Let’s look at the second verse of the Bible in Hebrew — Genesis 1:2. In English, it reads:
"Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."
In Hebrew, that same verse is just 14 words long:
V'hayetah ha'aretz tohu vavohu v'choshekh al-penei tehom v'ruach Elohim merachefet al-penei hamayim
When we remove the prepositions (like and, on, of, the), we're left with 12 core Hebrew words — and something unexpected happens. What remains is a compact line of pure essence — 12 “genetic words” that seem to hold a deeper structure.
Here they are, in order:
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Haaretz – the earth
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Hayetah – was / became
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Tohu – formless
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Bohu – empty
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Choshekh – darkness
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Penei – face / surface
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Tehom – the deep
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Ruach – spirit / wind
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Elohim – God
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Merachefet – was hovering
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Penei – face / surface (again)
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Mayim – waters
Each of these can be seen as a function, a pattern, or even a spiritual gene — a word that carries intention, purpose, and meaning.
In upcoming posts, we’ll explore each of these 12 one by one. But for now, just take a moment to see the beauty:
A sentence once filled with grammatical connectors becomes a skeleton of meaning, ready to be decoded.
A Design Blueprint Hidden in 12 Words
If these 12 words were 12 pre-existing meta-functions — universal functions that exist before the formation of anything concrete — we would be facing a cosmic or spiritual design model that acts as a matrix for being, community, nation, or even the collective soul. Here is an interpretation from that perspective:
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הָאָרֶץ (ha'aretz) – Function: To Contain
The ability to hold, receive, and give space. Everything created needs a space to exist. This is the foundational function of all gestation.
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הָיְתָה (hayetáh) – Function: To Exist in Transition
The function of being without being complete, of holding transformative processes. It is the space between “what was” and “what will be.”
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תֹהוּ (tohu) – Function: To Dissolve False Form
Not just chaos, but the dismantling of structures that prevent true design. This function reveals what should not remain.
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וָבֹהוּ (vavohu) – Function: To Empty in Order to Fill
A preparatory function. The void is not absence, but a readiness to receive the genuine.
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חֹשֶךְ (choshekh) – Function: To Protect the Unrevealed
Darkness as an incubator. Hidden to protect, like the womb. Its function is to guard the mystery until the time is right for it to be revealed.
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פְּנֵי (penéi) – Function: To Reflect
The function of showing the internal state. A “face” not only exposes, but also reveals. Reflection is key in any process of awareness.
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תְהוֹם (tehom) – Function: To Preserve Depth
It holds the essential in levels inaccessible without revelation. Its function is to protect the weight of the eternal, until the soul is ready.
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רוּחַ (ruach) – Function: To Impulse Life
The breath that initiates, enlivens, moves. It is the function that breaks stagnation and enables the eternal to enter the temporal.
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אֱלֹהִים (Elohim) – Function: To Design with Authority
The source and pattern of all that is true. Its meta-function is to imprint identity and purpose through order and intention.
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מְרַחֶפֶת (merachefet) – Function: To Incubate
A maternal, protective function of active waiting. It is not just movement, but loving vigilance until the new design can emerge.
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פְּנֵי (penéi) (2nd time) – Function: To Show Transformation
The surface is no longer neutral: now it bears testimony. This second appearance serves the function of revealing the fruit of interaction with the Spirit.
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הַמָּיִם (hamayim) – Function: To Transmit
The waters carry. They are a vehicle, a bridge, and a memory. This meta-function ensures the life, word, and promise travel from one point to another.
These 12 functions together form a universal system of creation, restoration, and design, applicable to both the soul and to entire communities, nations, or realities.
A Look at Their Hidden Purpose as Spiritual Genes in the DNA of Creation
If we take each word as a spiritual gene, we can see them as design codes within the DNA of creation. Although some may seem negative (like tohu or choshekh), that may indicate that their purpose is hidden in their opposite polarity: what they lack reveals what they are meant to contain.
Here is a reading of each of the 12 words as genes with purpose, seeking the positive potential inscribed in each one:
1. הָאָרֶץ (ha'aretz) – The Earth
Name indicates: The ground, the receptive.
Genetic purpose: To be a fertile container.
Gene function: To sustain, receive seed, and bear fruit. Represents the soul prepared to gestate life.
2. הָיְתָה (hayetáh) – Became / Was
Name indicates: State of being, transformation.
Genetic purpose: To allow the transition from one state to another.
Gene function: The ability to change, adapt, and evolve spiritually.
3. תֹהוּ (tohu) – Desolation, formlessness
Name indicates: Lack of design.
Genetic purpose: To reveal the need for purpose.
Gene function: To drive the search for meaning; to activate the hidden original design.
4. וָבֹהוּ (vavohu) – Void
Name indicates: Lack of content.
Genetic purpose: To be filled with divine substance.
Gene function: To create space for the eternal. It is the gene that says, “I am ready to be inhabited.”
5. חֹשֶךְ (choshekh) – Darkness
Name indicates: Absence of light.
Genetic purpose: To provoke the emergence of light.
Gene function: To activate perception. It is the necessary background for light to have contrast and purpose.
6. פְּנֵי (penéi) – Face / Surface
Name indicates: What is shown.
Genetic purpose: To reflect the invisible.
Gene function: To be the image of the deep. This gene carries the function of the spiritual face: to reflect the inner with clarity.
7. תְהוֹם (tehom) – Abyss, Depth
Name indicates: Deep chaos.
Genetic purpose: To reveal what is hidden in the depths.
Gene function: To hold hidden wisdom. It is an archive of memories waiting to be redeemed.
8. רוּחַ (ruach) – Spirit / Wind
Name indicates: Vital breath.
Genetic purpose: To move, inspire, vivify.
Gene function: To be the bearer of life, movement, and revelation. This gene activates the direct connection with the divine.
9. אֱלֹהִים (Elohim) – God (plural of majesty)
Name indicates: Supreme creative power.
Genetic purpose: To be the source and origin of all authority and design.
Gene function: To bear the divine image. This gene anchors identity, authority, and purpose.
10. מְרַחֶפֶת (merajéfet) – Hovered / Fluttered
Name indicates: Close care, active presence.
Genetic purpose: To watch over, incubate, protect what is unborn.
Gene function: To activate potential. This gene ensures that the divine design is not static.
11. פְּנֵי (penéi) – Face / Surface (again)
Name indicates: Spiritual mirror.
Genetic purpose: To reflect new identity after the divine breath.
Gene function: To show transformation. This second “face” is no longer the same as the first: it has now been touched by the Spirit.
12. הַמָּיִם (hamáyim) – The Waters
Name indicates: Fluidity, life in motion.
Genetic purpose: To carry life and word.
Gene function: To be a vehicle for revelation. This gene transmits inheritance, memory, and promise.
Each of these “genes” is not just naming a state but announcing a hidden design. It is as if chaos and darkness are “dormant genes” waiting to be activated by the voice of God (yhi or – let there be light).
A Song Inspired on the Genesis 1.2 Twelves Genes of Origin
A Symbolic Interpretation of the Twelve Hebrew Words in Genesis 1:2
This symbolic narrative reimagines the twelve Hebrew words found in Genesis 1:2 as spiritual genes — elemental codes embedded in the fabric of creation. By removing them from their original narrative context and viewing them as interconnected archetypes, the piece unveils a myth of the soul’s beginnings, a kind of spiritual blueprint for individuals, humanity, or even a nation.
Rather than reading chaos, darkness, or emptiness as negative, this approach uncovers the hidden purpose in each state. Each “gene” is seen as a dormant potential—a space awaiting divine activation. The intent is to inspire the reader to look within and recognize that every inner void or confusion may hold sacred memory, design, and destiny yet to be spoken into light.
This reading is not theological in the strict sense, but mythopoetic—an invitation to imagine how ancient words might mirror the transformational journey.
"Chronicle of the Twelve Genes of Origin"
Once upon a time, there was a Sacred Territory (ha’aretz), a formless substance, fertile in its depth, that existed in an uncertain state (hayetah). It was not yet what it was meant to be, but it contained what it could become. Like a womb without seed, it waited to be activated.
Inside it danced two twin brothers: Tohu, the one of dreams without structure, and Vavohu, the one of empty silence. Tohu believed the world had no form; Vavohu believed it had no content. Together, they held the mystery of all that had not yet been born.
An ancestral Darkness (choshekh) covered the face of this matter. It was not evil: it was a cradle without a lamp, blindness before the first opening of eyes. And there, upon the Surface that was not yet a face (penei), stretched an unfathomable Abyss (tehom), as deep as forgetfulness, yet full of buried memories.
Then came the Breath (ruach). Not with words, but with presence. It fluttered, like a mother over her nest, like a fire in the night. With It came Elohim, not as judgment, but as a founding presence, carrying with it an invisible map.
The Spirit did not bring forms, but movement. Merachefet, its dance, stirred the waters of the abyss, not yet to order them, but to remind them that they were capable of holding destiny.
And when the face appeared again (penei), it was no longer the same. It had seen the Spirit. It had felt the echo of the Creator. It was no longer just a surface: it was a mirror. A promise.
Finally, the Waters (hamayim) recognized themselves. They were no longer just dispersion, but transport, liquid seed, language in flow. They knew they would carry codes, names, inheritances.
And so, without needing light yet, the code of origin was sown.
A code in which every chaos has a voice,
every abyss, a wisdom,
every face, a destiny,
and every water, a word that has not yet been spoken.
@ 2025 Rodrigo Arteaga | Chay.life