God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.
World English Bible
Genesis 1:5
This verse is examined in more than one Scripture Analysis section. Each lens is shown on its own terms, in the section's own words; GEBible reaches no verdict of its own.
Show this verse in
WEB ▾
Show this verse in
-
Showing
WEB World English Bible Public Domain ✓ - Modern English
- BSB Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
- LSV Literal Standard Version A modern, highly literal translation (2020) · CC BY-SA 4.0
- ULB Unlocked Literal Bible An open-licensed literal translation produced for translators · CC BY-SA 4.0
- WMB World Messianic Bible The World English Bible with Hebrew names and Messianic-Jewish terms · Public Domain
- FBV Free Bible Version A modern translation in contemporary English from the original languages · CC BY-SA 4.0
- BBE Bible in Basic English A 20th-century translation using a simple, limited vocabulary · Public Domain
- ULT unfoldingWord Literal Text unfoldingWord's open-licensed literal translation, the successor to the ULB · CC BY-SA 4.0
- MSB Majority Standard Bible A modern translation of the Majority/Byzantine text — the Berean counterpart to the critical-text BSB · Public Domain
- TCENT Text-Critical English New Testament A modern reasoned-eclectic New Testament (2022) · CC BY 4.0
- F35 Family 35 New Testament Wilbur Pickering's Byzantine-priority New Testament, with text-critical commentary notes · CC BY-SA 4.0
- OJB Orthodox Jewish Bible A Messianic-Jewish English Bible using transliterated Hebrew names and terms · CC BY 4.0
- Historic editions
- KJV King James Version Public Domain
- ASV American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
- GNV Geneva Bible (1599) The Reformation-era study Bible that preceded the King James · Public Domain
- DRA Douay-Rheims (1899) An English Catholic translation from the Latin Vulgate · Public Domain
- YLT Young's Literal Translation An extremely literal 19th-century rendering · Public Domain
- DBY Darby Bible A literal 19th-century translation by J. N. Darby · Public Domain
- WBT Webster's Bible Noah Webster's 1833 modernization of the King James Version · Public Domain
- TYNDALE Tyndale New Testament (1534) The pioneering early-modern English New Testament (New Testament only) · Public Domain
- JPS JPS Tanakh (1917) An early Jewish English translation of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament only) · Public Domain
- RV Revised Version (1885) The 1885 British revision of the King James Version; parent of the American Standard Version · Public Domain
- LEESER Isaac Leeser Tanakh (1853) The first Jewish English translation of the Hebrew Bible (1853, Old Testament only) · Public Domain
- KJVCP KJV Cambridge Paragraph Bible David Norton's critical Cambridge edition of the King James Version, set in paragraphs · Public Domain
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Science (1)
Historical claims about the natural world, weighed against the scientific record.
-
Light and day/night cycles existed before the sun.
Astronomy · Genesis 1:14-19
The scientific record: The Sun formed before the Earth, and the daylight the Earth receives comes from the Sun. (NASA)
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
-
Gen 1:4 — “God divided the light from the darkness” / Gen 1:16 — “God made the two great lights”
When did God divide light from darkness?Genesis 1:4-5 says God divided light from darkness on the first day of creation, before any celestial bodies existed. Genesis 1:16-19 then has God creating the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day and using them to divide light from darkness.
Critical scholarship: Leans toward reconciliation.
More on this question
-
Read as reconcilable:
Keil & Delitzsch (Delitzsch d. 1890), John Gill (d. 1771)
Harmonization: Keil & Delitzsch read the day-one “light” as elementary light-material, distinct from the sun, moon, and stars set up as light-bearers on the fourth day.
-
Read as a real contradiction:
Thomas Paine (d. 1809), Robert G. Ingersoll (d. 1899)
The tension: Paine reads Genesis as counting days and nights before the sun exists, though it is the sun’s presence or absence that makes day and night.
-
Read as reconcilable:
Keil & Delitzsch (Delitzsch d. 1890), John Gill (d. 1771)
Each section sets the viewpoints side by side; you weigh the evidence. Here, "critical scholarship" means academic study, not a value judgment. How this is built →
Other verses examined for the same kind of question or claim
Within each section, grouped by shared field or question type — not a cross-section comparison.
Cite this page
This citation refers to this GEBible page — the verse and the analysis gathered here. To cite the underlying scholarship, cite those sources directly.
"Genesis 1:5 — Scripture Analysis" GEBible, https://gebible.app/analysis/verse/genesis/1/5?version=WEB (retrieved 27 August 2026).