This Koren Tanach is an exceptionally beautiful book. If you’re looking to study the Hebrew Bible, I highly recommend it: Click HERE to view on Amazon.

Davidson’s Hebrew/Chaldee Lexicon is the only book I know that can help you translate the entire Hebrew bible: Click HERE to view on Amazon.

Lisowsky’s Konkordanz for more definitions and ability to see the verses where a word is used: Click HERE to view on Amazon.

Biblia Hebraica is an excellent, easy to read Hebrew Bible with textual variants: Click HERE to view on Amazon.

Understanding "In the Beginning" in Genesis 1:1

The very first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, is one of the most famous lines in Scripture: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." But some people wonder if this translation is correct. Could it instead mean something like "In the beginning of His (God’s) creating..."? This question comes up because of how the Hebrew word bereshit is used and understood. Let’s explore why "in the beginning" is a solid translation and why we don’t need to see bereshit as something more complicated, like a grammatical form called smichut (a Hebrew way of linking two words together, like "house of David"). We’ll keep it simple and clear, even if you’re new to Hebrew or the Bible.

What Does Bereshit Mean?

The Hebrew word bereshit starts Genesis 1:1. It’s made of two parts: be- (meaning "in") and reshit (meaning "beginning"). So, at first glance, it looks like "in the beginning"—pretty straightforward! Most Bibles translate it this way because it fits the sentence: God is doing the action (creating), and it’s happening at the start of everything.

But some scholars, including a famous 11th century Jewish teacher named Rashi, suggested it could mean "in the beginning of God’s creating." This idea treats bereshit as a smichut, a Hebrew construction where two words are tied together to describe something specific—like "the beginning of an event" rather than just "the beginning." If that’s true, the verse might hint that creation was already underway. But here’s the thing: it doesn’t have to be read that way, and there are good reasons to stick with the simpler "in the beginning."

Reshit is not always in construct form (smichut)

To understand this better, let’s look at how reshit (the "beginning" part of bereshit) is used elsewhere in the Bible. If reshit always needed to be part of a smichut (linked to another word), then the idea of "in the beginning of His creating" might make more sense. But it doesn’t always work that way.

- In Deuteronomy 33:21, it says, "He chose the best (reshit, literally first, or first portion) for himself." Here, reshit means "the best" or "the first part," and it stands alone. It’s not tied to another word in a smichut form. It’s just reshit, plain and simple.

- In Isaiah 46:10, God says, "I declare the end from the beginning (reshit)." Again, reshit means "beginning" all by itself. It’s not part of a bigger phrase like "beginning of something."

These examples show that reshit can mean "beginning" without needing to be connected to another word. So, in Genesis 1:1, bereshit can simply mean "in the beginning"—the starting point of everything—without forcing it into a more complex structure.

What About the Vowels?

Another clue comes from how the word is written in Hebrew. Hebrew uses little marks called vowels to show how to pronounce words. In Genesis 1:1, bereshit has vowels that make it sound like "be-re-sheet." If it was meant to mean "in the beginning of His creating" (as Rashi suggests with b’ro), the vowels might look different. For example, in Genesis 5:1, there’s a phrase "when God created" (b’ro Elohim), and the vowels under the be- are different—it’s pronounced more like "b’ro."

So, if Genesis 1:1 was supposed to match Rashi’s idea, why didn’t the scribes use the same vowels as in Genesis 5:1? The fact that they didn’t suggests the text was meant to say "in the beginning," not "in the beginning of creating." The vowels guide us toward the simpler meaning.

The implications of Rashi’s view

Rashi suggests that water pre-existed the creation of the heavens and the earth. He proposed that bereshit should be understood as "in the beginning of God’s creating," implying that the process of creation was already underway by the time the verse describes it. For Rashi, the sequence of the text—where Genesis 1:2 mentions "the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters" before the creation of light or other elements—indicates that water was already present. He didn’t see this as God creating water from nothing in verse 1; instead, he believed water existed as a primordial substance before the specific acts of forming the heavens and earth were detailed. This view contrasts with the idea of total creation out of nothing and reflects Rashi’s focus on the grammatical nuance of the Hebrew to suggest an ongoing creative process.

How Nachmanides challenged Rashi’s viewpoint

Nachmanides, a medieval Jewish scholar also known as Ramban, offered a clear perspective on Genesis 1:1 that supports the translation "in the beginning" while adding a deeper layer of meaning. Unlike Rashi, who leaned toward "in the beginning of God’s creating," Nachmanides argued that bereshit indeed means "in the beginning"—the absolute start of time itself. He saw this as evidence of creatio ex nihilo, or "creation out of nothing." For Nachmanides, the verse implies that before God acted, there was no time, space, or matter—only God existed. When the text says "God created the heavens and the earth," it shows He brought everything into being from complete nothingness, not from any pre-existing material. This view emphasizes God’s total power and aligns with the straightforward reading of "in the beginning" as the moment when all creation began.

Could it mean “In a beginning”?

The phrase bereshit in Genesis 1:1 is often translated as "in the beginning," but some wonder if it could mean "in a beginning" instead. However, this doesn’t hold up when we look at the Hebrew. The word reshit means "beginning," and in bereshit, it’s combined with be- ("in") and has specific vowel markings—called a sheva—that make it "be-resheet," meaning "in the beginning." Some say it should have had a patach (a short "a" sound) to mean “In the beginning” because usually the beth with a shva means “in a” and the beth with a patach means “in the.” But here’s the catch: if it were bareshit with a patach, and reshit still meant "the beginning" (which it does in many places, like Isaiah 46:10), it would read awkwardly as "in the the beginning" because while reshit already has a "the" built in. That double "the" would be grammatically odd in Hebrew, so the traditional vowels and translation—"in the beginning"—fit better and keep it simple and correct.

Why Keep It Simple?

For beginners or anyone new to this, the big takeaway is this: "In the beginning" works because it matches how reshit is used in other verses and how the word is written in Genesis 1:1. We don’t need to see bereshit as a smichut or twist it into something more complicated. The Bible starts with a bold, clear statement: God created everything from the very start. That’s a powerful way to open the story of the world, and it doesn’t need extra layers to make sense.

So, when you read "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," you can trust that it’s a good, accurate way to understand the Hebrew. It’s not about God starting something midway—it’s about Him kicking off everything, right from the first moment.