Let there be light

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

In biblical Hebrew, the phrase (yəhî ’ôr) is made of two words. (yəhî) is the third-person masculine singular jussive form of "to exist" and (’ôr) means "light." In the Koine Greek Septuagint the phrase is translated "" — kaì eîpen ho Theós genēthḗtō phôs kaì egéneto phôs. Γενηθήτω is the imperative form of γίγνομαι, "to come into being." The original Latinization of the Greek translation used in the Vetus Latina was lux sit ("light – let it exist" or "let light exist"), which has been used occasionally, although there is debate as to its accuracy. In the Latin Vulgate Bible, the Hebrew phrase is translated in Latin as fiat lux. In context, the translation is "" ("And said God let there be light, and there was light"). Literally, fiat lux would be translated as "let light be made" (fiat is the third person singular present passive subjunctive form of the verb facio, meaning "to do" or "to make"). The Douay–Rheims Bible translates the phrase, from the Vulgate, as "Be light made. And light was made." ==Usage==

"Let there be light", sometimes in its Latin form, fiat lux, is used as a motto by many educational institutions (using light as a metaphor for knowledge). The University of California is one example. The phrase also forms the chorus of John Marriott's hymn about creation, "Thou, Whose Almighty Word". ==References==