Bible Strands
Genesis 9:2
The fear and dread of you will fall on every living creature on the earth, every bird of the air, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are delivered into your hand.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks to Noah and his sons immediately after the flood, following the command to be fruitful and multiply in Genesis 9:1. This declaration establishes a new postdiluvian order for humanity's relationship with the natural world.
The words — The supplied terms וּ/מוֹרַאֲ/כֶ֤ם (u./mo.ra.'a./Khem) and וְ/חִתְּ/כֶם֙ (ve./chi.te./Khem) translate to "and fear your" and "and dread your," indicating a divinely imposed terror that will fall upon every living creature. This fear ensures that animals and fish are delivered into human hands for survival.
The thread — This theme of human dominion echoes the creation mandate in Genesis 1:28 and contrasts with the future covenant in Hosea 2:18 that will remove such hostility. It also stands in tension with the human condition described in Psalms 8:4 regarding God's mindful care for mankind.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that human survival now depends on a divinely granted authority over the animal kingdom. It requires readers to accept this shifted ecological order without romanticizing the relationship between humanity and creation.
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 the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
Cross-references
- Psalms 8:4 what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?
- 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.”
- Hosea 2:18 On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that crawl on the ground. And I will abolish bow and sword and battle in the land, and will make them lie down in safety.
- James 3:7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man,
- Leviticus 26:6 And I will give peace to the land, and you will lie down with nothing to fear. I will rid the land of dangerous animals, and no sword will pass through your land.
- Job 5:22 You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the beasts of the earth.
- Ezekiel 34:25 I will make with them a covenant of peace and rid the land of wild animals, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest.
- Genesis 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
- Genesis 35:5 As they set out, a terror from God fell over the surrounding cities, so that they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.
- Leviticus 26:22 I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate.