The longstanding debate over the genre of Genesis 1 has created more heat than light. This has been especially true within evangelical circles among those who profess to be young-earth creationists and old-earth proponents. Those who hold to the former view assert that the genre is primarily “historical narrative,” while those in the latter group believe that it is “semi-poetic,” “exalted prose,” and not strictly prose narrative. The issue is significant because those who claim Genesis 1 is poetic in some way, believe that the genre allows them to interpret the text in a non-literal fashion which often includes the supposition of millions or billions of years. While it is true that Genesis 1 is a highly structured literary account of the creation of the heavens and earth, this paper will demonstrate that the presence of such formulaic repetitions has been mistaken to be elements of poetry or poetic prose. In order to substantiate such as a claim, this paper will use three lines of argumentation: (1) Genesis 1 is genealogical in nature similar to the other genealogies found in Genesis, (2) Genesis 2:4a should be taken as a hinge statement that concludes the overview of creation in Genesis 1:1–2:4 and introduces the detailed creation account given in Genesis 2:5–25 due to their genealogical connections, and (3) the formulaic repetitions of Genesis 1:1–2:4 are historical narrative similar to other formulaic Old Testament narrative texts.