And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so.
Parallel translations
- WEB God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
- NASB Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
- NLT Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened.
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 gathers the waters and makes dry land appear at his word. He prepares the stage on which life and humanity will dwell.
Overview
On the third day God commands the seas to gather so that dry land emerges, again with the assurance 'it was so.' This separation makes the earth a place capable of supporting plants, animals, and people. God's effortless mastery over the chaotic waters reappears later when Christ calms the sea, revealing his own divine authority (Mark 4:39-41).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 2 Pet 3:5But they deliberately overlook the fact that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water,
- Jonah 1:9“I am a Hebrew,” replied Jonah. “I worship the LORD, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.”
- Jer 5:22Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.
- Ps 95:5The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.
- Ps 33:7He piles up the waters of the sea; He puts the depths into storehouses.
- Prov 8:28–29when He established the clouds above, when the fountains of the deep gushed forth,
- Eccl 1:7All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full; to the place from which the streams come, there again they flow.
- Job 26:10He has inscribed a horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.
- Ps 104:5–9He set the earth on its foundations, never to be moved.
- Job 38:8–11Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
- Ps 24:1–2A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein.
- Rev 10:6And he swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it: “There will be no more delay!
- Ps 136:5–6By His insight He made the heavens. His loving devotion endures forever.
- Ps 104:3laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.
- Job 26:7He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Lay
The single best free starting point for Genesis 1–11 — clear, visual, and faithful to the literary design.
Pastoral
The beloved devotional-pastoral classic, free and public domain — warm, quotable, verse by verse.
Commentaries & study tools
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The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 1:9 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.