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Grow With Me

Genesis 1:26

“And Elohim said, “Let us make the human being 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 livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.””

Genesis 1:26 · direct translation from the Hebrew
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God makes human beings in his image, male and female, and blesses themCreation

With the Hebrew beneath

26

Allusion · James 3:9

Go to James 3:9

Both texts say that the human being is made in the “likeness” of God.

They share words that are rare in the original, without a quotation.

  • דְמוּתֵdemuteH1823ὁμοίωσινhomoiōsinG3669“likeness”
  • אָדָםadamH120ἀνθρώπουςanthrōpousG444“human being, man; Adam”

Genesis 1:26, word by word

Elohimאֱלֹהִיםelohim

Elohim

The one true God, the Creator; the word is plural but means one.

Where else “elohim” appears
saidיֹּאמֶרyomer

say

To say with the mouth to someone what one thinks or wants, or to answer him.

Where else “yomer” appears
“Let us makeנַעֲשֶׂהnaase

make

To build or create something.

Where else “naase” appears
the human beingאָדָםadam

human being

All humankind, men and women, as creatures God formed.

Where else “adam” appears
in our imageצַלְמֵtsalme

image

What shows what another is like; humans reflect God.

Where else “tsalme” appears
according to our likenessדְמוּתֵdemute

likeness

Likeness, resemblance; form, model; "like". It goes with "image": the human being was made to be like God in some way and to represent him, without being equal to him.

Where else “demute” appears
and let them ruleיִרְדּוּyirdu

rule

To hold sway, govern.

Where else “yirdu” appears
over the fishדְגַתdegat

fish

Fish; everything that lives in the water (a collective word).

Where else “degat” appears
of the seaיָּםyam

sea

The sea, or a large lake.

Where else “yam” appears
and over the birdsעוֹףof

bird

The animals with wings and feathers that fly through the sky: doves, eagles, ravens.

Where else “of” appears
of the skyשָּׁמַיִםshamayim

sky

The high space seen above the earth, where the birds, clouds, sun and stars are.

Where else “shamayim” appears
and over the livestockבְּהֵמָהbehema

livestock

A four-legged animal, above all farm animals.

Where else “behema” appears
the earthאָרֶץarets

earth

The whole world, everything under the sky.

Where else “arets” appears
creeping thingרֶמֶשׂremes

creeping thing

Creeping things: animals that move along the ground or glide, reptiles and small animals. From the same root as "creep".

Where else “remes” appears
that creepsרֹמֵשׂromes

creep, move

Move along the ground or glide: creep, crawl. It is said of small land animals and also of those that move in the water.

Where else “romes” appears

Translation note

The Hebrew here says “let us make” and “our,” in the plural, and the text does not explain why. In the next verse the verbs are singular (“created,” “he created him”).

The context

25And Elohim made the animals of the earth according to their kind, and the livestock according to their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good.

26 · This verse (above)

27And Elohim created the human being in his image; in the image of Elohim he created him; male and female he created them.

Read all of Genesis 1

To study Genesis 1 in a group

  1. 1. What it says

    What did Elohim say about everything he had made at the end of the sixth day (v. 31)?

  2. 2. What it means

    What does the text say about human beings when it says they were created in the image of Elohim (v. 27)?

  3. 3. How I live it

    How can you treat the people around you today, remembering that every one of them was created in the image of Elohim?

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