὰς τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ τὸν φωστῆρα τὸν ἐλάσσω εἰς ἀρχὰς τῆς νυκτός καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας	καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς δύο φωστῆρας τοὺς μεγάλους, τὸν φωστῆρα τὸν μέγαν εἰς ἀρχὰς τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ τὸν φωστῆρα τὸν ἐλάσσω εἰς ἀρχὰς τῆς νυκτός, καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας
Genesis 1:16 (NETS)	Genesis 1:16 (English Elpenor)
And God made the two great luminaries, the great luminary for rulership of the day and the lesser luminary for rulership of the night, and the stars.	And God made the two great lights, the greater light for regulating the day and the lesser light for regulating the night, the stars also.

Genesis 1:17 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:17 (KJV)	Genesis 1:17 (NET)
And G-d set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,	And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,	God placed the lights in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth,

Genesis 1:17 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:17 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔθετο αὐτοὺς ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῷ στερεώματι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὥστε φαίνειν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς	καὶ ἔθετο αὐτοὺς ὁ Θεὸς ἐν τῷ στερεώματι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ὥστε φαίνειν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς
Genesis 1:17 (NETS)	Genesis 1:17 (English Elpenor)
And God set them in the firmament of the sky so as to give light upon the earth	And God placed them in the firmament of the heaven, so as to shine upon the earth,

Genesis 1:18 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:18 (KJV)	Genesis 1:18 (NET)
and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and G-d saw that it was good.	And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.	And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:18 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:18 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἄρχειν τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς καὶ διαχωρίζειν ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ σκότους καὶ εἶδεν ὁ θεὸς ὅτι καλόν	καὶ ἄρχειν τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς καὶ διαχωρίζειν ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ σκότους. καὶ εἶδεν ὁ Θεός, ὅτι καλόν
Genesis 1:18 (NETS)	Genesis 1:18 (English Elpenor)
and to rule the day and the night and to separate between the light and between the darkness. And God saw that it was good.	and to regulate day and night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:19 (Tanakh)	Genesis 1:19 (KJV)	Genesis 1:19 (NET)
And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.	And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.	There was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.

Genesis 1:19 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 1:19 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐγένετο ἑσπέρα καὶ ἐγένετο πρωί ἡμέρα τετάρτη	καὶ ἐγένετο ἑσπέρα καὶ ἐγένετο πρωΐ, ἡμέρα τετάρτη
Genesis 1:19 (NETS)	Genesis 1:19 (English Elpenor)
And it came to be evening, and it came to be morning, a fourth day.	And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Matthew 5:45 (NET)	Matthew 5:45 (KJV)
so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.	That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ὅπως γένησθε υἱοὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς, ὅτι τὸν ἥλιον αὐτοῦ ἀνατέλλει ἐπὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς καὶ βρέχει ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους	οπως γενησθε υιοι του πατρος υμων του εν ουρανοις οτι τον ηλιον αυτου ανατελλει επι πονηρους και αγαθους και βρεχει επι δικαιους και αδικους	οπως γενησθε υιοι του πατρος υμων του εν τοις ουρανοις οτι τον ηλιον αυτου ανατελλει επι πονηρους και αγαθους και βρεχει επι δικαιους και αδικους

Matthew 5:47, 48 (NET)	Matthew 5:47, 48 (KJV)
And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do? Even the Gentiles do the same, don’t they?	And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἐὰν ἀσπάσησθε τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ὑμῶν μόνον, τί περισσὸν ποιεῖτε; οὐχὶ καὶ οἱ ἐθνικοὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ποιοῦσιν	και εαν ασπασησθε τους αδελφους υμων μονον τι περισσον ποιειτε ουχι και οι τελωναι ουτως ποιουσιν	και εαν ασπασησθε τους φιλους υμων μονον τι περισσον ποιειτε ουχι και οι τελωναι ουτως ποιουσιν

So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ἔσεσθε οὖν ὑμεῖς τέλειοι ὡς ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τέλειος ἐστιν	εσεσθε ουν υμεις τελειοι ωσπερ ο πατηρ υμων ο εν τοις ουρανοις τελειος εστιν	εσεσθε ουν υμεις τελειοι ωσπερ ο πατηρ υμων ο εν τοις ουρανοις τελειος εστιν

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – Part 4

Back to Isaiah 53:10-12, Part 1

Back to Fear – Deuteronomy, Part 16

Back to Romans, Part 12

Back to Who Am I? Part 13

Back to David’s Forgiveness, Part 8

Back to David’s Forgiveness, Part 12

Back to A Monotonous Cycle, Part 4

Back to Westworld, Part 2

Back to The New Covenant, Part 1

Back to Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Part 5

Back to Psalm 22, Part 13

Back to Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Part 6

Back to Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Part 10

Back to Christ-Centered Preaching, Chapter 1

Back to Christ-Centered Preaching, Chapter 4, Part 2

Back to Christ-Centered Preaching, Chapter 4, Part 3

Back to Exploration, Part 8

Back to Exploration, Part 9

Back to Exploration, Part 10

Back to Balaam, Balak and the 24,000, Part 1

Back to Balaam, Balak and the 24,000, Part 2

Back to Justice and Mercy Revisited, Part 5

Back to Antichrist, Part 6

^[1] 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 (NET)

^[2] Romans 5:12a (NET)

^[3] Genesis 1:3 (Tanakh)

^[4] Genesis 1:6, 7 (Tanakh)

^[5] Genesis 1:9 (Tanakh)

^[6] Genesis 1:9b (Elpenor)

^[7] Genesis 1:11, 12 (Tanakh)

^[8] The Byzantine Majority Text had the article τοις preceding heaven. The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Stephanus Textus Receptus did not.

^[9] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ἐθνικοὶ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had τελωναι (KJV: publicans).

^[10] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ὡς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ωσπερ (KJV: even as).

^[11] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εν τοις ουρανοις (KJV: in heaven) here, where the NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had οὐράνιος.

^[12] From: The Social Construction of Reality, Introduction, by Peter L Berger and Thomas Luckmann, pp. 20, 21: “It is safe to say when sociologists today think of the sociology of knowledge, pro or con, they usually do so in terms of Mannheim’s formulation of it…Mannheim’s understanding of the sociology of knowledge was much more far-reaching than Scheler’s, possibly because the confrontation with Marxism was more prominent in his work. Society was here seen as determining not only the appearance but also the content of human ideation, with the exception of mathematics and at least parts of the natural sciences.”

Mannheim’s “exception” sounds like pandering to me. The natural sciences are the most obvious examples of the social construction of reality, the very things the man in the street takes for granted. “The man in the street does not ordinarily trouble himself about what is ‘real’ to him and about what he ‘knows’ unless he is stopped short by some sort of problem. He takes his ‘reality’ and his ‘knowledge’ for granted” (ibid. p.14).

A woman, her reason clearly tormented by personal loss and grief, wrote an obituary blaming the chief law enforcement officers of her state and nation for not enforcing current medical opinion as stringently as she deemed appropriate. She also judged, and hoped for the condemnation of, any who had not complied with that opinion. Did those who voted for these men truly expect them to use the power of their offices to enforce medical opinion as law?

I didn’t stumble across the obituary this woman wrote for her husband on my own. It was presented to me as pamphleteering for the U.S. election in November.

And in mathematics: -7(-7) = 7(7) is true.

^[13] One of the skills I learned from creation scientists was to actually listen to scientists, not as a student seeking “correct” answers to potential test questions but in a more open (and ultimately more critical) way. Here are links to two short videos: Dr. Becky Smethurst explains the history of the social construction of reality of the wave-particle duality and speed of light.

The Gospel and the Religious Mind

An attempt to distinguish the mind of Christ from the ordinary religious mind.

Tag Archives: Genesis 1:11-12

3 John, Part 3

Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Part 6

Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Part 3