Genesis 2

The Seventh Day, God Rests

1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and #Deut. 4:19; Ps. 33:6all the host of them. 2And #Ex. 20:8-11; 31:17; Deut. 5:12-14; Heb. 4:4on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

The Creation of Man and Woman

4 # ch. 1:1 These are the generations

of the heavens and the earth when they were created,

in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

5When no #[ch. 1:11, 12] bush of the field#2:5 Or open country was yet in the land#2:5 Or earth; also verse 6 and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man #ch. 3:23to work the ground, 6and a mist#2:6 Or spring was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7then the Lord God formed the man of #ch. 3:19, 23; 18:27; Ps. 103:14; Eccles. 12:7; 1 Cor. 15:47 dust from the ground and #ch. 7:22; Job 33:4; Isa. 2:22 breathed into his #Job 27:3 nostrils the breath of life, and #Cited 1 Cor. 15:45the man became a living creature. 8And the Lord God planted a #ver. 15; ch. 13:10; Isa. 51:3; Ezek. 28:13; 31:8; Joel 2:3garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. #ch. 3:22; Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 14 The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, #ver. 17and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of #ch. 10:7, 29; 25:18; 1 Sam. 15:7Havilah, 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 the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14And the name of the third river is the #Dan. 10:4Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15The Lord God took the man #ver. 8and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil #ch. 3:1-3, 11, 17 you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat#2:17 Or when you eat of it you #Rom. 6:23; James 1:15shall surely die.”

18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; #1 Cor. 11:9; 1 Tim. 2:13I will make him a helper fit for#2:18 Or corresponding to; also verse 20 him.” 19#ch. 1:20, 24 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed#2:19 Or And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and #Ps. 8:6brought 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 livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam#2:20 Or the man there was not found a helper fit for him. 21So the Lord God caused a #ch. 15:12; 1 Sam. 26:12deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept 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#2:22 Hebrew built into a woman and brought her to the man. 23Then the man said,

“This at last is #ch. 29:14; Judg. 9:2; 2 Sam. 5:1; 19:13; [Eph. 5:28-30] bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,

because she was #1 Cor. 11:8taken out of Man.”#2:23 The Hebrew words for woman (ishshah) and man (ish) sound alike

24 # Cited Matt. 19:5; Mark 10:7; 1 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 5:31; [Ps. 45:10; 1 Cor. 7:10, 11] Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

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Genesis 2

Day number 7

1God finished making everything. He finished making the sky, and the earth, and everything that is on the earth too. 2After God finished all that, it was day number 7, and God rested on that day.#Hebrews 4:4, 10 3So God made day number 7 a good and special day. He said, “I’ve finished making everything now, and I’m resting on day number 7. So day number 7 is a special day.”#Exodus 20:11

At first everything was different

4This story is about the time when God made the earth and the sky. 5At first, God didn’t send any rain on the earth, and there were no people to make the ground right for the plants. So nothing was growing on the earth at that time. 6Water used to come up from under the ground and wet the top of all the ground.

God made the first man

7God took some dirt, and he made a man out of it. Then God breathed into the man’s nose, and God’s breath gave him life. So that man became a living person.#1 Corinthians 15:45

The garden in Eden

8Then God made a garden in a place called Eden. It was in the east part of the land. And God put the man in that garden. 9And God made some trees grow there in that garden. They were pretty, and they had fruit that was good to eat. And God put 2 special trees in the middle of the garden. If people eat the fruit of one of those trees, they will stay alive. And if they eat the fruit from the other tree, they will know if the things they do are good, or if they are bad.#Revelation 2:7; 22:2, 14

10A river started in Eden, and it watered the garden. Then that river flowed out and split up into 4 rivers. 11The 1st river was called Pishon. It flowed around the land called Havilah. In that country there was lots of gold. 12It was really good gold. And there were pretty stones, and a good-smelling gum that comes from a tree too.

13The 2nd river was called Gihon. It flowed all around the country called Cush.

14The 3rd river was called Tigris. It flowed east of the country called Assyria.

The 4th river was called Euphrates.

15God put the man into the garden in Eden and gave him some work to do. He had to look after the garden and make sure all the plants grew strong and healthy.

The special tree

16And God told the man, “You can eat fruit from the trees in this garden. 17There is only one tree that you can’t eat its fruit. You can’t eat the fruit from that tree that lets you know if the things you do are good, or if they are bad. I’m telling you, if you eat any fruit from that tree, you will die, for sure.”

God made the first woman

18And God said, “It is not good for this man to be by himself. I’m going to make somebody else to be a mate for the man, somebody that will be good for him.”

19And God made all the animals and birds out of dirt from the ground, and he brought them to the man. God wanted the man to give all the animals and birds their names. The man could say any name he wanted for each one, and those names stayed with them. 20So the man gave each animal a name. He named all the wild animals, and all the animals that are not wild, and all the birds. That man’s own name was Adam. (That name means man.) There were lots of animals and birds, but none of them were the right sort of mate that was good for Adam.

21So God made the man go to sleep. It was a really strong deep sleep. And while he was asleep, God took out one of his rib bones. Then God closed up the place where that rib was. 22Then God used the man’s rib bone and made a woman from it. After the man woke up, God took the woman over to the man. 23The man looked at that woman, and he said, “This is really good. Now I have a mate. God took out a part of my body, and he made it into a mate for me. Yes, he used my rib bone to make her. God made her out of a man’s body, so I’m going to call her woman.”

24That’s how God made a woman, he made her out of a man’s body. That is the reason why a man will leave his mother and father and marry a woman. The man and his wife will join with each other, and their bodies will be like one body.#Matthew 19:5; Mark 10:7-8; 1 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 5:31

25The man and his wife didn’t have any clothes on. They were both naked, but they didn’t feel any shame.

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