“Let Us make man in Our image”
Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air'… So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:26–27 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A statement that people somehow resemble God, usually taken as a spiritual or moral likeness.
The cultural key
In the surrounding empires, the 'image of a god' (tselem) was a physical statue, and only the king was called the living image of the deity, his representative ruling on the god's behalf. Genesis makes a radical move: not just the king but every human, 'male and female,' is that royal image, commissioned to 'rule' the earth as God's deputy. The plural 'Let Us' has been read as a royal plural, God addressing the heavenly court, or (by later Christians) as a hint of plurality within God; the text leaves it open.
Recovered meaning
To be made in God's image is a coronation, not a compliment. What ancient culture reserved for the king, Genesis hands to every person: humanity is the living statue that represents God and governs His world on His behalf.