John 1:1
John 1:1 — meaning in the ancient Hebrew
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
The Hebrew behind the verse
| בְּרֵאשִׁית Bereshit | “In the beginning” — John opens with the exact phrase that opens Genesis 1:1. He is writing a new creation account on purpose. See the letter → |
| דָּבָר davar | the Hebrew for “word” — and God creates by speaking (“And God said…”). The Word is how God both makes and reveals. |
| אֵת Aleph-Tav | the first and last letters together — the untranslated word tucked inside Genesis 1:1, the signature of the One who is “the First and the Last.” See the letter → |
What it means
John did not begin his Gospel by accident. “In the beginning” is Bereshit — he reaches back to the very first word of Scripture and says: the Word who was there when everything began has now come near. The One through whom all things were made stepped into what He made.
In Hebrew thought, a word (davar) is never just a sound — it is an act. God said, and there was. So to call Christ “the Word” is to call Him the living speech of God, the One in whom God says everything He means to say.
And He is bracketed into the beginning itself: the Aleph and the Tav, the first and last letters, appear together inside Genesis 1:1. From the first verse to the final page, the Author is written into His own book.