Let there be light

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"Fiat Lux" redirects here. For other uses, see Fiat Lux (disambiguation).
This article is about the Biblical phrase. For the verse from the Bible, see Genesis 1:3. For other uses, see Let There Be Light.
The phrase "Let there be light" used metaphorically over the door of Central Library, a Carnegie library in Edinburgh.

"Let there be light" is an English translation of the Hebrew יְהִי אוֹר (yehi 'or). Other translations of the same phrase include the Latin phrase fiat lux, and the Greek phrase γενηθήτω φῶς (genēthētō phōs).

Genesis 1[edit]

The phrase comes from the third verse of the Book of Genesis. In the King James Bible, it reads, in context:

1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Origin and etymology[edit]

The Latin phrase fiat lux, from the Latin Vulgate Bible, is typically translated as "let there be light" when relating to Genesis 1:3 (Hebrew: "יְהִי אוֹר"). The full phrase is "dixitque Deus fiat lux et facta est lux" ("And said God let there be light, and there was light"), from the Greek "καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός γενηθήτω φῶς καὶ ἐγένετο φῶς" (kai eipen ho Theos genēthētō phōs kai egeneto phōs), from the Hebrew "וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר; וַיְהִי אוֹר" (vayo'mer 'Elohim, yehi 'or vayehi 'or).

Since fiat lux would be literally translated as "let light be made" (fiat is from fieri, the passive form of the verb facere, "to make" or "to do"), an alternative Latinization of the original Greek and Hebrew, lux sit ("light – let it exist" or "let light exist") has been used occasionally, although there is debate as to its accuracy.[1] The Douay–Rheims Bible translates the phrase, from the Vulgate, as "Be light made. And light was made."

Use by educational institutions[edit]

The motto "Fiat lux" on the Sather Gate at the University of California, Berkeley
The emblem of Cornway College with the motto "Let there be light".

Fiat lux is the motto of and also appears on the seals of the following educational institutions:

Fiat Lux also appears on the outside of Kerns Religious Life Center at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. The second half of the same verse, Et facta est lux appears on the seal of Morehouse College.

In October 1973, a Portland, Oregon business owner delivers a message to Governor Tom McCall in response to his executive order curtailing commercial lighting during the 1970s energy crisis.

In literature[edit]

For works which use the phrase as their title, see Let there be light (disambiguation)#In literature and Fiat lux (disambiguation)


  1. ^ "But What Does It Mean?". The Daily. The University of Washington. 1999-05-25. Retrieved 2014-09-01. 
  2. ^ Fiat Lux Academe (official), Facebook .

External links[edit]