The questions that usually arise on this verse are:

1. Who was G-d speaking to?

2. Does G-d have an image?

3. What is the meaning of the repetition, “in our image, in our likeness”?

4. Did G-d create Man just so he might “rule over the fish…”? I’m sure G-d could have thought of a better purpose for Man!

As far as this translation is concerned, your questions are valid. However, this there’s another way to translate this verse:

“And G-d said: ‘Let us [G-d and the Creations] fashion mankind in our essence, so he should be like us, and [only then] they [mankind] will subdue the fish of the sea, and the birds of the heavens and the livestock, and all the earth, and every moving thing that moves over the earth.’”

Man is the only creature to be introduced individually to the scene...“in Our image” like G-d, as a single individual. Just as G-d is One, so too was man created One

Now, as for the individual questions:

1. Who was G-d speaking to? The answer is simple: G-d was speaking to the same entity He spoke to in the preceding days—the entire universe! G-d is in fact saying: “Let the cosmos (and all that is in it) and I produce man.”

Man is the most complex of all creatures. His existence is a constant battle of opposing forces pulling him in different directions. It is no wonder that man is the only creature that seeks therapy! His duality extends to the extremes of all spectrums: from unfounded anger to senseless acts of goodness, from energetic inspiration to pathetic depression, from cruelty to altruism, from conscience to indifference, from spirituality to materialism. It is as though all the forces of nature were compressed into a little creature called Man. But this is precisely what this verse tells us.

2. Does G-d have an image? No, “For you did not see any image” (Deuteronomy 4:15), and “To whom can you liken Me; with whom I will be equal?” (Isaiah 40:25). When the verse says “image,” it means “essence,” meaning that man was created of the essence of the cosmos, and of the essence of G-d. Man has an aspect of all of creation in him: every animal has its counterpart in man, as does every mineral and element.

3. What is the meaning of the repetition, “in our image, in our likeness”? The reason man was made of the essence of the cosmos and of the essence of G-d is that he should be “like” both of them, hence the repetition. Although man was given the potential to achieve this balance in his life, it remains just that: potential. It is up to man whether to act on it. G-d wants man to balance body and soul. If man immerses himself solely in materialism, he will be consumed by his surroundings: the forces of nature, animals, and other people. On the other hand, if he completely shuns his physical needs to focus solely on the spiritual, he becomes useless in G-d’s Plan. Man must give equal care to his earthly and spiritual sides. To stay on top of Creation, man must be in the “image” of the cosmos and the “likeness” of G-d. Hence the reading “so he should be like us…” which leads right into Answer #4.

Bearing the “image” of G-d means... the ability to judge between morally good or bad choices

So, what have you done for the world today?