Genesis 1:20-25

The Genesis account of creation follows the creation of the heavens and the earth with something unprecedented up to this point: the creation of living creatures.

20 God said, “Let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 God created the great sea creatures and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” 23 There was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.

“Genesis 1 does not discuss the problem of where exactly life begins. For it, as for the Old Testament generally, life involves the possibility of action and choice.” (H. L. Ellison, “Genesis, Chapters 1-11″, New International Bible Commentary.) The term “living creature” (Hebrew nephes hayyah) is applied to the animal kingdom. In verse 21, “created” is, once again, the Hebrew word bara, emphasizing God’s creative activity. In verse 22 we see God endowing living creatures with the ability to reproduce and be fruitful.

24 God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” It was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.

“Kinds” refers to general categories, not scientific classifications.