²⁶ Then God said, ^(A)“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; ^(B)let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over ^[a]all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man ^(C)in His own image; in the image of God He created him; ^(D)male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ^(E)“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and ^(F)subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that ^[b]moves on the earth.”

Blessing and Admonition

²³ Now may ^(A)the God of peace Himself ^(B)sanctify^[a] you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body ^(C)be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ He who calls you is ^(D)faithful, who also will ^(E)do it.

³ clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ^(A)ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not ^(B)on tablets of stone but ^(C)on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.