God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
Parallel Translations
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God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
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And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
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And God blessed them, saying: 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.'
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Genesis 1:22 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 8:17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply on the earth.”
- Job 40:15 “See now, behemoth, which I made as well as you. He eats grass as an ox.
- Genesis 1:28 God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
- Psalms 107:38 He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly. He doesn’t allow their livestock to decrease.
- Genesis 9:1 God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth.
- Genesis 35:11 God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out of your body.
- Job 42:12 So Yahweh blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys.
- Genesis 30:30 For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?”
- Leviticus 26:9 “ ‘I will have respect for you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and will establish my covenant with you.
- Psalms 107:31 Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds for the children of men!
- Psalms 128:3 Your wife will be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house, your children like olive plants around your table.
- Psalms 144:13-14 Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision. Our sheep produce thousands and ten thousands in our fields. Our oxen will pull heavy loads. There is no breaking in, and no going away, and no outcry in our streets.
- Proverbs 10:22 Yahweh’s blessing brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.
- Genesis 30:27 Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me for your sake.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 22. And God blessed them What is the force…
22. And God blessed them What is the force of this benediction he soon declares. For God does not, after the manner of men, pray that we may be blessed; but, by the bare intimation of his purpose, effects what men seek by earnest entreaty. He therefore blesses his creatures when he commands them to increase and grow; that is, he infuses into them fecundity by his word. But it seems futile for God to address fishes and reptiles. I answer, this mode of speaking was no other than that which might be easily understood. For the experiment itself teaches, that the force of the word which was addressed to the fishes was not transient, but rather, being infused into their nature, has taken root, and constantly bears fruit.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, by the virtue of his word he…
That is, by the virtue of his word he gave power to his creatures to engender.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful,…
Gen 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
Ver. 22. Be fruitful and multiply.] By bidding them do so, he made them do so, for his words are operative. Trismegist saith the self-same things in effect that Moses here doth. God, saith he, crieth out to his works by his holy word, saying, "Bring ye forth fruit, grow and increase," &c. Note the harmony here, and in twenty more passages, between Mercury and Moses. {a} God hath not left his truth without witness from the mouths of heathen writers. We may profitably read them, but not for ostentation. That were to make a calf of the treasure gotten out of Egypt.
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{a} Morneus, De Verit. Relig. c. 9.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain He gave them power of procreation and fruitfulness, which…
He gave them power of procreation and fruitfulness, which is justly mentioned as a great blessing, Psa 128:3-4.
Fill the waters in the seas; and consequently in the rivers, which come from the sea, and return into it.
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Let fowl multiply in the earth, where they shall commonly have their habitation, though they had their original from the waters; of which see Poole on "Gen 1:20".
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And God blessed them,.... With a power to procreate…
And God blessed them,.... With a power to procreate their kind, and continue their species, as it is interpreted in the next clause,
saying, be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas: and these creatures do multiply exceedingly, and vast quantities there are of them in the mighty waters, though the consumption of some sorts of them is very great. Our English word "fish" is derived from the Hebrew word "fush", which signifies to multiply and increase:
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and let fowl multiply in the earth; as they did, and continue to do to this day.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 22. Let fowl multiply in the earth.] It…
Verse 22. Let fowl multiply in the earth.] It is truly astonishing with what care, wisdom, and minute skill God has formed the different genera and species of birds, whether intended to live chiefly on land or in water. The structure of a single feather affords a world of wonders; and as God made the fowls that they might fly in the firmament of heaven, Ge 1:20, so he has adapted the form of their bodies, and the structure and disposition of their plumage, for that very purpose. The head and neck in flying are drawn principally within the breast-bone, so that the whole under part exhibits the appearance of a ship's hull. The wings are made use of as sails, or rather oars, and the tail as a helm or rudder. By means of these the creature is not only able to preserve the centre of gravity, but also to go with vast speed through the air, either straight forward, circularly, or in any kind of angle, upwards or downwards. In these also God has shown his skill and his power in the great and in the little-in the vast ostrich and cassowary, and In the beautiful humming-bird, which in plumage excels the splendour of the peacock, and in size is almost on a level with the bee.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Gen 1:22. God blessed them — Behold the cause…
Gen 1:22. God blessed them — Behold the cause of the continuance in existence, and of the fruitfulness and multiplication, of the sundry kinds of creatures! It is owing to this word only that, though thousands of years have rolled away since their creation, not one species of them, amid so many, has been lost. Hence the inclination in every creature to propagate its species, and hence the wonderful and tender care they take of their young, till they are able to provide for themselves! So that, notwithstanding the daily great consumption of the creatures for the food of man, there is still such a succession of them, that the innumerable multitudes consumed for our use are not even missed. How wonderful that Being who is the author of this fertility and plenteousness!
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Blessed them, or enabled them to produce others. ---…
Blessed them, or enabled them to produce others. --- Multiply: the immense numbers and variety of fishes and fowls is truly astonishing.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 22. God blessed them] With the creation of the…
22. God blessed them] With the creation of the living animals of the water and the air is introduced the mention of a new Divine act, that of blessing. It is connected with the gift of life (see note on Gen_1:21). The animal world differs from the vegetable world in its distinctive principle of life. The animals possess powers, instincts, and energies which are to be exercised, and on the exercise of which God gives His blessing. He has placed them in conditions favourable to their development and multiplication. Modern science, especially as represented by the honoured names of Darwin and Lyell, has shewn in what wonderful and varied ways the blessing of God has attended both the multiplication of animal life and the adaptation of the animals to their surroundings.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (22) Be fruitful, and multiply.—This blessing shows that the…
(22) Be fruitful, and multiply.—This blessing shows that the earth was replenished with animal life from a limited number of progenitors, and probably from a small number of centres, both for the flora and for the fauna.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And God blessed them. To bless is to wish…
And God blessed them. To bless is to wish well to (Gen_27:4; Num_6:23) In the case of God blessing inanimate things, it signifies to make them to prosper and be abundant (Exo_23:25; Job_1:10; Psa_65:11) The nature of the blessing pronounced upon the animal creation had reference to their propagation and increase. Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. The paronomastic combination, be fruitful and multiply, became a regular formula of blessing (Gen_24:60 Gen_35:11 Gen_48:4; Psa_128:3, Psa_128:4) The Divine benediction was not simply a wish; but, adds Calvin, "by the bare intimation of his purpose he effects what men seek by entreaty." Nor was it meaningless that the words of benediction were addressed to the creatures; it was designed to teach that the "force of the Divine word was not meant to be transient, but, being infused into their natures, to take root and constantly bear fruit" (Calvin).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply
Gen_1:22-23
And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply
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Gods blessing abundant
At the close of this day the Lord does what He has not done on any of the other four days; He blesses that which He has created, and the object of His blessing is an abundant and perpetual increase.
God is liberal; munificent in His donations both temporal and spiritual. Does He give joy? It is unspeakable joy. Does He give peace? It is a peace which passeth all understanding. Does He give pleasures? They are pleasures for evermore. Does He give glory: It is an exceeding eternal weight of glory. The close-handed and narrow-hearted Christian has not learned to be so in the school of the Master. All who are in His school, and who practice the lessons which they receive there, are open-handed and large-hearted. (A. McAuslane, D. D.)
Gods blessing upon the means of great importance
As in a course of physic, a diseased man is prescribed to boil certain midicinabble herbs in running water, and then to drink a quantity of that water, and so is cured of his disease; and yet we know that it is not the water, but the decoction or infusion, which cureth the patient: so it is not the bread that nourisheth, nor the abundance of outward things which enricheth or contenteth, but the infusion of Gods blessing, which is the staff of life, without which a man may starve for hunger with bread in his mouth, suffer the extremity of cold with good clothes on his back, and die like the children of Israel with the flesh of quails in his mouth. (J. Spencer.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 blessed them
blessed them
"blessed the animals that he had made"
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Be fruitful and multiply
This is God's blessing. He told the sea animals to produce more sea animals like themselves, so that there would be many of them in the seas. The word "multiply" explains how they are to be "fruitful." (See: Doublet and Idiom)
multiply
increase greatly in number
Let birds multiply
This is a command. By commanding that birds should multiply, God made birds multiply. (See: Imperatives - Other Uses)
birds
"animals that fly" or "flying things." See how you translated this in Genesis 1:20.
evening and morning
This refers to the whole day. The writer speaks of the whole day as if it were these two parts. In the Jewish culture, a day begins when the sun sets. See how you translated this in Genesis 1:5. (See: Merism)
the fifth day
This refers to the fifth day that the universe existed. See how you translated "the first day" in Genesis 1:5 and decide if you should translate this the same way.
translationWords
God
bless
fruit
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 1:22 God blessed them: God’s blessing commissions and enables…
1:22 God blessed them: God’s blessing commissions and enables the fulfillment of what God has spoken (see “Blessing” Theme Note). • Let the fish . . . let the birds: These directives define the blessing. The fish and birds are fertile by God’s command, not by pagan ritual, as some of Israel’s neighbors thought.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.