In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
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Science & Scripture · Astronomy
Earth existed before any stars.
Astronomy
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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
The cited passage
What current science says
Stars formed about 13 billion years ago, long before Earth existed. Our sun (a star) formed first, about 4.6 billion years ago, and Earth formed shortly after from the leftover dust and gas. You can't have a planet before you have a star to orbit.
What the text says
Genesis 1 places the creation of the earth on the first day, before the stars are made on the fourth day - implying Earth existed before any stars.
Three honest ways to read this passage
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As history
The text records how its authors understood the world with the knowledge they had. Read this way, a difference from modern science is a window into the ancient mind, not a failure.
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As accommodation
The text speaks to its first audience in their own terms, to make a point that isn't mainly about physics or biology. Read this way, the scientific detail is the vehicle, not the cargo.
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As contradiction
The text makes a claim about the physical world that modern findings dispute. Read this way, the difference is a genuine factual disagreement worth naming.
GEBible doesn't pick one of these for you. Each entry shows the passage, what it says, and what current science says — nothing more.
Also examined in
Contradictions (3)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
- When was heaven created? Genesis 1:1 places the creation of heaven at the very beginning, before anything else, while Genesis 1:6-8 has God making a firmament on the second day and nam…
- Who created heaven and earth? Genesis 1:1 and Isaiah 44:24 state that God the Father created everything alone, explicitly stretching out the heavens 'by myself.' John 1:3 and Colossians 1:1…
- When were the stars made? Genesis 1:16-19 has God making the stars on the fourth day of creation, after the earth already existed.
More in Astronomy
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Light and day/night cycles existed before the sun.
Genesis 1:14-19
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The sky is a solid dome holding back waters above it.
Genesis 1:6-8
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Stars are small lights embedded in a dome above Earth.
Genesis 1:14
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The moon is a light source, not a reflector of sunlight.
Genesis 1:16
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The trillions of stars in the universe are insignificant compared to Earth.
Genesis 1:16
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The sun can stop moving across the sky for about a day.
Joshua 10:12-13