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.
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.
Genesis 1:25 And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the ground after its kind: and God saw that it was good.
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 birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:27 And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
The verse centers on "said", "make", "image", "after", "likeness", "dominion", "over", and "fish". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "said" and "make", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 25's "And God made the beasts of the..." into verse 27's "And God created man in his own...", so "said" and "make" 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 "said" and "make" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.