Genesis 1:22 (ASV)

Passage

And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.

Nearby Context

Genesis 1:20 And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

Genesis 1:21 And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that moveth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind: and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.

Genesis 1:23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

Genesis 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind: and it was so.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "blessed", "saying", "fruitful", "multiply", "fill", "waters", "seas", and "birds". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "blessed" and "saying", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 21's "And God created the great sea-monsters and..." into verse 23's "And there was evening and there was...", so "blessed" and "saying" belong inside that flow. In Genesis context, the local focus is creation, human rebellion, covenant promise, and God's providence.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "blessed" and "saying" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.