KJV - 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

NRSV - 1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

TEV - "The Story of Creation" - 1 In the beginning, when God created the universe, 2 the earth was formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the power of God was moving over the water. 3 Then God commanded, "Let there be light" -- and light appeared. 4 God was pleased with what he saw. Then he separated the light from the darkness, 5 and he named the light "Day" and the darkness "Night." Evening passed and morning came -- that was the first day.

• Gen 1:1 - in the beginning
• To explore additional references, browse "BEGINNING, IN THE" at http://www.bibletexts.com/topics/b.htm.
• To explore the literary origin of the creation stories and the rest of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), browse http://www.bibletexts.com/qa/qa079.htm.)
• Gen 1:1 - beginning <Strong's #7225>
• To explore an explanation of the meaning of the Hebrew word, browse http://www.bibletexts.com/qa/qa084.htm.
• Gen 1:1
• Job 38:4
• Psa 90:2
• Joh 1:1-3
• Rev 4:11
• S&H 502:22
• Gen 1:1,2
• S&H 479:18
• Gen 1:2
• S&H 338:18
• S&H 503:6, 18
• Gen 1:2 - The earth was formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the Spirit of God was moving over the water. (TEV)

• John Skinner (The International Critical Commentary: Genesis, Second Edition, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1930, pages 16-17) comments:

...The distinction of land and sea is effaced, and the earth, which is the subj. of the sentence, must be understood as the amorphous watery mass in which the elements of the future land and sea were commingled. -- Darkness (an almost invariable feature of ancient conceptions of chaos) was upon the face of the Deep] The Deep is the subterranean ocean on which the earth rests (Gn. 7:11, 8:2, 49:25, Am. 7:4, etc.); which therefore, before the earth was formed, lay bare and open to the superincumbent darkness.

• Gerhard Von Rad (The Old Testament Library: Genesis, Revised Edition, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1972, page 51) comments:

Man has always suspected that behind all creation lies the abyss of formlessness; that all creation is always ready to sink into the abyss of the formless; that the chaos, therefore, signifies simply the threat to everthing created. This suspicion has been a constant temptation for his faith. Faith in creation must stand this test. Verse 2 teaches one to understand the marvel of creation, therefore, from the viewpoint of its negation; thus it speaks first of the formless and the abysmal out of which God's will lifted creation and above which it holds it unceasingly.

• Gen 1:2 - the Spirit of God (KJV) or the wind of God (NRSV) or the power of God (TEV) - Hebrew: ruach 'elohim <Strong's #7307 + #0430>
• William D. Reyburn and Euan McG. Fry (A Handbook on Genesis, New York: United Bible Societies, 1997, page 31-32) comment:

  The Spirit of God translates the Hebrew ruach 'elohim; as the TEV footnote shows, this phrase can be translated as "the power of God," "a wind from God," or "an awesome wind." Some see it necessary to translate as Spirit of God, as they interpret this to mean the Holy Spirit. However, this is to impose New Testament thought on the Old Testament usage. The rendering "spirit of God" (REB, Mft) may be taken in the sense of the person of God, based on parallel expressions such as "spirit of Zerubbabel" (Hag 1.14); this is just another way of speaking of Zerubabbel, and so "spirit of God" can be taken to mean the same as "God." The translation "wind" takes ruach in another of its common meanings. In "mighty wind" (NEB) 'elohim is used not as a noun but as a descriptive term with the sense of "powerful, awesome." In a similar usage in Gen 23.6, the Hittites speak of Abraham as nasi' 'elohim "mighty prince." See also Gen 30.8 ; Exo 9:28 ("[mighty] thunders"); Jonah 3.3 ("exceedingly great city"). In the expression "wind of God" (NJV), 'elohim is understood as the one who causes the wind.