Week 1: Memory Verse

Why This Verse

This is the opening sentence of the entire Bible — and the opening sentence of this study. Seven words in English, seven words in Hebrew (bereshit bara elohim et hashamayim ve’et ha’arets), carrying more theological weight per syllable than almost any other sentence in Scripture. It is not an argument for God’s existence. It is the announcement of his action. No defense. No proof. No preamble. Just the Creator and the creation, and the verb that connects them: bara — a word the Old Testament uses exclusively for God’s creative work. Humans build, form, and fashion. Only God creates.

This verse anchors the entire 52-week study. Every covenant that follows — with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and in the new covenant — flows from the God who is introduced here. The one who creates is the one who promises, delivers, legislates, enthrones, exiles, restores, and ultimately comes in the flesh. Memorize this verse not as a familiar phrase but as the foundation stone of everything you will read for the next year.

John 1:1 deliberately echoes this sentence: “In the beginning was the Word.” A reader who has memorized Genesis 1:1 will feel the force of John’s claim — the Word who was there at the beginning is the God who created the heavens and the earth. The first verse of the Old Testament and the first verse of John’s Gospel are the same story, told from two sides of the incarnation.