Genesis 1:9
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יִקָּווּ הַמַּיִם מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמַיִם אֶל־מָקוֹם אֶחָד וְתֵרָאֶה הַיַּבָּשָׁה וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים יִקָּו֨וּ הַמַּ֜יִם מִתַּ֤חַת הַשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ אֶל־מָק֣וֹם אֶחָ֔ד וְתֵרָאֶ֖ה הַיַּבָּשָׁ֑ה וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃
Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός Συναχθήτω τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ὑποκάτω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ εἰς συναγωγὴν μίαν, καὶ ὀφθήτω ἡ ξηρά· καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως. καὶ συνήχθη τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ὑποκάτω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ εἰς τὰς συναγωγὰς αὐτῶν, καὶ ὤφθη ἡ ξηρά.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Dixit vero Deus: Congregentur aquæ, quæ sub cælo sunt, in locum unum: et appareat arida. Et factum est ita.
Y dijo Dios: Júntense las aguas que están debajo de los cielos en un lugar, y descúbrase la seca: y fué así.
And God said, “ Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The third day's creative command reorganizes the lower waters: they are to be concentrated in a single spot so that the dry ground becomes visible. The verse ends with the fulfillment formula "and it was so," leaving the naming of the new spaces to the next verse.
Key words
- yi.ka.Vu ("let them gather", H6960) — niphal imperfect: the waters are to collect.
- Ma.yim ("waters", H4325) — masculine plural noun.
- ma.Kom ("a place", H4725) — the destination, qualified by 'e.Chad ("one", H0259).
- te.ra.'Eh ("let it appear", H7200) — niphal: literally, that it "be seen."
- ya.ba.Shah ("dry ground", H3004) — feminine singular noun.
What the text says
The verse opens with the narrative vav and i.Yo.mer ("he said", H0559), the narrative form the morphology glosses as "and then…," chaining each act of the story to the one before. The command itself uses two niphal verbs — the conjugation the provided morphology labels passive/reflexive: the waters are to "be gathered" and the dry ground is to "be seen." The second verb is tagged feminine ("she"), agreeing with ya.ba.Shah ("dry ground", H3004), a feminine noun.
The waters' location is expressed with the preposition "from" plus Ta.chat ("under", H8478) in construct with sha.Ma.yim ("heavens", H8064): "the waters from under the heavens." The movement is directed "to" one single place. The close pairs the narrative form of y.hi- ("it was", H1961) with the adverb Khen ("so", H3651): "and it was so," a formula that registers fulfillment without narrating it in detail.
Differences between versions
The Septuagint shows two distinctive traits. First, it reads "let the water be gathered into one gathering" (εἰς συναγωγὴν μίαν), with "water" in the singular, where the Hebrew says "to one place" with plural "waters." Second, it adds a full fulfillment sentence — "καὶ συνήχθη τὸ ὕδωρ… καὶ ὤφθη ἡ ξηρά," "and the water under the heaven was gathered into their gatherings, and the dry land appeared" — which does not appear in the Hebrew text provided, where only "and it was so" stands. The Vulgate ("in locum unum") and the BSB ("into one place") match the Hebrew here and lack the extra sentence.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.