as well as the immediate context of Genesis 114 both indicate the independence of verses 2–31 from the verb ‘created’ in verse 1, and instead demonstrate the dependence of the circumstances described in verse 2 on the verb ‘and God said’ in verse 3. To summarize the interpretative point at issue, the threefold condition of the primeval world of ‘without form and void’, ‘darkness on the deep’, and ‘the Spirit of God moving’ occurred only after the absolute creation of all things from nothing. They