Genesis 5:1
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 5
Generations: Adam to Noah.[a] 1 (A)This is the record of the descendants of Adam. When God created human beings, he made them in the likeness of God;
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- 5:1–32 The second of the five Priestly formulas in Part I (“This is the record of the descendants…”; see 2:4a; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10) introduces the second of the three linear genealogies in Gn 1–11 (4:17–24 and 11:10–26). In each, a list of individuals (six in 4:17–24, ten in 5:1–32, or nine in 11:10–26) ends in three people who initiate action. Linear genealogies (father to son) in ancient societies had a communicative function, grounding the authority or claim of the last-named individual in the first-named. Here, the genealogy has a literary function as well, advancing the story by showing the expansion of the human race after Adam, as well as the transmission to his descendant Noah of the divine image given to Adam. Correcting the impression one might get from the genealogy in 4:17–24, this genealogy traces the line through Seth rather than through Cain. Most of the names in the series are the same as the names in Cain’s line in 4:17–19 (Enosh, Enoch, Lamech) or spelled with variant spellings (Mahalalel, Jared, Methuselah). The genealogy itself and its placement before the flood shows the influence of ancient Mesopotamian literature, which contains lists of cities and kings before and after the flood. Before the flood, the ages of the kings ranged from 18,600 to 36,000 years, but after it were reduced to between 140 and 1,200 years. The biblical numbers are much smaller. There are some differences in the numbers in the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts.
Genesis 5:3
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
3 (A)Adam was one hundred and thirty years old when he begot a son in his likeness, after his image; and he named him Seth.(B)
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Genesis 9:6
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
6 [a]Anyone who sheds the blood of a human being,
by a human being shall that one’s blood be shed;
For in the image of God
have human beings been made.(A)
Footnotes
- 9:6 The image of God, given to the first man and woman and transmitted to every human being, is the reason that no violent attacks can be made upon human beings. That image is the basis of the dignity of every individual who, in some sense, “represents” God in the world.
Psalm 8:5-6
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
5 [a]What is man that you are mindful of him,(A)
and a son of man that you care for him?(B)
6 Yet you have made him little less than a god,[b]
crowned him with glory and honor.
Footnotes
- 8:5 Man…a son of man: the emphasis is on the fragility and mortality of human beings to whom God has given great dignity.
- 8:6 Little less than a god: Hebrew ‘elohim, the ordinary word for “God” or “the gods” or members of the heavenly court. The Greek version translated ‘elohim by “angel, messenger”; several ancient and modern versions so translate. The meaning seems to be that God created human beings almost at the level of the beings in the heavenly world. Hb 2:9, translating “for a little while,” finds the eminent fulfillment of this verse in Jesus Christ, who was humbled before being glorified, cf. also 1 Cor 15:27 where St. Paul applies to Christ the closing words of Ps 8:7.
Wisdom 2:23
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
23 For God formed us to be imperishable;
the image of his own nature he made us.(A)
Wisdom 10:2
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
2 and gave him power to rule all things.(A)
Ben Sira 17:1
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 17
Creation of Human Beings
1 The Lord created human beings from the earth,
and makes them return to earth again.(A)
Ben Sira 17:3-4
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3 He endowed them with strength like his own,
and made them in his image.
4 He put fear of them in all flesh,
and gave them dominion over beasts and birds.[a]
Footnotes
- 17:4
Other ancient texts read as v. 5:
They received the use of the Lord’s five faculties;
of mind, the sixth, he granted them a share,
as also of speech, the seventh, the interpreter of his actions.
Matthew 19:4
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
4 [a](A)He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’
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- 19:4–6 Matthew recasts his Marcan source, omitting Jesus’ question about Moses’ command (Mk 10:3) and having him recall at once two Genesis texts that show the will and purpose of the Creator in making human beings male and female (Gn 1:27), namely, that a man may be joined to his wife in marriage in the intimacy of one flesh (Gn 2:24). What God has thus joined must not be separated by any human being. (The NAB translation of the Hebrew bāśār of Gn 2:24 as “body” rather than “flesh” obscures the reference of Matthew to that text.)
Mark 10:6
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.(A)
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James 3:7
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7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species,
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Ephesians 4:24
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24 and put on[a] the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.(A)
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Colossians 3:10
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10 [a]and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator.(A)
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