Psalms 104:24

104:24 How many living things you have made, O Lord! ¹ 

You have exhibited great skill in making all of them; ² 

the earth is full of the living things you have made.

Psalms 145:15-16

145:15 Everything looks to you in anticipation, ³ 

and you provide them with food on a regular basis. ⁴ 

145:16 You open your hand,

and fill every living thing with the food they desire. ⁵ 

Genesis 1:11-12

1:11 God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: ⁶  plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, ⁷  and ⁸  trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” It was so. 1:12 The land produced vegetation – plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:28-30

1:28 God blessed ⁹  them and said ¹⁰  to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! ¹¹  Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.” ¹²  1:29 Then God said, “I now ¹³  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. ¹⁴  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 ¹⁵  every green plant for food.” It was so.

Genesis 8:17

8:17 Bring out with you all the living creatures that are with you. Bring out ¹⁶  every living thing, including the birds, animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Let them increase ¹⁷  and be fruitful and multiply on the earth!” ¹⁸ 

[104:24]  ¹ tn Heb “How many [are] your works, O Lord.” In this case the Lord’s “works” are the creatures he has made, as the preceding and following contexts make clear.

[104:24]  ² tn Heb “all of them with wisdom you have made.”

[145:15]  ³ tn Heb “the eyes of all wait for you.”

[145:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “and you give to them their food in its season” (see Ps 104:27).

[145:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “[with what they] desire.”

[1:11]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew construction employs a cognate accusative, where the nominal object (“vegetation”) derives from the verbal root employed. It stresses the abundant productivity that God created.

[1:11]  ⁷ sn After their kinds. The Hebrew word translated “kind” (מִין, min) indicates again that God was concerned with defining and dividing time, space, and species. The point is that creation was with order, as opposed to chaos. And what God created and distinguished with boundaries was not to be confused (see Lev 19:19 and Deut 22:9-11).

[1:11]  ⁸ tn The conjunction “and” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation to clarify the relationship of the clauses.

[1:28]  ⁹ tn As in v. 22 the verb “bless” here means “to endow with the capacity to reproduce and be fruitful,” as the following context indicates. As in v. 22, the statement directly precedes the command “be fruitful and multiply.” The verb carries this same nuance in Gen 17:16 (where God’s blessing of Sarai imparts to her the capacity to bear a child); Gen 48:16 (where God’s blessing of Joseph’s sons is closely associated with their having numerous descendants); and Deut 7:13 (where God’s blessing is associated with fertility in general, including numerous descendants). See also Gen 49:25 (where Jacob uses the noun derivative in referring to “blessings of the breast and womb,” an obvious reference to fertility) and Gen 27:27 (where the verb is used of a field to which God has given the capacity to produce vegetation).

[1:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and God said.” For stylistic reasons “God” has not been repeated here in the translation.

[1:28]  ¹¹ tn Elsewhere the Hebrew verb translated “subdue” means “to enslave” (2 Chr 28:10; Neh 5:5; Jer 34:11, 16), “to conquer,” (Num 32:22, 29; Josh 18:1; 2 Sam 8:11; 1 Chr 22:18; Zech 9:13; and probably Mic 7:19), and “to assault sexually” (Esth 7:8). None of these nuances adequately meets the demands of this context, for humankind is not viewed as having an adversarial relationship with the world. The general meaning of the verb appears to be “to bring under one’s control for one’s advantage.” In Gen 1:28 one might paraphrase it as follows: “harness its potential and use its resources for your benefit.” In an ancient Israelite context this would suggest cultivating its fields, mining its mineral riches, using its trees for construction, and domesticating its animals.

[1:28]  ¹² sn The several imperatives addressed to both males and females together (plural imperative forms) actually form two commands: reproduce and rule. God’s word is not merely a form of blessing, but is now addressed to them personally; this is a distinct emphasis with the creation of human beings. But with the blessing comes the ability to be fruitful and to rule. In procreation they will share in the divine work of creating human life and passing on the divine image (see 5:1-3); in ruling they will serve as God’s vice-regents on earth. They together, the human race collectively, have the responsibility of seeing to the welfare of that which is put under them and the privilege of using it for their benefit.

[1:29]  ¹³ 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!”

[1:29]  ¹⁴ 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.

[1:30]  ¹⁵ tn The phrase “I give” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[8:17]  ¹⁶ tn The words “bring out” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:17]  ¹⁷ tn Following the Hiphil imperative, “bring out,” the three perfect verb forms with vav (ו) consecutive carry an imperatival nuance. For a discussion of the Hebrew construction here and the difficulty of translating it into English, see S. R. Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew, 124-25.

[8:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and let them swarm in the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”