"In the beginning" (translated in the original Biblical Hebrew: bereshith) is an opening-phrase or incipit first used in the BibleinGenesis 1:1. First referring to the beginning when the heavens and Earth were created and later commonly paralleled to Christians once again in John 1:1 as the "Word" being with God and being God during the beginning. Outside of the Bible, it is a common term in popular culture such as album-titles and fiction-titles.
The original word in the Bible in Ancient Hebrew writingsisBereshith (בְּרֵאשִׁית): "In [the] beginning [of something]". The definite article (i.e., the Hebrew equivalent of "the") is missing, but implied.[1]
Archē (Ancient Greek: ἀρχή) is the original phrase that is used in the John 1:1.
InGenesis 1:1, the full verse saying is translated as fully saying:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the Earth.” (King James Version)
Translations of Genesis 1:1 differ on whether the "beginning" refers to an absolute beginning or a relative one.
[1] "In the beginning" was used once again referenced in the New Testament in the verse John 1:1:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
The Book of Genesis as a whole has the title of Bereshith ( בְּרֵאשִׁית) by its incipit in Hebrew, as with other books of the Hebrew Bible. The first word, and thus God's role as Creator, is recited in the Aleinu prayer near the end of each of the three daily prayer-services.
Genesis 1:1 is commonly paralleled by Christian theologians with John 1:1 as something that John the apostle alluded to.[2] Theologian Charles Ellicott wrote:
"The reference to the opening words of the Old Testament is obvious, and is the more striking when we remember that a Jew would constantly speak of and quote from the book of Genesis as "Berēshîth" ("in the beginning"). It is quite in harmony with the Hebrew tone of this Gospel to do so, and it can hardly be that St. John wrote his Berēshîth without having that of Moses present to his mind, and without being guided by its meaning.[3]
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