Text -- Genesis 1:29-31 (NET)

1:29 Then God said, “I now give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 1:30 And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground– everything that has the breath of life in it– I give every green plant for food.” It was so. 1:31 God saw all that he had made– and it was very good! There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Gen 1:29

¹ tn The text uses הִנֵּה (hinneh), often archaically translated “behold.” It is often used to express the dramatic present, the immediacy of an event – “Look, this is what I am doing!”

² sn G. J. Wenham (Genesis [WBC], 1:34) points out that there is nothing in the passage that prohibits the man and the woman from eating meat. He suggests that eating meat came after the fall. Gen 9:3 may then ratify the postfall practice of eating meat rather than inaugurate the practice, as is often understood.

NET Notes: Gen 1:30

¹ tn The phrase “I give” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

NET Notes: Gen 1:31

¹ tn The Hebrew text again uses הִנֵּה (hinneh) for the sake of vividness. It is a particle that goes with the gesture of pointing, calling attention to something.