In the beginning (phrase)

"In the beginning" (bereshit in Biblical Hebrew) is the opening-phrase or incipit used in the Bible in Genesis 1:1.

[2] The King James Version of Genesis 1:1 is translated as "In the beginning God created the heaven and the Earth."

The first word, and thus God's role as Creator, is recited in the Aleinu prayer near the end of each of the three daily prayer-services.

[3] Theologian Charles Ellicott wrote: The reference to the opening words of the Old Testament is obvious, and is the more striking when we remember that a Jew would constantly speak of and quote from the book of Genesis as "Berēshîth" ("in the beginning").

It is quite in harmony with the Hebrew tone of this Gospel to do so, and it can hardly be that St. John wrote his Berēshîth without having that of Moses present to his mind, and without being guided by its meaning.