Genesis 2
2
1So the heavens and the earth and everything in them # Lit and all their host were completed. # Neh 9:6; Ps 33:6; Is 34:4; 45:12 2By the seventh # Sam, LXX, Syr read sixth day God completed His work that He had done, and He rested # Or ceased on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. # Ex 20:8-11; 31:17; Dt 5:12-14; Heb 4:4 3God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it He rested # Ex 31:17 from His work of creation. # Lit work that God created to make # Ex 20:11; 31:17; Ps 121:2
Man and Woman in the Garden
4These are the records # Gn 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10,27; 25:12,19; 36:1,9; 37:2 of the heavens and the earth, concerning their creation at the time # Lit creation on the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. 5No shrub of the field # Gn 1:11-12 had yet grown on the land, # Or earth and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not made it rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground. 6But water would come out of the ground and water the entire surface of the land. 7Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground # Gn 3:19,23; 18:27; Ps 103:14; Ec 12:7; 1Co 15:47 and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, # Gn 7:22; Jb 33:4; Is 2:22 and the man became a living being. # 1Co 15:45
8The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, # Gn 13:10; Is 51:3; Ezk 28:13; 31:8; Jl 2:3 and there He placed the man He had formed. 9The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, # Gn 3:22; Rv 2:7; 22:2,14 as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. # Pr 3:18
10A river went # Or goes out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers. # Lit became four heads 11The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah, # Or of the Havilah # Gn 10:7,29; 25:18; 1Sm 15:7 where there is gold. 12Gold from that land is pure; # Lit good bdellium # A yellowish, transparent gum resin and onyx # Identity of this precious stone uncertain are also there. 13The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Cush. 14The name of the third river is the Tigris, # Dn 10:4 which runs east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. # Gn 15:18
15The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. 16And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, # Gn 3:1-2 17but you must not eat # Lit eat from it from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.” # Gn 3:5; Dt 30:15,19-20; Rm 6:23; 1Tm 5:6; Jms 1:15 18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper as his complement.” # Pr 31:11-12; 1Co 11:9; 1Tm 2:13 19So the Lord God formed out of the ground every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it. # Ps 8:6 And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal; but for the man # Or for Adam no helper was found as his complement. 21So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, # Gn 15:12 and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. 22Then the Lord God made the rib He had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. # 1Co 11:8,12 23And the man said:
This one, at last, is bone of my bone
and flesh of my flesh;
this one will be called “woman,”
for she was taken from man. # Eph 5:28-30
24This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. # Mal 2:15; Mt 19:5; Mk 10:7-8; 1Co 6:16; Eph 5:31 25Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.
© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.
Genesis 2
2
1Heaven and Earth were finished,
down to the last detail.
2-4By the seventh day
God had finished his work.
On the seventh day
he rested from all his work.
God blessed the seventh day.
He made it a Holy Day
Because on that day he rested from his work,
all the creating God had done.
This is the story of how it all started,
of Heaven and Earth when they were created.
Adam and Eve
5-7At the time God made Earth and Heaven, before any grasses or shrubs had sprouted from the ground—God hadn’t yet sent rain on Earth, nor was there anyone around to work the ground (the whole Earth was watered by underground springs)—God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!
8-9Then God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. He put the Man he had just made in it. God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, trees beautiful to look at and good to eat. The Tree-of-Life was in the middle of the garden, also the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil.
10-14A river flows out of Eden to water the garden and from there divides into four rivers. The first is named Pishon; it flows through Havilah where there is gold. The gold of this land is good. The land is also known for a sweet-scented resin and the onyx stone. The second river is named Gihon; it flows through the land of Cush. The third river is named Hiddekel and flows east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 God took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order.
16-17 God commanded the Man, “You can eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don’t eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you’re dead.”
18-20 God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn’t find a suitable companion.
21-22 God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man.
23-25The Man said,
“Finally! Bone of my bone,
flesh of my flesh!
Name her Woman
for she was made from Man.”
Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh.
The two of them, the Man and his Wife, were naked, but they felt no shame.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.