Genesis 3:24

New Catholic Bible

²⁴When he expelled him, he placed cherubim^[a] to the east of the Garden of Eden with flaming swords to keep watch over the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3:24 The cherubim and the flaming swords symbolize the divine prohibition. In fact, the mythical winged colossi, half animal, half human, that stood guard at palaces, temples, and thrones of gods and kings in ancient Mesopotamia (known there as karibu; in the Bible see Ex 25:20; 1 Ki 6:27; Ezek 10:14), as well as the lightning represented in the form of flames or a wavy sword on stones marking the borders of territories, meant that access to the place in question was forbidden to profane persons and defended by the gods.

New Catholic Bible (NCB)