The elements part — and the breath borne upon the waters
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ἐκ τοῦ φωτὸς τις λόγος ἅγιος ἐπέβη τῇ φύσει, καὶ πῦρ ἄκρατον ἐξεπήδησεν ἐκ τῆς ὑγρᾶς φύσεως ἄνω εἰς ὕψος· κοῦφον δὲ ἦν καὶ ὀξύ, δραστικὸν τὲ ἅμα· καὶ ὁ ἀὴρ, ἐλαφρὸς ὢν ἠκολούθησε τῷ πνεύματι, ἀναβαίνοντος αὐτοῦ μέχρι τοῦ πυρὸς ἀπὸ γῆς καὶ ὕδατος, ὡς δοκεῖν κρέμασθαι αὐτὸν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ. γῆ δὲ καὶ ὕδωρ ἔμενε καθ' ἑαυτὰ συμμεμιγμένα, ὡς μὴ θεωρεῖσθαι ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος· κινούμενα δὲ ἦν διὰ τὸν ἐπιφερόμενον πνευματικὸν λόγον εἰς ἀκοήν.
Out of the light a holy Word came upon the nature, and unmixed fire leapt up out of the watery nature, on high to the height; it was light and sharp, and active as well. And the air, being light, followed the breath, rising up as far as the fire, away from earth and water, so that it seemed to hang from it. But earth and water stayed mingled together by themselves, so as not to be distinguished apart from the water; and they were kept in motion because of the spirit-borne Word borne upon them, unto hearing.
Out of the Light a holy Word descends on the nature, and the cosmogony unfolds: pure fire leaps up to the height, air follows the breath (πνεῦμα) rising after it, while earth and water stay mingled below — kept moving by the 'spirit-borne Word' carried upon them. The phrasing deliberately echoes Genesis 1:2 (πνεῦμα borne over the waters).
Now the vision resolves into a making. A 'holy Word' — λόγος ἅγιος — comes down on the chaos, and the elements sort themselves: fire up, air following the rising breath, earth and water left mingled below. Creation proceeds not by a craftsman's hands but by a Word laid upon matter, exactly the pattern the next sections will name.
The undercurrent is one word the interlinear insists on: the elements are stirred 'because of the spirit-borne Word borne upon (ἐπιφερόμενον) them.' That participle is the very verb of Genesis 1:2, where the πνεῦμα of God 'was borne over (ἐπεφέρετο) the water.' A 2nd-century Greek cosmogony and the opening of the Hebrew Bible are reaching for the same image — breath and word moving upon the deep — and only the Greek shows it.
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Corpus Hermeticum CH1.5 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/hermetica/CH1.5/