Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Ian Hutchesson <mc2499 AT mclink.it>]

>> Gen 1:1-2
>>
>> "In the beginning when God create the heavens and the earth, the world was
>> without form and void."
>>
>> -------------
>>
>> Ian
>
>Okay, Ian, I'll bite.  What grammatically marks "God create[d] the heavens 
>and 
>the earth" as anything other than an independent clause?
>
>Gen 1:1-2a
>
>B:R"'$iYT BfRf' ':eLoHiYM '"T Ha$$fMaYiM W:'"T Hf'fReC
>
>W:Hf'fReC HfY:TfH ToHuW WfBoHu W:Xo$eK

Paul,

I'm not able to give a learned response here. The only thing I can say is
that the understanding of bereshith I received long ago was something like

   in the beginning of
   in the beginning when

So one often finds the translations

   When God began to create the heavens and the earth...
      (A Jewish translation)

   In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth...
      (The NRSV)

I was led to believe that bereshith functioned somewhat as a conjunction not
as a preposition.


Ian