WHY DOES THE PROTAGONIST REFER TO HIMSELF WITH A PLURAL PERSONAL PRONOUN IN GENESIS?
WHY DOES THE PROTAGONIST REFER TO HIMSELF WITH A PLURAL PERSONAL PRONOUN IN GENESIS? Why would God use the word us ? I am referring to the use of the plural pronoun in Genesis 1:26 . In the interest of presenting a variety of viewpoints, I will examine the verse’s literary context as well as scholarly, Jewish, and Christian viewpoints on the answer to this question. Genesis 1:26 is the verse in which the plural pronoun us first appears. The verse is from the first book of Hebrew scriptures, Sefer Bereshit. Sefer Bereshit is the first book of the Torah. In English translations, Sefer Bereshit is called Genesis. At the beginning of the book, the creation account of the world is told. After the creation of the heavens and the earth, including its terrain and animal inhabitants, the protagonist, who is called God, creates man: “God created mankind in his own image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he c...