And God saith, `Let light be;' and light is.
Genesis 1.3 Young’s Literal Translation
Wow! I like this translation.
Early Genesis is not the only ancient creation story. As discovered in the mid 1800s, other cultures of the Ancient Near East had their own renditions of how our world came to be, the Egyptians, Sumerians, and most notably the Babylonians with their Enuma Elish. Because of fascinating similarities with Genesis 1, when Enuma Elish first came to light, theories abounded that the biblical author had copied from or was at least influenced by it and the other stories from older traditions.
More recently scholarship has focused on the remarkable differences. The Hebrew story breaks radically from the understanding of other cultures. In Enuma Elish there are many gods, and the world is formed as a direct result of their conflict with each other. In Genesis, there is one God. No conflict. His power is such that he can create light with only is word. Let there be light and light is. So be it!
If you’d like further reading on the similarities and differences between Genesis 1 and Enuma Elish, see this article by Peter Enns.
http://biologos.org/blogs/archive/genesis-1-and-a-babylonian-creation-story
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