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 on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3God blessed the seventh day and made it a holy day. He made it holy because on that day he rested. 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 made the earth and the sky, 5there were no plants on the earth. Nothing was growing in the fields. The Lord God had not yet made it rain on the land. And there was no man to care for the ground. 6But a mist often rose from the earth and watered all the ground.
7Then the Lord God took dust from the ground and formed man from it. The Lord 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. He put the man he had formed in that garden. 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 he put there the tree that gives the knowledge of good and evil.
10A river flowed through Eden and watered the garden. From that point the river was divided. It had four streams flowing into it. 11The name of the first stream is Pishon. It flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12That gold is good. Bdellium and onyx# Bdellium is an expensive, sweet-smelling resin like myrrh. And onyx is a gem. are also there. 13The name of the second river is Gihon. It flows around the whole land of Cush. 14The name of the third river is Tigris. It 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. 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# This is the name of the first man. It also means “humans,” including men and women. did not find a helper that was right for him. 21So the Lord God caused the man to sleep very deeply. While the man was asleep, God took one of the ribs from the man’s body. Then God closed 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. Then the Lord brought the woman to the man.
23And the man said,
“Now, this is someone whose bones came from my bones.
Her 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 people will become one body.
25The man and his wife were naked, but they were not ashamed.
Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Genesis 2
2
1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. 2And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
4These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
Another Account of the Creation
In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; 6but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— 7then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground,#2.7 Or formed a man (Heb adam) of dust from the ground (Heb adamah) and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. 8And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. 11The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. 14The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”
18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” 19So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man#2.20 Or for Adam there was not found a helper as his partner. 21So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,#2.23 Heb ishshah
for out of Man#2.23 Heb ish this one was taken.”
24Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.
New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.