Genesis 1:26

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
God	אֱלֹהִ֔ים 'E.lo.Him	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
said	וַיֹּ֣אמֶר vai.Yo.mer	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
make	נַֽעֲשֶׂ֥ה na.'a.Seh	H6213	to do or make · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common plural
man	אָדָ֛ם 'a.Dam	H120	ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · noun, common masculine singular absolute
image	בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ be.tzal.Me.nu	H6754	a phantom · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
likeness	כִּדְמוּתֵ֑נוּ kid.mu.Te.nu	H1823	resemblance · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
dominion	וְיִרְדּוּ֩ ve.yir.Du	H7287	to tread down · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person masculine plural
fish	בִדְגַ֨ת vid.Gat	H1710	a fish (often used collectively) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
sea	הַיָּ֜ם hai.Yam	H3220	a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
fowl	וּבְע֣וֹף u.ve.'of	H5775	a bird (as covered with feathers · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
air	הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם ha.sha.Ma.yim	H8064	the sky (as aloft · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
cattle	וּבַבְּהֵמָה֙ u.va.be.he.Mah	H929	properly · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
earth	הָאָ֔רֶץ ha.'A.retz	H776	the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
thing	הָרֶ֖מֶשׂ ha.Re.mes	H7431	a reptile or any other rapidly moving animal · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
creepeth	הָֽרֹמֵ֥שׂ ha.ro.Mes	H7430	properly · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
earth	הָאָֽרֶץ ha.'A.retz	H776	the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular 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

Colossians 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Ephesians 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Psalms 8:4-8 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of…
Genesis 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
Psalms 100:3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by th…
Genesis 9:2-4 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon t…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 1:26-28

We have here the second part of the sixth day's work, the creation of man, which we are, in a special manner, concerned to take notice of, that we may know ourselves. Observe, I. That man was made last of all the creatures, that it might not be suspected that he had been, any way, a helper to God in the creation of the world: that question must be for ever humbling and mortifying to him, Where wast thou, or any of thy kind, when I laid the foundations of the earth? Job 38:4. Yet it was both an honour and a favour to him that he was made last: an honour, for the method of the creation was to advance from that which was less perfect to that which was more so; and a favour, for it was not fit h…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 1:26

The last stage in the progress of creation being now reached--God said, Let us make man--words which show the peculiar importance of the work to be done, the formation of a creature, who was to be God's representative, clothed with authority and rule as visible head and monarch of the world. In our image, after our likeness--This was a peculiar distinction, the value attached to which appears in the words being twice mentioned. And in what did this image of God consist? Not in the erect form or features of man, not in his intellect, for the devil and his angels are, in this respect, far superior; not in his immortality, for he has not, like God, a past as well as a future eternity of bein…

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Adam Clarke on Genesis 1:26

And God said, Let us make man - It is evident that God intends to impress the mind of man with a sense of something extraordinary in the formation of his body and soul, when he introduces the account of his creation thus; Let Us make man. The word אדם Adam, which we translate man, is intended to designate the species of animal, as חיתו chaitho, marks the wild beasts that live in general a solitary life; בהמה behemah, domestic or gregarious animals; and רמש remes, all kinds of reptiles, from the largest snake to the microscopic eel. Though the same kind of organization may be found in man as appears in the lower animals, yet there is a variety and complication in the parts, a delicacy of stru…

The Church Fathers

No doubt every thing in the creatures which is in any way like God, is not also to be called His image; but that alone than which He Himself alone is higher. For that only is in all points copied from Him, between which and Himself no nature is interposed.
— Augustine of Hippo, On the Trinity 11.5.8

The inspired historian makes it very clear That at earth's dawn the Father not alone Nor without Christ his new creation formed. "God fashioned man," he says, "and gave to him The face of God." What but to say that he Was not alone, that God stood by God's side When the Lord made man in image of the Lord?
— Prudentius, POEMS

For the image of God is His Word, the genuine Son of Mind, the Divine Word, the archetypal light of light; and the image of the Word is the true man, the mind which is in man, who is therefore said to have been made "in the image and likeness of God," assimilated to the Divine Word in the affections of the soul, and therefore rational.
— Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen

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

Adam — Red, a Babylonian word, the generic name for man, having the same meaning in the Hebrew and the Assyrian languages. It was the name given to the first man, whose creation, fall, and subsequent…
Creation — “In the beginning” God created, i.e., called into being, all things out of nothing. This creative act on the part of God was absolutely free, and for infinitely wise reasons. The cause of all things…
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…
Man — (1.) Heb. ‘Adam, used as the proper name of the first man. The name is derived from a word meaning “to be red,” and thus the first man was called Adam because he was formed from the red earth. It is…
Adam · 1. The first man. Creation of — 1. The first man. Creation of
B · Power over, given to man — Power over, given to man
Birds · Creation of, on the fifth creative day — Creation of, on the fifth creative day
Creeping Things · A general term for animals — A general term for animals
Eve · Creation of — Creation of
Fishes · Man given dominion over — Man given dominion over
Hittites · General references — General references
Holy Spirit, The, Is God · As Creator — As Creator

Genesis 1:26

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 1:26-28

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 1:26

Adam Clarke on Genesis 1:26

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 1:26

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 1:26-28

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 1:26

Adam Clarke on Genesis 1:26

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Genesis 1:26

John Calvin on Genesis 1:26

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 1:24–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 1:26

Rashi on Genesis 1:26