Genesis 1:22

Translations

Modern

Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

Traditional

And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

Literal

And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the bird multiply in the earth.”

Latin

Benedixitque eis, dicens: Crescite, et multiplicamini, et replete aquas maris: avesque multiplicentur super terram.

Original

Hebrew

English

Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

Notes

Genesis 1:22

God blessed them: This blessing orders and enables them to do what God has said (see “Blessing” Theme Note).
fill the waters of the seas … let the birds multiply on the earth: These instructions explain the blessing. The fish and birds can reproduce because of God's command. It is not through pagan ceremonies, as some of Israel’s neighbors believed.

Genesis 1:14–31

On days four through six, God filled the domains that had been formed during days one through three (1:3–13).

Genesis 1:1–2:3

These verses introduce the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible). They teach Israel that one true God created, ordered, and populated the world, not the gods of nearby nations.
God blessed three specific things:
- animal life (1:22–25),
- human life (1:27), and
- the Sabbath day (2:3).
These three blessings emphasize the Creator's plan. God made humans in his image to rule in his place over earth's creatures and to join in God's Sabbath rest.

Theme notes and profiles

Blessing God’s New Covenant God’s Uniqueness God’s Word Symbolic Numbers The Creation The Creator-King The Word The World Women’s Roles in the New Testament Church

Events

Creation of all thingsc. 4004 BC

Related verses

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.”
Job 40:15
Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you. He feeds on grass like an ox.
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.”
Psalm 107:38
He blesses them, and they multiply greatly; He does not let their herds diminish.
Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
Genesis 35:11
And God told him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation—even a company of nations—shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you.
Job 42:12
So the LORD blessed Job’s latter days more than his first. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.
Genesis 30:30
Indeed, you had very little before my arrival, but now your wealth has increased many times over. The LORD has blessed you wherever I set foot. But now, when may I also provide for my own household?”
Proverbs 10:22
The blessing of the LORD enriches, and He adds no sorrow to it.
Leviticus 26:9
I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will establish My covenant with you.
Psalm 128:3
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table.
Psalm 107:31
Let them give thanks to the LORD for His loving devotion and His wonders to the sons of men.

Genesis 1:22

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