Welcome to the first chapter of this journey!
Before you start reading Scripture, I wanted to share you about what you are reading. I am not a scholar or a theologian speaking on behalf of an official institution. I am an independent researcher who fell in love with the literal yet rhythmic beauty of the Scriptures, and this project is my personal journey through the Word.
My goal for The Shema Translation (TST) is to create a compact, focused book, that will be available eventually as a paperback and ebook, as a ministry project to give away entirely for free. Reading through the entire Bible can be a struggle for many people. Because of that, I am intentionally filtering out the dense historical and prophetic timelines to compile a book that contains just the Torah, Proverbs, Matthew, and James. It is not meant to replace the whole bible, but It is designed to help you focus entirely on the core instructions of God, the wisdom for daily living, and how to walk faithfully with the Messiah.
I am releasing this text online chapter-by-chapter as I work through it. My approach is a word-for-word, poetic and modern translation. I prioritize staying as close to the original Hebrew and Greek grammar as possible, choosing modern English words only when necessary to ensure the text remains clear, readable, and highly poetic. You will notice this structural rhythm right away, like the ground actively sprouting with sprouts (sprout sprouts) and plants seeding seeds.
A note on sharing: Please feel free to copy, quote, and share these verses for your own personal studies, blogs, or social media! This is a ministry project, so free sharing and copying are completely permitted for non-commercial use, provided the text remains unaltered. You can find the specific guidelines and my footnotes at the very bottom of the page.
Thank you for walking this path with me!
The Shema Translation (TST)
A word-for-word, poetic, and modern translation of Scripture.
Genesis Chapter 1
1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.2Now the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.4And God saw the light, that it was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
6And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7And God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8And God called the expanse the Heavens. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
9And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear,” and it was so. 10And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas; and God saw that it was good.
11And God said, “Let the earth sprout sprouts: plants seeding seeds, and fruit trees making fruit after their kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth,” and it was so. 12And the earth brought forth sprouts: plants seeding seeds after their kind, and trees making fruit, after their kind, whose seed is in itself, and God saw that it was good. 13And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
14And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; 15and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth;” and it was so.
16And God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth, 18and to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
20And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living beings, and let flying birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21And God created the great sea monsters, and every living being that creeps, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after their kind; and God saw that it was good.
22And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
24And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living beings after their kind: livestock, creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind;” and it was so. 25And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after their kind; and God saw that it was good.
26And God said, “Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
27And God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28And God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that creeps upon the earth.”
29And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant seeding seeds, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit seeding seeds; it shall be for food to you, 30and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to every thing that creeps upon the earth, in which there is the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food;” and it was so.
31And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
© 2026 Yeshua Daily. All rights reserved.
The text of The Shema Translation (TST) may be quoted in any form (written, visual, electronic, or audio) up to and inclusive of 50% of any single published chapter for non-commercial use only without express written permission of Yeshua Daily, providing the verses quoted do not amount to a complete book of the Bible, nor do the verses quoted account for more than 50% of the total text of the work in which they are quoted. The text must remain completely unaltered.
Notice of copyright must appear as follows on the section where the quoted material appears: “Scripture quotations taken from The Shema Translation (TST), Copyright © 2026 by Yeshua Daily. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
Not-for-sale Media: When quotations from the TST text are used in not-for-sale print, digital material or social media, the abbreviation (TST) may simply be used after the quotation.
Footnotes
The Heavens: Traditional Bibles use this word, but in ancient Hebrew, the word is Shamayim (שָׁמַיִם) has a dual meaning, it refers to the physical skies where birds fly and clouds roll, but it also carries the poetic grandeur of God’s unseen dwelling space.
Living Beings: The Hebrew is Nephesh Chayah (נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה). This is a beautiful word with a massive range of meanings. Nephesh can mean soul, throat, breath, life-force, or creature, while Chayah means living. When you put them together, it literally means a “breathing, living soul.” I chose “living beings” to capture that physical, breathing life given directly by God to animals.
Sprout Sprouts: This comes from the Hebrew phrase Tadshe Deshe (תַּדְשֵׁא דֶּשֶׁא). The original text uses a highly energetic repeating pattern. The verb and the noun come from the exact same root, meaning the text literally commands the earth to “sprout sprouts,” “vegetate vegetation,” or “grass grass.” I kept “sprout sprouts” to mirror that exact structural wordplay so you can see how creation instantly copied God’s voice.
Seeding Seeds: Just like the sprouts, the Hebrew text loops the words together here too (Mazria Zera / מַזְרִיעַ זֶרַע), meaning “seeding seed” or “sowing seed.” Switching it to the plural “seeding seeds” keeps that ancient repeating rhythm alive while making it smooth to read out loud in modern English.