--- title: "The verse of Gen 1, 1 — Dzikiewicz 2017" description: "The article offers no data or method. 28 references." authors: ["Daniel Dzikiewicz"] year: 2017 venue: "Rocznik Teologii Katolickiej" source: "https://doi.org/10.15290/rtk.2017.16.3.01" doi: "10.15290/rtk.2017.16.3.01" licence: "Open access (free to read); no CC licence stated — read only (Rocznik Teologii Katolickiej)" summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License" canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/dzikiewicz-2017-verse-gen-1-1-subordinate/" --- [Elamur Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/dzikiewicz-2017-verse-gen-1-1-subordinate/) [home](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/) / [2017](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2017/page/4/) / The verse of Gen 1, 1: a subordinate or principal clause? A contribution to the discussion on the syntax of the first sentence of the Hebrew Bible # The verse of Gen 1, 1: a subordinate or principal clause? A contribution to the discussion on the syntax of the first sentence of the Hebrew Bible **Authors:** Daniel Dzikiewicz · **Year:** 2017 · **Venue:** Rocznik Teologii Katolickiej 16 (3), 9–18 **Link:** [doi.org/10.15290/rtk.2017.16.3.01](https://doi.org/10.15290/rtk.2017.16.3.01) · **Licence:** free to read, no CC licence — copyrighted, summary only [**1** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W2784338900) OpenAlex, 2026-10-14 · [Rocznik Teologii Katolickiej](https://openalex.org/S4210182944) - [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.15290/rtk.2017.16.3.01) - [PDF](https://repozytorium.uwb.edu.pl/jspui/bitstream/11320/6196/1/RTK_16_3_2017_D_Dzikiewicz_The_verse_of_Gen_1_1_a_subordinate_or_principal_clause.pdf) - [DOI 10.15290/rtk.2017.16.3.01](https://doi.org/10.15290/rtk.2017.16.3.01) - [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2784338900) **Authors (1)** 1. Daniel Dzikiewicz [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/133825408) Citations and author metrics: OpenAlex, 2026-10-14; authors with the same name are not always told apart. ## What it is about A short exegetical article on whether Gen 1:1 is an independent sentence ("In the beginning God created …", LXX, Vulgate, KJV) or a temporal clause subordinate to 1:2–3 ("When God began to create …", NJPS 1985, NRSV). The grammatical crux it reviews is that בְּרֵאשִׁית has no article and can be read as construct before a clause, as with the opening of Enuma Elish; both readings are said to be grammatically possible. The author does not add a linguistic argument: he decides for the subordinate reading on historical-theological grounds (a Priestly author in the Babylonian exile presenting order out of pre-existing chaos). The article offers no data or method. ## Ideas - I1. Keep Gen 1:1 as a documented double reading in the trees: the default MACULA/JPS 1917 reading as a main clause, with a MISC note pointing to the construct reading (בְּרֵאשִׁית as construct + finite clause, "when … began to create") and to the translations that take it; a known ambiguity case for the syntax chapter. - I2. Construct state before a finite clause (a noun in construct governing a whole clause, as בְּיוֹם עֲשׂוֹת / בְּיוֹם + verb, Gen 2:4b) is a real pattern: count it in the Torah so that the Gen 1:1 discussion rests on how common the construction is. ## For Mova I1 goes into [languages/hbo/08-syntax.md](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/08-syntax/) (the construct, relative clauses) and `04-noun.md` (state), and into `13-mova-tools.md` §13 as a known ambiguity. I2 is a count over our trees. The article's own argument (dating and theology) gives nothing for Mova. Topics[Hebrew & Aramaic](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/hebrew-aramaic/) · [Semitic languages](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/semitic-languages/) · [Syntax & grammar formalisms](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/syntax-grammar/) ## Cite Cite as Daniel Dzikiewicz. 2017. The verse of Gen 1, 1: a subordinate or principal clause? A contribution to the discussion on the syntax of the first sentence of the Hebrew Bible. Rocznik Teologii Katolickiej. The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.15290/rtk.2017.16.3.01](https://doi.org/10.15290/rtk.2017.16.3.01) ```bibtex @inproceedings{dzikiewicz2017verse, title = {{The verse of Gen 1, 1: a subordinate or principal clause? A contribution to the discussion on the syntax of the first sentence of the Hebrew Bible}}, author = {Daniel Dzikiewicz}, booktitle = {Rocznik Teologii Katolickiej}, year = {2017}, doi = {10.15290/rtk.2017.16.3.01}, url = {https://doi.org/10.15290/rtk.2017.16.3.01} } ``` - [← previous The Pragmatics of Indirect Commands in Collaborative Discourse](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/lamm-2017-pragmatics-indirect-commands-collaborative-discourse/) - [next → Universal Joint Morph-Syntactic Processing: The Open University of Israel's Submission to The CoNLL 2017 Shared Task](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/more-2017-universal-joint-morph-syntactic-processing/) - [↑ back to papers of 2017](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2017/page/4/) ## References 28 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet. 1. Alonso Schökel L., Isaiah, in R. Alter – F. 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