Genesis 2
2
The Seventh Day—Rest
1So the sky, the earth, and all that filled them were finished. 2By the seventh day God finished the work he had been doing, so he rested from all his work. 3God blessed the seventh day and made it a holy day, because on that day he rested from all the work he had done in creating the world.
The First People
4This is the story of the creation of the sky and the earth. When the Lord God first made the earth and the sky, 5there were still no plants on the earth. Nothing was growing in the fields because the Lord God had not yet made it rain on the land. And there was no person to care for the ground, 6but a mist would rise up from the earth and water all the ground.
7Then the Lord God took dust from the ground and formed a man from it. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nose, and the man became a living person. 8Then the Lord God planted a garden in the east, in a place called Eden, and put the man he had formed into it. 9The Lord God caused every beautiful tree and every tree that was good for food to grow out of the ground. In the middle of the garden, God put the tree that gives life and also the tree that gives the knowledge of good and evil.
10A river flowed through Eden and watered the garden. From there the river branched out to become four rivers. 11The first river, named Pishon, flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12The gold of that land is excellent. Bdellium and onyx are also found there. 13The second river, named Gihon, flows around the whole land of Cush. 14The third river, named Tigris, flows out of Assyria toward the east. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
15The Lord God put the man in the garden of Eden to care for it and work it. 16The Lord God commanded him, “You may eat the fruit from any tree in the garden, 17but you must not eat the fruit from the tree which gives the knowledge of good and evil. If you ever eat fruit from that tree, you will die!”
The First Woman
18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is right for him.”
19From the ground God formed every wild animal and every bird in the sky, and he brought them to the man so the man could name them. Whatever the man called each living thing, that became its name. 20The man gave names to all the tame animals, to the birds in the sky, and to all the wild animals. But Adam did not find a helper that was right for him. 21So the Lord God caused the man to sleep very deeply, and while he was asleep, God removed one of the man’s ribs. Then God closed up the man’s skin at the place where he took the rib. 22The Lord God used the rib from the man to make a woman, and then he brought the woman to the man.
23And the man said,
“Now, this is someone whose bones came from my bones,
whose body came from my body.
I will call her ‘woman,’
because she was taken out of man.”
24So a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one body.
25The man and his wife were naked, but they were not ashamed.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Genesis 2
2
1The creation of the heavens, the earth, and everything in them#2:1. “Everything in them”: literally, “all the array of them.” The word used for “array” is usually a military term designating the formation of an army of soldiers. was complete. 2By the time the seventh day came, God had finished the work he'd done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work he'd been doing. 3God blessed the seventh day, and set it apart as holy, because he rested from all the work he'd done in creation.
4This is the account of the Lord God's creation when he made the heavens and the earth.
5Up to this point there were no wild plants#2:5. “Plants”: the word can also mean “bushes” or “shrubs.” or crops growing on the earth, because the Lord God hadn't sent rain, and there was no one to cultivate the ground. 6Dew came up from the earth and made the whole surface of the ground wet. 7The Lord God shaped the man Adam#2:7. The word for man is Adam, so it serves the purpose of identifying both the first man and his personal name. Since it is not always clear whether the term refers to man generically or the person of Adam, this version has chosen in most cases to translate “the man” as Adam, and then by extension, “the woman,” as Eve, even though she is not specifically named until 3:20. In this way the account is brought to a more personal level. In addition note that the word for ground is “adamah,” showing the close connection of the man to the earth. from the dust of the ground. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and Adam became a living being.
8The Lord planted a garden in Eden, in the east. There he put the man Adam he had created. 9The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow in the garden, beautiful trees and trees producing fruit that's good to eat. The tree of life was in the middle of the garden, along with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10A river flowed out from Eden to water the garden. From there it split into four branches. 11The first branch was called the Pishon and it flowed through the whole land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12(The gold from that land is pure. Bdellium#2:12. “Bdellium”: later references state that this is an aromatic resin. Whether this is the same substance as mentioned here is not known. and onyx stone are also found there.) 13The second branch was called the Gihon and it flowed through the whole land of Cush.#2:13. “Cush”: in much of the Old Testament this is another name for Ethiopia; whether this is so here is uncertain. 14The third branch was called the Tigris#2:14. “Tigris”: literally “Hiddekel,” thought to be the old Hebrew name for the Tigris. See also Daniel 10:4. and it flowed east of the city of Asshur. The fourth branch was called the Euphrates.#2:14. “Euphrates”: literally “Parat,” usually thought to be synonymous with the Euphrates.
15The Lord God put the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and care for it. 16The Lord God ordered Adam, “You are free to eat fruit from every tree in the garden, 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because the day you eat from it you are certain to die.”
18Then the Lord God said, “It's not good for Adam to be alone. I will make someone to help him, someone that's like him.”
19The Lord God used the ground to make all the wild animals, and all the birds. He took them all to Adam to see what he would call them, and Adam named every living creature. 20Adam gave names to all the livestock, all the birds, and all the wild animals. But Adam didn't find anyone like him who could help him.
21So the Lord God put Adam into a deep sleep and as he slept the Lord God removed one of Adam's ribs and closed up the place where he took it with body tissue. 22The Lord God made a woman, using the rib he'd taken from Adam, and presented her to Adam.
23“Finally!” said Adam. “Here is bone from my bone and flesh from my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.”#2:23. “Man”: a different Hebrew word is used here and in the following verse.
24This is the reason a man leaves his father and mother and is joined#2:24. “Joined”: literally, “clings to,” or “sticks together with.” to his wife, and the two become one being. 25Adam and his wife Eve#2:25. See note under 2:7. were both naked, but they weren't embarrassed about it.
Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com