Genesis 1:20 records God’s command on the fifth day of creation: the waters are to teem with living creatures, and birds are to fly across the open sky above the earth. In plain terms, the verse says that God deliberately filled the seas and the air with life, speaking it into being rather than leaving it to chance. The words are spoken by God himself, addressed to the created order, and they set in motion the first flocks of birds and the first swarms of sea life.
God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”
Genesis 1:20 (WEB)
What Genesis 1:20 Means
The phrase “let the waters abound with living creatures” describes an act of command that results in plenty. The Hebrew idea is less about a single creature and more about a teeming, crowded abundance, the sea alive with movement. God does not simply make the water; he commissions it to become full of life, so the sea is understood as a place that receives its life from him.
The second half, “let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky,” places the birds in the space God set apart on the second day. The “expanse” is the open air between the waters above and below, and the birds are given their own domain within it. The verse is about God ordering the realms of creation and filling each one with the creatures suited to it.
What the verse does not do is explain the biology of how these animals came to be, nor does it settle every question about their origin or timing. It makes a claim about who gives life and where it belongs. It does not promise anything to the reader directly, but it grounds a steady confidence that the world God made is ordered, purposeful, and full of the life he intended.
The Context of Genesis 1:20
Genesis is the first book of the Torah, traditionally attributed to Moses, and it was written for the people of Israel as they understood their origins and their God. The creation account in chapter 1 is structured around days, with God forming realms on days one through three and then filling them on days four through six. Verse 20 belongs to the fifth day, the day the sea creatures and birds are made, which pairs with the creation of land animals and humanity later on the sixth day.
The surrounding verses, 17 through 23, show God setting the lights in the sky, then calling forth the sea creatures and birds, and then blessing them with the command to be fruitful and multiply. Read this way, Genesis 1:20 is not an isolated image of birds and fish but part of a rhythm in which God speaks, creates, sees that it is good, and then blesses. That pattern shapes how the verse should be read: the abundance of life is an expression of God’s goodness and his generous purpose for creation.
Key Phrases in Genesis 1:20
Genesis 1:21
God 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.
(WEB)
The verse that follows gives the fuller picture of the sea creatures and birds, noting that God created them after their kind and saw that they were good. It sharpens the picture from verse 20 by naming God’s approval of what he has made and by showing the same pattern of creation and blessing that runs through the chapter.
Psalm 104:25
There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living things, both small and large animals.
(WEB)
This psalm celebrates the same sea, describing it as vast and teeming with creatures beyond counting. It connects the creation account in Genesis to the worship of God as the one who sustains all life, showing that the abundance of the waters is an ongoing gift rather than a past event alone.
A Short Prayer From Genesis 1:20
Lord, you spoke the waters full of life and gave the birds the open sky, and you saw that all of it was good. Thank you for the way your creation teems with life, from the smallest creature in the deep to the birds that lift above the earth. When I feel crowded or confined, remind me that you make room for life to flourish and that you care for every living thing you have made. Help me trust your ordering of my days, and let me rest in the goodness of the world you have called into being. Amen.