"In the beginning", a plural word for God, and Spirit or wind
Three small Hebrew questions sit in the Bible's first two verses: whether 1:1 is a headline ("In the beginning") or a time clause ("When God began to create"), why the word for God, ʾĕlōhîm, is plural in form though its verb is singular, and whether rûaḥ ʾĕlōhîm is God's Spirit or a wind from God. Jewish and Christian readers, ancient and modern, have answered each in more than one way, and the Hebrew allows each answer.
The verse
Text
BSB1:1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.2Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
KJV1:1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.2And 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.
JPS1:1IN THE beginning God created the heaven and the earth.2Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.
bərēʾšît has no article, and elsewhere rēʾšît is usually followed by what it is the beginning of ("in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim", Jer 26:1). Rashi therefore says that "in its plain sense" the verse means "At the beginning of the Creation of heaven and earth ... God said, 'Let there be light'", that is, verse 1 is a time clause leading to verse 3. Ibn Ezra also takes the word as a construct, though he notes against the claim that rēʾšît is always construct that it stands alone in Deut 33:21. On this reading the verse does not itself say that heaven and earth were the very first thing made. Defenders of the traditional reading point to the ancient versions, to creed-like confessions of God as maker or "possessor" of heaven and earth elsewhere (Gen 14:19, Ps 121:2), and to the heading-style opening of the second account (Gen 2:4a). The Septuagint, the Vulgate and the KJV tradition read an independent sentence, "In the beginning God created". Modern versions divide: JPS 2023 "When God began to create heaven and earth", NRSV "In the beginning when God created" (with "when God began to create" in the margin), NABRE "In the beginning, when God created", whose note says the traditional translation "does not reflect the Hebrew syntax of the clause" and points to ancient cosmogonies with a "when ... then" opening. YLT keeps the construct literally ("In the beginning of God's preparing"). Both readings are grammatical. The choice affects how verse 2 (the formless earth) relates to God's first act, and so whether this verse by itself says that God made everything from nothing (a doctrine often drawn from the traditional reading); it does not affect whether God is the creator.7 sources7 sources1. Rashi2. Ezra3. Dzikiewicz 20174. The JPS Tanakh: Gender-Sensitive Edition (2023), Genesis 1:1–25. NRSV (Anglicized), Genesis 1:1–2, with footnotes6. New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011), Genesis 1 with notes7. Jeremiah 26:1
אֱלֹהִים (ʾĕlōhîm), with the singular verb בָּרָא (bārāʾ, 'he created')
ʾĕlōhîm has a plural ending, but here, as almost always when it means Israel's God, it takes a singular verb (bārāʾ, "he created"). The same word can be a true plural, "gods" (Exod 12:12), and can even refer to a single goddess (1 Kgs 11:33, "Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians", where the Hebrew word is ʾĕlōhê). BDB lists both senses. The classic reference grammar of Gesenius–Kautzsch classes it as a "pluralis excellentiae or maiestatis", a plural of majesty or intensity, and calls the idea that it is a leftover of polytheism "at least highly improbable"; Ibn Ezra had already explained it as a plural of honour, which is why the verb is bārāʾ and not the plural. Some Christian writers have seen in the plural a hint of the Trinity; Calvin, himself a Trinitarian, records that inference and warns readers "to beware of violent glosses of this kind". The "let us" of 1:26 is a separate question. Rashi, following the midrash, says God consulted the angels of his heavenly court; the NABRE likewise has God addressing a heavenly assembly; Gesenius–Kautzsch prefers a "plural of self-deliberation" (and mentions the angels as another option). The earliest Christian writers outside the New Testament read it as God speaking to the Son (the Epistle of Barnabas), to "His own Word and wisdom" (Theophilus of Antioch), or to "the Son and the Spirit" (Irenaeus); Calvin, who would not build on ʾĕlōhîm in 1:1, accepts this one: Christians "properly contend, from this testimony, that there exists a plurality of Persons in the Godhead". Every translation in the database renders ʾĕlōhîm here as "God" (Darby and WEB add a footnote naming the Hebrew word).11 sources11 sources8. this site's data9. 1 Kings 11:3310. Gesenius 190911. Calvin12. New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011), note on Genesis 1:262. Ezra13. Rashi14. Epistle of Barnabas 5 (ANF vol. 1)15. Antioch16. Lyon17. Calvin
rûaḥ means breath, wind or spirit; BDB counts it as "wind" 117 times and as "spirit of God" 94 times. The verb of məraḥepet ("hovering, fluttering") occurs in this stem only once more in the Hebrew Bible, of an eagle over its young (Deut 32:11). Targum Onkelos renders "a wind from before the LORD blowing" (רוּחָא מִן קֳדָם יְיָ מְנַשְּׁבָא); Rashi explains the hovering as God's throne of glory, "by the breath of the mouth of the Holy One". Basil of Caesarea mentions the reading "diffusion of air" but prefers, as "confirmed by the authority of the ancients", the Holy Spirit; Calvin calls the wind reading "too frigid to require refutation". Modern versions again split: KJV, ASV, BSB, WEB "the Spirit of God" (capital S, a Christian theological reading, since Hebrew has no capitals); JPS 1917 and the Douay-Rheims "the spirit of God" (lower case); NRSV and JPS 2023 "a wind from God"; NAB and NABRE "a mighty wind", noting that the Hebrew is literally "spirit or breath of God" (cf. Gen 8:1, where God makes a rûaḥ, a wind, pass over the earth to end the flood). The Hebrew allows each; the choice reflects whether the translator reads the verse as part of the description of chaos or as the first sign of God's active presence.10 sources10 sources18. this site's data19. Genesis 8:120. Deuteronomy 32:1121. Targum Onkelos, Genesis 1:2 (Aramaic; Metsudah Chumash English)22. Rashi23. Caesarea24. Calvin25. NRSV (Anglicized), Genesis 1:226. The JPS Tanakh: Gender-Sensitive Edition (2023), Genesis 1:227. New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011), note on Genesis 1:2
Checked in this site's verse database: BDB entry for אֱלֹהִים; morphology in Gen 1:1↩How this was derivedlexicon_articles: lexicon='BDB' id='a.dl.ad' (p. 43) → '1. pl. in number ... d. gods 2. pl. intensive a. god or goddess b. godlike one ... d. God'. tokens: Gen.1.1 word 2 בָּרָא 'he created' HVqp3ms; word 3 אֱלֹהִים HNcmpa. verse_notes: darby Gen.1.1 footnote 'Elohim'; web Gen.1.1 footnote 'The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).'
on Gen 1:1 — 'Moses has it Elohim, a noun of the plural number. Whence the inference is drawn, that the three Persons of the Godhead are here noted; but since, as a proof of so great a matter, it appears to me to have little solidity, [I] will not insist upon the word; but rather caution readers to beware of violent glosses of this kind.' ('I' is missing in the CCEL text.)↩
17
on Gen 1:26 — 'Christians, therefore, properly contend, from this testimony, that there exists a plurality of Persons in the Godhead. God summons no foreign counsellor'. Calvin rejects the royal-plural explanation in the same passage.↩
24
on Gen 1:2 — 'The opinion of some that it means the wind, is too frigid to require refutation. They who understand by it the Eternal Spirit of God, do rightly'.↩
Checked in this site's verse database: BDB entry for רוּחַ↩How this was derivedlexicon_articles: lexicon='BDB' id='t.bk.ab' (p. 924) → 'breath, wind, spirit 1. breath of mouth or nostrils (33 t.) 2. wind (117 t.) ... 9. spirit of God (94 t.)'. tokens: Gen.1.2 word 9 וְ/ר֣וּחַ '[the] spirit of' HC/Ncfsc; word 11 מְרַחֶ֖פֶת '[was] hovering' HVprfsa. SELECT std_ref, morph FROM tokens WHERE strongs LIKE '%H7363%' → Piel only Gen.1.2 (HVprfsa) and Deut.32.11 (HVpi3ms); Qal once, Jer.23.9.
Rashi, Rashi on Genesis 1:1 (tr. M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929–34) — 'If, however, you wish to explain it in its plain sense, explain it thus: At the beginning of the Creation of heaven and earth when the earth was without form and void and there was darkness, God said, “Let there be light”.' and 'wherever the word ראשית occurs in Scripture, it is in the construct state.'
Abraham ibn Ezra, Commentary on Genesis 1:1 (tr. H. N. Strickman and A. M. Silver) — 'I believe that bereshit is in the construct, as in In the beginning of (bereshit) the reign of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 26:1).' Earlier in the same comment, against those who say bereshit is always construct: 'they have overlooked And he chose a first part (reshit) for himself (Deuteronomy 33:21).'
Daniel Dzikiewicz, “The verse of Gen 1, 1: a subordinate or principal clause?” (2017), Rocznik Teologii Katolickiej 16/3, pp. 12–13 — Survey of both positions (DOI 10.15290/rtk.2017.16.3.01). p. 12: 'Linguistically both translations are completely valide et licite'; those who take 1:1 as an independent sentence 'maintain e.g. that it is an anthemic equivalent of the Old Testament confessions of faith in God as the Creator of heaven and earth (cf. Gen 14, 19-22; Ps 115, 15; 121, 2; 124, 8), or cite testimony of LXX ... either refer to ... Gen 2,4a'. p. 13: 'in terms of syntax again the both hypotheses are valid, but theologically only the first. The second opinion is not reconciling with the concept of the dogma of the creation of the universe from nothing – creatio ex nihilo.'
“The JPS Tanakh: Gender-Sensitive Edition (2023), Genesis 1:1–2”, Sefaria — 'When God began to create heaven and earth—', with the note 'In contrast to others “In the beginning God created.”'
“NRSV (Anglicized), Genesis 1:1–2, with footnotes” — 'In the beginning when God created'; footnote 'Or when God began to create or In the beginning God created'.
“New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011), Genesis 1 with notes”, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops — Note [1:1–2:3]: 'Until modern times the first line was always translated, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Several comparable ancient cosmogonies, discovered in recent times, have a “when…then” construction, confirming the translation “when…then” here as well.' and 'The traditional translation, “In the beginning,” does not reflect the Hebrew syntax of the clause.'
33For they have forsaken Me to worship Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in My ways, nor done what is right in My eyes, nor kept My statutes and judgments, as Solomon’s father David did.
Wilhelm Gesenius, Emil Kautzsch; tr. A. E. Cowley (ed.), Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1909), §124 g and note — 'So especially אֱלֹהִים Godhead, God ... The supposition that אֱלֹהִים is to be regarded as merely a remnant of earlier polytheistic views (i.e. as originally only a numerical plural) is at least highly improbable' and 'That the language has entirely rejected the idea of numerical plurality in אֱלֹהִים (whenever it denotes one God), is proved especially by its being almost invariably joined with a singular attribute'. On Gn 1:26 (§124 g n. 2): the plural 'is, however, either communicative (including the attendant angels ...), or according to others, an indication of the fullness of power and might implied in אֱלֹהִים ...; but it is best explained as a plural of self-deliberation.' (Wikisource transcription of the 1909 edition.)
John Calvin, Commentaries on the First Book of Moses called Genesis, vol. 1 (tr. John King, 1847), on Gen 1:1 — 'Moses has it Elohim, a noun of the plural number. Whence the inference is drawn, that the three Persons of the Godhead are here noted; but since, as a proof of so great a matter, it appears to me to have little solidity, [I] will not insist upon the word; but rather caution readers to beware of violent glosses of this kind.' ('I' is missing in the CCEL text.)
“New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011), note on Genesis 1:26”, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops — 'Let us make : in the ancient Near East, and sometimes in the Bible, God was imagined as presiding over an assembly of heavenly beings who deliberated and decided about matters on earth ... This scene accounts for the plural form here and in Gn 11:7'. (Read on the first fetch; bible.usccb.org refused later automated requests, so not re-read at fact-check.)
Rashi, Rashi on Genesis 1:26 (tr. M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann) — 'because the man is in the likeness of the angels and they might envy him, therefore He took counsel with them' (citing Midrash Tanchuma and Genesis Rabbah 8), comparing 1 Kings 22:19; and 'as a refutation of the heretics it is written immediately after this verse “And God created the man”, and it is not written “and they created”'.
Epistle of Barnabas 5 (ANF vol. 1) — 'if the Lord endured to suffer for our soul, He being Lord of all the world, to whom God said at the foundation of the world, Let us make man after our image, and after our likeness'.
Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies IV.20.1 (ANF vol. 1) — 'For with Him were always present the Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit, by whom and in whom, freely and spontaneously, He made all things, to whom also He speaks, saying, Let Us make man after Our image and likeness'.
John Calvin, Commentaries on the First Book of Moses called Genesis, vol. 1 (tr. John King, 1847), on Gen 1:26 — 'Christians, therefore, properly contend, from this testimony, that there exists a plurality of Persons in the Godhead. God summons no foreign counsellor'. Calvin rejects the royal-plural explanation in the same passage.
1But God remembered Noah and all the animals and livestock that were with him in the ark. And God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters began to subside.
Rashi, Rashi on Genesis 1:2 (tr. M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann) — 'The throne of Divine Glory was standing in space, hovering over the face of the waters by the breath of the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, and by His command, even as a dove hovers over its nest.'
Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron, Homily 2.6 (NPNF 2nd ser. vol. 8) — 'Does this spirit mean the diffusion of air? ... or rather, that which is truer and confirmed by the authority of the ancients, by the Spirit of God, he means the Holy Spirit.'
John Calvin, Commentaries on the First Book of Moses called Genesis, vol. 1 (tr. John King, 1847), on Gen 1:2 — 'The opinion of some that it means the wind, is too frigid to require refutation. They who understand by it the Eternal Spirit of God, do rightly'.
“NRSV (Anglicized), Genesis 1:2” — 'while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters'; footnote 'Or while the spirit of God or while a mighty wind'.
“The JPS Tanakh: Gender-Sensitive Edition (2023), Genesis 1:2”, Sefaria — 'a wind from God sweeping over the water', with the note 'In contrast to others “the spirit of.”'
“New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011), note on Genesis 1:2”, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops — 'A mighty wind : literally, “spirit or breath [ ruah ] of God”; cf. Gn 8:1 .' (NABRE note read on the first fetch, not re-read at fact-check; the text 'a mighty wind sweeping over the waters' was confirmed via biblehub.com/nabre. The 1970 NAB note reads: 'literally, "a wind of God," or "a spirit of God"'.)