And God said, Let the waters, &c.— The formation of things inanimate being completed, the all-wise Creator proceeds, from the most noble of these, the heavenly bodies, to those which are next in degree, the least noble of the animate creation, namely, the inhabitants of the waters. Houbigant justly prefers the English translation here to all those which render the original by the word reptilia, reptiles, or creeping things, under which denomination, certainly, neither the fish, nor the birds, do come; and therefore, after the English, he translates it, animam motabilem; as we, the moving creature. The Hebrew verb and noun here are of the same derivation; ישׁרצו ishretzu, שׁרצ sheretz: and the lexicographers tell us, that שׁרצ sheretz, is derived from that verb which signifies to produce or increase abundantly, on account of the abundant production, or increase of these creatures. This being the case, the passage may be rendered with the strictest propriety, 'Let the waters produce abundantly their productions, which have life:' in which general expressions the whole increase of the watery world is included.
And fowl that may fly, &c.— It should seem by our translation as if the fowl, as well as the fish, were the production of the waters: but you see, from the margin of the Bible, that the Hebrew is, and let fowl fly above the earth, in the open firmament of heaven; i.e.. in the air; which is not only more agreeable to the original, but more consistent with what is said in chap. Genesis 2:19. that God formed the fowl out of the ground. Some birds being of an amphibious nature, living partly by land, and partly by water, and all birds having many things similar to the fishy kind, may be the reason why they are thus united. For naturalists have observed, that the eyes of both are formed similar; as is the conformation of the brain: their bodies are poised alike to swim, the one in the air, and the other in the water: they are each oviparous, and in many other particulars correspond. This may afford some ground for the conjecture of Dr. Gill, that they were created out of earth and water mixed together, or out of the earth or clay that lay at the bottom of the waters.—Note; the Samaritan and Syriac versions agree with our marginal translation.