'Beginning' in the Bible

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

He went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,

He searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.

“Reuben, you are my firstborn;My might and the beginning of my strength,Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.

“This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.

‘Then at the beginning of each of your months you shall present a burnt offering to the Lord: two bulls and one ram, seven male lambs one year old without defect;

a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.

But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength; to him belongs the right of the firstborn.

So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands.

So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

In that day I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.

Then he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before the Lord, so that the seven of them fell together; and they were put to death in the first days of harvest at the beginning of barley harvest.

And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until it rained on them from the sky; and she allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.

At the beginning of their living there, they did not fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them which killed some of them.

Now in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who was the leader in beginning the thanksgiving at prayer, and Bakbukiah, the second among his brethren; and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.

“Though your beginning was insignificant,Yet your end will increase greatly.

The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;A good understanding have all those who do His commandments;His praise endures forever.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

“The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom;And with all your acquiring, get understanding.

“The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way,Before His works of old.

“From everlasting I was established,From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

The beginning of strife is like letting out water,So abandon the quarrel before it breaks out.

An inheritance gained hurriedly at the beginningWill not be blessed in the end.

He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

The end of a matter is better than its beginning;Patience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit.

the beginning of his talking is folly and the end of it is wicked madness.

“Then I will restore your judges as at the first,And your counselors as at the beginning;After that you will be called the city of righteousness,A faithful city.”

Do you not know? Have you not heard?Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

“Who has performed and accomplished it,Calling forth the generations from the beginning?‘I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. I am He.’”

Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know?Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?Surely there was no one who declared,Surely there was no one who proclaimed,Surely there was no one who heard your words.

Declaring the end from the beginning,And from ancient times things which have not been done,Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;

A glorious throne on high from the beginningIs the place of our sanctuary.

For behold, I am beginning to work calamity in this city which is called by My name, and shall you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment; for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares the Lord of hosts.’

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord, saying,

In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying—

Now in the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying,

That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying:

“Arise, cry aloud in the nightAt the beginning of the night watches;Pour out your heart like waterBefore the presence of the Lord;Lift up your hands to HimFor the life of your little onesWho are faint because of hungerAt the head of every street.”

When you built your shrine at the beginning of every street and made your high place in every square, in disdaining money, you were not like a harlot.

In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was taken, on that same day the hand of the Lord was upon me and He brought me there.

At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.

Harness the chariot to the team of horses,O inhabitant of Lachish—She was the beginning of sinTo the daughter of Zion—Because in you were foundThe rebellious acts of Israel.

But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female,

He *said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.

“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard *said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’

But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.

For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will.

just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,

it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus;

Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him.

When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court.

So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning?

You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.

and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.

And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning.

“So then, all Jews know my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem;

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you?

So we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well.

He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

And,“You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth,And the heavens are the works of Your hands;

For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,

Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.

and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—

Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.

I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.

I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;

Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.

And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:

Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”