יֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים

נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ

וְיִרְדּוּ בִדְגַת הַיָּם

וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם

וּבַבְּהֵמָה

וּבְכָל-הָאָרֶץ

וּבְכָל-הָרֶמֶשׂ, הָרֹמֵשׂ עַל-הָאָרֶץ.

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وَقَالَ اللهُ:

«نَعْمَلُ الإِنْسَانَ عَلَى صُورَتِنَا كَشَبَهِنَا

فَيَتَسَلَّطُونَ عَلَى سَمَكِ الْبَحْرِ

وَعَلَى طَيْرِ السَّمَاءِ

وَعَلَى الْبَهَائِمِ وَعَلَى كُلِّ الأَرْضِ

وَعَلَى جَمِيعِ الدَّبَّابَاتِ الَّتِي تَدِبُّ عَلَى الأَرْضِ».

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Y dijo Dios:

Hagamos al hombre á nuestra imagen, conforme á nuestra semejanza;

y señoree en los peces de la mar,

y en las aves de los cielos,

y en las bestias,

y en toda la tierra,

y en todo animal que anda arrastrando sobre la tierra.

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And 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 fowl of the air,

and over the cattle,

and over all the earth,

and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

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Additional LDS scriptural sources:

Moses 2:26
And I, God, said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and it was so. And I, God, said: Let them have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Abraham 4:26
And the Gods took counsel among themselves and said: Let us go down and form man in our image, after our likeness; and we will give them dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

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Notes/Questions:

This is a verse that shows up in the LDS scripture mastery verses that seminary students study. From the LDS perspective, we take the idea that we are created in God’s image very literally - because we believe God has a physical body. Doctrine and Covenants 130:22 reads:

The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.

It has never seemed strange to me to believe in a God who has a physical body - particularly from a Christian vantage-point - since the New Testament teaches that Jesus was resurrected in a physical manner - that he made a point of eating and allowing himself to be touched after the resurrection.

There is something else interesting in this verse - the phrase “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:” which seems to point to a plurality of Gods.

וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים אֶת-חַיַּת הָאָרֶץ לְמִינָהּ

וְאֶת-הַבְּהֵמָה לְמִינָהּ

וְאֵת כָּל-רֶמֶשׂ הָאֲדָמָה לְמִינֵהוּ;

וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים כִּי-טוֹב.

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فَعَمِلَ اللهُ وُحُوشَ الأَرْضِ كَأَجْنَاسِهَ،

وَالْبَهَائِمَ كَأَجْنَاسِهَا

وَجَمِيعَ دَبَّابَاتِ الأَرْضِ كَأَجْنَاسِهَا.

وَرَأَى اللهُ ذلِكَ أَنَّهُ حَسَنٌ.

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E hizo Dios animales de la tierra según su género,

y ganado según su género,

y todo animal que anda arrastrando sobre la tierra según su especie:

y vió Dios que era bueno.

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And God made the beast of the earth after his kind,

and cattle after their kind,

and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind:

and God saw that it was good.

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Additional LDS scriptural sources:

Moses 2:25
And I, God, made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything which creepeth upon the earth after his kind; and I, God, saw that all these things were good.

Abraham 4:25
And the Gods organized the earth to bring forth the beasts after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind; and the Gods saw they would obey.

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Notes/Questions:

I googled the phrase “beast of the earth after his kind” and came up with a wikipedia entry for “Created Kind.” I only read through it once so far. It introduces some ideas. I have no idea yet what I think of them.

In the process I learned a new word: “clade.

“Perhaps the question that needs to be asked here is whether or not “after his kind” should be interpreted to mean “after his species” or what exactly (or generally) “kind” means in this context. How restrictive is the term? Those who oppose evolution may feel that “after his kind” is a strict point that means one species/group of animals could not emerge from another kind.

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים

תּוֹצֵא הָאָרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה לְמִינָהּ

בְּהֵמָה וָרֶמֶשׂ

וְחַיְתוֹ-אֶרֶץ לְמִינָהּ

וַיְהִי-כֵן.

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وَقَالَ اللهُ:

«لِتُخْرِجِ الأَرْضُ ذَوَاتِ أَنْفُسٍ حَيَّةٍ كَجِنْسِهَا:

بَهَائِمَ، وَدَبَّابَاتٍ،

وَوُحُوشَ أَرْضٍ كَأَجْنَاسِهَا».

وَكَانَ كَذلِكَ.

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Y dijo Dios:

Produzca la tierra seres vivientes según su género,

bestias y serpientes

y animales de la tierra según su especie:

y fué así.

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And God said,

Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind,

cattle and creeping thing,

and beast of the earth after his kind:

and it was so.

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Additional LDS scriptural sources:

Moses 2:24
And I, God, said: Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind, and it was so;

Abraham 4:24
And the Gods prepared the earth to bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind; and it was so, as they had said.

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Notes/Questions:

There is an entry in Wikipedia for “Animals in the Bible.”

Here’s a blog post titled: “Genesis 1:24-25, Animals”

The word that interests me here is the Hebrew “remesh” (רֶמֶשׂ) which often is translated as “creeping things” … my gut instinct is that there’s some interesting things going on with this word, but I haven’t really found what I’m looking for on the subject. It reminds me a little bit of the word “sheretz” (שֶׁרֶץ) that appears in Genesis 1:20.

Also appearing in this verse is the Hebrew word “behemah” (בְּהֵמָה) which has an English cognate: “behemoth”.

See the Google define function for “behemoth”.

Also see the wikipedia entry for “behemoth.”

Here’s a fun quote from the wikipedia entry:

In Jewish belief, Behemoth is the primal unconquerable monster of the land, as Leviathan is the primal monster of the waters of the sea and Ziz the primordial monster of the sky. There is a legend that the Leviathan and the Behemoth shall hold a battle at the end of the world. The two will finally kill each other, and the surviving men will feast on their meat. According to midrash recording traditions, it is impossible for anyone to kill a behemoth except for the person who created it, in this case the God of the Hebrews. A later haggadic tradition furthermore holds that at the banquet at the end of the world, the behemoth will be served up along with the Leviathan and Ziz

וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם חֲמִישִׁי.

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وَكَانَ مَسَاءٌ وَكَانَ صَبَاحٌ يَوْمًا خَامِسًا.

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Y fué la tarde y la mañana el día quinto.

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And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

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Additional LDS scriptural sources:

Moses 2:23
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Abraham 4:23
And it came to pass that it was from evening until morning that they called night; and it came to pass that it was from morning until evening that they called day; and it was the fifth time.