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The First People

This is the story of the creation of the sky and the earth. When the Lord God first made the earth and the sky, there 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, but a mist would rise up from the earth and water all the ground.

Then 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. Then the Lord God planted a garden in the east, in a place called Eden, and put the man he had formed into it. The 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.

10 A river flowed through Eden and watered the garden. From there the river branched out to become four rivers. 11 The first river, named Pishon, flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 The gold of that land is excellent. Bdellium and onyx[a] are also found there. 13 The second river, named Gihon, flows around the whole land of Cush. 14 The third river, named Tigris, flows out of Assyria toward the east. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 The Lord God put the man in the garden of Eden to care for it and work it. 16 The Lord God commanded him, “You may eat the fruit from any tree in the garden, 17 but 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!”

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Footnotes

  1. 2:12 bdellium and onyx Bdellium is an expensive, sweet-smelling resin like myrrh, and onyx is a gem.

Adam and Eve

This is the account(A) of the heavens and the earth when they were created,(B) when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth[a] and no plant had yet sprung up,(C) for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth(D) and there was no one to work the ground, but streams[b] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed(E) a man[c](F) from the dust(G) of the ground(H) and breathed into his nostrils the breath(I) of life,(J) and the man became a living being.(K)

Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden;(L) and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees(M) that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life(N) and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.(O)

10 A river(P) watering the garden flowed from Eden;(Q) from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah,(R) where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin[d](S) and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.[e] 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris;(T) it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.(U)

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden(V) to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;(W) 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,(X) for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”(Y)

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 2:5 Or land; also in verse 6
  2. Genesis 2:6 Or mist
  3. Genesis 2:7 The Hebrew for man (adam) sounds like and may be related to the Hebrew for ground (adamah); it is also the name Adam (see verse 20).
  4. Genesis 2:12 Or good; pearls
  5. Genesis 2:13 Possibly southeast Mesopotamia