Genesis 1:26

Hebrew Bible

26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” 27 God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.

Sirach 17:3

Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon

1 The Lord created human beings out of earth, and makes them return to it again. 2 He gave them a fixed number of days, but granted them authority over everything on the earth. 3 He endowed them with strength like his own, and made them in his own image. 4 He put the fear of them in all living beings, and gave them dominion over beasts and birds.

 Notes and References

"... According to early Jewish interpretation that employs language reminiscent of Genesis 1 and Psalm 8, the relationship between humans and the image of God should be understood as being similar to the correspondence between an original and a copy ... This reference to humankind’s having been created in the image of God forms part of Sirach 17:1– 14, in which the creation narratives of Genesis 1 and 2 are merged with the Sinai tradition on the giving of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19–20). Emphasis is placed on the assumption that the image of God implies human authority over animals, and that this is comparable to the sovereignty of God in the heavens ..."

Bosman, Hendrik "Figuring God and Humankind: The Imago Dei in View of Anthropologies in the Old Testament" in Claassens, L. Juliana M., and Klaas Spronk, editors. Fragile Dignity: Intercontextual Conversations on Scriptures, Family, and Violence (p. 50) Society of Biblical Literature, 2013

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