Genesis 1:5
New International Version
God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

New Living Translation
God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.

English Standard Version
God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Berean Standard Bible
God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

King James Bible
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

New King James Version
God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

New American Standard Bible
God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

NASB 1995
God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

NASB 1977
And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Legacy Standard Bible
And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Amplified Bible
And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Christian Standard Bible
God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” There was an evening, and there was a morning: one day.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
God called the light “day,” and He called the darkness “night.” Evening came and then morning: the first day.

American Standard Version
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And God called the light the day, and the darkness he called the night, and it was evening and it was dawn, day one.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night, and there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Contemporary English Version
and named the light "Day" and the darkness "Night." Evening came, then morning--that was the first day.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he called the light Day, and the darkness Night; and there was evening and morning one day.

English Revised Version
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
God named the light [day], and the darkness he named [night]. There was evening, then morning-the first day.

Good News Translation
and he named the light "Day" and the darkness "Night." Evening passed and morning came--that was the first day.

International Standard Version
calling the light "day," and the darkness "night." The twilight and the dawn were day one.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Literal Standard Version
and God calls the light “Day,” and the darkness He has called “Night”; and there is an evening, and there is a morning—day one.

Majority Standard Bible
God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

New American Bible
God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” Evening came, and morning followed—the first day.

NET Bible
God called the light "day" and the darkness "night." There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day.

New Revised Standard Version
God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

New Heart English Bible
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. There was evening and there was morning, one day.

Webster's Bible Translation
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night: and the evening and the morning were the first day.

World English Bible
God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Young's Literal Translation
and God calleth to the light 'Day,' and to the darkness He hath called 'Night;' and there is an evening, and there is a morning -- day one.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The First Day
4And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning— the first day. 6And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, to separate the waters from the waters.”…

Cross References
Numbers 20:29
When the whole congregation saw that Aaron had died, the entire house of Israel mourned for him thirty days.

Psalm 65:8
Those who live far away fear Your wonders; You make the dawn and sunset shout for joy.

Psalm 74:16
The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.


Treasury of Scripture

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Day, and.

Genesis 8:22
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Psalm 19:2
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.

Psalm 74:16
The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.

And the evening and the morning were.

Genesis 1:8,13,19,23,31
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day…

Jump to Previous
Dark Darkness Evening First Light Morning Naming Night
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Dark Darkness Evening First Light Morning Naming Night
Genesis 1
1. God creates heaven and earth;
3. the light;
6. the firmament;
9. separates the dry land;
14. forms the sun, moon, and stars;
20. fishes and fowls;
24. cattle, wild beasts, and creeping things;
26. creates man in his own image, blesses him;
29. grants the fruits of the earth for food.














(5) God called the light Day . . . Night.--Before this distinction of night and day was possible there must have been outside the earth, not as yet the sun, but a bright phosphorescent mass, such as now enwraps that luminary; and, secondly, the earth must have begun to revolve upon its axis. Consequent upon this would be, not merely alternate periods of light and darkness, but also of heat and cold, from which would result important effects upon the formation of the earth's crust. Moreover, in thus giving "day" and "night" names, God ordained language, and that vocal sounds should be the symbols of things. This law already looks forward to the existence of man, the one being on earth who calls things by their names.

And the evening and the morning.--Literally, And was an evening and was a morning day one, the definite article not being used till Genesis 1:31, when we have "day the sixth," which was also the last of the creative days.

The word "evening" means a mixture. It is no longer the opaque darkness of a world without light, but the intermingling of light and darkness (comp. Zechariah 14:6-7). This is followed by a "morning," that is, a breaking forth of light. Evening is placed first because there was a progress from a less to a greater brightness and order and beauty. The Jewish method of calculating the day from sunset to sunset was not the cause, but the result of this arrangement.

The first day.--A creative day is not a period of twenty-four hours, but an ?on, or period of indefinite duration, as the Bible itself teaches us. For in Genesis 2:4 the six days of this narrative are described as and summed up in one day, creation being there regarded, not in its successive stages, but as a whole. So by the common consent of commentators, the seventh day, or day of God's rest, is that age in which we are now living, and which will continue until the consummation of all things. So in Zechariah 14:7 the whole Gospel dispensation is called "one day;" and constantly in Hebrew, as probably in all languages, day is used in a very indefinite manner, as, for instance, in Deuteronomy 9:1. Those, however, who adopt the very probable suggestion of Kurtz, that the revelation of the manner of creation was made in a succession of representations or pictures displayed before the mental vision of the tranced seer, have no difficulties. He saw the dark gloom of evening pierced by the bright morning light: that was day one. Again, an evening cleft by the light, and he saw an opening space expanding itself around the world: that was day two. Again darkness and light, and on the surface of the earth he saw the waters rushing down into the seas: that was day three. And so on. What else could he call these periods but days? But as St. Augustine pointed out, there was no sun then, and "it is very difficult for us to imagine what sort of days these could be" (De Civ. Dei, xi. 6, 7). It must further be observed that this knowledge of the stages of creation could only have been given by revelation, and that the agreement of the Mosaic record with geology is so striking that there is no real difficulty in believing it to be inspired. The difficulties arise almost entirely from popular fallacies or the mistaken views of commentators. Geology has done noble service for religion in sweeping away the mean views of God's method of working which used formerly to prevail. We may add that among the Chaldeans a cosmic day was a period of 43,200 years, being the equivalent of the cycle of the procession of the equinoxes (Lenormant, Les Origines de l'Histoire, p. 233). . . .

Verse 5. - And God called (literally, called to) the light Day, and (literally, to) the darkness he called Night. "None but superficial thinkers," says Delitzsch, "can take offence at the idea of created things receiving names from God. The name of a thing is the expression of its nature. If the name be given by man, it fixes in a word the impression which it makes upon the human mind; but, when given by God, it expresses the reality, what the thing is in God's creation, and the place assigned it there by the side of other things." The things named were the light and the darkness; not the durations, but the phenomena. The names called were day, yore, and night, layela, which, again, were not time-measures, but character-descriptions. Ainsworth suggests that yore was intended to express "the tumult, stir, and business of the day," in all probability connecting it with yam, which depicts the foaming or the boiling of the sea; and that layela, in which he seems to detect the Latin ululare, is indicative of "the yelling or the howling of wild beasts at night." Gesenius derives the former from the unused root yore, which signifies to glow with heat, while the latter he associates with lul, also unused, to roll up, the idea being that the night wraps all things in obscurity. Macdonald sees in the naming of the creatures an expression of sovereignty and lordship, as when Adam named the beasts of the field. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Literally, And evening was and morning was, day one. Considerable diversity of sentiment prevails with regard to the exact interpretation of these words. On the one hand, it is assumed that the first creative period is here described as an ordinary astronomical or sidereal day of twenty-four hours' duration, its constituent parts being characterized in the usual way, as an evening and a morning. In the judgment of Kalisch and others the peculiar phrase, "Evening was, and morning was," is simply equivalent to the later Hebrew compound "evening-morning" (Daniel 8:14), and the Greek νηχθήμερον (2 Corinthians 11:25), both of which denote a natural or civil day, though this is challenged, in the case of the Hebrew compound, by Macdonald. The language of the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:11) is also appealed to as removing, it beyond the sphere of doubt that the evening and the morning referred to are-the component sections of an earthly day. As to the proper terminus a quo of this initial day, however, the advocates of this interpretation are at variance among themselves; Delitzsch taking the terms ereb (literally, "the setting," from arab,

(1) to mix;

(2) to set, to depart, like the sun)

and boker (literally, "the breaking forth," from bakar, to cleave, to open) in an active sense, and applying the former to the first fading of the light, and the latter to the breaking of the dawn after the first interval of darkness has passed, thus reckoning the creative days from daybreak to daybreak; while Murphy and Kalisch, who agree with him in regarding the days as ordinary solar days, declare they must be reckoned, Hebraico more, from sunset to sunset. But if the first day commenced with an evening or obscure period (Has ereb no connection with arab, to mix? May it not describe the condition of things when light and darkness were commingled?), that can be discovered only in the chaotic darkness out of which the light sprang. Hence, on the other hand, as it seems improbable that this was of no more than twelve hours' duration, and as the presumption is that the light-period would be commensurate in length, it has been argued that day one was not a sun-measured day, but a period of indefinite extent. Of course the length of day one practically determines the length of all the six. If it was a solar day, then they must be considered such. But as the present sidereal arrangements for the measurement of time were not then established, it is clearly gratuitous to proceed on the assumption that it was Hence, neither is it to be accepted without-demonstration that they were not likewise periods of prolonged duration. It is obvious they were if it was; and that it was appears to be suggested by the terms in which it is described. This conclusion, that the creation days were long periods, and not simply solar days, is confirmed by a variety of considerations. . . .

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
God
אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ (’ĕ·lō·hîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

called
וַיִּקְרָ֨א (way·yiq·rā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7121: To call, proclaim, read

the light
לָאוֹר֙ (lā·’ō·wr)
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - common singular
Strong's 216: Illumination, luminary

“day,”
י֔וֹם (yō·wm)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3117: A day

and the darkness
וְלַחֹ֖שֶׁךְ (wə·la·ḥō·šeḵ)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2822: The dark, darkness, misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness

He called
קָ֣רָא (qā·rā)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7121: To call, proclaim, read

“night.”
לָ֑יְלָה (lā·yə·lāh)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3915: A twist, night, adversity

And there was
וַֽיְהִי־ (way·hî-)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

evening,
עֶ֥רֶב (‘e·reḇ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6153: Evening

and there was
וַֽיְהִי־ (way·hî-)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

morning—
בֹ֖קֶר (ḇō·qer)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1242: Dawn, morning

the first
אֶחָֽד׃ (’e·ḥāḏ)
Number - masculine singular
Strong's 259: United, one, first

day.
י֥וֹם (yō·wm)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3117: A day


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OT Law: Genesis 1:5 God called the light Day and (Gen. Ge Gn)
Genesis 1:4
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