Genesis 2:4 Must Refer to Genesis 1 Rather Than Genesis 2

Most translators have thought that the statement in Genesis 2:4 "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth" (KJV) refers to the story in Genesis 2, but this article proves that it refers to Genesis 1. This becomes very important when we realize that the word translated "generations" would have been better translated "descendants." The Bible says that the people created in Genesis 1 were created as descendants of the heavens and the earth. This post is a copy of appendix D from my book New Evidence for Two Human Origins: Discoveries That Reconcile the Bible and Science.¹ It may be easiest for you to skim the opening paragraphs and look at some of the examples to see how the Hebrew language syntax can indicate whether a verse refers to what precedes it or whether it refers to what follows it. This is important as regards our interpretation of Genesis 2:4. Who are those who are the "generations" (a better translation would be "descendants") of the heavens and the earth. You may want to see my discussion on this subject "Have You Answered the Question of Human Origins?"

A STUDY OF THE HEBREW CONJUNCTION IN REGARDS TO THE FORMULA “THESE ARE THE GENERATIO NS OF…”

The formulas that are in the general form of one of these occur in the Pentateuch: (1) These are the generations of so and so…, (2) These are the sons of so and so…, and (3) These are the names of so and so.... When these formulas are used, special care is taken by the author to make sure that the reader will know whether this pronoun refers to what is written before it or to what is written after it. The presence or absence of the conjunction (the Hebrew prefix, waw) before the formula or after the formula is used to indicate whether the formula looks backward or forward. Whether or not the conjunction acts as a waw consecutive makes no difference, only the presence or absence of the waw serves to remove ambiguity. Exceptions to the general rule are few and easily identified.

The Bible Commentary² tells us that the Jews used the conjunction to indicate whether or not the formula referred to what preceded it or to what follows it. However, the rule must have been incorrectly stated. I take note of this only to show that, according to Jewish scholarship, the conjunction was employed to clarify to what the formula made reference.

When I studied these formulas, it became evident to me that the reader is to assume that the formula refers to what follows it, unless there is some “barrier,” specifically, a conjunction placed after the formula, which prevents the formula from applying to what follows it. Therefore, if the formula refers to the section of narrative that follows it, the conjunction is sometimes placed before the formula (at the discretion of the author); this sets it off from that which has been written before it. In this case the formula refers to what was written after it and commonly no conjunction follows the formula (unless this formula is followed by a nested formula as in examples 11 and 27). We shall call this case in which the formula is preceded by a conjunction case 1. In case 1 the formula always looks forward. Please see example 10.

In other places, no conjunction is written before the formula. In these cases, if the formula refers to what follows it, the writer is careful to leave out the conjunction which follows the formula so that the reader will know that the formula is meant to refer to what follows it. The understanding here in the mind of the reader is that since the formula is not separated from what follows it in its immediate context, it refers to what follows it rather than to what precedes it. We shall call this case 2. See example 9. (An exception to this rule occurs once in the Bible, here the formula occurs as a parenthetical section within a genealogy. It is obvious in this passage that the formula cannot look forward but must look backward even though no conjunction follows the formula.)

On the other hand, if no conjunction is written before the formula and the formula refers to what precedes it, the author is normally careful to put a conjunction after the formula to show that it refers to what is written before the formula. When the author shows his intention in this manner, we shall call it case 3. For a common instance of case 3, see example 4. Examples demonstrate that in this case the conjunction occurs at the end of the Hebrew sentence that contains the formula.

In case 3, an exception occurs if there is nesting, in which case the conjunction can be held off and placed after the two nested formulas. See examples 7 and 8.

Here is a summary of each of the cases described above:

Case 1: If there is a conjunction before the formula, then the formula always looks forward (whether or not a conjunction follows).

Case 2: If there is no conjunction before the formula and no conjunction after the formula, then (except in 1 Chronicles 1:23-24 where its inclusion would cause misreading of the text) the formula looks forward.

Case 3: If there is no conjunction before the formula and a conjunction after the formula, then the formula refers backward.

Note: Because those cases which look backward are of special interest to us, I have put asterisks before these examples to indicate that these or this looks backward; otherwise, the example is one in which these or this looks forward.

We shall now list the examples in their scriptural order, and we shall begin, therefore, with the passage that we are attempting to analyze since it is first in order. Our objective is to discover whether it refers to the preceding verses (mainly, Genesis, chapter 1) or whether it refers to Genesis, chapters 2 through 4. Because Green’s version is quite literal, I have used his version in our study of these examples.³

*****Example 1: (Refers BACKWARD)

Case 3: If there is no conjunction before the formula and a conjunction after the formula, then the formula refers backward:

Genesis 2:3, 4

And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because He rested from all His work on it, which God had created to make. [No conjunction here:] These are the births [or generations] of the heavens and of the earth when they (were) created, in the day (that) Jehovah (was) making earth and heavens; [Conjunction here:] And every shrub of the field was not yet on the earth, and every plant…

Example 2: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 2: If there is no conjunction before the formula and no conjunction after the formula, then (except in 1 Chronicles 1:23-24 where its inclusion would cause misreading of the text) the formula looks forward:

Genesis 5:1

[No conjunction here:] This is the book of the generations of Adam: [No conjunction here:] In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God…

Example 3: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 2: If there is no conjunction before the formula and no conjunction after the formula, then (except in 1 Chronicles 1:23-24 where its inclusion would cause misreading of the text) the formula looks forward:

Genesis 6:9

[No conjunction here:]These are the generations of Noah. [No conjunction here:] Noah, a righteous man, had been perfected among his family—
Noah walked with God.
And Noah fathered three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
And Noah, a righteous man, had been perfected among his family—
Noah walked with God.
And Noah fathered three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
And the earth was corrupt before God…

*****Example 4: (Refers BACKWARD)

Case 3: If there is no conjunction before the formula and a conjunction after the formula, then the formula looks backward:

Genesis 9:18

And the sons of Noah that went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham is the father of Canaan. [No conjunction here:] These are the three sons of Noah, [Conjunction here:] and the whole earth was overspread from them.

Example 5: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 1: If there is a conjunction before the formula, then the formula always looks forward:

Genesis 10:1

[Conjunction here:] And these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. [Conjunction is here:] And sons were born to them after the flood. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai…

*****Example 6: (Refers BACKWARD)

Case 3: If there is no conjunction before the formula, and a conjunction after the formula, then the formula looks backward:

Genesis 10:26-29

And Joktan fathered Almodad…and Jodab. [No conjunction here:] These all were the sons of Joktan. [Conjunction here:] And their dwelling was from Mesha as you go to Sephar, an eastern mountain.

*****Examples 7 and 8: (Refers BACKWARD)

Case 3: If there is no conjunction before the formula and a conjunction after the formula, then the formula looks backward:

Genesis 10:31-32

[No conjunction here:] These were the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their tongues, in their lands, according to their nations. These were the families of the sons of Noah, by their generations, in their nations. [Conjunction here:]And from these the nations were divided in the earth after the flood.

Shem’s genealogy is nested in Noah’s genealogy. Therefore, because “These are the families of the sons of Noah” must also begin without a conjunction or else it would refer forward, a conjunction was placed after both of them in Genesis 10:32b. Therefore, these formulas look backward.

Example 9: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 2: If there is no conjunction before the formula and no conjunction after the formula, then (except in 1 Chronicles 1:23-24 where its inclusion would cause misreading of the text) the formula looks forward:

Genesis 11:10

[No conjunction here:] These are the generations of Shem: [No conjunction here:] Shem was a hundred years old and fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. And after he fathered Arpachshad…

Example 10: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 1: If there is a conjunction before the formula, then the formula always looks forward:

Genesis 11:27

[Conjunction here:] And these are the generations of Terah: [No conjunction here:] Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran fathered Lot.

Example 11: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 1: If there is a conjunction before the formula, then the formula always looks forward:

Genesis 25:12-13a

[Conjunction here:]And these are the generations of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, whom Hagar the Egyptian, the slave girl of Sarah, bore to Abraham. [Conjunction here:] And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael was Nebajoth…

Example 12: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 1: If there is a conjunction before the formula, then the formula always looks forward:

Genesis 25:13

[Conjunction here:] And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: [No conjunction here:] The firstborn of Ishmael was Nebajoth…

*****Example 13: (Refers BACKWARD)

Case 3: If there is no conjunction before the formula and a conjunction after the formula, then the formula looks backward:

Genesis 25:16-17

[No conjunction here:] These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names in their settlements and in their camps, twelve chiefs according to their nations. [Conjunction here:] And these are the years of the life of Ishmael…

Example 14: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 1: If there is a conjunction before the formula, then the formula always looks forward:

Genesis 25:19

[Conjunction here:] And these (are) the generations of Isaac, the son of Abraham: [No conjunction here:] Abraham fathered Isaac.

*****Example 15: (Refers BACKWARD)

Case 3: If there is no conjunction before the formula and a conjunction after the formula, then the formula looks backward:

Genesis 35:26b-27a

[No conjunction here:] These were the sons of Jacob which were born to him in Padan-aram. [Conjunction here:] And Jacob came to his father Issac…

Example 16: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 1: If there is a conjunction before the formula, then the formula always looks forward:

Genesis 36:1

[Conjunction here:] And these are the generations of Esau, that is, Edom: [No conjunction here] Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan, Adah the daughter of Elon…

Example 17: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 1: If there is a conjunction before the formula, then the formula always looks forward:

Genesis 36:9

[Conjunction here:] And these were the generations of Esau, the father of Edom on Mount Seir: [No conjunction here:]The names of the sons of Adah, a wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath, a wife Esau.

Example 18: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 2: If there is no conjunction before the formula and no conjunction after the formula, then (except in 1 Chronicles 1:23-24 where its inclusion would cause misreading of the text) the formula looks forward:

Genesis 37:2

[No conjunction here:]These are the generations of Jacob:
[No conjunction here:] Joseph a son of seventeen years, was tending the flock with his brothers, with Bilhah’s sons and with Zilpah’s sons, his father’s wives.
And he was a youth.
And Joseph came with…

Example 19: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 2: If there is no conjunction before the formula and no conjunction after the formula, then (except in 1 Chronicles 1:23-24 where its inclusion would cause misreading of the text) the formula looks forward:

Exodus 6:14a

[No conjunction here:] These were the heads of the houses of their fathers: [No conjunction here:] The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel were Hanoch, and Pallu, and Hezron and Carmi…

*****Example 20: (Refers BACKWARD)

Case 3: If there is no conjunction before the formula and a conjunction after the formula, then the formula looks backward:

Exodus 6:14b

[No conjunction here:] these were the families of Reuben. [Conjunction here:] And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel…

*****Example 21: (Refers BACKWARD)

Case 3: If there is no conjunction before the formula and a conjunction after the formula, then the formula looks backward:

Exodus 6:15b-16

[No conjunction here:] These were the families of Simeon. [Conjunction here:] And these were the names of the sons of Levi by their generations: Gershon…

Example 22: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 1: If there is a conjunction before the formula, then the formula always looks forward:

Exodus 6:16 (repeated)

[Conjunction here:]And these were the names of the sons of Levi by their generations: [No conjunction here:] Gershon and Kohath, Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were a hundred and thirty-seven years.

*****Example 23: (Refers BACKWARD)

Case 3: If there is no conjunction before the formula and a conjunction after the formula, then the formula looks backward:

Exodus 6:19

And the sons of Merari: Mahli, and Mushi. [No conjunction here:] These are the families of Levi according to their generations. [Conjunction here:] And Amram took his aunt Jochebed to him…

*****Example 24: (Refers BACKWARD)

Case 3: If there is no conjunction before the formula and a conjunction after the formula, then the formula looks backward:

Leviticus 7:37-8:1

[No conjunction here:]This is the law for burnt offering…in the wilderness of Sinai. [Conjunction here:] And Jehovah spoke to Moses…

Example 25 (Refers FORWARD)

Case 1: If there is a conjunction before the formula, then the formula always looks forward:

Leviticus 11:29

[Conjunction here:] And these shall be unclean to you among the swarming things which swarm on the earth: [No conjunction here:] the weasel, and the mouse…

*****Example 26: (Refers BACKWARD)

Case 3: If there is no conjunction before the formula and a conjunction after the formula, then the formula looks backward:

Leviticus 11:46-12:1

[No conjunction here:] This is the law of the animals, and of the fowl, and of every living creature which moves in the waters, and every creature which swarms on the earth, to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the living thing that may be eaten, and the living thing that may not be eaten. [Conjunction here:] And Jehovah spoke to Moses…

Example 27: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 1: If there is a conjunction before the formula, then the formula always looks forward:

Numbers 3:1-2

[Conjunction here:] And these are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day of the speaking of Jehovah with Moses in Mount Sinai. [Conjunction here:] And these are the names of Aaron’s sons: [No conjunction here:] Nadab the first born, and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

Example 28: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 1: If there is a conjunction before the formula, then the formula always looks forward:

Numbers 3:2-3

[Conjunction here:] And these are the names of Aaron’s sons: Nadab, the first born; and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. [No conjunction here:] These are the names of Aaron’s sons, the anointed priests whose hands he consecrated to act as priests.

*****Example 29: (Refers BACKWARD)

Case 3: If there is no conjunction before the formula and a conjunction after the formula, then the formula looks backward:

Numbers 3:3-4

[No Conjunction here:] These are the names of Aaron’s sons, the anointed priests whose hands he consecrated to act as priests. [Conjunction here:] And Nadab and Abiju died before Jehovah in the wilderness of Sinai…

Example 30: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 1: If there is a conjunction before the formula, then the formula always looks forward:

Ruth 4:18-19

[Conjunction here:] And these are the generations of Pharez: [No conjunction here:] Pharez fathered Hezron; and Hezron fathered Ram…

*****Example 31: (Refers BACKWARD)

Case 2: If there is no conjunction before the formula and no conjunction after the formula, then (except in 1 Chronicles 1:23-24 where its inclusion would cause misreading of the text) the formula looks forward:

1 Chronicles 1:23-26

… and Havilah, and Johab. [No conjunction here:] All these were the sons of Joktan. [There is no conjunction here because this follows a parenthetical section, and it resumes the list of Adam’s descendants. A conjunction here would breakup the genealogy and it is unnecessary because the formula cannot refer forward:] Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah, Eber, Peleg…

Example 32: (Refers FORWARD)

Case 2: If there is no conjunction before the formula and no conjunction after the formula, then (except in 1 Chronicles 1:23-24 where its inclusion would cause misreading of the text) the formula looks forward:

1 Chronicles 1:29f

[No conjunction here:] These are their generations. [No conjunction here:] The first born of Ishmael was Nabaioth…and Kedemah.
____________________
¹ Gary T. Mayer’s book New Evidence for Two Human Origins: Discoveries That Reconcile the Bible and Science (Bloomington, IN, Milton Keynes, UK: AuthorHouseTM, 2009).
² Bishops and other clergy of the Anglican Church, ed. F. C. Cook, The Holy Bible according to the Authorized Version (A.D. 1611), with an Explanatory and Critical Commentary and a Revision [original, Rebision] of the Translation, cover title: The Bible Commentary, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1896), 1:37-38.
³ The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew-Greek-English, © 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, 2nd ed. 1986 by Jay P. Green, Sr. (Lafayett, IN: Sovereign Grace Publishers).

The Literal Translation of the Holy Bible, copyright © 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985 by P. Green, Sr. This work was contained in the side column of Green’s work referenced above.