God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”
Parallel translations
- KJV 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.
- BSB And God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”
- NKJV Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.”
- NASB Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”
- NLT Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.”
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 waters and skies to teem with living creatures. Life now fills the realms God earlier prepared.
Overview
On the fifth day God calls the seas to swarm with creatures and the air to be filled with birds, populating the domains formed on days two and three. The abundance of living things displays God's generosity and delight in life. This filling of empty spaces with teeming life reflects the order and fullness that characterize God's good creation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Gen 2:19Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature became its name.
- Ps 104:24–25Yahweh, how many are your works! In wisdom have you made them all. The earth is full of your riches.
- 1 Kgs 4:33He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows out of the wall; he also spoke of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish.
- Ps 148:10wild animals and all livestock; small creatures and flying birds;
- Gen 1:30To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so.
- Gen 8:17Bring 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.”
- Gen 1:7God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.
- Gen 1:22God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
- Gen 1:14God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years;
- Acts 17:25neither is he served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things.
- Eccl 2:21For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, with knowledge, and with skillfulness; yet he shall leave it for his portion to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Lay
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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 1:20 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.