Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | Genesis 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them [granting them certain authority] and said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subjugate it [putting it under your power]; and rule over (dominate) the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the earth." |
Bible Question: My KJV says that God commanded that man replenish the earth.The same command is given to Noah: see Gen 9:1.Replenish implies that there was something to replenish ie to replace.In the case of the flood that is easily understood,but what about Gen 1:28? What was before man to replenish? |
Bible Answer: The problem, Cephas, is not one of theology, because there was nothing for man to replace. It is neither a problem with the King James translation; it is right. The problem is with our tricky English language. The verb "replenish" does not always mean to replace. I cite the Merriam-Webster Collegiate dictionary. The first definition given for "replenish" is this: "To fill with persons or animals." Fill, not refill. An archiac definition, which the 1611 scholars may well have had in mind, is "to supply fully." A second definition of "replenish" is "to fill or build up again" but that is not the definition that is in harmony with the context here, to which modern versions attest by their usage of the simple word "fill." --Hank |