The Hebrew title for this book is בראשית (bereshit). This comes from the first Hebrew word of the first sentence. This follows the ancient near eastern practice of assigning a book’s name by its first word(s).1 The literal translation is “in the beginning.” This is an appropriate title since the book of Genesis is the story of beginnings. The English title “Genesis” is a transliteration of the Latin Vulgate’s title. The word genesis has the idea of origins or source. This