Moses · Traditional Attribution

Genesis · Chapter 1bērēʾshîth

In the Beginning — The Six Days of Creation

Before everything, God. Genesis 1 opens the canon with a measured, liturgical account of the world’s origin. Across six days God speaks formless darkness into formed, filled, ordered creation; on the seventh He rests. The chapter is not a polemic about cosmology and not a bare chronology — it is a structured proclamation that the universe is the work of one God who creates by word, who declares His work good, who places humanity as image-bearing royalty within it, and who sets the rhythms of time itself before there is anyone to keep them. Every theme of the rest of Scripture has its seed here.

Genesis 1:1-5

“In the beginning God created” — the first light pierces the deep

LSB Text

¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. ³Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Hebrew Text

¹בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃ ²וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃ ³וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר׃ ⁴וַיַּ֧רְא אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָא֖וֹר כִּי־ט֑וֹב וַיַּבְדֵּ֣ל אֱלֹהִ֔ים בֵּ֥ין הָא֖וֹר וּבֵ֥ין הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ׃ ⁵וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ לָאוֹר֙ י֔וֹם וְלַחֹ֖שֶׁךְ קָ֣רָא לָ֑יְלָה וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם אֶחָֽד׃

¹berêshîth bârâ’ ’ĕlôhîm ’êth hashshâmayim we’êth hâ’âreṣ. ²wehâ’âreṣ hâyethâh thôhû wâvôhû weḥôshek ‘al-penê thehôm weruaḥ ’ĕlôhîm meraḥep̄eth ‘al-penê hammâyim. ³wayyô’mer ’ĕlôhîm yehî ’ôr wayhî-’ôr. ⁴wayyar’ ’ĕlôhîm ’eth-hâ’ôr kî-ṭôv wayyavdêl ’ĕlôhîm bên hâ’ôr ûvên haḥôshek. ⁵wayyiqrâ’ ’ĕlôhîm lâ’ôr yôm welaḥôshek qârâ’ lâylâh wayhî-‘erev wayhî-vôqer yôm ’eḥâd.

Key Words

בְּרֵאשִׁית bērêshîth in the beginning

A construct form of rê’shîth (“beginning, first, chief part”) prefixed by the inseparable preposition be- (“in”). The noun derives from rô’sh (“head”): a beginning is the “head” of a sequence. Because the form is morphologically construct, some Jewish commentators (Rashi, Ibn Ezra) read it as “in the beginning of God’s creating” — making v. 1 a temporal clause subordinate to v. 3. The Masoretic accentuation, the LXX (en archê), and the early translations support the absolute reading preserved in LSB: an independent declarative statement. Either way, the word does not assume eternal matter alongside God; it names the moment when time itself begins. The same word opens the Gospel of John (en archê) and the first epistle of John, deliberately echoing the opening of the canon.

בָּרָא bârâ’ created

The defining verb of the chapter. In the Qal stem (used here, in v. 21, v. 27, and 2:3), bârâ’ takes only God as its grammatical subject in the entire Hebrew Bible — a lexical reservation that distinguishes God’s creative work from human making. The verb does not by itself entail creation ex nihilo at the lexical level (it can be used of God’s shaping a people, Isa 43:1), but the canonical context here, where v. 1 places bârâ’ at the absolute beginning “before” any matter is named, has long been read as the seed of the doctrine. The Septuagint translates with epoiêsen (“made”); later Jewish and Christian theology will sharpen the language toward creatio ex nihilo, classically articulated in 2 Maccabees 7:28 and Hebrews 11:3. The chapter uses bârâ’ at three thresholds: cosmos (v. 1), animal life (v. 21), and humanity (v. 27).

אֱלֹהִים ’ĕlôhîm God

A grammatically plural noun (the singular is ’ĕlôah) that takes singular verbs when referring to the God of Israel — a phenomenon called the “plural of majesty” or “plural of intensification.” The form occurs over thirty times in this chapter, as if the narrator is hammering the divine name with each act. The plural form leaves productive room for later trinitarian reflection — a room exploited at v. 26 (“Let Us make”) — without itself being a proof-text for triunity. The cognate ’êl appears in West Semitic generally (Akkadian ilu, Ugaritic ’il), but Genesis 1 evacuates the term of any pantheonic implication: there is one Maker, and everything that exists is His creature, including the sun and moon (v. 16) which the surrounding cultures worshiped.

תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ thôhû wâvôhû formless and void

A rhyming hendiadys describing the earth’s pre-creation state. Thôhû is a noun meaning “wasteland, emptiness, futility” (cf. Isa 45:18, where God is said not to have created the earth thôhû); vôhû appears almost exclusively paired with it (only Jer 4:23, Isa 34:11). The phrase paints not a primordial chaos rivaling God but an unfinished workshop — an earth that exists but is not yet shaped or filled. The structure of the six days addresses precisely this twofold lack: days 1-3 form (light/dark, sky/sea, land/vegetation), days 4-6 fill (luminaries, sea-and-sky creatures, land animals and humans). The chapter resolves thôhû wâvôhû in two parallel triads of activity.

תְהוֹם tehôm deep, primordial waters

A poetic noun for the deep sea, the abyss, the cosmic ocean. The word is cognate with Ugaritic thm and shares an etymological root with Akkadian ti’âmat, the named goddess of the salt-water chaos in the Babylonian Enûma Eliš. Genesis 1 uses the word with all polemical edges showing: tehôm here is not a goddess and not a rival; it is undefined water over which the Spirit hovers, awaiting its boundary. The Bible later uses tehôm for the flood-waters (Gen 7:11), the depths of the sea split by the Exodus (Exod 15:5; Isa 51:10), and metaphorically for great trouble (Ps 42:7). The chapter does not deny that the surrounding peoples told stories of cosmic battle with the deep; it tells a different story.

רוּחַ ruaḥ spirit, wind, breath

A polysemous noun meaning “wind,” “breath,” or “spirit” depending on context. With the genitive ’ĕlôhîm (“of God”), the LSB renders “Spirit of God,” capitalizing in line with later canonical reflection (cf. Job 33:4; Ps 104:30). Some translators render “a mighty wind” (an attributive genitive of intensity), but the verb that follows tilts the reading: meraḥep̄eth (“hovering”) is a Piel participle from râḥap̄, a verb that elsewhere describes a mother bird brooding over its young (Deut 32:11, of the eagle hovering over its nest). The image is not a blast of weather but a tender, attentive presence. The Spirit who hovers here is the Spirit poured out at Pentecost, the One who hovers in the New Creation as well as the first.

אוֹר ’ôr light

The first thing God names by speaking. ’ôr is the common Hebrew noun for light, contrasted with ḥôshek (“darkness”). The light of v. 3 precedes the sun of v. 14 by three days — an ordering ancient interpreters from Augustine to Calvin took as theologically deliberate: light is not bound to a single luminary; God is the source of light, and the sun is its later vessel. The New Testament catches this: God dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim 6:16), the Word is the true light (John 1:9), and the New Jerusalem has no need of sun or moon, for “the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev 21:23). The verbal command yehî ’ôr (“Let there be light”) and the immediate result wayhî ’ôr (“and there was light”) form a perfect echo — the word commanded and the word fulfilled differ only by a single waw-consecutive prefix.

טוֹב ṭôv good

The verdict-word of Genesis 1, repeated seven times across the six days (vv. 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31), with the final occurrence intensified to ṭôv me’ôd (“very good”) at v. 31. Ṭôv is not narrowly aesthetic and not narrowly moral; it covers what is functional, beautiful, beneficial, and rightly ordered. God’s pronouncement is not external aesthetic approval but the confirmation that creation is doing what He made it to do. The repetition is a liturgical drumbeat establishing the foundational claim of biblical theology against every form of cosmic dualism: matter is not evil, the body is not a prison, the world is not a mistake. Whatever has gone wrong since — the chapter does not yet say — the original judgment of the Maker is good.

עֶרֶב וָבֹקֶר ‘erev wâvôqer evening and morning

The closing formula of each of the first six days. Hebrew reckoning of time begins with evening, not morning — a pattern preserved in Jewish liturgical practice to this day, where each day starts at sundown. The order also has a theological cadence: night gives way to morning, darkness to light, an Easter-shaped grammar built into the rhythm of time itself. The ordinal of v. 5 (yôm ’eḥâd, “day one,” not “the first day” hari’shôn) is unusual; some commentators take the cardinal numeral as marking the unique inaugural day from which all subsequent days are measured. The remaining days use ordinals (shenî, shelîshî, etc.), confirming that day one is a different beat in the pattern.

Grammar & Argument

Verse 1 is a single seven-word sentence in Hebrew (berêshîth bârâ’ ’ĕlôhîm ’êth hashshâmayim we’êth hâ’âreṣ) — a deliberate counting that the chapter as a whole repeats: seven days, seven creative declarations of good, seven occurrences of ’ereṣ (“earth”) in v. 1 through 2:3, the divine name ’ĕlôhîm appearing thirty-five (5×7) times, and the verb “said” ten times (the same number as the words at Sinai). The numerology is not a code; it is the architecture of a hymn. The construction is a verbless declarative followed by the qatal (perfect) form bârâ’ — an unmarked simple-past with the force of a foundational announcement: this is what was done, and the rest of Scripture proceeds from it.

Verse 2 shifts to a circumstantial clause introduced by w- + nominal subject (wehâ’âreṣ, “and the earth was”). Hebrew grammar marks the change of pace: v. 1 announces the act, v. 2 describes the state of the canvas, and the narrative resumes with the wayyiqtol (waw-consecutive imperfect) sequence wayyô’mer (“and He said”) in v. 3. The triple description in v. 2 — formless-and-void, darkness over the deep, Spirit hovering over waters — sets the agenda for the chapter. The first three days will address formlessness (giving shape to light/dark, sky/sea, land); days 4-6 will address voidness (filling each domain). The Spirit’s hovering frames the entire process: this is not chaos resolved by combat but darkness shaped by attentive presence.

Verse 3 introduces the verbal pattern that drives the chapter: wayyô’mer ’ĕlôhîm (“and God said”), followed by a jussive imperative (yehî, “let there be”), followed by an immediate report of completion (wayhî, “and it was”). The pattern repeats with variations across the chapter. The phonological echo yehî ’ôr — wayhî ’ôr (“Let there be light — there was light”) is one of the most economical sentences in all of Scripture. God speaks; the world answers. The doctrine of creation by word, which patristic and reformation theology will spell out at length, is already enacted here in the smallest possible space.

Verse 4 introduces bâdal (“to separate, divide”), the second great verb of the chapter alongside bârâ’. Creation proceeds by separation: light from darkness (v. 4), waters above from waters below (v. 7), day from night (v. 14). Holiness language in Leviticus will use the same verb (Lev 10:10; 11:47; 20:24) for separating clean from unclean, sacred from profane. The cosmos is set up holiness-wise from the start: God orders by distinguishing, and the moral life of His people will mirror this primal pattern of distinguishing what He has distinguished.

Verse 5 closes the day with God’s naming (qârâ’, “He called”) the light Day and the darkness Night. Naming is an act of authority — an authority that, by chapter’s end, will be partially delegated to the human image-bearer (2:19-20). The day-cycle formula closes with the cardinal yôm ’eḥâd (“day one”), the only day so numbered. Whether this is read as marking a unique inaugural day or as a Hebrew idiom for the first ordinal, the rhythm is established: God works; God evaluates; God names; God moves on.

God does not need to conquer the deep. He simply speaks; the dark obeys; and what He has made is good before any creature has a chance to praise it.

OT Connection

Psalm 33:6-9 · Psalm 104:1-9 · Isaiah 45:18 · Job 38:4-11

The rest of the Old Testament returns to Genesis 1 in poetry rather than prose. Psalm 33:6-9 condenses the chapter to a single sentence: בִּדְבַר יְהוָה שָׁמַיִם נַעֲשׂוּ וּבְרוּחַ פִּיו כָּל־צְבָאָם (biḏevar Yhwh shâmayim na‘ăśû ûveruaḥ pîw kâl-ṣevâ’âm), “By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host” — the Word and the Breath/Spirit of Genesis 1:2-3 named together as the agents of creation. Psalm 104 rewrites the six days as a single ecstatic doxology, narrating the same sequence (light, sky/waters, land/vegetation, luminaries, creatures, humanity) in poetic order. Isaiah 45:18 picks up the very word thôhû from Gen 1:2 and tells the Babylonian exiles that God did not create the earth thôhû — that is, He created it to be filled. Job 38 turns the chapter into a courtroom interrogation: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?”

LSB renders YHWH as Yahweh in the OT throughout, distinguishing the personal name from the title ’ĕlôhîm. Genesis 1 uses only ’ĕlôhîm (the cosmic Maker title); the personal covenant name YHWH first appears at Genesis 2:4. The transition is theological, not editorial: chapter 1 announces the universal Creator; chapter 2 introduces the covenant Lord who will walk in the garden in the cool of the day.

LSB Choices Worth Noting

“In the beginning God created” for berêshîth bârâ’ ’ĕlôhîm — LSB takes the absolute reading of v. 1 (an independent declarative sentence), in line with the Masoretic accentuation, the LXX, and the long-dominant Christian tradition. The alternative subordinate reading (“When God began creating”) is grammatically defensible but theologically reductive; LSB’s decision preserves the foundational force of the opening as a self-contained declaration.

“Formless and void” for thôhû wâvôhû — LSB preserves the rhyming pair with two English nouns rather than smoothing to “chaos” or “a wasteland.” The two-word phrase is recoverable in v. 2 of Jeremiah 4:23, Isaiah 34:11, and the chapter-structure itself echoes the pair across days 1-3 (form) and days 4-6 (filling).

“The Spirit of God was hovering” for weruaḥ ’ĕlôhîm meraḥep̄eth — LSB capitalizes “Spirit” (consistent with its policy of rendering ruaḥ ’ĕlôhîm / ruaḥ haqqôdésh capitalized when the divine Spirit is in view). “Hovering” preserves the brooding-bird image of râḥap̄ (Deut 32:11); “moving” (NASB 1995) is more generic, and “a mighty wind sweeping” (NRSV) loses the personal-presence force.

“One day” for yôm ’eḥâd — LSB preserves the cardinal numeral (rather than smoothing to “the first day”), recognizing that v. 5 uses ’eḥâd while vv. 8, 13, 19, 23, 31 use ordinals. The unique form marks an inaugural day from which all subsequent days are measured.

Genesis 1:6-13

Sky, Sea, and Land — the world is shaped

LSB Text

⁶Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷And God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. ⁸And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. ⁹Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. ¹⁰And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. ¹¹Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them”; and it was so. ¹²And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. ¹³And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

Hebrew Text

⁶וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים יְהִ֥י רָקִ֖יעַ בְּת֣וֹךְ הַמָּ֑יִם וִיהִ֣י מַבְדִּ֔יל בֵּ֥ין מַ֖יִם לָמָֽיִם׃ ⁷וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִים֮ אֶת־הָרָקִיעַ֒ וַיַּבְדֵּ֗ל בֵּ֤ין הַמַּ֙יִם֙ אֲשֶׁר֙ מִתַּ֣חַת לָרָקִ֔יעַ וּבֵ֣ין הַמַּ֔יִם אֲשֶׁ֖ר מֵעַ֣ל לָרָקִ֑יעַ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃ ⁸וַיִּקְרָ֧א אֱלֹהִ֛ים לָֽרָקִ֖יעַ שָׁמָ֑יִם וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם שֵׁנִֽי׃ ⁹וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים יִקָּו֨וּ הַמַּ֜יִם מִתַּ֤חַת הַשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ אֶל־מָק֣וֹם אֶחָ֔ד וְתֵרָאֶ֖ה הַיַּבָּשָׁ֑ה וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃ ¹⁰וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ לַיַּבָּשָׁה֙ אֶ֔רֶץ וּלְמִקְוֵ֥ה הַמַּ֖יִם קָרָ֣א יַמִּ֑ים וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹהִ֖ים כִּי־טֽוֹב׃ ¹¹וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים תַּֽדְשֵׁ֤א הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ דֶּ֔שֶׁא עֵ֚שֶׂב מַזְרִ֣יעַ זֶ֔רַע עֵ֣ץ פְּרִ֞י עֹ֤שֶׂה פְּרִי֙ לְמִינ֔וֹ אֲשֶׁ֥ר זַרְעוֹ־ב֖וֹ עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃ ¹²וַתּוֹצֵ֨א הָאָ֜רֶץ דֶּ֠שֶׁא עֵ֣שֶׂב מַזְרִ֤יעַ זֶ֙רַע֙ לְמִינֵ֔הוּ וְעֵ֧ץ עֹֽשֶׂה־פְּרִ֛י אֲשֶׁ֥ר זַרְעוֹ־ב֖וֹ לְמִינֵ֑הוּ וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹהִ֖ים כִּי־טֽוֹב׃ ¹³וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם שְׁלִישִֽׁי׃

⁶wayyô’mer ’ĕlôhîm yehî râqîa‘ betôk hammâyim wîhî mavdîl bên mayim lâmâyim. ⁷wayya‘aś ’ĕlôhîm ’eth-hârâqîa‘ wayyavdêl bên hammayim ’ăsher mittaḥath lârâqîa‘ ûvên hammayim ’ăsher mê‘al lârâqîa‘ wayhî-kên. ⁸wayyiqrâ’ ’ĕlôhîm lârâqîa‘ shâmâyim wayhî-‘erev wayhî-vôqer yôm shênî. ⁹wayyô’mer ’ĕlôhîm yiqqâwû hammayim mittaḥath hashshâmayim ’el-mâqôm ’eḥâd wethêrâ’eh hayyabbâshâh wayhî-kên. ¹⁰wayyiqrâ’ ’ĕlôhîm layyabbâshâh ’ereṣ ûlemiqwêh hammayim qârâ’ yammîm wayyar’ ’ĕlôhîm kî-ṭôv. ¹¹wayyô’mer ’ĕlôhîm tadshê’ hâ’âreṣ deshe’ ‘êśev mazrîa‘ zera‘ ‘êṣ perî ‘ôśeh perî lemînô ’ăsher zar‘ô-vô ‘al-hâ’âreṣ wayhî-kên. ¹²wattôṣê’ hâ’âreṣ deshe’ ‘êśev mazrîa‘ zera‘ lemînêhû we‘êṣ ‘ôśeh-perî ’ăsher zar‘ô-vô lemînêhû wayyar’ ’ĕlôhîm kî-ṭôv. ¹³wayhî-‘erev wayhî-vôqer yôm shelîshî.

Key Words

רָקִיעַ râqîa‘ expanse, firmament

From the verb râqa‘, “to beat out, hammer flat, spread thin” (used of beating gold into leaf, Exod 39:3, or stamping the earth, Ezek 6:11). The noun therefore names something hammered out into an extended surface. The LXX renders stereôma (“solid structure”), which the Vulgate carried into Latin as firmamentum — the source of the older English “firmament.” LSB’s “expanse” preserves the spreading sense without committing to ancient cosmography. The function the chapter assigns is clear: a barrier between the waters above (rain-source / heavenly ocean) and the waters below (sea, river, spring). The chapter is not interested in cosmography for its own sake; it is interested in how God orders the world by separation.

בָּדַל bâdal separate, divide

A Hiphil-stem verb (causative) used five times in Genesis 1 (vv. 4, 6, 7, 14, 18). The same root will dominate the holiness vocabulary of Leviticus, where Israel is to distinguish clean from unclean and the priests are set apart from the people (Lev 10:10; 11:47; 20:24-26). Creation and holiness share the same grammar: God orders by drawing lines — light from dark, sky from sea, dry land from waters. Sin will later confuse these lines (Romans 1 reads idolatry as the deliberate blurring of Creator/creature distinction); redemption will restore them (Rev 21 names the new creation as the place where unclean and clean are no longer at war).

אֶרֶץ ’ereṣ earth, land

The common Hebrew noun for the earth as a whole and for any specific land within it. In v. 1 the term names the cosmos paired with shâmayim (“heavens”); in v. 10 it narrows to the dry land that has just appeared. The same word will mean “the land” promised to Abraham (Gen 12:1) and “the earth” that the meek shall inherit (Ps 37:11; Matt 5:5). The chapter establishes the lexical bridge: when later texts speak of the land, they speak of a piece of the cosmos God Himself called good. Ecology and covenant share an etymology.

יַמִּים yammîm seas

Plural of yâm. The chapter names the sea as a creature, not a god — a deliberate polemic against the pantheons of the surrounding cultures, where Yam (Ugaritic) and Tiamat (Babylonian) named hostile divine forces. Here the sea is something God called into a place; it has its boundary; it remains within it because He set it there (cf. Job 38:8-11; Jer 5:22). The Bible never loses its respect for the deep’s power (Ps 107:23-30 sailors crying out in storms; Jonah’s descent), but it never lets the deep regain divine status. By Revelation 21:1 the sea is gone — not because creation is anti-material but because the symbolic threat of unbounded chaos has been finally settled.

תַּדְשֵׁא tadshê’ let it sprout

A Hiphil jussive of dâshâ’, “to sprout, send forth shoots” — cognate with the noun deshe’ (“tender grass”), the very next word in v. 11. The verb is causative: God commands the earth itself to do the sprouting, delegating creative agency to the medium He has just made. This is significant: God could have made each plant directly, but He instead empowers the earth to bring forth. The pattern recurs at v. 24 with land animals: tôṣê’ hâ’âreṣ (“let the earth bring forth”). Creation is not a one-off act of fabrication; God establishes capacities within creatures themselves. This grounds the biblical theology of secondary causes — the world genuinely does things, because God has made it the kind of thing that does.

מִין mîn kind, type, species

A Hebrew noun denoting category or sort. The phrase lemînô / lemînêhû (“according to its kind”) recurs ten times across vv. 11-25, structuring the creation of vegetation and animals. The term does not map onto modern Linnaean taxonomy and was not meant to; it names the divinely intended boundaries of reproductive continuity. Each mîn brings forth its own. The Levitical food laws will use cognate language for forbidden mixtures — not sowing two kinds of seed in one field (Lev 19:19), not yoking two kinds of animals together (Deut 22:10) — turning the creation pattern into ethical instruction: live with the grain of how God ordered the world.

Grammar & Argument

Days 2 and 3 form the second and third panels of the form-giving triad. Day 1 separated light from darkness (the temporal axis); day 2 separates waters above from waters below (the vertical axis); day 3 separates dry land from sea (the horizontal axis). The chapter is building a three-tiered cosmos — sky above, sea around, land underfoot — that days 4, 5, and 6 will then fill (luminaries above, sea-and-sky creatures, land animals). The architectural symmetry is deliberate: a chiasm in geography. Day 4 fills day 1, day 5 fills day 2, day 6 fills day 3.

Notice the difference between days 2 and 3 in the formula. Day 2 (vv. 6-8) does not receive the verdict kî-ṭôv (“that it was good”), unlike every other day. Ancient Jewish exegesis (e.g., Genesis Rabbah 4:6) connected this to the incompleteness of the second day’s work — the separating of the waters is not finished until day 3 gathers the lower waters into one place and the dry land appears. Day 3 then receives the formula twice (vv. 10, 12), as if making up for the missing “good” of day 2 and adding its own. Whether this is intentional structuring or accidental, the chapter’s readers have always sensed something deliberate in the asymmetry.

The pattern in v. 11 is a small theological masterpiece. God says tadshê’ hâ’âreṣ deshe’ — literally “let the earth sprout sprouts.” The figura etymologica (a verb and its cognate noun in immediate sequence) intensifies the activity. Creation is not just inert material acted upon; the earth herself is summoned to do something. The seed-bearing pattern is then specified: plants yielding seed (mazrîa‘ zera‘) and trees bearing fruit with seed in them (perî ‘ôśeh perî … ’ăsher zar‘ô-vô). The world is built not just to exist but to reproduce, to perpetuate itself. Generativity is woven into the grain of creation from the first afternoon of plant life.

The rapid-fire structure of wayyô’mer — yehî / yiqqâwû / tadshê’ — wayhî-kên / wattôṣê’ (and God said — let it / be gathered / sprout — and it was so / and it brought forth) gives the day-3 narrative its breathless quality. Five verbal acts compress into two verses (vv. 11-12). The chapter is in no hurry to philosophize; it shows us a God whose word and the world’s response are barely distinguishable in time.

God does not just make the world and step away. He builds a world that does things — an earth commanded to sprout, a sea bounded but living, an order that participates in its own becoming.

Genesis 1:14-23

Lights, Sea-Creatures, Birds — the world is filled

LSB Text

¹⁴Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for appointed times, and for days and years; ¹⁵and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. ¹⁶And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. ¹⁷And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. ²⁰Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” ²¹And God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters teemed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. ²²And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

Hebrew Text

¹⁴וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים יְהִ֤י מְאֹרֹת֙ בִּרְקִ֣יעַ הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם לְהַבְדִּ֕יל בֵּ֥ין הַיּ֖וֹם וּבֵ֣ין הַלָּ֑יְלָה וְהָי֤וּ לְאֹתֹת֙ וּלְמ֣וֹעֲדִ֔ים וּלְיָמִ֖ים וְשָׁנִֽים׃ ¹⁶וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִ֔ים אֶת־שְׁנֵ֥י הַמְּאֹרֹ֖ת הַגְּדֹלִ֑ים אֶת־הַמָּא֤וֹר הַגָּדֹל֙ לְמֶמְשֶׁ֣לֶת הַיּ֔וֹם וְאֶת־הַמָּא֤וֹר הַקָּטֹן֙ לְמֶמְשֶׁ֣לֶת הַלַּ֔יְלָה וְאֵ֖ת הַכּוֹכָבִֽים׃ ²⁰וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים יִשְׁרְצ֣וּ הַמַּ֔יִם שֶׁ֖רֶץ נֶ֣פֶשׁ חַיָּ֑ה וְעוֹף֙ יְעוֹפֵ֣ף עַל־הָאָ֔רֶץ עַל־פְּנֵ֖י רְקִ֥יעַ הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ ²¹וַיִּבְרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֔ים אֶת־הַתַּנִּינִ֖ם הַגְּדֹלִ֑ים וְאֵ֣ת כָּל־נֶ֣פֶשׁ הַֽחַיָּ֣ה ׀ הָֽרֹמֶ֡שֶׂת אֲשֶׁר֩ שָׁרְצ֨וּ הַמַּ֜יִם לְמִֽינֵהֶ֗ם וְאֵ֨ת כָּל־ע֤וֹף כָּנָף֙ לְמִינֵ֔הוּ וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹהִ֖ים כִּי־טֽוֹב׃ ²²וַיְבָ֧רֶךְ אֹתָ֛ם אֱלֹהִ֖ים לֵאמֹ֑ר פְּר֣וּ וּרְב֗וּ וּמִלְא֤וּ אֶת־הַמַּ֙יִם֙ בַּיַּמִּ֔ים וְהָע֖וֹף יִ֥רֶב בָּאָֽרֶץ׃

¹⁴wayyô’mer ’ĕlôhîm yehî me’ôrôth birqîa‘ hashshâmayim lehavdîl bên hayyôm ûvên hallâylâh wehâyû le’ôthôth ûlemô‘ădîm ûleyâmîm weshânîm. ¹⁶wayya‘aś ’ĕlôhîm ’eth-shenê hamme’ôrôth haggedôlîm ’eth-hammâ’ôr haggâdôl lememshelet hayyôm we’eth-hammâ’ôr haqqâṭôn lememshelet hallaylah we’êth hakkôkâvîm. ²⁰wayyô’mer ’ĕlôhîm yishreṣû hammayim shereṣ nephesh ḥayyâh we‘ôp̄ ye‘ôp̄êp̄ ‘al-hâ’âreṣ ‘al-penê reqîa‘ hashshâmâyim. ²¹wayyivrâ’ ’ĕlôhîm ’eth-hattânnînîm haggedôlîm we’êth kâl-nephesh haḥayyâh hârômeśeth ’ăsher shâreṣû hammayim lemînêhem we’êth kâl-‘ôp̄ kânâp̄ lemînêhû wayyar’ ’ĕlôhîm kî-ṭôv. ²²wayvârek ’ôthâm ’ĕlôhîm lê’môr perû ûrevû ûmil’û ’eth-hammayim bayyammîm wehâ‘ôp̄ yirev bâ’âreṣ.

Key Words

מְאֹרֹת me’ôrôth lights, luminaries

A noun derived from the same root as ’ôr (“light,” v. 3) but with a prefix that turns it into a noun of instrument or agent: me’ôr = “light-bearer.” The chapter pointedly avoids the proper names shemesh (sun) and yârêaḥ (moon), both of which were active deity-names in the surrounding cultures. By calling them merely “the greater light” and “the lesser light” (v. 16), Genesis demotes them: they are creatures, not gods; they are functional luminaries, not personalities to be appeased. The polemic is sharp without being shrill. The same de-divinization will be turned into legal prohibition at Deut 4:19 (do not bow to the sun, moon, and stars). And the prophet at Isa 40:26 will lift the eyes back up to that “host” and ask who created them — the answer is the same as Genesis 1.

אֹתֹת ’ôthôth signs

Plural of ’ôth, a sign or token. The lights are not just for chronology; they are for signs — markers that point to something beyond themselves. The same noun names the rainbow (Gen 9:12-13), circumcision (Gen 17:11), the Sabbath (Exod 31:13), and the wonders of the Exodus (Exod 7:3). To say the heavens carry signs is not to license astrology; it is to say (with Psalm 19) that the heavens declare the glory of God. The signs do not predict private fortunes; they speak of the Maker. The same ground will be appealed to at Christ’s birth (Matt 2 the Magi follow a star) and at His death (the sun darkening, Mark 15:33). The luminaries are signage for what God is doing.

מוֹעֲדִים mô‘ădîm appointed times, festivals

Plural of mô‘êd, an appointed meeting time. The same noun names the festivals of Israel in Leviticus 23:2 — Passover, Weeks, Booths, the Day of Atonement — and the “tent of meeting” itself (’ôhel mô‘êd). The lights of v. 14 are not given just for measuring time; they are given so that there will be a calendar by which God can keep appointments with His people. The cosmos is wired for liturgy. Long before there is an Israel, the moon is appointed to track the months and the sun is appointed to track the years on which Israel’s festivals will turn. The created order is not theologically neutral; it is built to host worship.

שָׁרַץ shâraṣ to swarm, teem

A verb describing the abundant motion of small creatures — the schools of fish darting, the flocks of birds rising, the busy movements of multitudes of small animals. The cognate noun shereṣ means a swarming creature. The verb intensifies in the figura etymologica yishreṣû hammayim shereṣ (“let the waters swarm with swarms”) — doubled for emphasis, like “let the earth sprout sprouts” in v. 11. The chapter celebrates abundance: God does not make a single fish; He makes the seas thick with life. Creation’s default setting is fullness.

תַּנִּינִם tannînîm great sea creatures, sea monsters

Plural of tannîn, a noun for large aquatic creatures — sometimes a mythological dragon (Isa 27:1; 51:9), sometimes simply a great sea beast (Ps 148:7), sometimes a serpent (Exod 7:9-10, Aaron’s rod). In the surrounding cultures the parallel figures (Leviathan in Ugaritic, Tiamat in Babylonian) were divine adversaries the high god had to defeat to make the world. Genesis 1:21 strips them of every shred of divinity: the great sea creatures are created (wayyivrâ’, the third use of bârâ’ in the chapter) by God on day 5, and they are good. The chapter does not deny that the sea is fearsome; it denies that the sea’s fearsomeness is a rival to God. Even the leviathan is His creature.

בָּרַךְ bârak to bless

The first divine blessing in the canon — spoken not over humans, but over the swarming sea-life and the birds of the sky. The verb bârak means “to invest with productive power, to make to flourish.” The blessing here is fertility: perû ûrevû ûmil’û (“be fruitful and multiply and fill”). The same triplet will be repeated to humanity in v. 28. The order matters: God blesses the lower creatures first, then the human; the human is not the only blessed creature, only the highest. The same verb will become the controlling word of the Abrahamic covenant (Gen 12:2-3, “I will bless you … in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”). The covenant promise begins as the original cosmic gift: God’s primal posture toward creation is benediction.

Grammar & Argument

Day 4 begins the second triad — the filling of the domains formed in days 1-3. The luminaries fill the temporal domain established on day 1 (light/dark, day/night). The chapter slows down for this day: vv. 14-19 give the longest single-day account so far, with three explicit purpose clauses (separating, signaling, illuminating). The careful pacing is not accidental. The luminaries were the chief idols of the surrounding nations, and Genesis takes its time stripping them of false dignity. They are made (‘âśâh, v. 16, not bârâ’ in this verse), placed, given function, and named only by category — never as gods.

The verb mâshal in memshelet hayyôm / memshelet hallaylah (“to govern the day / night”) is borrowed from the language of human kingship. The sun and moon are given dominions in time the way a steward is given a region in space. They are functional rulers, not metaphysical ones. Psalm 136:7-9 picks up exactly this language in its hymn of creation: God made “the great lights … the sun to rule by day … the moon and the stars to rule by night.” The chapter delegates governance and immediately positions itself against the worship of the delegates.

Day 5 (vv. 20-23) marks the second use of bârâ’ in the chapter (v. 21). The verb returns precisely at the threshold where God brings forth conscious life — nephesh ḥayyâh (“living soul / breathing creature”). The chapter has been using ‘âśâh (“made”) for the luminaries; it returns to bârâ’ for the first ensouled creatures. The threefold use of bârâ’ in the chapter (vv. 1, 21, 27) marks the three thresholds — cosmos, animal life, humanity — where God’s creative activity is irreducible to development from prior matter.

The blessing in v. 22 is the chapter’s first benediction. God speaks to His creatures, not just about them. The sea-life and birds receive a word of fertility-empowerment: perû ûrevû ûmil’û (“be fruitful, multiply, fill”). The same triplet will be repeated to humanity in v. 28, but slightly modified — humanity gets “subdue and have dominion” added to the basic mandate. The Genesis blessing-vocabulary thus has a basic version (v. 22) and an elevated version (v. 28). All living creatures share in the basic; only the image-bearer is given the elevated.

The first words God speaks to a creature are not commands but blessings. Before there is any law, there is benediction.

Genesis 1:24-31

Land Animals and the Image of God

LSB Text

²⁴Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. ²⁵And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good. ²⁶Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸And God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; ³⁰and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. ³¹And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Hebrew Text

²⁶וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים נַֽעֲשֶׂ֥ה אָדָ֛ם בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ כִּדְמוּתֵ֑נוּ וְיִרְדּוּ֩ בִדְגַ֨ת הַיָּ֜ם וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם וּבַבְּהֵמָה֙ וּבְכָל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וּבְכָל־הָרֶ֖מֶשׂ הָֽרֹמֵ֥שׂ עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ ²⁷וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹהִ֖ים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם׃ ²⁸וַיְבָ֣רֶךְ אֹתָם֮ אֱלֹהִים֒ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר לָהֶ֜ם אֱלֹהִ֗ים פְּר֥וּ וּרְב֛וּ וּמִלְא֥וּ אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ וְכִבְשֻׁ֑הָ וּרְד֞וּ בִּדְגַ֤ת הַיָּם֙ וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וּבְכָל־חַיָּ֖ה הָֽרֹמֶ֥שֶׂת עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ ³¹וַיַּ֤רְא אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֔ה וְהִנֵּה־ט֖וֹב מְאֹ֑ד וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם הַשִּׁשִּֽׁי׃

²⁶wayyô’mer ’ĕlôhîm na‘ăśeh ’âdâm beṣalmênû kiḏmûthênû weyirdû viḏgaṯ hayyâm ûve‘ôp̄ hashshâmayim ûvabbehêmâh ûveḵol-hâ’âreṣ ûveḵol-hâremeś hârômêś ‘al-hâ’âreṣ. ²⁷wayyivrâ’ ’ĕlôhîm ’eth-hâ’âdâm beṣalmô beṣelem ’ĕlôhîm bârâ’ ’ôthô zâkâr ûneqêvâh bârâ’ ’ôthâm. ²⁸wayvârek ’ôthâm ’ĕlôhîm wayyô’mer lâhem ’ĕlôhîm perû ûrevû ûmil’û ’eth-hâ’âreṣ weḵivshuhâ ûreḏû biḏgaṯ hayyâm ûve‘ôp̄ hashshâmayim ûveḵol-ḥayyâh hârômeśeth ‘al-hâ’âreṣ. ³¹wayyar’ ’ĕlôhîm ’eth-kâl-’ăsher ‘âśâh wehinnêh-ṭôv me’ôd wayhî-‘erev wayhî-vôqer yôm hashshishî.

Key Words

נַעֲשֶׂה na‘ăśeh let us make

A first-person plural cohortative of ‘âśâh (“to make”). The plural verb suddenly appears after a chapter of singular verbs. The grammatical question has been worked over for two thousand years. The main proposals: (1) plural of majesty — God speaks of Himself in the royal plural (uncommon in Hebrew but not unheard of); (2) divine council — God addresses the angelic host (1 Kings 22:19; Job 1:6), inviting them to witness even if not to participate; (3) intra-divine plural — God speaks within His own being (the trinitarian reading, articulated by the early church and refined by later dogmatic theology). The chapter does not resolve the ambiguity; it leaves the plurality productive. What is unambiguous is that the agent in v. 27 is singular: wayyivrâ’ (“and He created”). One God, who speaks in some kind of plural, makes humanity in His image. Trinitarian theology will later read this in the light of John 1:3 (“all things came into being through Him,” the Word) and the Spirit’s hovering in v. 2.

צֶלֶם ṣelem image, statue, representation

A noun used elsewhere in the Old Testament for cult statues (Num 33:52; 2 Kings 11:18; Ezek 7:20). In the ancient Near East, kings would place an image (Akkadian ṣalmu, the same root) of themselves in distant provinces to represent their rule where they could not be physically present. Egyptian Pharaohs called themselves the “image” of their gods. Genesis takes the royal-statue language and democratizes it: the image-bearer is not the king but the human, every human, male and female. Where the surrounding cultures had a single king as the image of the god, Genesis says every person is the image of the one God. The implications run deep: human dignity is not a function of class, achievement, or nationality; it is a function of being made-as-image. James 3:9 will appeal directly to this when forbidding cursing other people: “with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God.”

דְּמוּת demuth likeness, similitude

A noun meaning “likeness, resemblance,” from the verb dâmâh (“to be like”). Paired here with ṣelem (image), the two terms function as a hendiadys: image-and-likeness together name a single reality. Some patristic theologians (notably Irenaeus) tried to distinguish the two terms (ṣelem = ontological image, retained after the fall; demuth = moral likeness, lost in the fall and being restored), but the Hebrew usage is interchangeable: 5:1 uses demuth alone, 9:6 uses ṣelem alone, both pointing back to the same reality of 1:26-27. The hendiadys is for fullness, not for distinction.

רָדָה râdâh to rule, have dominion

A verb of authority — the same word used of human kings ruling subject peoples (1 Kings 4:24, “Solomon ruled”) and shepherds ruling flocks. The verb is not violent at root, but it can take a violent direction (Ezek 34:4, false shepherds ruling “with force and severity”). The chapter pairs râdâh with kâvash (subdue, v. 28). Read in their original setting, neither verb licenses extraction or destruction; both are royal stewardship language. Adam is not given the world to consume; he is given a kingdom to keep. Genesis 2:15 makes this explicit: the human is placed in the garden to ‘âvad (“serve / cultivate”) and shâmar (“keep / guard”) it. Dominion is responsibility before it is power.

אָדָם ’âdâm man, humanity, the human

A collective singular noun for “humankind, the human,” cognate with ’ădâmâh (“ground”) — a wordplay made explicit at Gen 2:7, where God forms hâ’âdâm from the dust of hâ’ădâmâh. Here in 1:26-27 the term is generic: God makes “humankind,” consisting of male and female. The narrative will later use the same word as a personal name (Adam, the first individual man), but the grammar of 1:27 (“He created him … He created them”) holds the singular collective and the dual particularity together. Humanity is one (singular ’âdâm) and yet plural (male and female) at the moment of its creation.

זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה zâkâr ûneqêvâh male and female

The chapter’s definition of humanity is sexed at the moment of its creation. Zâkâr is the male of the species (the same word is used of male animals in Lev 1:3); neqêvâh is the female. The pairing in 1:27 has the same structure as “heaven and earth” in 1:1 — a merism of complementarity, not a hierarchy. Both are made in the image of God; both share the blessing and the mandate of v. 28. Jesus will quote this verse in Matthew 19:4 to ground the meaning of marriage; Paul will appeal to creation order in 1 Corinthians 11 and 1 Timothy 2 without ever weakening the equal-image teaching of Genesis 1:27. The chapter does not give a hierarchy of worth; it gives a duality of being, both equally bearing the divine image.

כָּבַשׁ kâvash subdue, bring into subjection

A verb meaning to bring under control, to make submit. It is used elsewhere of subjugating enemies (Num 32:22, the conquest of Canaan) and of mastering one’s own iniquities (Mic 7:19, God treads sin underfoot). Read in the unfallen world of Genesis 1, kâvash does not name the conquering of hostile creation; it names the bringing of order to a world that is good but unfinished. The earth is fertile; the human is to cultivate. The earth is unmapped; the human is to map. The earth is unsettled; the human is to settle. After the fall, the same activities will become harder — thorns and thistles will resist the cultivator (3:18) — but the original mandate is not punitive; it is creative.

טוֹב מְאֹד ṭôv me’ôd very good

The intensified verdict at the end of day 6. Six times the chapter has used the simple ṭôv (“good”); now, with the work complete and humanity in place, the verdict escalates to ṭôv me’ôd (“very good,” literally “exceedingly good”). The intensifier me’ôd appears nowhere else in the chapter. The progression is theologically weighty: each part was good; the whole is very good. The verdict applies not to humanity alone but to kâl-’ăsher ‘âśâh (“all that He had made”) — the entire creation, with humanity in it as the crown. The chapter ends in a state that the rest of Scripture will then narrate the loss and restoration of: a world that is, by its Maker’s own assessment, exceedingly good.

Grammar & Argument

Day 6 is structurally the longest day of the chapter (vv. 24-31, eight verses), corresponding to its weight as the day humanity is made. The day breaks into two acts: vv. 24-25, the land animals (which fill the dry-land domain of day 3); and vv. 26-31, humanity. The first act follows the established rhythm. The second act breaks the rhythm in three deliberate ways. First, the divine speech changes from third-person jussive (“let the earth bring forth”) to first-person cohortative (“let us make”) — God moves from delegated to direct involvement. Second, the verb changes from ‘âśâh (“make”) to bârâ’ (“create”), reserved in the chapter for the three thresholds. Third, the verb is repeated three times in v. 27 alone (wayyivrâ’... bârâ’... bârâ’), a poetic intensification not found anywhere else in the chapter. The whole grammar of the chapter slows and re-orients around this moment.

Verse 27 is structured as a chiastic poem: A — God created the human in His image / B — in the image of God / A’ — He created him / B’ — male and female He created them. The triple “He created” functions as a refrain. The form is poetry inside prose, marking the moment as elevated speech. The pivot from singular (’ôthô, “him”) to plural (’ôthâm, “them”) inside the same poetic line affirms two things at once: humanity is one in nature, and humanity is plural in expression as male and female.

The image-of-God language reframes everything that follows. Dominion (vv. 26b, 28b) is not licensing but legitimating — it grounds human authority over the rest of creation in the prior fact of being made in God’s likeness. The image-bearer rules creation as God’s representative, not as a competitor for God’s throne. Whenever this gets reversed (humans treating themselves as the source rather than the image of dominion), the chapter has the resources to correct: the image is not the human himself; the image is what the human is in relation to God. Strip the relationship away and the dominion becomes tyranny.

Verses 29-30 specify the original food order: humans and animals alike are given plant food. The diet of the unfallen world is vegetarian. After the flood (Gen 9:3) God will widen the human diet to include meat, and the prophets will look forward to a renewed creation in which the wolf lies with the lamb (Isa 11:6-9; 65:25) — a reversion to the original order. The chapter does not engage modern dietary debates, but it does set a marker: the violence of predation is not part of the “very good” verdict.

Verse 31 closes the workweek with the only intensified verdict in the chapter: wehinnêh-ṭôv me’ôd (“and behold, very good”). The interjection hinnêh (“behold”) lifts the camera away from individual creatures and sweeps over the whole. The day-cycle formula closes with the definite ordinal yôm hashshishî (“the sixth day”) — the only day of the six besides the first to receive a marked numeric form. Day one was unique as inauguration; day six is unique as completion. The week, set up to be seven, is on its way to its proper rest.

The crown of creation is not the most powerful creature but the most representative one — not the strongest, not the largest, but the one shaped to bear God’s likeness into the rest of what He made.

OT Connection

Genesis 5:1-3 · Genesis 9:6 · Psalm 8:3-8 · Psalm 139:13-14

The image-of-God doctrine is not a one-off claim. Genesis 5:1-3 opens the genealogy of Adam by repeating it: בִּדְמ֥וּת אֱלֹהִ֖ים עָשָׂ֥ה אֹתֽוֹ (biḏmûth ’ĕlôhîm ‘âśâh ’ôthô), “in the likeness of God He made him” — and then notes that Adam fathered Seth “in his own likeness, according to his image” (biḏmûthô keṣalmô). The image is transmitted, not just bestowed; every human descended from Adam carries it. Genesis 9:6 grounds the prohibition of murder on the same datum: שֹׁפֵךְ דַּם הָאָדָם בָּאָדָם דָּמוֹ יִשָּׁפֵךְ כִּי בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים עָשָׂה אֶת־הָאָדָם (shôp̄êk dam hâ’âdâm bâ’âdâm dâmô yishshâp̄êk kî beṣelem ’ĕlôhîm ‘âśâh ’eth-hâ’âdâm) — “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God He made man.” Psalm 8:3-8 turns the dominion language of v. 28 into a hymn of astonishment: “What is man that You are mindful of him … You have made him to rule over the works of Your hands.”

The New Testament fulfills the image-doctrine in Christ. Colossians 1:15 calls Him “the image (eikôn) of the invisible God,” and 2 Corinthians 4:4 names “the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Believers are then said to be “conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29) and “being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). The chapter that opens the canon turns out to be programmatic for the whole story: humanity made in God’s image, defaced by sin, restored in Christ who is Himself the perfect image.

LSB Choices Worth Noting

“Let Us make man in Our image” for na‘ăśeh ’âdâm beṣalmênû — LSB capitalizes “Us” and “Our,” treating the plural as a divine self-reference (consistent with the long Christian tradition of reading these as intra-divine plurals). Translations that lowercase the pronouns make the pronouns refer ambiguously, possibly to a divine council. LSB’s capitalization is interpretive but defensible.

“Image … likeness” for ṣelem … demuth — LSB renders both nouns distinctly rather than collapsing them. The two-word phrase preserves the hendiadys-fullness of the Hebrew without committing to the patristic distinction (ṣelem ontological / demuth moral) that the Hebrew itself does not require.

“Male and female He created them” for zâkâr ûneqêvâh bârâ’ ’ôthâm — LSB preserves the simple binary nouns and the plural object pronoun. The Hebrew does not say “persons of male and female sex” or “men and women”; it uses the basic biological terms zâkâr and neqêvâh, the same words used of male and female animals. The decision is to preserve the lexical simplicity rather than smooth toward modern English idiom.

“Subdue” for kâvash — LSB chooses the strong English verb. Some recent translations have tried “tend” or “take responsibility for” in pastoral discomfort with the verb’s force, but the Hebrew is what it is — royal subjugation language used here for un-fallen stewardship rather than violent conquest. The word should be retained and contextualized, not softened.

“Very good” for ṭôv me’ôd — LSB resists the temptation to inflate to “exceedingly good” or “perfect.” The Hebrew is plain (“good, exceedingly”), and the simple English captures the verdict without overreaching. The chapter does not say “perfect”; it says “very good” — complete, fitting, ready. The fall (Genesis 3) does not contradict a previous claim of perfection; it spoils a previous claim of goodness.