Here is a speculative “reconstruction” of the Other Genesis 1, a potential version of the Israelite story of Yahweh, son of El Elyon, slaying Tehom/Leviathan and creating the world from her body. Scholars are mixed on whether there ever was an Israelite version of a story like this, but here is mine idea of it. Drawn (almost) entirely from Israelite and Jewish sacred texts, primarily by way of the NRSVU translations. I’ve tried to present this almost as an extract from an epic poem.
Who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh?
Who among the Sons of El can be likened to Yahweh?
Yahweh, who during the beginning came from Sinai and shone forth,
at his right hand his own Asherah;
Who took his place in the divine council,
and set out to create the heavens and the earth;
Then the earth was formless, and all there was,
was darkness covering the face of Tehom, the Leviathan.
She dwells in the depths of the sea,
above the springs of the waters.
Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook
or press down Her tongue with a cord?
Can you put a rope in Her nose
or pierce Her jaw with a hook?
Will She make many supplications to you?
Will She speak soft words to you?
Will She make a covenant with you
to be taken as your servant forever?
Will you play with Her as with a bird
or put Her on a leash for your young women?
Will traders bargain over Her?
Will they divide Her up among the merchants?
Can you fill Her skin with harpoons
or Her head with fishing spears?
Lay hands on Her;
think of the battle; you will not do it again!
Any hope of capturing Her will be disappointed;
one is overwhelmed even at the sight of Her.
No one is so fierce as to dare to stir Her up.
Who can stand before her?
Who can confront Her and be safe?
—under the whole heaven, who?
Keep not silent concerning Her limbs
or Her mighty strength or Her splendid frame.
Who can strip off Her outer garment?
Who can penetrate Her double coat of mail?
Who can open the doors of Her face?
There is terror all around Her teeth.
Her back is made of shields in rows,
shut up closely as with a seal.
One is so near to another
that no air can come between them.
They are joined one to another;
they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
Her sneezes flash forth light,
and Her eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
From Her mouth go flaming torches;
sparks of fire leap out.
Out of Her nostrils comes smoke,
as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
Her breath kindles coals,
and a flame comes out of Her mouth.
In Her neck abides strength,
and terror dances before Her.
The folds of Her flesh cling together;
She is firmly cast and immovable.
Her heart is as hard as stone,
as hard as the lower millstone.
When She raises Herself up the Gods are afraid;
at the crashing they are beside themselves.
Though the sword reaches Her, it does not avail,
nor does the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
She counts iron as straw
and bronze as rotten wood.
The arrow cannot make Her flee;
slingstones, for Her, are turned to chaff.
Clubs are counted as chaff;
She laughs at the rattle of javelins.
Her underparts are like sharp potsherds;
She spreads Herself like a threshing sledge on the mire.
She makes the deep boil like a pot;
She makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
She leaves a shining wake behind it;
one would think the deep to be white-haired.
On earth She has no equal,
a creature without fear.
She surveys everything that is lofty;
She is Queen over all that are proud.
Her tail is placed in her mouth,
And she twists around and encompasses the world.
Above the waters and over the heads of Leviathan
was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli,
and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man.
From his waist up he looked like glowing metal,
as if full of fire,
and from there down he looked like fire itself;
and brilliant light surrounded him.
Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around Yahweh.
And the hands of Yahweh moved against the face of Tehom,
his great wind moved upon the deep waters.
On that day Yahweh arose with his cruel and great
and strong sword to slay Tehom, the fugitive serpent,
Leviathan, who wreathed herself around the world.
He arose to kill the dragon of the deep.
Smoke went up from his nostrils
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
He bowed the heavens and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.
He rode on a cherub and flew;
he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.
He made darkness his covering around him,
his canopy thick clouds dark with water.
He divided the sea by his might;
He broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.
He crushed the heads of Leviathan;
He gave Her as food for the creatures of the earth.
He cut openings within her for springs and torrents;
and exposed ever-flowing streams.
He set the earth on its foundations,
so that it shall never be shaken.
When it was covered with the Leviathan
as with a garment,
and Tehom stood above the mountains;
At His rebuke She fled
at the sound of his thunder she took to flight.
She rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys,
to the place that he appointed for Her.
He set a boundary that she may not pass,
so that She might not again cover the earth.
From Her He fixed all the bounds of the earth;
it was His hands that stretched out the heavens,
and He commanded all their host numbered them, and called them all by name.
He made summer and winter.
He created the day, and also the night;
He established the luminaries and the sun.
Then Yahweh said to the council,
“We are Gods,
children of El Elyon, all of us.
Come, let us make humans in our image,
according to our likeness,
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea
and over the birds of the air and over the cattle
and over all the wild animals of the earth
and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
So the Gods created humans in their image,
in the image of the Gods they created them;
male and female they created them.