The Syntax of Genesis 1:1: Absolute or Construct?

A short orientation to the oldest syntactic dispute in the Hebrew Bible.

The first word of the Bible, בְּרֵאשִׁית, is anarthrous — no definite article. This raises the classic question: is רֵאשִׁית in the absolute state (“In the beginning, God created…”) or in construct with the following clause (“When God began to create…”)?

The traditional reading

The versions overwhelmingly support the absolute reading. The Septuagint renders ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεός, treating the clause as an independent statement. The Masoretic accentuation likewise points away from construct: בְּרֵאשִׁית carries a disjunctive ṭipḥa, not the conjunctive accent expected before a nomen rectum.

The construct reading

Rashi’s appeal to בְּרֵאשִׁית בְּרֹא — reading an implied infinitive — finds modern support in the parallel openings of Enūma eliš (enūma eliš lā nabû šamāmū, “when on high the heavens were not yet named”) and Genesis 2:4b. Temporal clauses opening cosmogonies are a recognizable ancient Near Eastern convention.

Where this leaves us

Neither reading is grammatically impossible. The choice turns on how much weight one gives comparative ANE convention against the earliest reception history. That is a methodological question, not merely a grammatical one — and it is worth being honest that the grammar alone underdetermines the answer.

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