Genesis 1:26
Viewing the King James Version. Click to switch to 1611 King James Version of 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.
- King James Bible "Authorized Version", Cambridge Edition
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Other Translations of Genesis 1:26
- King James Version (1611) - View 1611 Bible Scan
Then God said, "Let Us make man 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 cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
- New American Standard Version (1995)
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 birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
- American Standard Version (1901)
And God said, Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth.
- Basic English Bible
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 heavens, and over the cattle, and over the whole earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth.
- Darby Bible
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 animal that creepeth upon the earth.
- Webster's Bible
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 birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
- World English Bible
And God saith, `Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the heavens, and over cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that is creeping on the earth.'
- Youngs Literal Bible
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.'
- Jewish Publication Society Bible
View Wesley's Notes for Genesis 1:26
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. Observe, That man was made last of all the creatures, which was both an honour and a favour to him: an honour, for 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 he should be lodged in the palace designed for him, till it was completely fitted and furnished for his reception. Man, as soon as he was made, had the whole visible creation before him, both to contemplate, and to take the comfort of. That man's creation was a mere signal act of divine wisdom and power, than that of the other creatures. The narrative of it is introduced with solemnity, and a manifest distinction from the rest. Hitherto it had been said, Let there be light, and Let there be a firmament: but now the word of command is turned into a word of consultation, Let us make man - For whose sake the rest of the creatures were made. Man was to be a creature different from all that had been hitherto made. Flesh and spirit, heaven and earth must be put together in him, and he must be allied to both worlds. And therefore God himself not only undertakes to make, but is pleased so to express himself, as if he called a council to consider of the making of him; Let us make man - The three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, consult about it, and concur in it; because man, when he was made, was to be dedicated and devoted to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. That man was made in God's image, and after his likeness; two words to express the same thing. God's image upon man, consists, In his nature, not that of his body, for God has not a body, but that of his soul. The soul is a spirit, an intelligent, immortal spirit, an active spirit, herein resembling God, the Father of spirits, and the soul of the world. In his place and authority. Let us make man in our image, and let him have dominion. As he has the government of the inferior creatures, he is as it were God's representative on earth. Yet his government of himself by the freedom of his will, has in it more of God's image, than his government of the creatures. And chiefly in his purity and rectitude. God's image upon man consists in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, #Eph 4:24|; Col 3:10. He was upright, #Ec 7:29|. He had an habitual conformity of all his natural powers to the whole will of God. His understanding saw divine things clearly, and there were no errors in his knowledge: his will complied readily and universally with the will of God; without reluctancy: his affections were all regular, and he had no inordinate appetites or passions: his thoughts were easily fixed to the best subjects, and there was no vanity or ungovernableness in them. And all the inferior powers were subject to the dictates of the superior. Thus holy, thus happy, were our first parents, in having the image of God upon them. But how art thou fallen, O son of the morning? How is this image of God upon man defaced! How small are the remains of it, and how great the ruins of it! The Lord renew it upon our souls by his sanctifying grace! That man was made male and female, and blessed with fruitfulness. He created him male and female, Adam and Eve: Adam first out of earth, and Eve out of his side. God made but one male and one female, that all the nations of men might know themselves to be made of one blood, descendants, from one common stock, and might thereby be induced to love one another. God having made them capable of transmitting the nature they had received, said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth - Here he gave them, A large inheritance; replenish the earth, in which God has set man to be the servant of his providence, in the government of the inferior creatures, and as it were the intelligence of this orb; to be likewise the collector of his praises in this lower world, and lastly, to be a probationer for a better state. A numerous lasting family to enjoy this inheritance; pronouncing a blessing upon them, in the virtue of which, their posterity should extend to the utmost corners of the earth, and continue to the utmost period of time. That God gave to man a dominion over the inferior creatures, over fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air - Though man provides for neither, he has power over both, much more over every living thing that moveth upon the earth - God designed hereby to put an honour upon man, that he might find himself the more strongly obliged to bring honour to his Maker.
Mary's comment on 2013-05-20 11:43:06:
Proverbs 3:5,6
God knows that our "will" would always be our biggest hurdle to giving ourselves completely to doing God's Will - let go and enjoy His abundant joy & peace; He Loves Us despite our wicked ways & gave up His most precious Son just to be able to have us in His presence - could any of us do that? Not Likely :(
PAUL SHUFORD's comment on 2013-05-01 11:05:12:
SO GOD CREATED MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD CREATED HE HIM MALE AND FEMALE CREATED HE THEM.NOW YOU HAVE TO RIGHTLY DEVIDE THE WORD OF GOD BEFORE HIM THERE WAS NOTHING BECAUSE HE CREATED EVERYTHING NOW THERE IS SOMETHING
Judy's comment on 2013-04-28 15:13:42:
Our wee little minds have a hard time comprehending the Almighty, All Powerful, All Knowing way of thinking. There is One God. But the Almighty, All Powerful, All Knowing God can do All Things. Who is anyone of us to say He didn't send Jesus(Himself) to earth? Who of us is more Almighty, All Powerful or All Knowing than the One true God? When the Word says "Let us make man in our image"...that is God Himself speaking because He Is the God who created all things. Therefore, the Trinity was in the Word at the very beginning of Creation. It's just our weak comprehension that causes many not to believe the Awesomeness of our God.
Maureen's comment on 2013-04-07 10:42:01:
The words, rule, dominion, and subjection have all been used in various bibles but I can never find a true meaning. Were all the other living creatures supposed to work for humans or was a relationship of looking over them and providing any needs that they may have? I know at the beginning no one killed or ate animals so it seem to me there was more of a companionship role like we have pets today.
gary mixon's comment on 2012-12-27 00:31:01:
The problem, is that most of you (respondents) re-quote and come with a pre supposition that is not inclined to exegesis, anthropology, and ancient near east history. And therefore I am dismayed to the responses. To most scholars - we turmoil of the translation of Hebrew. The known errors from Hebrew to Greek are numerous at best, let alone the translations to the Septuagint (Latin), which become astronomical. The fact remains that ONE POSSIBILITY OF TRANSLATION of the above text is a plethora or numerous [gods]. It's like the many mysteries of the Torah, law and prophets. One other being, the Yam Suf, or fresh water reeds crossing, Jacob’s ladder, etc. Believing and enforcing dogma, breeds criticism to violent ends, mostly due the fact that the ignorant choose not to learn or study, but to believe and vehemently enforce a dogma. So very sad, that laymen have an opinion of any subject due to lack of empirical or critical experience. I can go on and on here with facts.... but why bother?
Greg's comment on 2012-11-21 18:27:26:
And the very next verse it states that God made man in HIS image. Which image was it? If that was a "trinity" and we are made in His image, when we looked in the mirror, wouldn't we see three of ourselves? He would have said "images". God does not have a conference table, He has ONE throne!
Mary's comment on 2012-10-21 22:02:34:
Genesis 1:26 has the phrase "let us make man in our image." That phrase is referring to God, the Holy Spirit, and the Son Jesus Christ. They have always existed and always will. In that verse they were agreeing that they "should make man in their image."
Bryan's comment on 2012-09-02 12:17:44:
The Father, Son , And the Holy spirit
Anonymous's comment on 2012-05-29 14:50:30:
I AM LOOKING FOR THE NAME OF "Elohim" instead of God
frances's comment on 2012-04-07 15:02:36:
'US' meaning the one speaking. In old English (or old way of speaking) it was a proper way of speaking when a King proclaimed himself as US.
TED ARDA's comment on 2011-11-26 00:24:41:
until now we are still muddling along the meaning of the word LET US. logically, the word requires nothing but a simple comprehension that it would be very impossible to create man and woman following one singular image and character. i therefore conclude that there was and there is a MOTHER (female), i repeat, A MOTHER GOD. lets free our mind from the doctrine of a singular GOD housed inside the character of SINGULAR FATHER GOD, otherwise, we are decieving ourselves and we are denying the existence of every women, who like our mother, maternally held us for nine months and raised us until were capable of tendering for our own existence.
Robert Toombs's comment on 2011-09-27 15:43:29:
I understand the use of "our image" as refering to "us" as his childern when we where yet angels of God before time began."Elohim the family of God".God then made us flesh in his image."Jer.1;5" as reference to God knowing us before we where flesh.
Susan Dalton's comment on 2011-09-22 03:43:02:
"And God said, Let us make man in 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." Genesis 1:26. Here we see "let us," "our image," and "our likeness." God revealing God's pluralism.
Blackman's comment on 2011-05-15 12:05:05:
"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." This is God speakin and he said let us make man in our image after our likeness. So God is inlcuding himself withh other. hence the us and our...many say that the us was Son, Holy Ghost, and Father..however Jesus didnt exist til like 2011 years ago....and all mind you when he said make man..he was talking about another people being creadted. hence he had already created male and female so there was already a race of people here. Also all races came from that original race which was the black race. its simply that we are not in the saame image of a ghost lol. That Us And Our is black people and those are His(God) people. And white people are the ones that had domminace over the earth. These are facts. Black people are God people and that our and us simply means he is apart of that ppeople!
jeff's comment on 2010-12-22 00:36:43:
I would just like to comment on Paqul Bivins's comment. The Egg makes more sense to me. The shell is god, the egg white is ghost and the yellow bit is Jesus. Put these together you get an egg. While i don’t believe in the trinity as im an abortionist but when it says "in our own image" i think it just mean me, Hebrew (שלנו) to Greek (Μας) i can get why it says our but if you know the Greek and Hebrew language you know in context it’s just like when god say "he is" you know god has no gender. It like that
Paqul Bivins's comment on 2010-12-11 12:01:03:
The scripture says, Let US make man in OUR own image, To me the scriptures says there is more than one person in the Godhead,that bares record in heaven, Let US ... In OUR own image, that mean to me that the father, Son and the Holy Spirit are three persons, and the word God is a word meaning more than one, Example In the Jones' house their is mom and dad and 3 kids, In the Godhead there are three persons but just one God, Example, Take three matchs and hold them together strike them, you have 3 stems but only one flame, I never undeerstook the egg example.
Angie's comment on 2010-07-17 18:08:15:
This scripture proves that Jesus was in heaven with Jehovah during creation. Hence "in OUR image."
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