| jerusalem bible | (alternative genesis) |
|---|---|
|
God blessed them, saying to them, 'Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all living animals on earth'. |
The Shining Ones cherished them and said to them, 'Be fertile and thrive; fill the land and manage it; take into your hands the supervision of the fish in the reservoir, the birds on the Heights, and all the cattle that are so abundant on the land'. |
When the
biblical text states, 'fill the earth and conquer it', it uses
the root 
.
In our view, 'conquer' is too harsh an interpretation - Holladay
suggests 'make subservient' which is a little softer - but these
terms are redolent of the aftermath of Yahweh and the conquest
of Canaan, which were uppermost in the minds of the Exilic writers.
We suspect that the original meaning was much more restrained
- more like 'make it your servant', or, better still, 'manage
it'.
