Genesis 2

1So the heavens and the earth and everything else were created.

The Seventh Day

2 # Ex 20.11. #He 4.4,10. By the seventh day God had finished his work, and so he rested. 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.

7 # Ws 15.8,11; 1 Co 15.45. The Lord God took some soil from the ground and made a man.#2.7 man: In Hebrew “man” comes from the same word as “ground.” God breathed life into the man, and the man started breathing. 8The Lord made a garden in a place called Eden, which was in the east, and he put the man there.

9 # Rev 2.7; 22.2,14. The Lord God filled the garden with all kinds of beautiful trees and fruit trees. Two other trees were in the middle of the garden. One of these gave life—the other gave the wisdom to know the difference between right and wrong.

10From Eden a river flowed out to water the garden, then it divided into four rivers. 11The first one is the Pishon River that flows through the land of Havilah, 12where pure gold, rare perfumes, and precious stones are found. 13The second is the Gihon River 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 Tigris River that flows east of Assyria is the third, and the fourth is the Euphrates River.

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 will 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.

24 # Mt 19.5; Mk 10.7,8; 1 Co 6.16; Eph 5.31. That's why a man will leave his own father and mother. He marries a woman, and the two of them become like one person.

25Although the man and his wife were both naked, they were not ashamed.

Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)

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Genesis 2

1Heaven and earth and everything in them were finished. 2By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing. On the seventh day he stopped the work he had been doing. 3Then God blessed the seventh day and set it apart as holy, because on that day he stopped all his work of creation.

The Creation of Man and Woman

4This is the account of heaven and earth when they were created, at the time when the Lord God made earth and heaven.

5Wild bushes and plants were not on the earth yet because the Lord God hadn’t sent rain on the earth. Also, there was no one to farm the land. 6Instead, underground water would come up from the earth and water the entire surface of the ground.

7Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the earth #2:7 There is a play on words here between Hebrew ʾadam (man) and ʾadamah (earth). and blew the breath of life into his nostrils. The man became a living being.

8The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. That’s where he put the man whom he had formed. 9The Lord God made all the trees grow out of the ground. These trees were nice to look at, and their fruit was good to eat. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil grew in the middle of the garden.

10A river flowed from Eden to water the garden. Outside the garden it divided into four rivers. 11The name of the first river is Pishon. This is the one that winds throughout Havilah, where there is gold. 12(The gold of that land is pure. Bdellium and onyx are also ⌞found⌟ there.) 13The name of the second river is Gihon. This is the one that winds throughout Sudan. 14The name of the third river is Tigris. This is the one that flows 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 farm the land and to take care of it. 16The Lord God commanded the man. He said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden. 17But you must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because when you eat from it, you will certainly die.”

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.”

19The Lord God had formed all the wild animals and all the birds out of the ground. Then he brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called each creature became its name. 20So the man named all the domestic animals, all the birds, and all the wild animals.

But the man found no helper who was right for him. 21So the Lord God caused him to fall into a deep sleep. While the man was sleeping, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22Then the Lord God formed a woman from the rib that he had taken from the man. He brought her to the man.

23The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.

She will be named woman

because she was taken from man.”

24That is why a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and they will become one flesh. 25The man and his wife were both naked, but they weren’t ashamed of it.

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