וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים
יְהִי מְאֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם
לְהַבְדִּיל בֵּין הַיּוֹם וּבֵין הַלָּיְלָה
וְהָיוּ לְאֹתֹת וּלְמוֹעֲדִים וּלְיָמִים וְשָׁנִים.
وَقَالَ اللهُ:
«لِتَكُنْ أَنْوَارٌ فِي جَلَدِ السَّمَاءِ
لِتَفْصِلَ بَيْنَ النَّهَارِ وَاللَّيْلِ
وَتَكُونَ لآيَاتٍ وَأَوْقَاتٍ وَأَيَّامٍ وَسِنِينٍ.
Y dijo Dios:
Sean lumbreras en la expansión de los cielos
para apartar el día y la noche:
y sean por señales, y para las estaciones, y para días y años;
And God said,
Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven
to divide the day from the night;
and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Additional LDS scriptural sources:
Moses 2:14
And I, God, said: Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years;
Abraham 4:14
And the Gods organized the lights in the expanse of the heaven, and caused them to divide the day from the night; and organized them to be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years;
Additional Notes/Questions:
At this point the chronology raises questions - because the previous verse refers to the growing of grasses, trees and other plant life, the day (or time period) before this one - where the lights were placed in the heavens. It would seem that, among other things, this order of creation might interfere just a bit with the normal process of photosynthesis.
1Tim J. on Apr 30, 2007 at 11:59 am:
“At this point the chronology raises questions - because the previous verse refers to the growing of grasses, trees and other plant life, the day (or time period) before this one - where the lights were placed in the heavens. It would seem that, among other things, this order of creation might interfere just a bit with the normal process of photosynthesis.”
Thus reinforcing my belief that what is being described here is actually the Spiritual Creation–the physical coming to pass a little later.
2Robert G on Apr 30, 2007 at 4:20 pm:
Unless you understand the Genesis account as Moses’ tale of what he saw from his own scientifically primitive understanding. At this point, light was already created - the sun had ignited. If you take the astrophysics view of creation, at that point the earth had solidified from the coalescing cosmic dust, and the sun’s ignition blew the uncondensed dust and gas away from the newly formed earth. This left an earthly atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide, which gave the surface a hazy, diffuse light, which would not allow an observer to distinguish the sun or stars. If we understand Moses as being on the earth at this point, the photosynthetic processes of the newly formed plant life would begin to clear the atmosphere of carbon dioxide, and replace it with the more translucent oxygen. Eventually, as the atmosphere became clearer, the sun would appear as a distinct heavenly body, followed by the stars. Only at this point could they be used as signs for days, seasons, etc.