Ten Utterances

Hello and blessings,

The ten utterances by which the world was created are the ten statements that Hashem made during the six days of creation (each time "and He said" indicates an utterance) - through which the heavens and the earth and all that is in them were created. These utterances are mentioned in Pirkei Avot (Chapter 5, Mishnah 1).

Here are the verses of the utterances in Genesis Chapter 1:

1. "In the beginning, Hashem created the heavens and the earth." The word "in the beginning" is an utterance in itself, even though it does not say "and He said." In this verse, Hashem first created the concept of matter and time, as explained by the Ramban in the first verse of the Torah, that initially the Creator made primary matter.

2. "Let there be light."

3. "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."

4. "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear."

5. "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth."

6. "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth."

7. "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven."

8. "Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind."

9. "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."

10. "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."

With blessings,

Daniel Bles