Annotations

Annotations, Day: 1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7

The highlighted sections are especially important.

Day 1 Annotations                                                    Back to Top

1. b = = in, at, to, when

b – symbolizes a physical structure like a house or temple, or a social structure like a household or congregation. In the first three chapters of the Bible the word b consistently means “in.”

According to Hebrew linguists, the preposition b may also mean “at,” “to,” “when,” “among,” “on,” etc. Hebrew prepositions are attached to their nouns, so that the first complete word of the Bible would be brashit.

2. rashit = = head, begin, principles, start, summit

rash – means “head”
r – symbolizes a head
a – symbolizes an ox and indicates power
ra – means “see”
ash – means “do or make”

From these roots grow a range of possible meanings for the word rashit: “first,” “begin,” and “start” (as in the head of a line, or team or journey) to “laws” and “principles” (as in ideas or thoughts that should take priority in the planning process).

All together, the first six letters of the Bible may mean any or all of the following:

     in beginning             with laws            when begin
     in principles             to start               to think
     to begin                   in mind               on high

(Strong's Concordance #7225)

3. bra = = in/head/see; conceive, create, create by cutting, fatten

b – “in”
r – “head”
ra – “see”

Aramaic/Hebrew has two tenses. Let’s call them “finished” and “ongoing.” The finished tense is used for actions that are already complete. The ongoing tense is for those that are in progress. This verb, bra, is in the ongoing tense, which suggests that the conception of the universe is a work in progress.

(Strong's Concordance #1254)

4. alhim = = god/is/many, gods as one, God, gods, powers that be

al – means “power” or “god,” and/or used to indicate movement caused by alhim
hi – means “be” or “is”
im – indicates a plural noun

For the most part, the plural noun alhim is used with singular verbs, indicating that the gods/powers are acting as one. But when alhim speaks, the verb is first person plural (e.g., “let us make light” or “we make mankind”).

Translating alhim as “God” hides its plurality just as translating alhim as “gods,” hides its singularity.

Alhim may simply mean the “powers that be” – a scientific term for the collective energy and intelligence of the universe thinking, communicating and acting as one. For a discussion of the distinction between collective intelligence and polytheism, please see page 63. Alhim is often transliterated into English as the proper name Elohim or Elohym and translated to mean God.

(Strong's Concordance #430)

5. at = = about, of, unto

t – resembles a cross and can mean “mark” or “boundary.” The word at does not have a direct English translation; in Hebrew it links the preceding verb with the upcoming noun.

(Strong's Concordance #853)

6. h = = he, she, the

Each time the letter h is used as an article, the Leningrad Codex scholars added a mark indicating whether it should be pronounced as ha or ho. In most cases ha precedes masculine nouns and ho precedes feminine nouns.

Of course, English does not have feminine and masculine versions of the word “the” (unlike, say, Spanish which has la and el). Rather than obscuring the masculine and feminine connotations of ha and ho, the database lists “he” or “she” as possible synonyms.

7. shmim = = fire/water/many, sky, skywaters, heavens

sh – either symbolizes fire and/or symbolizes teeth and may mean “sharp”
m – symbolizes water and may mean “coming or flowing from” or “part of”
im – indicates a plural noun

The word shmim conveys the ancient belief that the skies contain two of the primal elements: (i) fire, visible in the heavenly bodies and (ii) water, visible in the blue color and tangible in rain.

(Strong's Concordance #8064)

8. o = = and, so, but

o – symbolizes a nail. Sometimes it stands alone as a conjunction (e.g., “and” or “so”) other times o serves as a prefix indicating that the upcoming verb is past tense.

11. artz = = earth, land

Artz means “the planet earth” and also refers to the primal element earth, i.e., the materials that make up the earth. Together shmim (fire/sky/waters) and artz (earth) are an idiom for the universe. No one ancient Hebrew word was equivalent to the modern English word “universe.”

(Strong's Concordance #776)

15. hith = = be, being, become

hi – means to “to be.” It appears in numerous tenses and conjugations
oihi – “became,” “was”
hih – “being,” “is”
hith – “being,” “is”
hiitm – “to be”
ihi – “to be”
hiot – “to be”
ihio – “to be”
hio – “become”
ihhi – “shall be”

(Strong's Concordance #1961)

16. tho = = formless, wilderness, confusion

t – resembles a cross and can mean “mark” or “boundary”
ho – “she”

(Strong's Concordance #8414)

18. bho = = empty, virgin, void, unfilled

b – symbolizes a structure and may mean “in”
ho – “she” The phrase tho o bho is an idiom, it may mean “desert wasteland” or “virgin wilderness.”

(Strong's Concordance #922)

20. chshch = = dark, darkness

Some ancients saw darkness as a distinct being, not just as the absence of light.

(Strong's Concordance #2822)

21. el = = above, over, upon

(Strong's Concordance #5921)

22. pni = = face, mouth, opening, surface

p – symbolizes a mouth and may mean “open” einim – “eyes” shni – “two”

(Strong's Concordance #6440)

23. thom = = abyss, deep, primal waters, deep sea

(Strong's Concordance #8415)

25. roch = = breath, spirit, wind

(Strong's Concordance #7307)

27. m = = from, part of, flowing from

m – symbolizes water and may mean “coming” or “flowing from” or “part of”

28. rchpt = = breath, blow, hover, move, flutter, sweep

roch – “wind”
p – symbolizes a mouth and may mean “open”

(Strong's Concordance #7343)

32. mim = = water

sm – symbolizes water
im – indicates a plural noun

Technically, roch alhim mrchpt el pni h mim describes the layer of air swirling over the oceans (at the time oceans covered the entire earth). Lyrically, the phrase evokes images, like: the gods as one sweeping across the ocean like a thunderstorm and God breathing life into the nose of the first human.

(Strong's Concordance #4325)

33. oiamr = = said, decreed, sang

o – either a conjunction “and/so” or a prefix indicating past tense amr – “say”

Typically amr means “say” and o makes this verb past tense, so oiamr may mean “said.” However, in this passage, the gods/powers are vocalizing as one, which suggests two other synonyms: “decreed,” indicating an agreement among all gods/powers which they announced together, and “sang,” evoking the image of the gods/powers chanting the principles of creation in the very verse that became the Bible.

(Strong's Concordance #559)

35. ihi = = be, being, become, exist

In direct quotes from alhim, verbs are in the present tense.

(Strong's Concordance #1961)

36. oaor = = light, sunshine ar – “light”

In the story of creation, Genesis scrupulously avoids mentioning the names of specific heavenly bodies. This leaves it up to you to figure out whether or not the source of the first light was the sun.

(Strong's Concordance #216)

39. oira = = see, appear

o – either a conjunction “and/so” or a prefix indicating past tense
ra – “see”

You can’t tell, just by looking at the letters, whether verbs like oira should be read as “and says” or as “said.” You have to read the passage and make an educated guess that makes sense in context. To simplify the process:

• the Synonym column lists verbs in third-person infinitive form, “to see,”
• the Roman Letter column shows the root verb in bold (“oira”), and
• the Verbatim column shows the most likely conjugation and tense, “became.”

The King James Bible often translates verbs like oira as “and saw” (i.e., the o is supposed to mean “and” and to indicate past tense). While the verse sounds good to our modern ears, it obscures the pattern of the original verse in passages like this one in which the narrator speaks in past tense, while alhim speaks in present tense.

(Strong's Concordance #7200)

45. tob = = good, joined, functional

t – symbolizes a container and can mean tied together (as in a wicker basket)
o – either a conjunction “and/so” or a prefix indicating past tense
b – symbolizes a structure and can mean “in”
tbl – means “immerse”

People translate tob to mean “good” for three reasons:

Sometimes tob means “good” in other ancient writings
“good” seems to make sense in the passage – of course, light is “good”
“good” fits whenever tob appears in the creation story. After oceans, land, plants, fish, birds and livestock come to be, alhim sees each of them to be tob.

Then when translators read that the forbidden tree deep inside the Garden of Eden gives knowledge, (hdet), of tob and re, they perceive that tob means “good” and re means “evil.”

But, clearly the Creation Story was not written to be a nursery rhyme about “good” and “evil.” It reads like a record of the state of the art in scientific understanding of the origin of heaven and earth. In the passage at hand, light and dark are joined together and alhim asks them to separate. In this passage, tob seems to mean “joined.”

The translation “joined” also provides a more mature insight into the kind of knowledge conveyed by the fateful tree. That word re does not only mean “bad,” re can also mean friend, associate, intimate companion, etc. Moreover, the word hdet does not only mean “knowledge,” it also means “sexual relations.” So, the hdet, tob and re of the tree may refer to sexual union with an intimate companion.

This is not to say that tob always means “joined” and never means “good.” Words can have different meanings depending on their context. They do that all the time. Sometimes the word “great” means large and sometimes great means very good. Sometimes the word “bad” means bad and sometimes bad means good.

(Strong's Concordance #2896)

46. oibdl = = part, divide, separate

o – either a conjunction “and/so” or a prefix indicating past tense – “part”

(Strong's Concordance #914)

48. bin = = from, between

(Strong's Concordance #996)

55. oikra = = call, appoint, name

o – either a conjunction “and/so” or a prefix indicating past tense
kra – “call”

In ancient times, your name and your calling went hand in hand: Mr. Smith worked metal; Mr. Baker baked bread. To our anscestors, giving someone a name was like assigning them a job description.

(Strong's Concordance #7121)

57. l = = for, of, to


59. iom = = cycle, day, daytime, time, tide

(Strong's Concordance #3117)

64. lilh = = night

The King James Bible translates l chshch kre lilh as “darkness He called Night.” Some believe this means that God gave the name “Night” to the dark time of the day. Others say that Lilh/Lilithe was the ancient goddess of the night and believe that God gave the goddess her name and is, therefore, superior to her. Those are valid interpretations based on that translation, but that translation is invalid for two reasons: for one thing, there is no “He” in that passage, for another thing, the word alhim in that verse is translated as “God” which, both, obscures its plurality and masks the concept that darkness and light are parts of the same whole.

A better reading of this passage, based on a more literal translation, is that the gods/powers all agreed that darkness would have the job of cloaking the night and light the job of lighting the day. In other words, darkness and light agree to and receive callings. Not only do they receive names; they also take on responsibilities.

(Strong's Concordance #3915)

66. erb = = increase, nightfall, sunset, diversity

rb – “procreate” or “increase”

(Strong's Concordance #6153)

68. obkr = = unify, daybreak, sunrise

bkr – “join”

(Strong's Concordance #1242)

70. achd = = one, first, united

If you want to believe that the Bible and science are hopelessly inconsistent, all you have to do is translate the word iom as “day” and insist that this refers to the 24-hour period of time it takes for the earth to spin once on its axis. Then you can show geological evidence proving – by any rational measure – that the events of the first four days of the Bible lasted for billions of years.

And, if you want to believe that the Bible is internally incoherent, all you have to do is translate the phrase oihi erb oihi obkr iom as “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” Then you can point out that the sun was not created until the fourth day, so that this passage makes no sense at all.

Or, you can let the Bible speak for itself. The creation story revolves around growth, organization, cooperation and more growth. This passage marks off the end of the first cycle in which the primal elements – earth, wind, fire and water – began the process of congress and progress.

By the way, if the Bible writers wanted to indicate that day occurred during one revolution of the earth – as marked by sunrise and sunset – they could easily have used the words mboa () for sunset and morch () for sunrise. Instead, they used erb and obkr – words which connote growth and organization.

(Strong's Concordance #259)

Day 2 Annotations                                                     Back to Top

74. rkie = = airspace, expanse, dome, firmament, sheet, vault

rke – “stamp out”
irk – “spit”

The Bible writers had an advanced understanding of the water cycle, including the concept that water vapors are carried by the atmosphere into the skies. For a further discussion, see page 67.

(Strong's Concordance #7549)

76. toch = = between, inside, midst

(Strong's Concordance #8432)

86. oiesh = = do, make

o – either a conjunction “and/so” or a preposition indicating past tense
esh – “make” or “do”

(Strong's Concordance #6213)

95. ashr = = which, what, who

(Strong's Concordance #834)

97. tcht = = below, under

(Strong's Concordance #8478)

106. el = = above, over, upon

el – means “power” or “god,” and/or used to indicate movement caused by alhim

(Strong's Concordance #5921)

110. qn = = firm, set upright, so

Translating the phrase oihi qn as “it was so” implies that everything has already happened. But, to be consistent with what is happening in passages like this one, the phrase should be translated as “became set upright” or “so it came to be.” This implies that everything that has been set up is about to happen. First, the gods/powers together sing their collective plan, then the elements involved execute the agreed upon actions. In this case, the atmosphere will carry the clouds up to the skies.

(Strong's Concordance #3651)

121. shni = = second, two

einim – “eyes”

(Strong's Concordance #8145)

Day 3 Annotations                                                     Back to Top

124. ikoo = = gather, bind

ko – “gather”
mkom – “gathering”

(Strong's Concordance #6960)

137. ibshh = = body of land, land mass

bshr – “body”

(Strong's Concordance #3004)

151. imim = = waters, days, oceans, tides

m – symbolizes water
im – means that this noun is plural

(Strong's Concordance #3220)

158. sdsha = = sprout, grow

dsha – “sprouts”

(Strong's Concordance #1976)

162. eshb = = plants, grass, herbs

(Strong's Concordance #6212)

163. mzrie = = seed

zre – “seeds”

In this passage, the earth sprouts sprouts and the plants seed seeds. This kind of word play springs naturally from the Aramaic/Hebrew language where many verbs and noun forms differ only slightly.

(Strong's Concordance #2233)

165. etz = = tree

(Strong's Concordance #6086)

166. pri = = fruit, offspring

pro – “prosper”
epr – “clay” (the stuff from which the first human is molded)

(Strong's Concordance #6529)

170. mino () and 187. minho = () = kind, perpetuity, lineage

no – “perpetuity”
min – “part of,” “from,” “out of”
nhr – “river”

The words mino and minho can both be translated to mean “species.” But in this passage plants are reproducing themselves on an ongoing basis, so the word “lineage” seems to convey better the original meaning.

(Strong's Concordance #4327)

179. ototsa = = spring, bear, bring forth, issue, yield

o – either a conjunction “and/ so” or a preposition indicating past tense
tsa – “bear”
mtsa – “finding”

(Strong's Concordance #3318)

205. shlishi = = third

shl – “will” or “rule”
shi – the suffix used to convert cardinal numbers (3, 4, 5, etc). into ordinal numbers (3rd, 4th, 5th, etc)

(Strong's Concordance #7992)

Day 4 Annotations                                                     Back to Top

209. mart = and 238. maort = = source of light, heavenly body, luminary

m – “part of,” “from”
ar – “light”

(Strong's Concordance #3974)

226. att = = mark, sign, signal

t – symbolizes a cross and can mean “mark”

(Strong's Concordance #226)

229. moedim = = appointed times, seasons

m – “part of,” “from”
ed – “until”
im – means that this noun is plural

(Strong's Concordance #4150)

244. hair = = give light, shine

air – “light”

(Strong's Concordance #215)

257. gdlim = = great, large

gdl - "great"
im means that this noun is plural

If the sun had come into play on the first day as the source of the first light, then, in this passage, the greater light may be the moon and the lesser light may be the North Star. This makes sense in that the moon makes the tides flow and the other stars seem to orbit around the North Star.

(Strong's Concordance #1419)

264. mmshlt = = flow, dominate, rule, will

m – symbolizes water and can mean “from” or “part of”
shl – “will” or “rule”

(Strong's Concordance #4475)

266. iom = = tides, cycles, days

(Strong's Concordance #3117)

272. ktn = = lesser, younger

(Strong's Concordance #6996)

280. qoqbim = = stars

im – means that this noun is plural

(Strong's Concordance #3556)

281. oitn = = assign, give, set

o – either a conjunction “and/so” or a prefix indicating past tense
ttn – “gives”
tti – “assign,” “give,” “set”

(Strong's Concordance #5414)

282. atm = = them

at – he/she/they
im – means that this noun is plural

320. rbiei = = fourth

rb – “increase,” “procreate”

(Strong's Concordance #7243)

Day 5 Annotations                                                    Back to Top

323. ishrtso = = swarm, team

bshr – “body”
tso – “command”

This word refers to a mass of creatures that move together – e.g., schools of fish, swarms of insects, flocks of birds.

(Strong's Concordance #8317)

327. npsh = = breathing, creature, soul

nshmt – “air,” “breath”

There is no one good English word for npsh. In this passage it seems to mean “breathing,” but npsh chih is an idiom for living creatures, and the word npsh is often used alone to mean “creatures.”

(Strong's Concordance #5315)

328. chih = = life, fresh

chi – “life”

(Strong's Concordance #2416)

330. eof = = birds, winged creatures

(Strong's Concordance #5775)

331. ieopf = = fly, take wing

(Strong's Concordance #5774)

343. tninm = = sea creatures/monsters

einim – “eyes”
pni – “face”

No one knows what this word means. Clearly it refers to sea creatures – most likely ones with eyes and faces (e.g., fish and dolphins, as opposed to jellyfish and clams).

(Strong's Concordance #8577)

348. ql = = all, every, whole

(Strong's Concordance #3605)

353. rmsht = = move, glide, scamper

hrmsht – the ones that scamper.

(Strong's Concordance #7430)

364. knf = = winged

(Strong's Concordance #3671)

371. oibrch = = bless, praise, salute, kneel

o – either a conjunction “and/so” or a prefix indicating past tense
bra – “conceive”
ch – “you”

(Strong's Concordance #1288)

375. pro = = bear fruit, grow, prosper

pri – “fruit”

(Strong's Concordance #6509)

377. rbo = = increase, procreate

(Strong's Concordance #7235)

379. mlao = = fill, replenish, satisfy

(Strong's Concordance #4390)

396. chmishi = = fifth, water life

chi – “life”
m – symbolizes water

Day Five starts the cycle of water life. The skies (the waters above) and the oceans (the waters below) fill with living, breathing creatures capable of continuing the cycle of reproduction and new life.

(Strong's Concordance #2549)

Day 6 Annotations                                                    Back to Top

406. bhmh = = lumbering, livestock, land animal

admh – “ground”

(Strong's Concordance #929)

407. ormsh = = scampering, moving creature (see 467/468)

hrmsh – “scampering” (467)
hrmsh – “critters” (468)
rmsh – “scamper”
mshl – “rule”
mmshlt – “flowing”

Neither ormsh nor bhmh is easily translated into English. Ormsh/hrmsh both mean scampering and also refer to creatures that scamper. Bhmh is used for cattle and other livestock and also for other large land animals. In this passage it seems to imply “slow-moving” or “lumbering,” in contrast to ormsh/ “scampering.”

(Strong's Concordance #7431)

433. admh = = earth, ground, humus, soil

This is the first appearance of the word admh. Those creatures that had been lumbering and scampering around the earth are now said to be moving over the ground.

(Strong's Concordance #127)

442. n = = we, let us

In this passage, alhim speaks in the first person plural, neshh adm, or “we make humans.”

(Strong's Concordance #6213)

444. adm = = humans, mankind, Adam

adom – “red”
admh – “ground”

(Strong's Concordance #120)

445. btslmno = = in mold, pattern, likeness

tsle – “side”
mino – “lineage”

(Strong's Concordance #6754)

446. qdmotno = = cast, image

qd – “earthenware”
dm – “blood,” “of man”
qn – “firm,” “set upright”
kdmt – “front”
tn – “set”

Btslmno qdmotno seems to be an idiom for “cast in our mold” with btslmno being the mold and qdmotno being the flesh-and-blood casting. Humans, it seems, are modeled to play the role on earth that alhim plays in the universe. We are to be the head and hand of alhim on earth, modeled to play the role on earth that alhim plays in the universe.

(Strong's Concordance #1823)

448. irdo = = guide, rule

r – “head”
do – “hand”

(Strong's Concordance #7287)

449. bdgt = = fish, swimming

(Strong's Concordance #1710)

467. hrmsh = = critter, scampering animal

(Strong's Concordance #7431)

468. hrmsh = = critter, scampering animal

(Strong's Concordance #7430)

480. tslm = = sides, mold, image

tsle – “side,” “rib”

Here, in Genesis One, the first male and female were created simultaneously side by side. In Genesis Two, God (ihih alhim) removes a tsle from the first human and uses it to create the first mate.

(Strong's Concordance #6754)

483. ato = = it, him


484. zqr = = male

q – symbolizes an open hand and may mean openness or flexibility
r – “head”
zre – “seed”

(Strong's Concordance #2145)

486. nkbh = = female

ekb – “heel”
bho – “virgin”
rbh – “increase,” “procreate”

(Strong's Concordance #4347)

487. Note: bra is in the present tense – the gods are conceiving the human race on an ongoing basis.

(Strong's Concordance #1254)

488. atm = = them


494. hm = = them


505. qbshh = = tend, master

ilbshm – “clothes,” “wraps”
ilbshh – “body of land”
qoqbim – “stars”

(Strong's Concordance #7287)

524. hnh = = always, behold, here

(Strong's Concordance #2009)

528. qm = = you


546. bo = = in it, in him


555. aqlh = = eat, food

(Strong's Concordance #402)

581. irk = = green, vegetable, herb

(Strong's Concordance #3418)

596. mad = = very, wholly

(Strong's Concordance #3966)

603. shshi = = sixth

sh – symbolizes and may mean “fire”
shi – the suffix used to convert cardinal numbers (3, 4, 5, etc.) into ordinal numbers (3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.)

(Strong's Concordance #8345)

Day 7 Annotations                                                    Back to Top

605. iqlo = = all, cease, finish

ql – “all,” “every,” “whole”
iqlo seems to be some form of the pronoun “all.” If iqlo is a verb, there should be an at (“unto”) introducing the upcoming nouns shmim and artz.

(Strong's Concordance #3615)

613. tsbam = = things, array, company

(Strong's Concordance #6635)

620. shbiei = = rest, seven

ishbt – “ceases,” “rest”

(Strong's Concordance #7637)

621. mlaqto = = process, project, work

mla – “fill,” “replenish”

(Strong's Concordance #4399)

625. ishbt = = cease, rest

In modern Hebrew, “Shabbat” is the Sabbath and the name of the day of rest.

(Strong's Concordance #7673)

643. ikdsh = = cleanse, purify, sanctify

dsha – “sprout,” “grow”

In early Judaism, personal cleanliness was necessary to participate in community worship.

(Strong's Concordance #6942)

657. alh = = such, some, them, those

(Strong's Concordance #428)

658. toldot = = story, family, generation

(Strong's Concordance #8435)