Genesis - Chapter 01 - Line 00011

Contemplative Summary

And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation — grass, plants bearing seed, fruit trees making fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in it — upon the earth.” And it was so.

Here, the still land awakens. The divine command turns inward — no longer dividing or naming, but inviting the earth itself to create. The verb tad’she, “let it sprout,” gives the ground agency; the earth becomes participant, not object. From its depths arise layers of life: deshe, the tender green; esev, the seed-bearing plant; etz peri, the tree that enfolds future within fruit. Each carries within itself zera, seed — continuity encoded in form, promise hidden within presence. The phrase le-mino, “according to its kind,” speaks not of confinement but coherence — life reproducing true to its pattern, diversity flowering within fidelity.

This moment marks the first generative act shared between Creator and creation. The earth answers the call with abundance, translating divine sound into living texture. Growth becomes a form of praise — emergence as response. To contemplate this line is to feel the pulse of creation within one’s own being: the silent readiness of soil before rain, the yielding that allows potential to break open. Every idea, every kindness, every breath that bears fruit is a renewal of this verse — the earth within us sprouting life after its kind, seed within seed, and it is so.