Genesis 1:4

1:4 God saw ¹  that the light was good, ²  so God separated ³  the light from the darkness.

Genesis 1:6

1:6 God said, “Let there be an expanse ⁴  in the midst of the waters and let it separate water ⁵  from water.

Genesis 1:18

1:18 to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. ⁶  God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:7

1:7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. ⁷  It was so. ⁸ 

Genesis 1:14

1:14 God said, “Let there be lights ⁹  in the expanse ¹⁰  of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs ¹¹  to indicate seasons and days and years,

[1:4]  ¹ tn Heb “And God saw the light, that it was good.” The verb “saw” in this passage carries the meaning “reflected on,” “surveyed,” “concluded,” “noted.” It is a description of reflection of the mind – it is God’s opinion.

[1:4]  ² tn The Hebrew word טוֹב (tov) in this context signifies whatever enhances, promotes, produces, or is conducive for life. It is the light that God considers “good,” not the darkness. Whatever is conducive to life in God’s creation is good, for God himself is good, and that goodness is reflected in all of his works.

[1:4]  ³ tn The verb “separate, divide” here explains how God used the light to dispel the darkness. It did not do away with the darkness completely, but made a separation. The light came alongside the darkness, but they are mutually exclusive – a theme that will be developed in the Gospel of John (cf. John 1:5).

[1:6]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew word refers to an expanse of air pressure between the surface of the sea and the clouds, separating water below from water above. In v. 8 it is called “sky.”

[1:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “the waters from the waters.”

[1:18]  ⁷ sn In days one to three there is a naming by God; in days five and six there is a blessing by God. But on day four there is neither. It could be a mere stylistic variation. But it could also be a deliberate design to avoid naming “sun” and “moon” or promoting them beyond what they are, things that God made to serve in his creation.

[1:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the expanse.”

[1:7]  ¹¹ tn This statement indicates that it happened the way God designed it, underscoring the connection between word and event.

[1:14]  ¹³ sn Let there be lights. Light itself was created before the light-bearers. The order would not seem strange to the ancient Hebrew mind that did not automatically link daylight with the sun (note that dawn and dusk appear to have light without the sun).

[1:14]  ¹⁴ tn The language describing the cosmos, which reflects a prescientific view of the world, must be interpreted as phenomenal, describing what appears to be the case. The sun and the moon are not in the sky (below the clouds), but from the viewpoint of a person standing on the earth, they appear that way. Even today we use similar phenomenological expressions, such as “the sun is rising” or “the stars in the sky.”

[1:14]  ¹⁵ tn The text has “for signs and for seasons and for days and years.” It seems likely from the meanings of the words involved that “signs” is the main idea, followed by two categories, “seasons” and “days and years.” This is the simplest explanation, and one that matches vv. 11-13. It could even be rendered “signs for the fixed seasons, that is [explicative vav (ו)] days and years.”