Bible Strands
Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses humanity (male and female) immediately after declaring them created in His image (Gen 1:27), before the food provision of Gen 1:29.
The words — פְּרוּ (pərû, "be fruitful") and מִלְאוּ (mıl'û, "fill") are both imperative plural, directing the command at the whole of humanity rather than an individual.
The thread — The same formula recurs in Genesis 9:1 and 9:7, where God reissues it to Noah and his sons after the flood; Leviticus 26:9 recasts fruitfulness as the covenant blessing God promises to Israel.
Why it lands — It is a direct command, not a permission: God assigns procreation and dominion as tasks, not privileges, to every human being.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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 fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Cross-references
- Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
- Genesis 9:7 But as for you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out across the earth and multiply upon it.”
- Leviticus 26:9 I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will establish My covenant with you.
- Psalms 128:3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table.
- Genesis 22:17 I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
- Genesis 1:22 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
- Genesis 17:20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you, and I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He will become the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.
- Psalms 127:1 A song of ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.
- Isaiah 45:18 For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens—He is God; He formed the earth and fashioned it; He established it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.
- Genesis 8:17 Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, and everything that crawls upon the ground—so that they can spread out over the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon it.”