As it turns out, there’s a big clue to what’s really going on in Genesis 1, and it’s been obscured in the traditional translation of a certain word (qavah) in Genesis 1:9. Here’s the passage below in various translations. Note the widespread agreement as to how it should be translated, and then after these passages, I’ll show you how the word is translated quite differently from this in every one of the other 48 times it appears in the Old Testament! :
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.
And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place [of standing, pooling together], and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be collected into one place [of standing], and let the dry land appear. And it was so.¶ 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.Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.God said, “Let the waters under the sky come together into one place so that the dry land can appear.” And that’s what happened.God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let dry land appear,” and that is how it was.God said, “I command the water under the sky to come together in one place, so there will be dry ground.” And that’s what happened.And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together to one place, and let the dry [land] appear. And it was so.God also said: Let the waters that are under the heaven, be gathered together into one place: and let the dry land appear. And it was so done.Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered together so that the dry land will appear.” And it happened.And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.Then God said, “Let the water under the ·sky [heavens] be gathered together so the dry land will appear.” And it happened.¶ God said again, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.Then God said, “Let the water under the sky come together in one area, and let the dry land appear.” And so it was.Then God commanded, “Let the water below the sky come together in one place, so that the land will appear”—and it was done.Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered together so the dry land will appear.” And it happened.Then God said, “Let the water beneath the sky come together into one area, and let dry ground appear!” And that is what happened:¶ And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so.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.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.And God said, “Let the waters under heaven be gathered to one place, and let the dry ground appear.” And it was so.Then God said, “Let the water beneath the sky be gathered into oceans so that the dry land will emerge.” And so it was. Then God named the dry land “earth,” and the water “seas.” And God was pleased.God spoke: “Separate! Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place; Land, appear!” And there it was. God named the land Earth. He named the pooled water Ocean. God saw that it was good.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.Then Elohim said, “Let the water under the sky come together in one area, and let the dry land appear.” And so it was.Then God said: Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may appear. And so it happened: the water under the sky was gathered into its basin, and the dry land appeared.Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered together so the dry land will appear.” And it happened.God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear.” It was so.God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place. Let dry ground appear.” And that’s exactly what happened.And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so.And God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And it was so.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.Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place. Let the dry land be seen.” And it was so.Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened.And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.And God said, ‘Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so.And God said, ‘Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so.And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.And Elohim said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the yabashah (dry land) appear; and it was so.And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.Then God said, “Let the water below the sky be gathered to one place. Let the dry ground appear.” And it happened so.God: Let the waters below the heavens be collected into one place and congregate into one vast sea, so that dry land may appear. It happened just as God said.God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.Forsooth God said, The waters, that be under (the) heaven(s), be gathered into one place, and a dry place appear; and it was done so.
And God saith, `Let the waters under the heavens be collected unto one place, and let the dry land be seen:’ and it is so.JPS
Let the water below the sky be gathered into one area.
Psa 119:95 The wicked have waited H6960for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies.
Mic 5:7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth H6960 not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.
Now, perhaps you think I am cherry picking by showing you only the King James for this qavah passages. So let’s do some spot checking to see how the other translations handle a few of these passages similarly to the KJV. This is a tedious exercise, so to save space, I’m just going to give you hyperlinks for the first five passages on the list above so that you can see the various translations at BibleGateway.com
Now, regarding the use of qavah in Genesis 1:9, we should check how it is rendered in the Septuagint. Here it is.
1:9 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός συναχθήτω τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ὑποκάτω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ εἰς συναγωγὴν μίαν καὶ ὀφθήτω ἡ ξηρά καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως καὶ συνήχθη τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ὑποκάτω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ εἰς τὰς συναγωγὰς αὐτῶν καὶ ὤφθη ἡ ξηρά
The word here is συναγωγὴν. It’s root will look familiar when transliterated: synagōgē. It’s the word we know as “synagogue” from these passages in the New Testament. (Scroll down at that link to find all the passages wherein the word is used.)
Some, of course, will look no further than this Septuagint rendering of qavah as synagogue to argue that the translation of qavah in Genesis 1:9 as “gathered together” is perfectly reasonable. They will offer as additional support the common rendering of Jeremiah 3:17 as “be gathered” or “come to”, etc. They will say that that makes two instances in which the idea of gathering is the proper one. But should the idea of waiting be completely dismissed from qavah in these two instances? That is, should we discount the other 47 times it is used–in which it obviously means “to wait for”?
Indeed, were not the synagogues supposed to be “waiting for” the Messiah? Was not Jesus’ ekklesia “waiting for” his return? Is not “wait for the Lord” a common idea, both in the scriptures and in the Christian experience/practice? Yes, on all counts.
Now, regarding the exception of Jeremiah 3:17, and how qavah is rendered as “gathered together” there, I note that what was to be gathered was people. And that, of course, is what I think was “gathered together into one place” in Genesis 1:9. It was beings—of what sort we are not told. They were figuratively called “waters” and they were set aside to make room for “the dry land”. They were set aside to wait—and that assembly of them was called “Sea” or “Seas”. And at the end of the story, we see that “the see was no more.”
Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
I contend that those beings who were called the “sea” were made to “wait” from Genesis 1:9, until they would eventually be put away by God for good. The following passage, I believe, shows what they had been waiting for:
Revelation 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
These were, I believe, the spirits of beings that died at or prior to the events of Genesis 1, and who were made to “wait” for their judgment. That waiting should not surprise us much, for humans were also forced to wait after their deaths in Sheol/Hades, until such time as they, too, would be judged and granted their eternal reward, whether good or bad. In the case of humans, their bodies did not go to Sheol/Hades, but their spirits. And that is what I believe is being described in Genesis 1 regarding these beings, these “waters below”. They had to wait for their judgment. And they were not the only ones, for even Jesus had to wait for it:
Hebrews 10:12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
AM I ALONE?