Genesis 1:20 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 1:20
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
said
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
waters
הַמַּ֔יִםha.Ma.yim
H4325
water · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
abundantly
יִשְׁרְצ֣וּyish.re.Tzu
H8317
to wriggle · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
creature
שֶׁ֖רֶץShe.retz
H8318
a swarm · noun, common masculine singular construct
hath
נֶ֣פֶשׁNe.fesh
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute
life
חַיָּ֑הchai.Yah
H2416
alive · adjective, feminine singular absolute
fowl
וְעוֹף֙ve.'Of
H5775
a bird (as covered with feathers · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
fly
יְעוֹפֵ֣ףye.'o.Fef
H5774
to fly · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
above
עַל'al-
H5921
above · preposition
earth
הָאָ֔רֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
open
פְּנֵ֖יpe.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct
firmament
רְקִ֥יעַre.Ki.a'
H7549
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
heaven
הַשָּׁמָֽיִםha.sha.Ma.yim
H8064
the sky (as aloft · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 104:24-25 O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.
Genesis 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he wou…
1 Kings 4:33 And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts,…
Psalms 148:10 Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:
Genesis 1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I hav…
Genesis 1:7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was…
Genesis 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.
Genesis 8:17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that cree…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 1:20-23
Each day, hitherto, has produced very noble and excellent beings, which we can never sufficiently admire; but we do not read of the creation of any living creature till the fifth day, of which these verses give us an account. The work of creation not only proceeded gradually from one thing to another, but rose and advanced gradually from that which was less excellent to that which was more so, teaching us to press towards perfection and endeavour that our last works may be our best works. It was on the fifth day that the fish and fowl were created, and both out of the waters. Though there is one kind of flesh of fishes, and another of birds, yet they were made together, and both out of the w…
FIFTH DAY. The signs of animal life appeared in the waters and in the air. (Gen 1:20-23)
moving creature--all oviparous animals, both among the finny and the feathery tribes--remarkable for their rapid and prodigious increase.
fowl--means every flying thing: The word rendered "whales," includes also sharks, crocodiles, &c.; so that from the countless shoals of small fish to the great sea monsters, from the tiny insect to the king of birds, the waters and the air were suddenly made to swarm with creatures formed to live and sport in their respective elements.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 1:20
Let the waters bring forth abundantly - There is a meaning in these words which is seldom noticed. Innumerable millions of animalcula are found in water. Eminent naturalists have discovered not less than 30,000 in a single drop! How inconceivably small must each be, and yet each a perfect animal, furnished with the whole apparatus of bones, muscles, nerves, heart, arteries, veins, lungs, viscera in general, animal spirits, etc., etc. What a proof is this of the manifold wisdom of God! But the fecundity of fishes is another point intended in the text; no creature's are so prolific as these. A Tench lay 1,000 eggs, a Carp 20,000, and Leuwenhoek counted in a middling sized Cod 9,384,000! Thus,…
The rivers were in labor. The lakes produced their quota of life. The sea itself began to bear all manner of reptiles.… We are unable to record the multiplicity of the names of all those species which by divine command were brought to life in a moment of time. At the same instant substantial form and the principle of life were brought into existence.… The whale, as well as the frog, came into existence at the same time by the same creative power.
Therefore God said, let the waters bring forth swarming living creatures, and flying creatures above the earth under the firmament of heaven. And lest by chance, because there are water creatures, which move not by crawling, but by swimming or walking with feet, and there are among the flying creatures those which have wings, yet lack the full use of flying, anyone might think that some kind of flying or aquatic animals were left out in this word of the Lord, it is carefully added:
God also said, "Let birds fly above the earth across the firmament of the heavens." Why did he give winged creatures also their origin from the waters? Because the flying animals have a certain relationship, as it were, with those that swim. For just as the fish cut the water, going forward with the motion of their fins and guiding their turns and forward movements by the change of their tails, so also in the case of birds, they can be seen cutting and moving through air on wings in the same manner.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Genesis — The five books of Moses were collectively called the Pentateuch, a word of Greek origin meaning “the five-fold book.” The Jews called them the Torah, i.e., “the law.” It is probable that the division…
Birds · Creation of, on the fifth creative day — Creation of, on the fifth creative day
Creation · Order of: Fifth day, making birds, insects, and fishes — Order of: Fifth day, making birds, insects, and fishes
Firmament · The expanse above the earth — The expanse above the earth
Fish · Creation of — Creation of
Fishes · Created by God — Created by God
Sea, The · God: Made the birds and fished out of — God: Made the birds and fished out of
Water · God originally: Created fowls and fishes, &c from — God originally: Created fowls and fishes, &c from
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Genesis 1:20
And God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly,.... The waters gathered together in one place, the waters of the ocean, and those in rivers, pools and lakes, and which, before their collection into those places, had been sat on, moved, and impregnated by the Spirit of God; so that they could, as they did, by the divine order accompanied with his power, bring forth abundance of creatures, next mentioned:
the moving creature that hath life: an animal life, of which sort of creatures as yet there had been none made; vegetables, or such as have a vegetative life, were made on the third day; but those that have a sensitive and animal life not till this day, the fifth; and the less perfect,…
Let the waters bring forth... the moving creature [74] On the fifth day the birds and fishes are created. The blessing of God is added, that they may of themselves produce offspring. Here is a different kind of propagation from that in herbs and trees: for there the power of fructifying is in the plants, and that of germinating is in the seed; but here generation takes place. It seems, however, but little consonant with reason, that he declares birds to have proceeded from the waters; and, therefore this is seized upon by captious men as an occasion of calumny. But although there should appear no other reason but that it so pleased God, would it not be becoming in us to acquiesce in his judg…
The Fifth Day. - "God said: Let the waters swarm with swarms, with living beings, and let birds fly above the earth in the face (the front, i.e., the side turned towards the earth) of the firmament." ישׁרצוּ and יעופף are imperative. Earlier translators, on the contrary, have rendered the latter as a relative clause, after the πετεινὰ πετόμενα of the lxx, "and with birds that fly;" thus making the birds to spring out of the water, in opposition to Gen 2:19. Even with regard to the element out of which the water animals were created the text is silent; for the assertion that שׁרץ is to be understood "with a causative colouring" is erroneous, and is not sustained by Exo 8:3 or Psa 105:30. Th…
In the surrounding pagan cultures, the two great lights were worshiped as deities, but in Genesis they serve God and humanity (see Ps 136:7-9; Jer 31:35). The sun and moon are not named; they are simply called the larger one and the smaller one. Not including their names may have reminded Israel that they were not gods. • govern: Cp. 1:26, 28; Ps 136:9. • the stars: The starry heavens testify to God’s creative power as they proclaim his glory (Pss 19:1; 148:3). They do not predict the future, as Israel’s neighbors believed (see Jer 10:2).
Rashi on Genesis 1:20
נפש חיה LIVING CREATURES — Creatures that shall have vitality.
שרץ Every living creature that does not rise much above the ground is called שרץ, e. g., of winged creatures — flies; of abominable creatures — ants, beetles and worms; of larger creatures — the mole, snail and others of the same kind, and all fishes.
