KING JAMES VERSION (KJV)
TRANSLATION, MEANING, CONTEXT
WORDS OF GOD IN RED
This verse is part of the creation story.
To get what Genesis 1:5 means in detail, scroll down or follow these links for the original scriptural meaning , biblical context and relative popularity.
“And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
What does this verse really mean? Use this table to get a word-for-word translation of the original Hebrew Scripture. This shows the English words related to the source biblical texts along with brief definitions. Follow the buttons in the right-hand column for detailed definitions and verses that use the same root words. Use this reference information to gain deeper insight into the Bible and enrich your understanding. Information based on Strong's Exhaustive Concordance[1].
| KJV Verse | Original Hebrew | Meaning/ Definition This is a simplified translation of the original Hebrew word. Follow the buttons on the right to get more detail. | More Use the buttons below to get details on the Hebrew word and view related Bible verses that use the same root word. |
|---|---|---|---|
| “And God” | אֱלֹהִ֤ים׀ | Gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative | God |
| “called” | וַיִּקְרָ֨א | To call out to (i.e., properly, address by name, but used in a wide variety of applications) | called |
| “the light” | לָאוֹר֙ | Illumination or (concrete) luminary (in every sense, including lightning, happiness, etc.) | light |
| “Day,” | י֔וֹם | A day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb) | Day |
| “and the darkness” | וְלַחֹ֖שֶׁךְ | The dark; hence (literally) darkness; figuratively, misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness | darkness |
| “he called” | קָ֣רָא | To call out to (i.e., properly, address by name, but used in a wide variety of applications) | called |
| “Night.” | לָ֑יְלָה | Properly, a twist (away of the light), i.e., night; figuratively, adversity | Night |
| “And the evening” | עֶ֥רֶב | Dusk | evening |
| “and the morning” | בֹ֖קֶר | Properly, dawn (as the break of day); generally, morning | morning |
| “were” | וַֽיְהִי | To exist, i.e., be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary) | were |
| “the first” | אֶחָֽד׃ | Properly, united, i.e., one; or (as an ordinal) first | first |
| “day.” | י֥וֹם | A day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb) | day |
See Genesis 1:5 with its adjacent verses in bold below. Follow either of the two large buttons below to see these verses in their broader context of the King James Bible or a Bible concordance.
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3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
• Genesis 1:5 Wikipedia Article
• Genesis creation narrative Wikipedia Article
The King James Bible (1611) and Strong's Concordance (1890) with Hebrew and Greek dictionaries are sourced from the BibleForgeDB database (https://github.com/bibleforge) within the BibleForge project (http://bibleforge.com). Popularity rankings are based on search volume data from the Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool.