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
Genesis 2
2
1Thus the heavens and the earth, and #Ps. 33:6all the host of them, were finished. 2#Ex. 20:9–11; 31:17; Heb. 4:4, 10And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3Then God #(Is. 58:13)blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
4#Gen. 1:1; Ps. 90:1, 2This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5before any #Gen. 1:11, 12plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not #Gen. 7:4; Job 5:10; 38:26–28caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man #Gen. 3:23to till the ground; 6but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
7And the Lord God formed man of the #Gen. 3:19, 23; Ps. 103:14dust of the ground, and #Job 33:4breathed into his #Gen. 7:22nostrils the breath of life; and #1 Cor. 15:45man became a living being.
Life in God’s Garden
8The Lord God planted #Is. 51:3a garden #Gen. 3:23, 24eastward in #Gen. 4:16Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9And out of the ground the Lord God made #Ezek. 31:8every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. #(Gen. 3:22; Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 14)The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and #(Deut. 1:39)evil.
10Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts #Gen. 25:18the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12And the gold of that land is good. #Num. 11:7Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14The name of the third river is #Dan. 10:4Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
15Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil #Gen. 3:1, 3, 11, 17you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it #Gen. 3:3, 19; (Rom. 6:23)you shall surely #Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:21, 22die.”
18And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; #1 Cor. 11:8, 9; 1 Tim. 2:13I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19#Gen. 1:20, 24Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and #Ps. 8:6brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
21And the Lord God caused a #Gen. 15:12; 1 Sam. 26:12deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, #Gen. 3:20; 1 Tim. 2:13and He #Heb. 13:4brought her to the man.
23And Adam said:
“This is now #Gen. 29:14; Eph. 5:28–30bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was #1 Cor. 11:8, 9taken out of Man.”
24#Matt. 19:5; Eph. 5:31Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and #Mark 10:6–8; 1 Cor. 6:16be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
25#Gen. 3:7, 10And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not #Is. 47:3ashamed.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.