Genesis 2
Living Bible
2 Now at last the heavens and earth were successfully completed, with all that they contained. 2 So on the seventh day, having finished his task, God ceased from this work he had been doing, 3 and God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he ceased this work of creation.
4 Here is a summary of the events in the creation of the heavens and earth when the Lord God made them.
5 There were no plants or grain sprouting up across the earth at first, for the Lord God hadn’t sent any rain; nor was there anyone to farm the soil. 6 (However, water welled up from the ground at certain places and flowed across the land.)
7 The time came when the Lord God formed a man’s body from the dust of the ground[a] and breathed into it the breath of life. And man became a living person.
8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, to the east, and placed in the garden the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God planted all sorts of beautiful trees there in the garden, trees producing the choicest of fruit. At the center of the garden he placed the Tree of Life, and also the Tree of Conscience, giving knowledge of Good and Bad. 10 A river from the land of Eden flowed through the garden to water it; afterwards the river divided into four branches. 11-12 One of these was named the Pishon; it winds across the entire length of the land of Havilah,[b] where nuggets of pure gold are found, also beautiful bdellium and even lapis lazuli. 13 The second branch is called the Gihon, crossing the entire length of the land of Cush. 14 The third branch is the Tigris, which flows to the east of the city of Asher. And the fourth is the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden as its gardener, to tend and care for it. 16-17 But the Lord God gave the man this warning: “You may eat any fruit in the garden except fruit from the Tree of Conscience—for its fruit will open your eyes to make you aware of right and wrong, good and bad. If you eat its fruit, you will be doomed to die.”
18 And the Lord God said, “It isn’t good for man to be alone; I will make a companion for him, a helper suited to his needs.” 19-20 So the Lord God formed from the soil every kind of animal and bird, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever he called them, that was their name. But still there was no proper helper for the man. 21 Then the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and took one of his ribs and closed up the place from which he had removed it, 22 and made the rib into a woman, and brought her to the man.
23 “This is it!” Adam exclaimed. “She is part of my own bone and flesh! Her name is ‘woman’ because she was taken out of a man.” 24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife in such a way that the two become one person.[c] 25 Now although the man and his wife were both naked, neither of them was embarrassed or ashamed.
Footnotes
- Genesis 2:7 from the dust of the ground, or “from a lump of soil,” or “from clods in the soil,” or “from a clod of clay.”
- Genesis 2:11 the land of Havilah, located along the border of Babylonia.
- Genesis 2:24 become one person, literally, “become one flesh.”
Genesis 2
Evangelical Heritage Version
2 The heavens and the earth were finished, along with everything in them.[a] 2 On the seventh day God had finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had been doing. 3 God blessed the seventh day and set it apart as holy, because on it he rested from all his work of creation that he had done.
The Creation of Man and Woman
4 This is the account about the development[b] of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens:
5 No bushes that grow in the field were yet on the earth,[c] and no plants of the field had yet sprung up, since the Lord God had not yet caused it to rain on the earth. There was not yet a man to till the soil, 6 but water[d] came up from the earth and watered the entire surface of the ground.
7 The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground[e] and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 8 The Lord God planted a garden[f] in Eden in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God made every kind of tree grow—trees that are pleasant to look at and good for food, including the Tree of Life in the middle of the garden and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
10 A river went out from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became the headwaters of four rivers. 11 The name of the first river is Pishon. It flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold, 12 and the gold of that land is good. Incense[g] and onyx stone are also found there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon. It is the same river that winds through the whole land of Cush.[h] 14 The name of the third river is Tigris. This is the one which flows along the east side of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God took the man and settled him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to take care of it. 16 The Lord God gave a command to the man. He said, “You may freely eat from every tree in the garden, 17 but you shall not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for on the day that you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is a suitable partner for him.” 19 Out of the soil the Lord God had formed every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature, that became its name. 20 The man gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal, but for Adam[i] no helper was found who was a suitable partner for him. 21 The Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, the Lord God took a rib[j] and closed up the flesh where it had been. 22 The Lord God built a woman from the rib that he had taken from the man and brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
Now this one is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh.
She will be called “woman,”
because she was taken out of man.[k]
24 For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother
and will remain united with his wife,
and they will become one flesh.[l]
25 They were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.
Footnotes
- Genesis 2:1 Literally all their armies
- Genesis 2:4 The Hebrew word toledoth, which is used in the headings of the ten sections of Genesis, is related to the Hebrew root for give birth, but as used in the section headings of Genesis (such as 2:4; 5:1; 6:9, etc.), toledoth seems to refer to the development more than to the origin of the group being discussed. For this reason, in the section headings of Genesis, toledoth is regularly translated account about the development.
- Genesis 2:5 Literally every bush of the field was not yet on the earth. This wording seems to refer to the time before the creation of plants on day 3, but the context of chapter 2 seems to be the preparation of the Garden of Eden as a special home for man and woman. Some commentators suggest that this verse refers only to the area of the Garden of Eden, which had been left unfinished, but the wide term on the earth does not seem to be a natural way to say this, so this may be a reference back to day 3.
- Genesis 2:6 A rare word (ed) is used. It may refer to springs or, less likely, to mist. Genesis 2:10 refers to the presence of rivers.
- Genesis 2:7 Literally as dust from the ground. This means man is still dust and will return to dust.
- Genesis 2:8 In Hebrew, the term garden includes groves of trees.
- Genesis 2:12 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain. It probably refers to a fragrant resin or a precious stone.
- Genesis 2:13 In the Old Testament, Cush often refers to the land south of Egypt. Here the names of the third and fourth rivers suggest an area in Mesopotamia, today’s Iraq.
- Genesis 2:20 Here the Hebrew word adam without the article becomes a personal name.
- Genesis 2:21 Part of his side is a more literal translation than the traditional translation rib.
- Genesis 2:23 Here the Hebrew word for man is ish not adam. Like the English word pair man/woman, the Hebrew words ish/ishah correspond to one another.
- Genesis 2:24 Verse 24 may be a continuation of the words of Adam or a comment of the inspired writer. In either case, Jesus recognizes them as part of the divine institution of marriage (Matthew 19:4-5).
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.