Genesis I verses 7-17 rewritten
The problem I have with the above verses of Genesis is they're not really coming in at the right time. Verses 14-19 should come next, then verses 9-10 and then 11-13. It may have been placed in this position because of importance which would be second to light. If that's the case its understandable, but let's see how it would read if it had been placed as written in the right order.
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.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
17 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
You can see why its not in this order. It gets a little repetitious, verse 14, 16 and 18 are almost identical as is 17 and 15, but instead of editing the lines to make them understandable, which was probably impossible since understanding them was impossible to whoever was translating them, they just kept adding and God said. They also switched the position of 9 - 13, and for some reason stuck the water and the plants before the sun and moon had a chance to get into position. Very bad. Here's how I would have written it.
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.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 And God made two great lights; and set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon it.
10 And God made the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: and made them to divide the light from the darkness:
11 And God let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: and he made the stars also. And God saw that it was good.
12 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
13 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
14 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
15 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
17 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Much better, right? It's in relatively the right order. I didn't miss anything and it's still poetic, not to mention shorter. Even out of order the writers knew that the first important forms of life were those that through photosynthesis created the atmosphere, and the last plants to evolve were the fruit bearers. It's unfortunate that they didn't start with cyanobacteria, but they did for some reason end the day by basically creating the atmosphere. In a way, grass is not so poetically far off.
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.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
17 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
You can see why its not in this order. It gets a little repetitious, verse 14, 16 and 18 are almost identical as is 17 and 15, but instead of editing the lines to make them understandable, which was probably impossible since understanding them was impossible to whoever was translating them, they just kept adding and God said. They also switched the position of 9 - 13, and for some reason stuck the water and the plants before the sun and moon had a chance to get into position. Very bad. Here's how I would have written it.
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.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 And God made two great lights; and set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon it.
10 And God made the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: and made them to divide the light from the darkness:
11 And God let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: and he made the stars also. And God saw that it was good.
12 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
13 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
14 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
15 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
17 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Much better, right? It's in relatively the right order. I didn't miss anything and it's still poetic, not to mention shorter. Even out of order the writers knew that the first important forms of life were those that through photosynthesis created the atmosphere, and the last plants to evolve were the fruit bearers. It's unfortunate that they didn't start with cyanobacteria, but they did for some reason end the day by basically creating the atmosphere. In a way, grass is not so poetically far off.