Genesis 2:5

"And no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground."  Genesis 2:5

So God has created the plants, but has not yet sent rain to water them and man has not yet been given the task to work and care for the ground.

Genesis 2:4

"This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created." 

"When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens-"  Genesis 2:4

The NIV has these two sentences separated into two separate thoughts, but the QBible combines them into one sentence.  Also the word "account" can be translated to "history."  This verse is a summary of everything before it.  "This is the history of the skies and beyond and the earth, when they were created, when God made them."

Of course the word "Lord" is put in place of where the Hebrew has the word "Yahwe."  Many people translate that as Jehovah, but many believe the literal translation is simply "I am I" coming from how God described himself to Moses.  The QBible has noted for the word, not only is it the Jewish name for God, but also means "self existent or eternal."  This article goes into reasons for why many translators used the word "Lord" instead of transliterating "Yahwe."  Whatever the case, it is the word used to specifically refer to the God of the Bible.

Genesis 2:3

"Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done."  Genesis 2:3  NIV

So God is now making the 7th day holy because it is the day he ended his labors of creating the universe.  The QBible translates the word "blessed" as "an act of giving benefit to," so God gave the 7th day a benefit that the other days did not have.  He sanctified it, setting it apart from the other 6 days.

The question is, if God made the 7th day holy, how should we treat the 7th day?  The Jews believed they could not do any form of work that day and the 7th Day Adventists hold that as their day of worship.  

This article argues in favor of keeping the Sabbath as the Jews did, however while they make some good points there are some flaws with their reasoning.  Number 28 under "40 facts about the 1st day" states "the word Sunday never occurs in the Bible at all."  I just have to point out neither does the word Saturday.  That's a silly argument, because these were not the names of the days the Jews would have used, so of course neither of these words would appear in the Bible.  Because of the silliness of this argument, it makes it difficult for me take seriously the rest of the article.  If you have to resort to one argument like this, how can I be sure there aren't more like this?

This article argues that no one day has to be better than any other day.  Paul stated in Romans 14:5&6 that some thought certain days were more holy than others and other thought all days were alike, but neither should judge the other over it because both should be honoring God.  

The first article does make a good point that the Sabbath was set apart long before the Old Law was given.  The second article points out that while the Jewish Christians kept the Sabbath, they did not command the Gentile Christians to. 

Genesis 2:2

"By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done."  Genesis 2:2 NIV

God has completed creation and has dedicated the 7th day to rest, but why would God rest?  He certainly doesn't need rest.  He is God, after all.  Perhaps this is an example for mankind.  We have six days of labor and then the last one for rest.  Or maybe he's foreshadowing the end, after our labors on earth are done we go to him for eternal rest.

It's important to note, as both the Apologetics Press and the QBible state, that the Hebrew word for "rest" does not mean that God was tired or worn out, but it simply means to stop or desist whatever one was doing before.  So this verse is just saying that God stopped all his work on the 7th day.

Genesis 2:1

"Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array."  Genesis 2:1

The QBible translates "in their vast array" as "and all the host of them" which just seems like awkward wording.  But it looks like both phrases mean the same thing that the heavens and the earth were finished and that includes everything that fills them and goes along with that.  

This verse is just pointing back at the first chapter of Genesis and saying, "That's how everything was created."  It is the summary statement for creation.

Genesis 1:31

"God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day."  Genesis 1:31 NIV

Now that everything has been created, God looks over it all and sees that it is very good.  In all the places before that "very" is not used.  So all together, it is very good.  Everything, the system he had placed together and the components of that system all worked together perfectly making creation not just good, but very good.

Genesis 1:30

"'And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.'  And it was so."  Genesis 1:30 NIV

The QBible translates "everything that has the breath of life in it" as all the creatures "wherein there is life."  Here someone paraphrased it as "everything that has living breath."  It all comes down to the same thing that all living creatures were vegetarian.  God gave them plants as food.  Death was not in the garden.

Genesis 1:29

"Then God said, 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.  They will be yours for food.'"  Genesis 1:29

So God created mankind and is now telling them what to eat.  Our original food was only plants.  I've heard repeatedly that it's healthier to be a vegetarian and this verse has been used to support that, but meat tastes so good.  My dad was looking at a book that gave advice for heart disease, and that book cited a study where one group ate just vegetables and the second group ate lean meats.  The first group's heart disease was reversed, but the second group saw little, if any, change.  (If I find the name of the book I'll post it in the comments.)

So mankind was given plants and fruit too eat, and was supposed to rule over the animals on the earth.  This is the purpose God gave in the first chapter of Genesis.  We were created to rule. 

If you look at a person and their dog, you often see that if the person is firm and in control the dog is well behaved and happier.  If the person is weak, then the dog is more nervous and less well behaved.  Of course you do have extremes with someone being so controlling and demanding it turns into abuse.  If a tyrant is on the throne he quite often is dethroned before too long-sometimes by his own subjects, sometimes by an outside force. 

Genesis 1:28

"God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'"  Genesis 1:28

Now that God created mankind, he is giving them their job, to rule the earth and everything in it.  Here the word subdue is said that this word implies that nature is inherently hostile so man must force it to our will, otherwise the harshness of it would lead to death.  The verse is paraphrased to read this way: “Be fruitful and have children, filling the earth with your life so that you can have power to fight against everything in it that leads to death.  Rule with care and fairness over the natural world, over the myriads of My beautiful creatures - from tropical fish to soaring eagles to dogs and cats – every creature that is a part of this living world.” It goes right along with the idea of good stewardship – taking care of what you are given.

Genesis 1:27

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."  Genesis 1:27

Another God said it and now he did it statements.  Of course this is both men and women created here patterned after God himself.  The question here is:  What does it mean to be made in the image of God?  Is this just an appearance thing?  I don't tend to think so, after all there are animals that have similar appearances to people.  I believe this has more to do with our spirits or souls.  Like God we have a moral eternal spirit.  Sometimes it's hard to define and describe, and as much as I love my dogs and cat, there's something they don't have that people do.

Genesis 1:26

"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.'"  Genesis 1:26

Here God is making mankind patterned after himself, to rule over every other creature he just created.  The interesting thing here is his use of the plural when talking about himself.  The Hebrew word for "God" is a plural word and here he says "Let us."  I think it's important to note John 1:1-2  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning."  Whether there were multiple separate divine beings at the creation, there were at least multiple personalities: the Word (or the Son) and the Father.  From these verses they would appear to be separate beings, but we're still only in the first chapter of the first book.  I'll keep looking.

Genesis 1:25

"God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds.  And God saw that it was good."  Genesis 1:25

Once again God said it and then did exactly what he said he was going to do.  After creating animals he sees that it's a good thing.

Genesis 1:24

"And God said, 'Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds:  livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.'  And it was so."  Genesis 1:24

It is interesting that God has the land producing the living creatures.  In verse 20, it only states that God created the birds and fishes, but here in this verse he has the living creatures brought forth from the land.  The QBible translates "livestock" as "mute quadruped" and "creatures that move along the ground" as "a reptile or any other rapidly moving animal."  So now all the land creatures have been created.  So even as evolutionist believe that fish life came before land creatures on this the Bible agrees.

Genesis 1:23

"And there was evening and there was morning-the fifth day."  Genesis 1:23

Much like verses 5, 7, 13, and 19, there's not much to this verse.  It is simply stating the conclusion of Day 5.  This very much seems to be the literal translation. 

Genesis 1:22

"God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.'"  Genesis 1:22

In the Interlinear Bible "increase in number" can be translated "become many or great," but it does still seem to be encouraging the water creatures to multiply and fill the waters.  So whatever creatures are in the waters and whatever birds or flying creatures that God just created, he's now telling them to go thrive through out the earth.  And they did.  It's not hard to find birds or water creatures.

Genesis 1:21

"God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good."  Genesis 1:21

So again God has created exactly what he said he was going to create.  Now all the waters and skies are filled with the creatures that swim and fly, and God sees that it is good.  There's no way of knowing how many of each kind God created, but it was enough that they could multiply and thrive.  I don't know if any of these are dinosaurs, but I tend to believe there were.  Like the great creatures of the sea, I think included not just whales, but dinosaurs also.  But no where does it ever give an exhaustive list of the animals God created in the Bible.

Genesis 1:20

"And God said, 'Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.'"  Genesis 1:20

In the Interlinear Bible it translates creatures as "living beings" and birds as "flying creatures."  So here God says to let the waters be full of living beings and flying beings fly in the expanse over the land.  So every creature that flies or swims is what he is about to create.  He's already created the vegetation, so these creatures will already have food and shelter provided for them.  And they'll already have night and day and the stars and the sun and moon.

At Pbcc.org they have the creation week divided into 2 sets.  The first being the forming of creation and the 2nd being the filling of creation.  The filling of creation actually started with Day 3 with God creating the sun, moon, and stars for the light he created on the very 1st day.  So the 4th day is filling the sky and seas that God created on the 2nd day.  An interesting thought, that 1st God creates a place for the creature and then he creates the creature.  He's doing the same for us now.  He's creating a home for us in heaven, before he comes again to turn us into a new creature.  (Not that I would really call the sun, moon, or stars creatures, but there is a lot we don't know about them, so maybe they could be...)

Genesis 1:19

"And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day."  Genesis 1:19

Just like verse 13, this is just stating the completion of the 4th day ever.

Genesis 1:18

"To govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good."  Genesis 1:18 (NIV)

This verse is a continuation of the thought from verse 17.  This is just more reason God created the lights.  So in verse 14 and 15 God is saying how it is going to be and in verse 16 he does just what he said he was going to do.  And now in verses 17 and 18 the author is just recapping the reason for the light.

Genesis 1:17

"God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth,"  Genesis 1:17 (NIV)

Well, this is very simple.  God put the luminous bodies he just created in the sky to provide the ground with light.  Not much to argue about, but even if I don't see it, I'm sure someone else could come up with something in this verse to argue over.  After all, there are people to could argue with a brick wall.

Genesis 1:16

"God made two great lights-the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.  He also made the stars." Genesis 1:16 (NIV)

These "lights" are translated as "luminous bodies" in QBible.  So this verse is expounding on what lights God created in verse 14 and 15.  "Luminous bodies" does seem more accurate for the moon since it doesn't actually produce it's own light, but simply reflects light from the sun back at us.

Of course, we don't just see the moon at night.  There are times it is clear for us to see during the daylight hours.  If it rules the night, why is it out during the day?

Well, my theory here might be shaky, but I'm going to throw it out anyway.  Steven P. Wickerstrom compares the job of the moon to our job as Christians:  to reflect the light.  The moon reflects the sun's light and we should reflect Jesus.  Life can be hard, and sometimes we need to retreat from the world and immerse ourselves in Jesus's light, teachings, love, everything...  Perhaps, the moon is demonstrating this for us by taking time away from reflecting light to us during the night and soaking up as much sunlight as it can so that it can keep going.

It could also just be that God  says the moon rules the night simply because when it does show up for the party, it's the biggest, brightest light in the night sky.  After all, the king is the ruler of the country even when he's not there.  He might be out traveling on a diplomatic mission or just for the fun of it and he's not going to suddenly stop ruling the country just because he crossed the border.  If there's any other reason the ruling light of the night sky skips out on the nights I haven't found it, but  these theories make sense to me. 

Genesis 1:15

"'And let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.'  And it was so."  Genesis 1:15

This verse continues from verse 14, adding another reason for these lights in the sky.  This new reason is very simply to give light to the earth.  Again this verse ends with what God speaking coming into existence exactly as he spoke it to be.  What God says is what goes.

Genesis 1:14

"And God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years,'"  Genesis 1:14 (NIV)

The QBible has "lights" translated as "luminous bodies."  That makes sense because God created light back in verse 3 during the first day.  So he's not creating light again, just sources for light.  And these lights are going to serve as a calendar, they are the way to tell time.

The NIV clearly states that these lights will serve to mark time, but the QBible doesn't seem so clear.  It translates the end of the verse:  "and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years."  So this makes it sound like two different purposes.  Not only will these tell time, but they are also for signs.  What kind of signs?  Now we have billboards for advertisements, street signs to give directions, historical markers to give information about the past, and I'm sure there are even more that I can't think of right now.  So what purpose do these signs in verse 14 serve?

The Biblecommenter has several different commentaries that speak on their understanding of the verse.  One commentator simply believes these are road map signs:  even today sailors use the stars to navigate.  Another claims them as proof of God's power and love for man, that studying the science behind the stars and other heavenly bodies will show how exact God's creation is that if even one tiny thing had been out of place life would not exist.  And another commentary goes along with the NIV's translation that it's signs to tell time by and to tell weather by.  Still another that these signs are "partly as portents of extraordinary events and divine judgments."  The previous ideas make sense, but this last one is more difficult, it almost sounds like fortune-telling. 

Of course, if we saw a huge meteor coming at the earth, scientists could make educated guesses of what the consequences of that impact would be, but is that what this is referring to?  Or is it something more?  Can we divine future events from the stars?  Is there any good from astrology?

We tend to think that the witchcraft that the Bible condemns includes not only conjuring dead spirits and casting spells and making deals with demons, but also interpreting meanings from the stars.  I don't know if these should be in the same category.  At this point in the Bible, the issue of sin has not even been addressed.  All we really know is that God is creating the universe and several of his creations are to serve specific purposes.  At this point I believe it would be wise of me to stay away from astrology and trying to interpret future events from the stars.  Besides that even if in the future I come to understand that there's nothing sinful about it, I'm most definitely not qualified for that job anyway.

Genesis 1:13

"And there was evening, and there was morning-the third day."  Genesis 1:13 (NIV)

The third day of creation has completed.  This is pretty straight forward, with no arguments about the way this verse is translated.  The only question is the same as the first two days.  Is this a literal 24 hour day?  If God is all-powerful I don't see why it couldn't be.  Why use the word "day" if you don't mean it was a day? 

Either way, it doesn't deny what God created.  It's not something that we should allow to divide us-it's not a salvation issue.  None of us are going to be 100% correct on every issue.  Things that I get wrong, someone else will get right, but we've got to discern which issues are important enough to argue over and which one's we can let go of and allow room for differences. 

Having gone off on my little rant, I do believe that this was a 24 hour day, that just shows God's power.  Not only did he create something from nothing, but he created it in only a 24 hour time span.  However, as I've heard others put so well, if when I get to heaven and God corrects me on my errors, I'm not going to refuse to go in.

Genesis 1:12

"The land produced vegetation:  plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.  And God saw that it was good."  Genesis 1:12

Again, what God has said he was going to do, happened.  God is speaking the universe into existence.

Genesis 1:11

"Then God said, 'Let the land produce vegetation:  seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.'  And it was so."  Genesis 1:11 (NIV)

The QBible translates this verse a little differently, but the basic meanings seem to be the same.  "And God said, 'Let the earth sprout, green (herb) yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his species (kind), whose seed is in itself, upon the earth.'  And it was so."  I see no arguments about the meaning of this verse.  Again God said, "Let's do it this way."  And then he did.

So now we have light and darkness, atmosphere and the waters, land and sea, and now all types of plants.

Genesis 1:10

"God called the dry ground 'land,' and the gathered waters he called 'seas.'  And God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:10 (NIV)

The QBible actually has that first phrase translated as God calling the dry part earth.  Earth, land, and ground are all words that are pretty interchangeable in the English language.  So God created them in verse 9 and is now naming them here.  Again he looks at what he's created so far and sees that he likes it.

Genesis 1:9

"And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.'  And it was so." Genesis 1:9 (NIV)

Here God is creating dry ground so more than just water creatures can live on the earth.  According to what I know of science the earth did use to be one big Pangaea, so it stands to reason there was one big ocean surrounding it all.  Even today all the oceans are connected.  Streams and ponds run into rivers and lakes.  Rivers and lakes run into the oceans.  So today the waters are still gathered to one place.

The interesting thing to me is that last phrase, "And it was so."  According to the QBible that "so" can be translated as "properly set."  Not only did God create dry land, but it was created properly set.

Genesis 1:8

"God called the expanse 'sky.'  And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day."  Genesis 1:8 (NIV)

So here God is naming the expanse between the atmosphere and the oceans sky.  And here the second day ends.  Again, it's evening and then morning.

Answers in Genesis summarizes the creation of the atmosphere this way, "Genesis 1 is perfectly worded for what the author wanted to communicate.  It says nothing more than God created the sky and its constituent elements, while remaining completely silent about what those elements were.  It really depends upon where one starts:  if one starts with the presumption of a solid dome, one will read that into the text.  However, if one starts with a modern conception of sky, the text permits that understanding as well, and, hence, there is no contradiction."

Genesis 1:7

"So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so."  Genesis 1:7 (NIV)

Again that word "vault" is translated by the QBible as "firmament" or "expanse."  In taking a closer look at that word the QBible also states "visible arch of the sky," which goes perfectly with what I concluded with verse 6.  This is the atmosphere and oceans being created here.

This is just a continuation of verse 6.  In verse 6 God said, "Let's do it this way," and in verse 7 he is doing what he said he would.

Genesis 1:6

And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” Genesis 1:6 (NIV)

The QBible translates vaults as an expanse or firmament.  So this is where God separated the waters of the oceans and seas from the waters of the skies.  I guess the atmosphere was created here.

The only discussion I find on this verse is the discussion of the word "firmament."  Many of the scientific community seem to view this as proof that the Bible is unscientific and therefore faulty.  In going through the different arguments I don't really understand what there is to argue about, after all, there is a definite division between the oceans and seas and lakes and that of the water in the atmosphere.  Wikipedia seems to think that if one were to take this text completely literally you'd believe that there was a "great tent-like ceiling made of solid crystalline-like material."  But this is more an issue of how the text is interpreted.  Reading this passage , I never got the idea that that is what it meant, in fact, the division seems to be more in the form of the water.  Something can easily be something firm without it being a solid structure.  We know that there is water in our air (in a different form maybe) but there is a firm distinction from that water and the water we drink.  Even the atmosphere surrounding our planet seems pretty firm in that it's not going anywhere.

Many solid substances we consider "firm" can easily change through a chemical reaction just like water.  Maybe our meaning of "firm" is just too narrow.

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." Genesis 1:5 (NIV)

Here God names the light and darkness he separated.  It's curious that evening is listed before morning, we always think of morning being first in a day and evening being last.  Did God really order evening as the beginning of a day and morning at the end?  Or is this a grammar issue?  Apparently many cultures started their days at sunset including the Jews.  The Jews, of course, start their days at sunset following God's example from this verse.

I've seen no variations in translations.  They all agree with the way this translation reads.  The only discussion I really see is whether "the first day" meant an actual physical day or if it was a figurative day.  I don't see any reason this couldn't be an actual physical day, after all this is God creating.  With him all things are possible.  If he had wanted he could've snapped his fingers and caused the universe to come into being, but for whatever reason he took his time.  This day may have been longer than a 24-hour-day, I don't understand enough of the science behind it to argue one way or the other, but whatever the case, God is the one that created it.

Genesis 1:4

"God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness." Genesis 1:4 (NIV)

Here is where something is first called good, and where God separates light and darkness.  The Bible Lexicon and the QBible both have the figurative meaning of darkness as misery, destruction, death, wickedness, sorrow, or ignorance.  So by separating the light maybe that caused the darkness to be created, since darkness is the absence of light.  Perhaps this is when evil came into being.  Maybe evil is the absence of good.   Not that it can't be purposefully, even light can be blocked or darkness created on purpose.  

I don't believe this is saying darkness equals evil, but it could be a symbolism purposely put in the Bible for us to see and use.  God does specifically call the light good, but says nothing about the darkness.  Really this is a very simple verse that says what it means and means what it says.

Genesis 1:3

"And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." Genesis 1:3 (NIV)

I like this verse, simple and straight to the point.  God said it and it was so.  I haven't found anything that disagrees with this translation.  In fact everything I find seems to indicate that that's what the original Hebrew meant.  It shows the power of the spoken word.  It doesn't say he got out his tools and went to work to make light, just that he spoke it into existence.

Genesis 1:2

"Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." Genesis 1:2 (NIV)

Interesting that it's already referring to water while the earth is still formless.  It's hard to quite know what to do with this verse.  If it's building on verse one it makes sense to me. 

An interesting tid bit Bible Lexicon says that the word "formless" is translated from can mean "unreality" which really seems to emphasis the pre-designing of the very molecules of the earth.  It gives me the mental picture that it's there (because he created it) but not quite there yet.  The "darkness" can also refer to obscurity which flows perfectly with that thought.

Now here's where we get to the waters.  It's strange to think that creation has started but the earth has been given no form, but there's already water.  But then looking at water, it doesn't really have any form, but takes the form of it's container instead.  So maybe when God began he started with water and then created the containers for the waters.  This seems to make the most sense to me, but it is difficult to wrap my brain around the whole idea of there just being water - no horizon, no land, no nothing else.  BibleArchaeology and GodandScience both seem agree with this assessment.

Every source I find agrees that the original word meant "water."  The interesting thing is in the QBible, it also gives a figurative translation of that word as "semen."  It's like God telling us that this water is the seed he planted that all creation has grown from.  He's setting up the blueprint that he uses over and over again.  Living creatures, plants, ideas, etc. start as seeds that grows and mature. 

The most important thing to get from this verse is that God was there close by as he created everything.  This isn't some hands-off-I'll-check-on-you-when-I-have-nothing-better-to-do sort of God, this is a God that gets up close and personal with his creation, not afraid to get his hands in the mud.

Genesis 1:1

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1 (NIV)

This seems very straight forward.  In the beginning God was.  And not only did he exist, but he created the heavens and the earth.  So this is my first question, is the word "heavens" referring to the place we believe we'll go after death, or is it referring to the sky and everything beyond?  (the stars, galaxies, other planets, etc.) 

According to wikipedia the phrase "the heavens and the earth" simply is a figure of speech that means everything.  This sounds logical, but I have also heard that wikipedia is not a reliable source.  Unfortunately I'm not a Greek or Hebrew scholar that can read either of those languages, so of course I use google to see what else I can find.  QBible.com has a transliteration that has "heavens" meaning the skies and beyond.  The Bible Lexicon's definition of "heavens" also agrees with that meaning.

Of course in looking up the definition of "heavens" I've found that there is also some disagreement on whether this verse should actually be translated to "In the beginning when God created the heaven and the earth."  I don't really see how that matters.  Either way the verse is acknowledging that it was in the beginning that God created everything.  The "when" just changes it to the beginning of a sentence or a paragraph, which makes sense with the rest of the chapter going into more details about that creation.  To me that reads more like "When God created everything this is how it went."

This is a simple verse, but vitally important.  It is acknowledging that before anything and everything God existed and he made everything.