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Why Us?

sandy whitelinger

Veteran Member
Why does the King James Version say "us" in Genesis 1:26:
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

and 3:22:
"And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever..."
 

*Paul*

Jesus loves you
Well whoever "Us" is, Us shares the same image. Let us make man in our image. (note not images).

Whoever "Us" is also has equal knowledge of good and evil between them for He says man is like Us to know good and evil.

Us is Jehovah our Elohim.
 

sandy whitelinger

Veteran Member
Well whoever "Us" is, Us shares the same image. Let us make man in our image. (note not images).

Whoever "Us" is also has equal knowledge of good and evil between them for He says man is like Us to know good and evil.

Us is Jehovah our Elohim.
Maybe I should have been more direct. Why is the plural used?
 

slabbey06

Bond-Servant of Christ
Why does the King James Version say "us" in Genesis 1:26:
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

and 3:22:
"And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever..."


I believe it's a Trinitiarian "us"... One God existing in three persons
 

*Paul*

Jesus loves you
Maybe I should have been more direct. Why is the plural used?
The only reasonable answer is because more than one Person is the topic.
I'm with Slabbey as to who He is. Could have have been the Divine Word of God, Jesus Christ?

St. John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
The creation is certainly in view here.

Now I wonder who else was there..............................................................................................................................................................................
..ahha ha
Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
 
A

angellous_evangellous

Guest
Hebrew doesn't use "the Royal we" by any chance, does it?

OK, I previously thought that the "royal we" was an anachronistically applied to the Hebrew text. Several people think that this "royal we" indentification is from British scholars who take the usage from British usage of the crown as plural.

But the Hebrews did have a concept of a heavenly court (Yahweh and angels) and perhaps this can be termed the "royal we," but it applies to more than just God whereas the reference to the British king as "we" and "us" refer to just the king. So it's the same term, the British idea being anachronistic, but the Hebrew idea of the royal court is plural.
 
A

angellous_evangellous

Guest
Translation error?

No, it's not an error. Elohim (term translated 'God') is plural, and the translation of "us" and "we" is exact - it's first person plural.

Sandy may be puzzeled because the verbs with Elohim as the subject are always in the singular ("he created" is singular... the Hebrew does not say "we created" or "they created" which would treat Elohim as a plural), but there is the plural pronouns "we" and "us."

So for someone with absolutely no clue about Hebrew grammar or history, the use of Elohim (technically plural) with singular verbs (he/I acted) and plural pronouns ('us' instead of 'I') in this one case in the Hebrew Bible is something of a paradox. In Hebrew grammar, it's quite common, especially with this particular word. I do believe that this particular part of Genesis is the only place in Hebrew where Elohim takes a plural pronoun.

It's my impression that Sandy is trying, along with others, to propagandize the Hebrew text in such a way that it refers to the Christian Trinity. It's rather unoriginal as Christians have failed to do this for some time.

Honk if you don't understand.
 

cardero

Citizen Mod
Why does the King James Version say "us" in Genesis 1:26:
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

Image=thought
not necessarily reflection
 

slabbey06

Bond-Servant of Christ
The only reasonable answer is because more than one Person is the topic.
I'm with Slabbey as to who He is. Could have have been the Divine Word of God, Jesus Christ?

St. John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
The creation is certainly in view here.

Now I wonder who else was there..............................................................................................................................................................................
..ahha ha
Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.


Good point my friend:)
 

BruceDLimber

Well-Known Member
It's not that God was plural (not even the trinity argument applies IMHO), but for a very simple reason called "the royal we!"

Same thing as when Queen Victoria said "We are not amused."

This sort of expression is common in the scriptures of various religions!

Piece of cake! :)

Bruce
 
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