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Genesis 1 · a question people ask

Verse 2: is it God's Spirit, or a wind?

Interpretation

The Hebrew word, ruach, can mean breath, wind or spirit (Brown-Driver-Briggs: "breath, wind, spirit"), so either is a fair translation. The WEB reads "God’s Spirit". Either way, verse 2 has God's ruach over the waters before God speaks in verse 3.

How Christians read it

Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.

God's Spirit

Those who hold this view read it as God's Spirit, as the WEB does, and see the Holy Spirit at work in creation. They point to "You send out your Spirit and they are created" (Psalm 104:30) and "The Spirit of God has made me" (Job 33:4).

Genesis 1:2 · Psalm 104:30 · Job 33:4

A wind from God

Those who hold this view read it as a wind sent by God. They point to other places where God's ruach moves over waters: after the flood "God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided" (8:1), and at the sea "the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind" (Exodus 14:21).

Genesis 8:1 · Exodus 14:21

The verses

“The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.”
Genesis 1:2 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Genesis 1

Genesis 1: In the beginning

Genesis 1 tells you who made everything, that God saw all he had made and it was very good, that people, male and female, are made in God's image and given the earth to rule, and that the first week ends with a day God blessed and made holy.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions