The Garden of Eden

2 Thus the heavens and the earth, and ^(A)all the host of them, were finished. ^2 (B)And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. ³ Then God ^(C)blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

^4 (D)This is the ^[a]history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, ⁵ before any ^(E)plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not ^(F)caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man ^(G)to till the ground; ⁶ but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

⁷ And the Lord God formed man of the ^(H)dust of the ground, and ^(I)breathed into his ^(J)nostrils the breath of life; and ^(K)man became a living being.

Life in God’s Garden

⁸ The Lord God planted ^(L)a garden ^(M)eastward in ^(N)Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. ⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made ^(O)every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. ^(P)The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and ^(Q)evil.

¹⁰ Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. ¹¹ The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts ^(R)the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² And the gold of that land is good. ^(S)Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. ¹³ The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ The name of the third river is ^(T)Hiddekel;^[b] it is the one which goes toward the east of ^[c]Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ Then the Lord God took ^[d]the man and put him in the garden of Eden to ^[e]tend and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ^(U)you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it ^(V)you^[f] shall surely ^(W)die.”

¹⁸ And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; ^(X)I will make him a helper comparable to him.” ^19 (Y)Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and ^(Z)brought them to ^[g]Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

²¹ And the Lord God caused a ^(AA)deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. ²² Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He ^[h]made into a woman, ^(AB)and He ^(AC)brought her to the man.

²³ And Adam said:

^24 (AF)Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and ^(AG)be^[k] joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

^25 (AH)And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ^(AI)ashamed.

Faith Triumphs in Trouble

5 Therefore, ^(A)having been justified by faith, ^[a]we have ^(B)peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ^2 (C)through whom also we have access by faith into this grace ^(D)in which we stand, and ^(E)rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³ And not only that, but ^(F)we also glory in tribulations, ^(G)knowing that tribulation produces ^[b]perseverance; ^4 (H)and perseverance, ^[c]character; and character, hope. ^5 (I)Now hope does not disappoint, ^(J)because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Christ in Our Place

⁶ For when we were still without strength, ^[d]in due time ^(K)Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. ⁸ But ^(L)God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified ^(M)by His blood, we shall be saved ^(N)from wrath through Him. ¹⁰ For ^(O)if when we were enemies ^(P)we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved ^(Q)by His life. ¹¹ And not only that, but we also ^(R)rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Death in Adam, Life in Christ^(S)

¹² Therefore, just as ^(T)through one man sin entered the world, and ^(U)death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— ¹³ (For until the law sin was in the world, but ^(V)sin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, ^(W)who is a type of Him who was to come. ¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the ^[e]offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded ^(X)to many. ¹⁶ And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many ^[f]offenses resulted in justification. ¹⁷ For if by the one man’s ^[g]offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

¹⁸ Therefore, as through ^[h]one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through ^(Y)one^[i] Man’s righteous act the free gift came ^(Z)to all men, resulting in justification of life. ¹⁹ For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by ^(AA)one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

²⁰ Moreover ^(AB)the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace ^(AC)abounded much more, ²¹ so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.