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

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.

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