Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.
Parallel translations
- WEB God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth”; and it was so.
- KJV And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
- BSB Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind.” And it was so.
- NASB Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit according to their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.
- NLT Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God commands the earth to bring forth vegetation that reproduces after its kind. Life is designed to be fruitful and self-perpetuating.
Overview
Still on the third day, God calls the land to produce plants and fruit trees bearing seed 'after their kind,' establishing both abundance and order in the living world. The phrase 'after their kind' highlights the reliable, designed patterns God built into creation. This provision of food-bearing plants shows God's care to supply for the creatures he is about to make.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Heb 6:7For the land which has drunk the rain that comes often on it, and produces a crop suitable for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receives blessing from God;
- Ps 104:14–17He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth:
- Ps 147:8who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains.
- Gen 1:29God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.
- Ps 65:9–13You visit the earth, and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it.
- Matt 6:30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?
- Gen 2:9Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
- Job 28:5As for the earth, out of it comes bread; Underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.
- Mark 4:28For the earth bears fruit: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
- Matt 7:16–20By their fruits you will know them. Do you gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?
- Gen 2:5No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground,
- Ps 1:3He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.
- Luke 6:43–44For there is no good tree that produces rotten fruit; nor again a rotten tree that produces good fruit.
- Gen 2:16Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden;
- Jas 3:12Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh water.
- Matt 3:10“Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
- Jer 17:8For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Lay
The single best free starting point for Genesis 1–11 — clear, visual, and faithful to the literary design.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 1:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.