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Genesis 1:26-28

创世记 1:26-28

The Passage

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 birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them. God said to them, 'Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'

In the other language

神说：我们要照着我们的形像、按着我们的样式造人，使他们管理海里的鱼、空中的鸟、地上的牲畜，和全地，并地上所爬的一切昆虫。神就照着自己的形像造人，乃是照着他的形像造男造女。神就赐福给他们，又对他们说：要生养众多，遍满地面，治理这地，也要管理海里的鱼、空中的鸟，和地上各样行动的活物。

Theme

Image and dominion

Bring a question to this passage

Many readers arrive here from a real question. These are reflections for how this passage speaks to the questions people bring most often — not an answer about what will happen, but an invitation to sit with it slowly.

How do I face this season of pressure at work?

Your worth appears here before any account of human achievement: God creates people in his image and blesses them. This passage does not address workplace pressure directly, but it places responsibility within that prior gift of dignity. You are entrusted with meaningful work; you are not described as something valuable only when productive. The same image belongs to the people beside you, including those whose demands are difficult to bear. Facing pressure need not mean surrendering your humanity or forgetting theirs. You can consider both the task and the way you carry it. Where could honoring God's image in yourself and your coworkers take shape in one pressured encounter?

Carry thisYour dignity is given, not earned through constant productivity.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 2:15 · Isaiah 40:31 · 2 Corinthians 10:2-6

I want to learn to love better in this relationship.

Before this passage gives human beings a task, it names them as bearers of God's image. It does not teach relationship skills directly, but it gives you a starting place for love: the person before you has a dignity you did not create and cannot take away. Both male and female bear that image; neither is described as the other's possession. The dominion given here concerns the living world, not permission to control another person. Loving better may begin with noticing where your wishes have crowded out someone else's voice. How might this relationship change if you received this person as someone to honor rather than someone to manage?

Carry thisThe person before you bears dignity beyond your preferences.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 2:15 · Isaiah 40:31 · 2 Corinthians 10:2-6

What do I need to let go of in the coming weeks?

Before people are given responsibility, they are made in God's image and blessed. This passage does not name what you should release in the coming weeks, but it places human worth before human achievement. You are not asked to earn the dignity that creation gives you. Dominion names a real responsibility toward living things, not permission to treat everything as yours to use up. As you consider letting go, you might notice both the pressure to prove your worth and the habit of confusing care with control. Neither is the same as bearing God's image. Where has your desire to be responsible become a need to control?

Carry thisYour dignity comes before the responsibilities you carry.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 2:15 · Isaiah 40:31 · 2 Corinthians 10:2-6

How can I find stillness in a busy life?

Before the work of tending the earth is given, human beings are named as bearers of God's image. This passage does not teach a practice of stillness, but it gives you something to remember when busyness makes you feel like a collection of tasks. Your humanity is not something you earn by getting everything done. Responsibility belongs in this picture, yet it is held within a dignity that comes first. A quiet pause can be a way of acknowledging that distinction: you have work to do, but you are more than your work. Can you pause here as someone made in God's image rather than someone trying to prove your worth?

Carry thisYour dignity comes before the tasks that fill your day.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 2:15 · Isaiah 40:31 · 2 Corinthians 10:2-6

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Genesis 1 — in context

20God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky.”

21God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.

22God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

23There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

24God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.

25God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.

26God 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 birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

28God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

29God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.

30To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so.

31God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

More from Genesis

Related topics

Work and Calling

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