⁵ there were no plants or grasses growing on the earth.^[a] That was because the Lord God had not sent any rain on the earth. Also, there was nobody to dig the soil so that plants would grow.

⁷ Then the Lord God took some soil from the ground and he made a man. He breathed air into the nose of the man to give him life. So the man became alive.

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to live alone. I will make a helper who is right for him.’^[a]

¹⁹ The Lord God took soil from the ground and he made all the animals and birds. He brought them to the man. God wanted to know what names the man would call them. Whatever the man called each living thing, that became its name. ²⁰ So the man gave names to the farm animals, to the birds in the sky and to all the other animals.

But none of these animals was the right helper for the man. ²¹ So the Lord God caused the man to sleep.^[b] While the man was sleeping, God took a rib from the man. Then he closed up the place in his body and he covered it again.^{[c] 22} The Lord God used the man's rib to make a woman. He brought the woman to the man.