Genesis 1:1

Hebrew:
בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָֽרֶץ׃

KJV:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Comments:
In the beginning: The word for "beginning" is "head", the same as in the Jewish new year, "Rosh" Hashanah. The point is that it indicates priority. It comes first chronologically here. The implication of this creative, chronological priority is also purposive as Paul sees it in Colossians 1:16-18. In John 1:1-3, John appeals to the Septuagint's wording (the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures) in the first few words then makes it clear that Jesus is the actor in the creation.

God: Moses uses "Elohim" for "God" rather than "Yahweh" in this passage about creation, even though it is likely that the meaning of "Yahweh" is something like "the One who causes to be." As Exodus 6:3 makes clear, however, Yahweh is a name known fully only in covenant. (They were aware of the name before then--hence Abraham naming a place Yahweh-Jireh in Genesis 22--but not in its covenantal sense.) Moses begins to use that name for God in chapter 2:4, where God's specific, relational provision for people begins.

created: Although this act certainly is "ex nihilo" (out of nothing,) that fact is not inherent in the word (which is also used, for instance, about whales in vs 21.) The significance of the word for "created" is that it is only used in reference to the activity of God, and probably has more to do with the newness of His creative acts.

the heavens and the earth: Exodus 20:3-4 reveals how important the distinction between the first and last half of this verse is. There is a Creator-God. And He creates a cosmos. But the two are in no way to be mixed or confused. Also, the phrase "the heavens and the earth" is a merism--a way of including everything by naming the extremes.

Expanded Paraphrase:
Before anything else, God created everything there is, from the heavens above to the earth below.