Does “Earth” in Genesis 1:10 Mean the Same as in Genesis 1:1? Understanding the Hebrew Word Erets (אֶרֶץ)

Please Support the Bible Translation Work of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

$5.00

Genesis 1:1 states: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:10 says: “God called the dry land Earth, and the gathered waters he called Seas.”

In both verses, the Hebrew word for “earth” is the same—erets (אֶרֶץ). However, the apparent repetition raises an important question: Does erets carry the same meaning in both verses? The issue is not a mere linguistic curiosity. The answer affects how we understand the structure of the Genesis creation account, the scope of divine activity in the beginning, and the relation of verse 1 to the rest of the chapter.

This study aims to explore whether erets (אֶרֶץ) is used consistently or with different nuances in Genesis 1:1 and 1:10 by engaging in a detailed lexical, contextual, and theological analysis. It will demonstrate that while the same Hebrew word is used, its meaning is not static, and the immediate context of each verse dictates a different referent for erets.

The Lexical Range of Erets (אֶרֶץ)

The Hebrew noun erets appears over 2,500 times in the Old Testament. It is an extremely flexible word with at least twenty-two different semantic nuances depending on context. The most common meanings include:

The whole earth or planet – as distinguished from “heavens” (Genesis 1:1)
Dry land – as opposed to water or seas (Genesis 1:10)
A specific region, country, or territory – like “the land of Canaan” (Genesis 12:5)
Soil or ground – material substance (Genesis 2:7)
The people of the earth – a metonymy for human inhabitants (Genesis 6:11)
The underworld or land of the dead (Job 10:21)

Each of these uses is context-dependent. That is, erets must be interpreted in accordance with the semantic cues provided by its literary and grammatical environment. It is incorrect to insist on a single fixed meaning across all uses of the term.

This range is not unusual for ancient languages. Greek has similar flexibility with words like kosmos (κόσμος), which can mean “world,” “humanity,” “adornment,” or “order” depending on the passage.

Erets in Genesis 1:1 – The Entire Planet

Genesis 1:1 (UASV):
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

In this verse, erets is set in contrast to shamayim (שָׁמַיִם), “the heavens.” The Hebrew grammar indicates a merism—a figure of speech using polar opposites to refer to the whole. “The heavens and the earth” is an idiomatic expression for everything that exists in the physical universe: the sky, celestial bodies, outer space, and the terrestrial world—land, oceans, and everything within them.

This cosmic scope is supported by other passages in Scripture, such as:

Psalm 146:6 – “Who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them.”
Nehemiah 9:6 – “You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them.”

Thus, erets in Genesis 1:1 refers to the whole terrestrial sphere—not just dry ground, and not just a portion of land. This is the broadest possible usage of the word. At this stage in the text, the term is used in an all-encompassing sense, setting the stage for the subsequent creative phases.

Erets in Genesis 1:10 – Dry Ground

Genesis 1:10 (UASV):
“God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.”

In this verse, erets is used specifically for dry land, in contrast to the waters which God had gathered into one place and named “Seas” (yamim). Here, the term does not refer to the entire planet, nor does it carry cosmological scope. It is used in its restricted geographical sense—the portion of the globe that is not covered by water.

This narrower usage is not unusual within Genesis. Consider Genesis 2:5–6:

“No bush of the field was yet in the land (erets) … but a mist went up from the earth (erets) and watered the whole face of the ground.”

Here, the context limits erets to a specific portion of land where vegetation had not yet grown. Later, in Genesis 2:11, the rivers of Eden are described as flowing through erets (“the land of Havilah”), showing again that erets can refer to regional territory.

Thus, in Genesis 1:10, erets refers to the visible, inhabitable land that emerged after God’s division of the chaotic waters described in Genesis 1:2 and 1:9. It is this dry, structured landmass that is named “Earth” in that verse.

Context Determines Meaning: A Core Principle of Interpretation

The divergence in meaning between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:10 arises not from a contradiction or textual inconsistency, but from the normal semantic range of the word and the contexts in which it is used. Hebrew, like all languages, allows for polysemy—words that carry multiple related meanings.

To argue that erets must carry the exact same meaning in both 1:1 and 1:10 is a fallacy of illegitimate totality transfer—taking the meaning of a word in one place and applying it wholesale to another without regard to context. This is a recognized interpretive error and violates sound hermeneutical principles.

Was the Earth Perfect in Genesis 1:1 or 1:10?

Some theologians attempt to draw a theological conclusion from the word tov (טוֹב, “good”) used in Genesis 1:10 and other verses, claiming that the earth created in Genesis 1:1 must have been “perfect.” However, this is not a warranted deduction.

Dr. Gleason L. Archer observes that the Hebrew word for “good” (tov) is not the same as the word for “perfect” (tamim). While tov certainly includes the sense of functional goodness and appropriateness, it does not imply moral or ontological perfection. Genesis 6:9 describes Noah as “blameless” (tamim), a distinct term. Genesis 1 repeatedly affirms that the stages of God’s creative work were good, and finally very good (1:31), but never says they were perfect in the philosophical or metaphysical sense.

The Gap Theory and the Meaning of Erets

One interpretation, the Restoration or Gap Theory, posits that Genesis 1:1 describes a perfect original creation, which then fell into chaos due to Satan’s rebellion (referencing Isaiah 14:12–14), and Genesis 1:2–31 describes a re-creation or restoration. This view typically hinges on translating hayetah (הָיְתָה, “was”) in Genesis 1:2 as “became,” to suggest the earth “became formless and void.”

However, this reading is grammatically questionable. Hayetah is most often a simple past verb (“was”) unless followed by the preposition le- indicating transformation, which is not the case in Genesis 1:2. Moreover, while Isaiah 14 certainly speaks of pride and rebellion, the application to pre-creation cosmology is speculative and not directly supported by the Genesis account.

Thus, the theory that the “earth” in Genesis 1:1 was a prior, now-ruined world introduces an artificial bifurcation of erets into “planet Earth” and a pre-Adamic ruin without clear textual warrant. There is no explicit biblical reference stating that Satan’s fall involved the destruction or ruin of the entire planet. While the Gap Theory is not heretical, it is built more on inference than on exegetical certainty.

Theological Importance of Recognizing Contextual Usage

Recognizing that erets has different meanings in Genesis 1:1 and 1:10 enhances rather than undermines the text’s reliability. It shows the author’s intentional use of language to guide the reader through stages of creation. First, God creates the universe (1:1), including an unformed planet. Then He proceeds to organize and prepare that planet for life (1:2–31). As the dry land appears from the receding waters (1:9–10), it is called erets—”Earth”—in the sense of inhabitable land, not the globe.

This progression matches observable natural processes. Before the dry land emerges, the earth exists as a chaotic, water-covered sphere. The phrase “the earth was formless and void” in Genesis 1:2 refers to its lack of structure and function, not to its non-existence or moral corruption. This transition from unformed to formed, from chaotic to ordered, is exactly what we would expect in a creation narrative.

Summary: Same Word, Different Contexts, Distinct Meanings

In Genesis 1:1, erets refers to the entire planet Earth, in contrast to the heavens—this is the cosmological creation of the universe.
In Genesis 1:10, erets refers to the dry land that emerges from the waters—this is a narrower use referring to land surfaces suitable for vegetation and habitation.
The Hebrew word erets is highly flexible and must always be interpreted contextually. It does not have one rigid definition.
There is no contradiction in using the same word with different meanings. This is linguistically normal and hermeneutically valid.
Grammatical attempts to read “erets” as evidence for a pre-Adamic catastrophe are speculative and not required by the text.
The Genesis creation account is both theologically and linguistically consistent when we respect the semantic range of erets and allow context to shape our interpretation.

You May Also Enjoy

How Do We Understand and Address the Difficulties in the Bible?

About the Author

EDWARD D. ANDREWS (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. He has authored over 220+ books. In addition, Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).