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.
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Genesis 2
2
1So the heavens and the earth and everything else were created.
The seventh day
2By the seventh day God had finished his work, and so he rested.#Ex 20.11.#He 4.4,10. 3God blessed the seventh day and made it special because on that day he rested from his work.
4That's how God created the heavens and the earth.
The Garden of Eden
When the LORD God made the heavens and the earth, 5no grass or plants were growing anywhere. God had not yet sent any rain, and there was no one to work the land. 6But streams#2.6 streams: Or “mist”. came up from the ground and watered the earth.
7The LORD God took a handful of soil and made a man.#2.7 man: In Hebrew “man” comes from the same word as “soil”. God breathed life into the man, and the man started breathing.#1 Co 15.45. 8The LORD made a garden in a place called Eden, which was in the east, and he put the man there.
9The LORD God placed all kinds of beautiful trees and fruit trees in the garden. Two other trees were in the middle of the garden. One of the trees gave life—the other gave the power to know the difference between right and wrong.#Rev 2.7; 22.2,14.
10From Eden a river flowed out to water the garden, then it divided into four rivers. 11The first one is the River Pishon that flows through the land of Havilah, 12where pure gold, rare perfumes, and precious stones are found. 13The second is the River Gihon that winds through Ethiopia.#2.13 Ethiopia: The Hebrew text has “Cush”, which was a region south of Egypt that included parts of the present countries of Ethiopia and Sudan. 14The River Tigris that flows east of Assyria is the third, and the fourth is the River Euphrates.
15The LORD God put the man in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and to look after it. 16But the LORD told him, “You may eat fruit from any tree in the garden, 17except the one that has the power to let you know the difference between right and wrong. If you eat any fruit from that tree, you will die before the day is over!”
18The LORD God said, “It isn't good for the man to live alone. I need to make a suitable partner for him.” 19-20So the LORD took some soil and made animals and birds. He brought them to the man to see what names he would give each of them. Then the man named the tame animals and the birds and the wild animals. That's how they got their names.
None of these was the right kind of partner for the man. 21So the LORD God made him fall into a deep sleep, and he took out one of the man's ribs. Then after closing the man's side, 22the LORD made a woman out of the rib.
The LORD God brought her to the man, 23and the man exclaimed,
“Here is someone like me!
She is part of my body,
my own flesh and bones.
She came from me, a man.
So I will name her Woman!”#2.23 a man…woman: In Hebrew the words “man” and “woman” are similar.
24That's why a man will leave his own father and mother. He marries a woman, and the two of them become like one person.#Mt 19.5; Mk 10.7,8; 1 Co 6.16; Eph 5.31.
25Although the man and his wife were both naked, they were not ashamed.
© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012