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Genesis 1:3, 5 American Standard Version (ASV)
3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
Genesis 1:3, 5 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
3Then God said, “Let there be light“; and there was light. 5God called the light day, and the darkness He called night And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
Genesis 1:3, 5 English Standard Version (ESV)
3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 5And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
Genesis 1:3, 5 New International Version (NIV)
3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 5God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
Genesis 1:3, 5 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 5 God called the light “day,” and He called the darkness “night.” Evening came, and then morning: the first day.
Genesis 1:3, 5 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 5 And God began calling the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, the first day.
Genesis 1:16, 19 American Standard Version (ASV)
16And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 19And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
Genesis 1:16, 19 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
16God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 19There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
Genesis 1:16, 19 English Standard Version (ESV)
16And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
Genesis 1:16, 19 New International Version (NIV)
16God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 19And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
Genesis 1:16, 19 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
16God made the two great lights—the greater light to have dominion over the day and the lesser light to have dominion over the night—as well as the stars. 19Evening came, and then morning: the fourth day.
Genesis 1:16, 19 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
16 And God went on to make the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
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 170+ books. Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).
In the above, there appears to be a difficulty, in that Genesis 1:3, 5 informs the reader that God brought about light during the first creation day when he said: “’Let there be light,’ and there was light.” Then, Genesis 1:16, 19 informs the reader that “God made the two great lights” during the fourth creation day. Hence, did God create or make light on the first or fourth creation day? Before we begin to answer this difficulty, we must remember that Genesis was written from a human perspective, as an earthly observer, as if he were there, not from a heavenly observation.
Looking at the fourth creation day first, we see that the “greater light” for ruling the day is our sun, and the “lesser light” for ruling the night is our moon. A further explanation of this is found at …
Psalm 136:7-9 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
7 to him who made the great lights, for his loyal love endures forever; 8 the sun to rule by day, for his loyal love endures forever; 9 the moon and stars to rule by night, for his loyal love endures forever;
Returning to the first creation day, we find the expression: “let there be light.” Ohr is the Hebrew word for light, which conveys the idea of light in a broad sense. However, for the fourth creation day, a different word is chosen, maohr, which refers to a source of light. Rotherham, in a footnote on “Luminaries” in the EmphasisedBible, says: “In ver. 3, ’ôr [’ohr], light diffused.” Then he goes on to show that the Hebrew word maohr in verse 14 has the sense of something “affording light.” In other words, on the first creation day ohr (light) was spread throughout the earth’s atmosphere (being diffused). To an earthly observer, had he been there: he would not have been able to discern the source of light. However, by the fourth creation day, the observer would have been able to see the maohr (source) of that light, as the atmosphere would have changed.
It should also be noted that Genesis 1:16 does not use the Hebrew verb bara, meaning “create.” Instead, the Hebrew verb (עָשָׂהasah) is used, meaning “make.” The reason being, Genesis 1:1 informs us “God created the heavens (which would include sun, moon, and stars) and the earth.” In other words, the “greater light” (sun) and the “lesser light” (moon) were created long before the fourth creation day. What we have on the fourth creation day is Jehovah God “making” the “greater light” and the “lesser light” to exist in a new way with the surface of the earth and the expanse that had now dissipated even further, allowing the source of light to be seen from earth. God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens . . .” (Gen 1:14) This being a further indication of their discernibleness. In addition, they were “to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years.” These were to evidence the existence of God and draw attention to His great power, as well as to lead man in numerous ways.
