What Does The Bible Say?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY? The Young Earth advocates want you to disregard the Hebrew and other Scriptures that expose their philosophy. They surely do not want you to be aware of the marking in the Masoretic Text at the end of Genesis 1:1, indicating the proper translation of the disjunctive "BUT" instead of the conjunctive (or connecting) "AND." In the manuscript the reading would be:

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. BUT (Hebrew "waw") the earth was (became) without form, and void;"

"Was." The Hebrew for "was" is "hayah." It is important to distinguish whether the verb "was" is in the manuscript, or if it has been inserted by the translators. It is wonderful that the King James translators made this distinction. When "was" appears not italicized, that indicates it is in the Masoretic Text. When you see "was" italicized, it indicates it does not appear in the manuscripts, but is understood. This is very important to notice when reading your King James Translation which makes this distinction. In Genesis 1:2 where the verb "was" appears twice: first, as part of the Masoretic Text; and, second, as italicized, and not in the original text.

"And (BUT) the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was (italicized) upon the face of the deep…" On the following pages you will find Diagram Two and comments showing the word order of Genesis 1:1-2. You read the chart from right to left and the English Translation is found below the Hebrew.