What does genesis 1 verse 2 mean?

Answer 1

"And the Earth was unformed and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep (waters); and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters."
Before God filled the world with all that we see, it was completely empty. No plants, animals or anything.

ANOTHER ANSWER:

A lot depends upon your view of God. If your God is "imperfect" and creates "worthless, vacuous, wasted, vain" things lying in "undistinguishable ruin" [as the meaning of "without form and void" means]; then you're willing to accept the general idea of the English translation of Genesis 1:2 fits the previous answers.

But if you view God as PERFECT [which He is]... then, He created the universe in verse one PERFECTLY BEAUTIFUL AND COMPLETE [however long it took; verse one doesn't say... there's no time frame mentioned regarding the original creation of the universe]!

Verse two employs the Hebrew verb "hayah"... a form of the state-of-being verb TO BE, which can be translated in any number of its possible forms; past, present or future.

The King James Version says the earth WAS without form, and void... which lends itself to being understood by most folks as meaning that "God created the earth a vacuous, worthless, wasted planet" lying in "undistinguishable ruin" [which is the meanings of the two words -- tohuw and bohuw -- God "inspired" to describe the earth in verse two].

That was the English translator's option in producing the KJV. Just as in verse 7 of chapter 2, the man, Adam, BECAME a living soul in the minds of the translators for the English translation of the Hebrew "hayah" instead of "WAS." as they used in chapter 1, verse 2.

It's all in the mind of the reader, how you see the God of The Bible.

Is He a stumbling, bumbling God [much like errant humans], making all kinds of errors and mistakes as He went along in creating the universe... then He had to go back later and correct all His mistakes [or did He just have problems making the earth; randomly slapping together this planet, then fixing up His errors later]?

Or did God make THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE... including earth... PERFECTLY in the beginning; and then... later... sometime after that [there's still no time frame mentioned, until God REMAKES AN ALREADY EXISTING, RUINED EARTH in the succeeding six days of chapter 1] something happened to the earth whereby it BECAME a ruined planet... decimated from its original pristine condition at creation?

In other words, the earth WAS without form and void... because it BECAME that way LATER [however much time later is not disclosed]! Just as the man, Adam, WASa living soul, because he BECAME that way when God breathed into his nostrils and "inflated his brand new lungs,

which He just created."

A lot of information isn't broached in the Genesis creation account... like "how the earth BECAME" a worthless, dead ruin." We're told elsewhere, however, that "THERE WAS WAR IN HEAVEN" [Rev.12:7].

And that Satan attempted a "government coup" against God's throne in heaven some time in the past [Isa.14:13-14]. Could a battle in the heavens among the stars of the universe cause the destruction of planets [after all... look at the ruined state of the rest of the planets just our own galaxy].

What kind of power do "spirit beings" that create universes wield? Can they destroy planets? Can they cause destruction and disruption in the universe?

Just a thought. Decide for yourself whether your God is Perfect or Imperfect... and the meaning of Genesis 1:2 is pretty self-explanatory, accordingly. It's tough enough for the finite human mind to fathom the thought of a Perfect, ETERNALLY LIVING God... just as , I suppose it's equally difficult for "Evolutionists" to believe in the first cause of ETERNAL MATTER, accidentally, and randomly imploding and exploding into the finely-tuned universe in which we find ourselves today.

Answer 2

"And the Earth was unformed and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep (waters); and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters."
It means that immediately after the Creation, the Earth was as yet without plants or animals. Even the continents hadn't yet been formed by God.

See also the Related Link.

Did God create the universe