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Did God tell Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and “replenish” the Earth? Was the Earth already “plenished”?

My colleague and I have been discussing the creation story in Genesis 1. Given that you read Greek and Hebrew AND English, maybe you can help us. Did God tell Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and “replenish” the Earth? As in, the Earth was already “plenished” once and they need to REplenish it? Or is that a mistranslation or perhaps we mean “replenish” in a different sense than the original wording? (10/11/08)

Genesis 1:22 … God blessed [sea animals], saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas…
Genesis 1:28 … God said unto [Adam and Eve], Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth …

Summary.

I love this sort of question for two reasons. First, it makes me take a good, hard look at a scripture that I’ve seen so many times that I don’t pay attention. Second, it makes me get out Bibles and reference books in three languages!

This reader brings up an excellent point: very few words can be translated exactly from one language to another. If we are the least bit unsure about the context of a word, we can get a wrong idea about what the writer meant. Several linguistic problems can contribute to our confusion:

English words very rarely have only one meaning; meaning usually depends on context.
Many words in Hebrew and Greek have more than one meaning; meaning often depends on context.
English words change their meaning over time and space. (Biblical Hebrew and Greek don’t, because they are dead languages.)

Thus, depending on the context and the time and place, the same Hebrew or Greek word may demand a different English translation.

Finally, people who translate from Hebrew and Greek into English don’t always use the same English word for the same Hebrew or Greek word, even when the context is identical, for stylistic reasons that actually have nothing to do with the meaning.

That final point does not necessarly mean that the translation is wrong – what it mainly shows is that modern English has more than ten times as many words as Biblical Hebrew. Our ears are not accustomed to hearing the same word again and again, and when we do, we start paying more attention to the repeated word than to the content.

In the King James Version, God says to Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”

First, let’s look at that English word “replenish.” It means literally “fill again.” “Replenish the pantry” means to buy more groceries to replace the ones that have been used up. Apparently “replenish” has always had this meaning, because two dictionaries say that it comes from two very old words that mean “fill” and “again.” Interestingly, the older dictionary has a second definition of “to repeople,” and the newer dictionary has a second definition of “to nourish or inspire.” Both “fill again” and “repeople” certainly could imply – in English! – that the world was previously filled before God spoke to Adam and Eve, and now it’s time to fill it again.

Second, let’s see how the Septuagint translates the Hebrew. You probably remember that the Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Jewish scripture, made about 300 BC for Greek-speaking Jews. It was more widely used at the time of Jesus than the original Hebrew, because Hebrew was already a dead language. The translation was done by rabbis, so it tells us in Greek what scholars and religious leaders 2300 years ago understood the Hebrew to mean.

The Septuagint uses the word pleroo (say play-RAH-oh) in Genesis 1:28. This is a fairly common word that literally means “fill” or “make full.” It is also used in a slightly more figurative way to mean “complete” or “fulfill,” e.g., a time period or a vow. My New Testament Greek dictionary and concordance do not seem to indicate that it ever means “fill again.” The three words of interest in both vss. 1:22 and 1:28 are auxano, plethuno, pleroo, which mean “grow/increase,” “increase/multiply,” and “fill.”

Third, let’s look at the Hebrew. The Hebrew word is mla (say ma-LAW). This word means, both literally and figuratively, “fill,” “be full,” or “complete.” It doesn’t mean “fill again.” The other two words are prh (pa-RAH) and rbh (ra-BAH), which mean “be fruitful” and “multiply/increase.

We also need to note this about the Hebrew and Greek. In vs. 1:22, God is talking to the watery animals and the birds. He says to the watery animals, “paru, vrabu, vmalu the waters in the seas” which means almost exactly, “be fruitful, and multiply/increase, and fill the waters in the seas.” In vs. 1:28, God is talking to Adam and Eve, and He says, “paru, vrabu, vmalu the earth.” You see that in Hebrew God uses exactly the same words in speaking to the watery animals and to the people, and the Greek translation does the same thing.

Finally, let’s go back to English by looking at several translations. Here’s a little table that shows (1) why you should read various translations, and (2) why you should not get too hung up theologically on the exact meaning of one word in one verse in one translation. I chose these translations not knowing what they said here. I discovered that only two out of seven translate the two verses in the same way.

Translation	Verse	Hebrew	Greek	English
King James	1:22 1:28	prh, rbh, mla prh, rbh, mla	auxano, plethuno, pleroo auxano, plethuno, pleroo	be fruitful, multiply, fill be fruitful, multiply, replenish
Revised Standard	Ditto	Ditto	Ditto	be fruitful, multiply, fill be fruitful, multiply, fill
Good News	Ditto	Ditto	Ditto	reproduce and fill have many children … live all over
Contemporary English	Ditto	Ditto	Ditto	live everywhere Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people
Jerusalem	Ditto	Ditto	Ditto	be fruitful, multiply, fill be fruitful, multiply, replenish
Jewish Publication Soc.	Ditto	Ditto	Ditto	be fruitful, multiply, fill be fruitful, multiply, replenish
Schocken (another Jewish translation)	Ditto	Ditto	Ditto	bear fruit, be many, fill bear fruit, be many, fill

There are two points that I want you to take away from this discussion.

First, the linguistic point is that not only do the translations differ from each other, but five out of seven of them translate the same words in the same context differently in vss. 22 and 28. You should probably read more than one translation, but if you are only going to read only one Bible, it definitely should be a good, modern translation. None of these translations is wrong. Nevertheless, if you notice that vs. 28 differs from 22 in English, look up the word “replenish” in an English dictionary, and put the literal meaning of “fill again” into vs. 28 only, you could easily get a wrong idea about what God meant.

Second, the theological point is that you should never, never, ever take one word in one translation out of context and build your Biblical interpretation on that. You must read the word in the context of the verse, the verse in the context of the passage, and the passage in the context of the whole Bible. Do this, and the Holy Spirit will reveal the meaning to you, and you will never be wrong about the message.

Follow-up Question –

Why would the translators of the King James Version and Jerusalem Bible have chosen the “re-” prefix?

The supplement for this week leaves me with one question yet (which we can probably never answer without talking to the groups that actually did the translation): why would the translators of the King James Version and Jerusalem Bible have chosen the “re-” prefix in the second verse? (2008)

This reader – a second reader, not the original questioner – asks a good and (until we all get to heaven) unanswerable question, but here’s my thought.

The KJV and Jerusalem are very beautiful, stately, poetic translations. They planned them that way. “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” is much more beautiful, stately, and poetic than the Contemporary English’s “Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people.” On the other hand, the CEV is more clear to the grade schoolers and second-language readers in its intended audience.

You have to allow each translator or group of translators to choose English words that not only translate the text, but also reflect their own purpose and audience. I actually thought about adding something to this effect to the original answer, although this reader’s question made me formulate it more clearly.

This is exactly why Christian leaders in each area of the world need to learn Hebrew and Greek: they have their own purposes and audiences, and they need to be able to create translations that reflect these purposes and audiences.

Copyright 2008, 2013 by Regina L. Hunter. All rights reserved. This page has been prepared for the web site by Deanna Rains.

Opinions expressed on this page are solely those of the author, Regina Hunter, and may or may not be shared by the sponsors or the Bible-study participants. Thanks to the Holy Spirit for any useful ideas presented here, and thanks to all the readers for their support and enthusiasm. All errors are, of course, the sole responsibility of the author.

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