Bible Strands
Genesis 1:31
And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God is the subject; no human is addressed. This is the narrative close of the sixth day, immediately after the creation of land animals (v. 30).
The words — הִנֵּה (hinnēh), "behold/there!", marks a presentational emphasis, as if drawing the reader's eye to the whole. The BSB renders "very good," but the Hebrew supplied contains only טוֹב (Tov), "good" — the intensifier is the translator's addition.
The thread — 1 Timothy 4:4 echoes the verdict ("every creation of God is good"), while Psalms 104:24 and 19:1 restate the same claim from the psalmist's vantage: the earth is full of His creatures, the heavens proclaim His work.
Why it lands — It is a verdict, not a description; it asks the reader to accept that the material world stands as a finished work before any human enters it, and to measure any claim of inherent brokenness against that baseline.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Cross-references
- 1 Timothy 4:4 For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected,
- Psalms 104:24 How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.
- Psalms 19:1 For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.
- Exodus 20:11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
- Psalms 104:31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in His works.
- Lamentations 3:38 Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
- Genesis 2:2 And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work.
- Job 38:7 while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
- Genesis 1:23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
- Genesis 1:5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.