And the earth was formless and empty;
And darkness was upon the face of the abyss.
And the Spirit of God brooded upon the face of the vapors.[191]
And God said, Let there be light:
And there was light.
Refrain—And God saw the light that it was good.
And God called the light Day:
And the darkness He called Night.
And there was evening and there was morning: one day.
SECOND STROPHE.
And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters,
And let it be a division of waters from vapors.
And God made the expanse,
And divided the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse:[192]
And it was so.
And God called the expanse Heavens.
And there was evening and there was morning: a second day.
THIRD STROPHE.
And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place,
And let the dry ground appear:
And it was so.
And God called the dry ground Land;
And the gathering of the waters He called Seas.
Refrain—And God saw that it was good.
And God said, Let the land shoot forth shoots:
Herbs yielding seed, fruit-trees yielding seed-inclosing fruit after their kind upon the land;
And it was so.
And the land brought forth shoots;
Herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees yielding seed-inclosing fruit after their kind.