Does "Replenish" mean "Repopulate"?

So there seems to be some confusion and maybe some debate on this passage:

Genesis 1:28

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

So what does it mean by replenish? Does it mean that at one time before the creation of man in this account the man was there and was destroyed?
Many folks who believe in ufo's, aliens and the Nephelim, believe that there was a race here before mankind in some sorta "gap theory" (which contradicts the Bible) and that they were wiped out and so God created man agian, many people believe this because they think that the bible gives two creation accounts, when actually the bible just goes into further detail about the creation of man in the later creation story.

So replenish, many believe it means repopulate and for the planet to be repopulated, then it would have to be populated before at one time or another.
But the Bibles original language is not in american english as I am sure we all know, this account of Genesis is in Hebrew, so let's look at the original hebrew word in this verse concerning replenish:

Hebrew 4390
male'
maw-lay'

or malae (Esth. 7:5) [maw-law']; a primitive root, to fill or (intransitively) be full of, in a wide application (literally and figuratively):--accomplish, confirm, + consecrate, be at an end, be expired, be fenced, fill, fulfil, (be, become, X draw, give in, go) full(-ly, -ly set, tale), (over-)flow, fulness, furnish, gather (selves, together), presume, replenish, satisfy, set, space, take a (hand-)full, + have wholly.

So you see it means to fill, not refill, this is obviously a confusion in the English language concerning the word "replenish":

If you are researching the nephelim or the book of genesis you may want to read the "Young's Literal Translation" it is the bible literally translated from the original languages into English.
THis is what it says on Genesis 1:28:

Genesis 1:28

And God blesseth them, and God saith to them, `Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the heavens, and over every living thing that is creeping upon the earth.'

Also a good website to check out is HTML Bible it has a lot of good info on it like a "Strong's Concordance" and a lot more.
And if you want to read a Young's Lieral Translation (YLT) online then a good webiste to go to is Bible Gateway. They have many different translations there.

Hope you guy's found this helpful.

-Jimmy

Wow, 53 views and no replies?
Has this helped anyone, enilightened anyone?
Anyone got any questions? I'll do my best to answer them.

-Jimmy

That's one verse I've been curious about, God telling them to replenish the earth. Another one is when God says "let us make man in our image". If there's only one God why is he talking in plural?

reply to post by MissInformation

Originally posted by MissInformation
That's one verse I've been curious about, God telling them to replenish the earth.

Replenish means to refill. This is why an understanding of the original Hebrew and Greek words are so necessary to understanding the Bible.

Another one is when God says "let us make man in our image". If there's only one God why is he talking in plural?

God is a title for Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All 3 are God, they work as one yet are 3 distinct entities. It’s like the Jones family. John Jones is the father, Jane Jones is the mother and Jimmy Jones is the son. If the Jones said let’s go to the beach, we know that one of the Jones suggested this to the others. Only with God, the three are always in complete agreement with each other. So it doesn’t matter if it was God the Father, Son or Holy Spirit that said it.

Hey Jimmy!

That's amazing that you just posted this; as I watched a video about this subject yesterday. You are correct - when the KJV was translated the English word replenish simply meant to fill all the way up. Later a there was movement in England to re establish the meaning of the latin prefixes and this altered the meaning to give the appearance the translators meant something they did not.

I tend to lean towards Dake's interpretation, but I don't think the evidence is strong enough to really hold it doctrinally. The same word is used in the command to Noah and his family after the flood male' I think the identical usage is striking as I believe in a flood of judgement previous to the creation account in Genesis. Just my two pennies.

Originally posted by jimmyjackblack
Many folks who believe in ufo's, aliens and the Nephelim, believe that there was a race here before mankind in some sorta "gap theory" (which contradicts the Bible)

Actually it doesnt contradict the Bible - it may contradict dogma, but not the Bible.
Check into Orthodox Judaism (good source is koshertorah.com, there is a orthodox sephardic rabbi there...with tons of free resources) - they definitely believe that there was other civilizations besides ours...this will blow your mind, but I believe they think there was 6. (Been awhile since I listened to the CD series on creation, but anyhow.)

Peace

dAlen

Originally posted by darkelf
God is a title for Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

works fine if you are a christian...rabbi wouldnt agree.
(of course each side is convinced they are right.)

By the way there are interesting explanations in the Judaic realms, and outside, for that verse as well - which would not necessarily go against Christian belief...well, yes it would go against established dogma...but if one is willing to expand their horizons and outlook on life...

Peace

dAlen

[edit on 11-5-2008 by dAlen]

reply to post by dAlen


dAlen, have you read the Book of Enoch? Do you believe in it?
If you have and do, then I think that it is interesting to take note on the fact that when Enoch went to Heaven he saw "The Son of Man" who he calls the Son of Man, The Elect One, The Righteous One and The Messiah. He also see's our Adonai YHWH.
He also see "The Lord of Spirits", which I equate to being the Holy Spirit.
When God made man, He made him body, spirit and mind/soul. He made man in His own image, he made him a trinity, three in one, just as He is.
Take a look at the word Elohim, this is the plural for of Eloah. Does this mean that the Hebrews had more than one God? No, of course not, they had one God, Elohim.

I hope some of that made some since, sometimes I'm not very good at explaining things.

-Jimmy