The placement of verse 2.4a (the first sentence of the verse) in relation to what comes before or after it is debatable. The formula These are the generations of (and its variant form in 5.1) occurs eleven times in Genesis. See “Translating Genesis,” page 1. This expression serves to introduce an episode in the main person’s life or, more commonly, to introduce the names of his descendants. Consequently These generally points forward to events and descendants, not backward to something already reported. The formula serves to divide parts of the text into successive units. However, there are similar expressions that point backward; for example, “These are the families of Noah according to their generations…” at the end of chapter 10.
We may ask why such translations as Good News Translation, New American Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, New English Bible (but not Revised English Bible), New Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, Anchor Bible, Traduction oecuménique de la Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and Brazilian common language translation (Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje) place 2.4a as a summary of the story of creation. The major reasons are that the account following 2.4a concerns not the story of the earth and heavens, but rather the creation of human beings. From the point of view of authorship, there is a break in the style of writing between 2.4a and 2.4b, so that 2.4a stylistically belongs to what comes before it.
The Handbook follows the example of this significant group of modern translations, and translators are encouraged to do the same.
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth: generations normally refers to the successive generations in a family genealogy or list of descendants. However, in 6.9, for example, “These are the generations of Noah” is followed by statements of the character of Noah, a list of his sons, and then the story of the flood. This appears to be an extension of the meaning of generation to something equivalent to story, account, narrative, report. The same is the case with the use of generations here in 2.4a, except that here generations does not apply at all to a person and his descendants, but exclusively to the narrative element. As a result many modern translations translate generations by a term meaning “story.” Good News Translation uses an English story closing form “And that is how the universe was created.” Bible en français courant is similar: “Thus it was that in stages God created the heavens and the earth.” Traduction oecuménique de la Bible attempts to retain something of the generative idea with “Such is the birth of heaven and earth during their creation.”
The translation of generations in 2.4a may be a story closing form, as in Good News Translation and Bible en français courant. You may also say, for example, “These are the events described when God created…,” or “All that has been told are the happenings that took place when God created…,” or “And that is the report of what happened when God created….”
The alternative to handling the placement of 2.4a as suggested above is to include 2.4a with 2.4b, as in King James Version (King James Version), Revised English Bible, and New International Version. In the latter two versions 2.4a comes after the heading “Adam and Eve.”
As noted above, a new story begins at this point. If a suitable subdivision heading is chosen, this may be sufficient in many languages to mark the transition. But if a more formal heading is required as the opening of the story, then perhaps a brief restructuring of part of verse 7 may be the most appropriate opening; for instance, “This is [the story of] how God made the first human beings from the ground.”
In the day that …: In the day is an idiomatic way in Hebrew of saying “when, at the time when,” and so this phrase introduces the rest of the verse as a dependent clause. For the same usage see Jer 11.4; 34.13, where the same Hebrew expression is translated “when” in Revised Standard Version. As an opening to the new story and a link back to the previous story, it may be preferable in some languages to start with the statement “The LORD God made…,” and then continue “At that time….”
In Revised Standard Version verses 4b-7 form one complex sentence. The seven clauses of verses 4b-6 together form an extended introduction to the first main action of this story, which comes in Gen 2.7. This introduction gives the setting for the action. It may be helpful at this point to set out the seven clauses and the relationships between them, since translators will need to decide how the relationships are best expressed in their own languages, and how to link the clauses in separate sentences. Following the Revised Standard Version wording:
1. In the day that the LORD God made (time setting)
2. no plant of the field was yet
3. no herb of the field had yet (2 and 3 are two parallel statements describing the earth)
4. for the LORD God had not made it to rain
5. and there was no man to till (4 and 5 are two reasons for 2 and 3)
6. a mist went up from the ground
7. and watered … the ground (6 and 7 are two further statements describing the earth) (6 and 7 are linked in a negative-to-positive way to 4)
See the discussions on the individual clauses for further comments on the relationships.
LORD God translates yahweh ʾelohim, and this is the first occurrence in Genesis of yahweh, the Israelite name of God. See “The names of God in Genesis” in “Translating Genesis,” page 13, for a detailed discussion of the names of God.
Examples from a few modern translations illustrate how LORD God has been translated: (a) New Jerusalem Bible “Yahweh God”; (b) Moffatt “God the Eternal”; (c) Revised Standard Version “LORD God”; (d) Bible en français courant (which translates both Yahweh and ʾadonai by “Seigneur”) “Seigneur Dieu” (“Lord God”).
In some languages the use of a double term such as “Yahweh God” would indicate that “Yahweh” is the name of God. Others may say “God who is called Yahweh” or “God Yahweh.” In some languages it may be necessary to follow the Septuagint pattern and represent Yahweh (as well as ʾadonai) by a term meaning “master, ruler, chief.”
Made the earth and the heavens: made is the same verb used in 1.7, 16, 25, 31, and means the same as “create.”
The earth and the heavens: the order of the words is reversed from the order of 1.1, but again the idiomatic meaning is the universe, or everything that existed. In translation the order of the two elements the earth and the heavens should not be reversed if this results in the expression being unnatural. Otherwise it is better in both 1.1 and 2.4b to use “the universe,” or “the earth and sky and everything else,” or “… and everything in them.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .