God called ¹  the light “day” and the darkness ²  “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day. ³ 

biblegateway Gen 1:5

God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

God called the light "day," and He called the darkness "night." Evening came, and then morning: the first day.

God named the light day, and the darkness he named night. There was evening, then morning––the first day.

biblegateway Gen 1:5

God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night". And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

bibleoremus Gen 1:5

God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

He called the light day, and the darkness night. So evening came, and morning came; it was the first day.

biblegateway Gen 1:5

God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

biblegateway Gen 1:5

God called ¹  the light “day” and the darkness ²  “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day. ³ 

¹ tn Heb “he called to,” meaning “he named.”

¹ sn God called. Seven times in this chapter naming or blessing follows some act of creation. There is clearly a point being made beyond the obvious idea of naming. In the Babylonian creation story Enuma Elish, naming is equal to creating. In the Bible the act of naming, like creating, can be an indication of sovereignty (see 2 Kgs 23:34). In this verse God is sovereign even over the darkness.

² tn Heb “and the darkness he called night.” The words “he called” have not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

³ tn Another option is to translate, “Evening came, and then morning came.” This formula closes the six days of creation. It seems to follow the Jewish order of reckoning time: from evening to morning. Day one started with the dark, continued through the creation of light, and ended with nightfall. Another alternative would be to translate, “There was night and then there was day, one day.”

³ sn The first day. The exegetical evidence suggests the word “day” in this chapter refers to a literal twenty-four hour day. It is true that the word can refer to a longer period of time (see Isa 61:2, or the idiom in 2:4, “in the day,” that is, “when”). But this chapter uses “day,” “night,” “morning,” “evening,” “years,” and “seasons.” Consistency would require sorting out how all these terms could be used to express ages. Also, when the Hebrew word יוֹם (yom) is used with a numerical adjective, it refers to a literal day. Furthermore, the commandment to keep the sabbath clearly favors this interpretation. One is to work for six days and then rest on the seventh, just as God did when he worked at creation.