God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well.
Parallel translations
- WEB God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV Then 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.
- NASB God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.
- NLT God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God makes the sun, moon, and stars to govern day and night. The greatest cosmic bodies are simply God's creatures, made to serve.
Overview
God makes the 'two great lights' to rule day and night, and almost in passing adds, 'He also made the stars.' By not even naming the sun and moon, the text deliberately strips them of the divine status pagan nations gave them. The vast heavens are shown to be the handiwork of the one true God, who alone deserves worship (Psalm 19:1).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Ps 136:7–9He made the great lights—His loving devotion endures forever.
- Deut 4:19When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.
- Ps 8:3When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place—
- Ps 74:16The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.
- Isa 40:26Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
- Ps 148:5Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He gave the command and they were created.
- Job 38:7while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
- Ps 148:3Praise Him, O sun and moon; praise Him, all you shining stars.
- Isa 13:10For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.
- 1 Cor 15:41The sun has one degree of splendor, the moon another, and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
- Matt 27:45From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
- Hab 3:11Sun and moon stood still in their places at the flash of Your flying arrows, at the brightness of Your shining spear.
- Isa 45:7I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the LORD, do all these things.
- Rev 16:8–9Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given power to scorch the people with fire.
- Ps 19:6it rises at one end of the heavens and runs its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.
- Isa 24:23The moon will be confounded and the sun will be ashamed; for the LORD of Hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His elders with great glory.
- Job 31:26if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,
- Matt 24:29Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’
- Rev 21:23And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its lamp.
- Josh 10:12–14On the day that the LORD gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the LORD in the presence of Israel: “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
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How Genesis 1:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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