Genesis 1:22 (YLT)

Passage

And God blesseth them, saying, `Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and the fowl let multiply in the earth:'

Nearby Context

Genesis 1:20 And God saith, `Let the waters teem with the teeming living creature, and fowl let fly on the earth on the face of the expanse of the heavens.'

Genesis 1:21 And God prepareth the great monsters, and every living creature that is creeping, which the waters have teemed with, after their kind, and every fowl with wing, after its kind, and God seeth that <FI>it is<Fi> good.

Genesis 1:22 And God blesseth them, saying, `Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and the fowl let multiply in the earth:'

Genesis 1:23 and there is an evening, and there is a morning--day fifth.

Genesis 1:24 And God saith, `Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind:' and it is so.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "blesseth", "saying", "fruitful", "multiply", "fill", "waters", "seas", and "fowl". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "blesseth" 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 prepareth the great monsters and..." into verse 23's "and there is an evening and there...", so "blesseth" 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 "blesseth" and "saying" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.