[LifeOrGoods?]

The reason it is translated in most Bibles as was(present tense) is to agree more with accepted theology about the Earth only being 7000 years old or so.

Thank you for your thoughts. I'll start out by saying that you have some good reasons to believe what you do.

Doesn't it strike you a little peculiar, though, that ever since the beginning of time people have believed in a literal 24 hour day creation period, whilst, only until recently has the long-day theory been advanced and popularized?

As far as the passage, you mention that most Bibles footnote it as became, I would assume that there is a debate here based on textual science. So I would guess that the debate is valid. I don't, however, think you can, out of this, pull an absolute claim that this word has been hijacked for centuries and that the passage's presumed established meaning throughout history has been masked by the recent translations. The Bible has many words that can be translated one way or the other, as far as sense and tense and other grammatical situations, similar to this situation. You cannot absolutely conclude, based on the textual evidence alone that became is the proper translation.

2 Peter 2:4-5 (NASB) 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

All I see in these two verses are the fall of Satan and his angels and the Genesis flood. There is no indication of an earth inhabited between eternity and Gen. 1:1.

[Diego1618]

you said,"All I see in these two verses are the fall of Satan and his angels and the Genesis flood. There is no indication of an earth inhabited between eternity and Gen. 1:1." my reply. In 2 Peter 2:4 NIV For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to "hell"(the Greek says Tartarus) putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgement;.....that was thought #1. Thought #2 is "if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood, etc.etc"; thought #3 "If he condemned the cities of Sodom and etc,etc" thought #4 "and if he rescued Lot etc,etc". In Jude 6 we read....And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home-these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgement on the great day. Tartarus is the word used to describe the current restrained condition of fallen angels. When did these angels fall? Isaiah 14:12 How have you fallen from heaven O Morning Star (Satan) verse 16 Is this the man who shook the Earth .. ...17 the man who made the world a desert? These passages are referring to the rebellion of Satan and his angels that took place between Gen. 1:1 and Gen. 1:2....that great gulf of time I spoke of....perhaps billions of years. The word "was" in Gen.1:2 is properly translated "became" as the Hebrew word "Hayah" is translated in other places of the Bible. This then allows the rebellion of Satan and his angels ample time before the lord re-created the Earth in 7 literal days. The four thoughts I outlined in 2Peter 2:4 do not take place at the same time. The first thought where the angels were not spared happened much earliar in time. See again Jude 6. If this is not the case can you tell me where in recorded Bible history the rebellion of Satan took place? 1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not a god of disorder but of peace. God did not create the world formless and empty Gen. 1:2. He created it perfect, perhaps billions of years prior to that and it "became" fomless and empty because of the rebellion of Satan.