Case file
Genesis 1:2
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “second verse of the first chapter in the book of genesis”. Today it says “second verse of book of genesis and of the genesis creation narrative”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.
Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.
1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Genesis 1:2 is the second verse of the first chapter in the Book of Genesis .1 It takes place after the inital creation according to Genesis , and describes the Earth as formless, dark, and void, with no light or organisms .2 It is a part of the Torah portion Bereshit (Genesis 1:1-1:4).
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17552961.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “second verse of the first chapter in the book of genesis”. Today it says “second verse of book of genesis and of the genesis creation narrative”. Read the current article and compare.
| 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | Oct '23 | 2025 |
|---|
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
second verse of the first chapter in the book of genesis
Now
second verse of book of genesis and of the genesis creation narrative
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.