Genesis 1:21

“And God created great whales, etc.] Which the Targums of Jonathan and Jarchi interpret of the Leviathan and its mate, concerning which the Jews have many fabulous things: large fishes are undoubtedly meant, and the whale being of the largest sort, the word is so rendered. Aelianus, from various writers, relates many things of the extraordinary size of whales; of one in the Indian sea five times bigger than the largest elephant, one of its ribs being twenty cubits f72; from Theocles, of one that was larger than a galley with three oars f73; and from Onesicritus and Orthagoras, of one that was half a furlong in length f74; and Pliny f75 speaks of one sort called the “balaena”, and of one of…”

“- VII. The Fifth Day 20. שׁרץ shārats, “crawl, teem, swarm, abound.” An intransitive verb, admitting, however, an objective noun of its own or a like signification. נפשׁ nephesh, “breath, soul, self.” This noun is derived from a root signifying to breathe. Its concrete meaning is, therefore, “that which breathes,” and consequently has a body, without which there can be no breathing; hence, “a breathing body,” and even a body that once had breath Numbers 6:6. As breath is the accompaniment and sign of life, it comes to denote “life,” and hence, a living body, “an animal.” And as life properly signifies animal life, and is therefore essentially connected with feeling, appetite, thought, נפשׁ…”

“1:21 Contrary to the pagan idea that the great sea creatures were co-eternal with God, Genesis states that God created them and is sovereign over them. The Hebrew word tanninim (“creatures”) elsewhere refers to crocodiles (Ezek 29:3), powerful monsters (Jer 51:34), or the sea creature Leviathan (Isa 27:1; cp. Job 41:1-34).”

“great: Gen 6:20, Gen 7:14, Gen 8:19; Job 7:12, Job 26:5; Psa 104:24-26; Eze 32:2; Jon 1:17; Jon 2:10; Mat 12:40 brought: Gen 8:17, Gen 9:7; Exo 1:7, Exo 8:3 God saw: Gen 1:18, Gen 1:25, Gen 1:31 Genesis 1:22”