5. Then God commanded that the waters bring forth swimming creatures, and fowl that should fly through the air above the earth. (20)
Schmidius renders this differently: And God said, Let the waters make the creeping thing, the living soul to creep; and let the bird fly above the earth upon the faces of the expanse of the heavens. Now came forth little creatures of a more ignoble stock, such as worms, especially those sprung from damp and watery places, which first creep and then like butterflies, laying aside their exuviae, fly in the air about the flowers and bushes. This may be evident from the very words of the verse. Then came fishes, from the smaller even to the largest; and likewise birds.
For God created great whales and every kind of water animal, and of winged fowl, every moving thing that hath, its rise in water. (21) That the birds, however, did not have their rise in water is apparent from other translations of this passage. Thus Schmidius renders it:
God created great whales, and every living soul that creepeth, which the waters made to creep, after their kind; and every winged bird after his kind. (22) When God had blessed these creatures that they might be multiplied, then from the evening and the morning came the fifth day (23)--a day which comprehended the creation of all water creatures and fowl.
