Genesis 1:18

Summary

The verse extends the sentence of v. 17 with two purpose infinitives — to rule over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness — and closes with the approval formula: "and God saw that it was good."

Key words

• m.Shol ("rule", H4910) — qal purpose infinitive.
• hav.Dil ("separate", H0914) — hiphil (causative) infinitive.
• 'Or ("light", H0216) — noun with the article.
• Cho.shekh ("darkness", H2822) — noun with the article.
• Tov ("[it was] good", H2895) — analyzed as a qal perfect verb: "it was good".

What the text says

Two coordinated infinitives continue the purpose of the lights. The first, m.Shol ("rule", H4910), is a qal infinitive governing "over the day and over the night": i.Yom ("day", H3117) and Lay.lah ("night", H3915), each with preposition and article. The second, hav.Dil ("separate", H0914), is hiphil, the causative stem. The Hebrew repeats the word bein ("between", H0996): literally "between the light and between the darkness", with 'Or ("light", H0216) and Cho.shekh ("darkness", H2822) both carrying the article.

The narrative chain then resumes: the narrative vav with i.Yar' ("he saw", H7200), "and then he saw", with 'E.lo.Him ("God", H0430) as subject. The evaluative clause is introduced by ki ("that", H3588), a particle the morphology describes as conditional or subordinating ("if", "that"), and ends in Tov ("[it was] good", H2895), which the provided morphology analyzes not as an adjective but as a qal perfect verb — completed action, third person: "it was good."

Differences between versions

The Hebrew doubles "between" ("between the light and between the darkness"); the LXX mirrors the repetition (ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ σκότους), while the Vulgate drops it and makes both terms direct objects ("dividerent lucem ac tenebras"), as does the RV1909 ("apartar la luz y las tinieblas"); the BSB reads "separate the light from the darkness". Where the Hebrew uses purpose infinitives, the Vulgate uses finite plural subjunctives ("præessent… dividerent") and the LXX keeps infinitives (ἄρχειν, διαχωρίζειν). For "rule", the LXX chooses ἄρχειν, the Vulgate "præessent" ("preside"), the RV1909 "señorear", and the BSB "preside over".