Genesis 1:20-23

The Fifth Day. The Creation of Water Animals and Flying Animals

20. Let the waters … life The rendering, "bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life," fails to give the full meaning of the original. Literally, the words mean "let the waters swarm swarms, even living soul": and the purpose of the command is that the waters are to teem with myriads of living animals. Hence the R.V. margin, "swarm with swarms of living creatures" is closer to the original; but it fails to reproduce the phrase "living soul," in apposition to the word translated "swarms." No translation is satisfactory which fails to give prominence to the thought, that the waters are to teem with things endowed with a wondrous new gift, the active principle of animal life, which the Hebrews called nephesh, and which is nearly represented by the Greek ψυχή. We might, therefore, translate "let the waters swarm with swarms of creatures, even with countless things which have life."

That there should ever be any difficulty in deciding whether an organism belonged to the vegetable or to the animal "kingdom would never have occurred to an ancient writer.

The rendering "the moving creature" went wrong in following the ancient versions, which supposed that the word rendered in the margin "swarm," denoted only "creeping things" or "reptiles." LXX ἑρπετὰ ψυχῶν ζωσῶν. Lat. reptile animae viventis. This gives an entirely false impression. The command is for the creation of all sorts of water animals.

and let fowl fly Rather, "and let winged things fly." The command includes all creatures with wings, e.g. bats, butterflies, beetles, insects, as well as birds.

in the open firmament of heaven This rendering scarcely reproduces the sense of the Hebrew words, which literally mean "in the face of," or "over against, the firmament of heaven." The idea is that winged things are to fly "above" the earth, and "in front of" the vault of heaven. The R.V. margin, on the face of the expanse of the heaven, is cumbrous and obscure. The meaning seems to be that the flight of winged things shall be in mid air, "in front," as it were, of the solid "firmament of heaven," which was not remote. The winged creatures would continually be visible against the sky.