^4 (A)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 ^(B)plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not ^(C)caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man ^(D)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 ^(E)dust of the ground, and ^(F)breathed into his ^(G)nostrils the breath of life; and ^(H)man became a living being.

Life in God’s Garden

⁸ The Lord God planted ^(I)a garden ^(J)eastward in ^(K)Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. ⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made ^(L)every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. ^(M)The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and ^(N)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 ^(O)the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² And the gold of that land is good. ^(P)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 ^(Q)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 ^(R)you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it ^(S)you^[f] shall surely ^(T)die.”