Verse 2 is a statement of the conditions that are to prevail between humans and animals in this new era. In 1.26, 28 human beings were to have control over the animals, but in the new era the animals are to live in fear of the humans.
The fear of you and the dread of you is an expression used in Deut 11.25 in relation to conquering the promised land: “The LORD your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land….” The words translated fear and dread have very similar meanings; they are also two nouns joined by the Hebrew connective, which gives the sense of a modified noun, that is, “dreadful fear,” “frightful fear.” You is masculine plural, referring to Noah and his family, including both men and women and probably also their descendants, who are to “fill the earth.”
Shall be upon every beast of the earth pictures the awful fear as an active thing inspired by human beings. Each of the four classes of animals is associated with a location: beasts with the earth, birds with the air, creeping things (small animals) with the ground, and fish with the sea. However, these place associations are understood with the creatures named, and so we may not need to state them. Furthermore, every and all describe each group of animals as including all that exist in each category. Accordingly we may translate, as does Good News Translation “All the animals [Good News Translation has combined the creeping things under this group], birds, and fish.” Bible en français courant and others retain the distinction between every beast of the earth and everything that creeps on the ground by translating “all the beasts of the earth and the small animals.”
It may be necessary in translation to make the animals the subject of this sentence; for example, “All the big animals on earth, the small ones, the birds, and the fish will be afraid of you.” Another rendering that is closer to the Hebrew form is “I will cause the animals, the birds and the fish to have great fear of you [plural].” Some translators may find the restructuring of Biblia Dios Habla Hoy helpful: “All the animals of the world will tremble with fear before you [plural], all the animals of the air, land, and sea.” If fear and dread are able to be expressed as acting on the creatures, as in the Hebrew, then the meaning may need to be brought out with a stronger verb than be upon. One translation expresses the idea with “Fear and trembling will strike all….”
Into your hand they are delivered: your is plural, agreeing with you in fear of you, referring to Noah and his sons. They [all the animals, birds, and fish] are delivered translates the passive form of the verb “to give.” As God is the one who gives them, the sense of the verb is to bestow or grant. In other words, “I grant them to you,” “I bestow them upon you,” “I place them in your power,” “I make you to be in charge of them.” One example, which is quite common in Pacific translations, is “You will be the boss of them all.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .