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|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.

|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.

|The earth came to exist in an utterly formless and empty state. Darkness obscured the deep. The Breath of God moved upon the oceans.

|The earth came to exist in an utterly formless and empty state. Darkness obscured the deep. The Breath of God moved upon the oceans.

|The earth is like a blank canvas, awaiting the stroke of the Master Artist. The original [[Hebrew]] repeats the concept of formlessness for emphasis.

|The earth is like a blank canvas, awaiting the stroke of the Master Artist. The original [[Hebrew]] repeats the concept of formlessness for emphasis. But though the earth ''began'' formless, it did not ''stay'' formless for long. [[Gravity]] gave it form almost at once.

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|And God said, let there be light: and there was light.

|And God said, let there be light: and there was light.

|[[God]] commanded, "Light shall exist!" And light came to exist.

|[[God]] commanded, "Light shall exist!" And light came to exist.

|The rare use of the [[Hebrew]] verb '''היה''' (''hayah''), meaning "he existed," emphasizes that the light did not merely exist but ''came'' to exist at God's command.

|The rare use of the [[Hebrew]] verb '''היה''' (''hayah''), meaning "he existed," emphasizes that the light did not merely exist but ''came'' to exist at God's command. This light came about after vast numbers of elementary particles sought ground states at once, and gave off light as they did. The light from the earth itself flashed and winked out in less than a second. The light from the matter that would form the [[galaxy]] lasted much longer, and because this matter was still close, it was bright enough, and at the proper "[[temperature]]," to give visible light on one side of an already-rotating earth.

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|And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

|And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

|God approved of the light, because it was good. God distinguished between the light and the darkness.

|God saw the light, and deemed it good. God distinguished between the light and the darkness.

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|By "good" God means "a satisfactory result," i.e., the result He intended. The earth would now have enough light to last for the next three days. He would make the permanent lamp, the [[sun]], at the proper time.

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|5

|5

|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.

|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.

|God made this expanse, and separated the waters underneath the expanse from the waters above the expanse. And so it came to be.

|God made this expanse, and separated the waters underneath the expanse from the waters above the expanse. And so it came to be.

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|This expanse is ''not'' the sky; the "sheet of the skies" would come later. This particular expanse is the earth's crust, dividing surface water from a ''subcrustal'' [[ocean]].

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|And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

|And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

|God called this expanse the sky. And evening and morning came: the second day.

|God declared that this expanse would be His dwelling-place. And evening and morning came: the second day.

|The ancient Hebrews believed that the sky was in fact a solid object that separated two classes of waters. Some [[creation science|creation scientists]] took this to mean a water-vapor canopy that protected the earth before the [[Great Flood]]. The [[cosmology|cosmologist]] [[John Hartnett]] holds that the expanse is not matter, but is in fact the very fabric of [[space]], stretched out on Day Four (see below) to the limits of the known [[universe]].

|The word ''heaven'' can mean either the literal sky or "where God dwells." God's first dwelling, after He had made the earth, was the earth itself, and specifically the [[Garden]] of [[Eden]].

 

Concerning the sky: the ancient Hebrews believed that the sky was in fact a solid object that separated two classes of waters. Some [[creation science|creation scientists]] (beginning with Isaac Newton Vail in 1894) took this to mean a water-vapor canopy that protected the earth before the [[Great Flood]]. Dr. [[Walt Brown]], originator of the [[Hydroplate Theory]], has shown that no such canopy could have held together for very long. Hence his reinterpretation of the unqualified Hebrew word ''raqia'' to mean the earth's crust, not the sky. (The "expanse of the skies" is the actual expanse of outer space.)

 

The [[cosmology|cosmologist]] [[John Hartnett]] holds that the expanse is not matter, but is in fact the very fabric of [[space]], stretched out on Day Four (see below) to the limits of the known [[universe]].

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|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.

|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.

|Then God commanded: "The waters under the sky will come together in one place, and dry ground will appear!" And so it came to be.

|Then God commanded: "The waters under the sky will come together in one place, and dry ground will appear!" And so it came to be.

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|The earth's crust was uneven. The heavier parts sagged and formed great pillars. They also displaced the subcrustal oceans and formed vast basins to contain the surface oceans. At the same time, other parts of the crust moved upward, after the draining oceans took their weight off them, and the displaced subcrustal waters pushed them up. Thus the dry land formed.

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|And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God 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 named this dry ground [[Earth]], and the collected mass of waters He named Seas. This was good.

|God named this dry ground [[Earth]], and the collected mass of waters He named Seas. God deemed this good.

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|Notice that God does ''not'' deem "good" the initial formation of the earth's crust. It is not yet a finished work then. It is now, on Day Three.

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