Genesis 1:28 BSB — MannaFest

Genesis 1:28

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

KJV

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

⋯

Commentary

1 voice

Augustine of Hippo

TWO BOOKS ON GENESIS AGAINST THE MANICHAEANS 1.19.30 (430)

One is completely right to ask in what sense we should understand the union of male and female before sin, as well as the blessing that said "Increase and multiply, and generate and fill the earth." Should we understand it in a physical manner or spiritually? For we are permitted to understand it spiritually and to believe that it was changed into sexual fecundity after sin. For there was first the chaste union of male and female, of the former to rule, of the latter to obey, and there was the spiritual offspring of intelligible and immortal joys filling the earth, that is, giving life to the body and ruling it. That is, man so held [the body] subject that he experienced from it no opposition or trouble. We should believe that it was this way, since they were not yet children of this world before they sinned. For the children of this world generate and are generated, as the Lord says, when he shows that we should relatively disregard this carnal generation in comparison with the future life that is promised to us.

Voices on this verse

loading…

Original language & word study

22 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וַיְבָ֣רֶךְ	vay.Va.rekh	and he blessed	H1288 →
אֹתָם֮	'o.Tam	<obj.> them	H853 →
אֱלֹהִים֒	'E.lo.Him	God	H430 →
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר	vai.Yo.mer	and he said	H559 →
לָהֶ֜ם	la.Hem	to <the> them
אֱלֹהִ֗ים	'E.lo.Him	God	H430 →
פְּר֥וּ	pe.Ru	be fruitful	H6509 →
וּרְב֛וּ	u.re.Vu	and multiply	H7235 →
וּמִלְא֥וּ	u.mil.'U	and fill	H4390 →
אֶת־	'et-	<obj.>	H853 →
הָאָ֖רֶץ	ha.'A.retz	the earth	H776 →
וְכִבְשֻׁ֑הָ	ve.khiv.Shu.ha	and subdue it	H3533 →
וּרְד֞וּ	u.re.Du	and rule	H7287 →
בִּדְגַ֤ת	bid.Gat	over [the] fish of	H1710 →
הַיָּם֙	hai.Yam	the sea	H3220 →
וּבְע֣וֹף	u.ve.'of	and over [the] bird[s] of	H5775 →
הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם	ha.sha.Ma.yim	the heavens	H8064 →
וּבְכָל־	u.ve.Khol-	and over every	H3605 →
חַיָּ֖ה	chai.Yah	animal	H2416 →
הָֽרֹמֶ֥שֶׂת	ha.ro.Me.set	which creeps	H7430 →
עַל־	'al-	on	H5921 →
הָאָֽרֶץ׃	ha.'A.retz	the earth	H776 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Leviticus 26:9
I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will establish My covenant with you.
leads to
- Genesis 17:6–7
  I will make you exceedingly fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you.
- Psalms 107:38
  He blesses them, and they multiply greatly; He does not let their herds diminish.
- Nehemiah 9:23
  You multiplied their descendants like the stars of heaven and brought them to the land You had told their fathers to enter and possess.
- Ezekiel 16:62
  So I will establish My covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD,
- Isaiah 55:3
  Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.
Through
Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
leads to
- Genesis 8:17
  Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, and everything that crawls upon the ground—so that they can spread out over the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon it.”
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Genesis 9:7
  But as for you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out across the earth and multiply upon it.”
Through
Genesis 9:7
But as for you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out across the earth and multiply upon it.”
leads to
- Genesis 9:1
  And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Featured studies on this passage

On Genesis 1:28

The Torah

Open the study →

On Genesis 1:28

The Covenants

Six covenants in succession, cumulative rather than replacing. Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, New. Each narrowing the line of promise while widening the scope of fulfillment.

Open the study →

On Genesis 1:28

Creation to New Creation

The Bible begins in a garden and ends in a city — and the city has the garden in the middle of it. Seven explicit textual echoes bind Genesis 1–2 to Revelation 21–22.

Open the study →