Genesis 1:28 (WEB)

Passage

God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Nearby Context

Genesis 1:26 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 sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis 1:27 God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:28 God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 1:29 God 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.

Genesis 1:30 To 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.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 27's "God created man in his own image..." into verse 29's "God said Behold I have given you...", so "blessed" and "said" 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 "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.