Genesis - Chapter 01 - Line 00027

Contemplative Summary

So God created the human in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Here, intention becomes incarnation. The deliberation of “Let us make” is now realized through the sacred verb bara — creation in its most concentrated form, used only of divine making. The verse unfolds as a triptych: creation, reflection, completion. Humanity is brought forth not as object but as mirror — be-tsalmo, in His image, the imprint of divine consciousness refracted into living form. The repetition intensifies the mystery: created / image / created — a rhythm of emanation that reveals both the source and its echo.

The shift from “him” to “them” expands the singular into the communal, showing that the divine likeness resides not in isolation but in relationship. Zakhar u-nekevah — male and female — are not opposites but polarities of one being, expressions of the same wholeness differentiated through complementarity. In their unity, the image is complete; in their diversity, the likeness becomes dynamic.

To contemplate this line is to stand before the mirror of origin — to sense oneself as both singular and plural, body and field, reflection and source. Humanity emerges here as the consciousness of creation itself — the universe recognizing its own image in form. Every breath, every encounter, every act of awareness continues this verse: the divine creating itself, again and again, through the living image of being.