In Genesis 1:28 (King James Version), God told Adam and Eve to “replenish” the earth. Is this support for the belief that there were people on the earth before Adam and Eve? What is the original Hebrew word used in Genesis 1:28 and Genesis 9:1, and does it mean to “fill” or “refill”?
The Hebrew text in question can mean fill, but it is the context which determines the sense of the word, not the dictionary. In the case of the Noah story, it means re-fill, simply because it had already happened before. There is no implication in Genesis 1:28 that people were on the earth before Adam and Eve.
—Ben Witherington III