Gen 1:1-3; *smikhut or not?

[Dana]

My translation for Genesis 1: 1-3

In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth: And the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of the L-rd was hovering upon the face of the water.
And the L-rd said, Let it be light and there was light.

...

This is the 'standard' translation that one might find in a Christian "Old Testament" such as the KJV. It is not, however, what one will find in translations such as those offered by Robert Alter, Everett Fox, Richard Elliot Friedman, the Jewish Publication Society (NJPS), and Chabad's Complete Jewish Bible With Rashi Commentary.

Really?  That's interesting, because Dana knows Hebrew and I'm willing to bet that she translated that passage straight from the Hebrew.  The translation that Dana gave also seems strikingly similar to that found on Chabad's online Tanakh.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand what point you are trying to make, other than perhaps translations tend to vary.

I would suggest that it is not at all "strikingly similar." On the contrary, the Chabad translation renders בְּרֵאשִׂית בָּרָא as being in the construct state (which was, by the way, the position of both Rashi and Ibn Ezra).

The difference is between

• In the beginning, God created ...
  

and

• In the beginning of God's creation of ...
  

In my opinion, the former suggests creation ex nihilo while the latter does not, and I find it interesting that this latter rendering seems to be the one preferred by what might be termed "Jewish sources" across a broad spectrum, from Reform (JPS/Plaut Commentary) and Conservative (JPS/Etz Hayim) to Orthodox (Chabad, Stone).

@Channalee, that would be true, I was looking at the Hebrew language and looking back on my biblical Hebrew notebook, on this chapter.   There is always something more to learn, and I could be overlooking the rules on the smikhut. 



I see the verse from the Stone's Edition Tanach,  translate it as, In the beginning of G-d's creating...Okay, a participle. The commentary follows Rashi, saying the verse cannot be chronological because it would indicate that the Torah is giving the sequence of Creation - that G-d created the heaven, the earth, darkness, water, light, and so on.

But what about consistency with the Hebrew grammar?  Bara, elsewhere, is a masculine, singular verb, not a noun. Genesis 2 verse 3, only one example and there are more,  bara is a verb, including on the Chabad website.  How can that word be rendered a noun in one place while a verb in the others?