Genesis 1:26
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים נַֽעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ וְיִרְדּוּ בִדְגַת הַיָּם וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּבַבְּהֵמָה וּבְכָל־הָאָרֶץ וּבְכָל־הָרֶמֶשׂ הָֽרֹמֵשׂ עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים נַֽעֲשֶׂ֥ה אָדָ֛ם בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ כִּדְמוּתֵ֑נוּ וְיִרְדּוּ֩ בִדְגַ֨ת הַיָּ֜ם וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם וּבַבְּהֵמָה֙ וּבְכָל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וּבְכָל־הָרֶ֖מֶשׂ הָֽרֹמֵ֥שׂ עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃
καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ’ εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ κἀθ᾽ ὁμοίωσιν· καὶ ἀρχέτωσαν τῶν ἰχθύων τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ τῶν πετεινῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῶν κτηνῶν καὶ πάτης τῆς γῆς καὶ πάντων τῶν ἑρπετῶν τῶν ἑρπόντων ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
et ait: Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram: et præsit piscibus maris, et volatilibus cæli, et bestiis, universæque terræ, omnique reptili, quod movetur in terra.
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.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
✦ What the text says
Summary
Genesis 1:26 introduces divine speech in the first person plural: "let us make" humankind in "our image," according to "our likeness," with a mandate to rule over five domains: the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the livestock, all the earth, and every creeping thing.
Key words
- na.'a.Seh ("let us make", H6213) — imperfect, first person plural.
- 'a.Dam ("humankind", H0120) — masculine singular noun, here without the article.
- tzal.Me. ("image", H6754) — noun in construct with the suffix "our."
- d.mu.Te. ("likeness", H1823) — feminine noun in construct, also with "our."
- yir.Du ("they may rule", H7287) — imperfect with vav: "and let them rule."
What the text says
After the narrative vav and i.Yo.mer ("he said", H0559), the speech moves into the first person plural: na.'a.Seh ("let us make", H6213) is an imperfect whose subject, as marked in the provided morphology, is "we." The object is 'a.Dam ("humankind", H0120). Two parallel prepositional phrases follow: be. ("in", H9003) plus tzal.Me. ("image", H6754) with a first person plural suffix, and ki ("according to", H9004) plus d.mu.Te. ("likeness", H1823) with the same suffix. The Hebrew juxtaposes the two phrases without a conjunction.
The continuation is carried by yir.Du ("they may rule", H7287), an imperfect with vav that the provided morphology glosses as "and let…" (purpose/continuation), with the plural subject "they" — even though 'a.Dam is singular. The list of domains chains five items: the d.Gat ("[the] fish of", H1710) of the Yam ("sea", H3220), the 'of ("[the] bird[s] of", H5775) of the sha.Ma.yim ("heavens", H8064), the be.he.Mah ("livestock", H0929), all the 'A.retz ("earth", H0776), and every Re.mes ("creeping thing", H7431), the last qualified by the participle ro.Mes ("creeps", H7430): "the one creeping on the earth."
Differences between versions
In the image phrase, the Hebrew has two phrases, each with its own possessive suffix and no conjunction; the LXX adds καί ("and"), and in Swete's text the possessive ἡμετέραν accompanies only εἰκόνα ("image"); the Vulgate gathers everything under one preposition and one final possessive: "ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram." The RV1909 ("á nuestra imagen, conforme á nuestra semejanza") and the BSB reproduce the Hebrew's double structure. In all the witnesses the opening verb is plural: Ποιήσωμεν, "Faciamus," "Hagamos," "Let Us make."
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.