And God saith, `Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the heavens, and over cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that is creeping on the earth.'
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.
Genesis 1:25 And God maketh the beast of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, and God seeth that <FI>it is<Fi> good.
Genesis 1:26 And God saith, `Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the heavens, and over cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that is creeping on the earth.'
Genesis 1:27 And God prepareth the man in His image; in the image of God He prepared him, a male and a female He prepared them.
Genesis 1:28 And God blesseth them, and God saith to them, `Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the heavens, and over every living thing that is creeping upon the earth.'
The verse centers on "saith", "make", "image", "likeness", "rule", "over", and "fish". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "saith" 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 maketh the beast of the..." into verse 27's "And God prepareth the man in His...", so "saith" 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 "saith" and "make" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.