Which creation myth is echoed in Genesis?

• A. Babylonian creation myth
• B. Genesis
• C. Enuma Elish
• D. 5th century BC text

Answer: (C)

This question tests recognizing how Genesis mirrors earlier Near Eastern creation narratives, especially Enuma Elish. Both works present creation as bringing order from chaos and show the world coming into being through divine speech and acts that separate waters and establish structure—light, sky, land, and living things. Enuma Elish, a Babylonian epic, famously frames creation around the gods’ actions to order the cosmos after primordial chaos, with commands that shape the world. Genesis uses a similar technique: God speaks things into existence—“Let there be light,” the separation of waters, the forming of the sky and land—yet it does so within a monotheistic framework, centering on one all-powerful God rather than a pantheon.

That close alignment in method and motifs is why Enuma Elish is the best match. Genesis isn’t echoing a generic Babylonian idea or any later text; it specifically channels the mythic pattern found in Enuma Elish while reinterpreting it through singular divine authorship.