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The Generations of Heaven and Earth

These are the generations[a] of heaven[b] and earth[c] when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made earth and heaven[d] before any plant of the field was[e] on earth, and before any plant of the field[f] had sprung up, because Yahweh God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no human being to cultivate the ground, but a stream would rise from the earth and water the whole face of the ground— when[g] Yahweh God formed the man[h] of dust from the ground, and he blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

And Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he put the man[i] whom he had formed. And Yahweh God caused to grow every tree that was pleasing to the sight and good for food. And the tree of life was in the midst of the garden, along with[j] the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 Now[k] a river flowed out from Eden that watered the garden, and from there it diverged and became four branches. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It went around all the land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stones are there.) 13 And the name of the second is Gihon. It went around all the land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third is Tigris. It flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 And Yahweh God took the man[l] and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it. 16 And Yahweh God commanded the man,[m] saying, “From every tree of the garden you may freely eat,[n] 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat[o] from it you shall surely die.”[p]

18 Then[q] Yahweh God said, “it is not good that the man[r] is alone. I will make for him a helper as his counterpart.”[s] 19 And out of the ground Yahweh God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky,[t] and he brought each to the man[u] to see what he would call it. And whatever the man[v] called that living creature was its name. 20 And the man[w] gave names[x] to every domesticated animal and to the birds of heaven[y] and to all the wild animals.[z] But for the man there was not found a helper as his counterpart.[aa] 21 And Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man.[ab] While[ac] he slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh where it had been.[ad] 22 And Yahweh God fashioned the rib which he had taken from the man[ae] into a woman and brought her to the man.[af] 23 And the man[ag] said,

She is now[ah] bone from my bones
    and flesh from my flesh;
she[ai] shall be called ‘Woman,’
    for she was taken[aj] from man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cling to his wife, and they shall be as one flesh. 25 And the man[ak] and his wife, both of them, were naked, and they were not ashamed.

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 2:4 Or “family records”
  2. Genesis 2:4 Or “the sky”
  3. Genesis 2:4 Or “the earth”
  4. Genesis 2:4 Or “sky”
  5. Genesis 2:5 Literally “and every plant of the field not yet was”
  6. Genesis 2:5 Literally “and every plant of the field not yet”
  7. Genesis 2:7 Or “and”
  8. Genesis 2:7 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  9. Genesis 2:8 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  10. Genesis 2:9 Or “and”
  11. Genesis 2:10 Or “And”
  12. Genesis 2:15 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  13. Genesis 2:16 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  14. Genesis 2:16 Literally “eating you may eat”
  15. Genesis 2:17 Literally “of your eating”
  16. Genesis 2:17 Literally “dying you shall die”
  17. Genesis 2:18 Or “And”
  18. Genesis 2:18 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  19. Genesis 2:18 Literally “as his opposite”
  20. Genesis 2:19 Or “the heavens”
  21. Genesis 2:19 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  22. Genesis 2:19 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  23. Genesis 2:20 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  24. Genesis 2:20 Literally “called names”
  25. Genesis 2:20 Or “the sky”
  26. Genesis 2:20 Literally “animals of the earth/land”
  27. Genesis 2:20 Literally “as his opposite”
  28. Genesis 2:21 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  29. Genesis 2:21 Or “And”
  30. Genesis 2:21 Literally “the flesh in the place of it”
  31. Genesis 2:22 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  32. Genesis 2:22 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  33. Genesis 2:23 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  34. Genesis 2:23 Literally “this one the time”
  35. Genesis 2:23 Literally “this one
  36. Genesis 2:23 Literally “this one was taken”
  37. Genesis 2:25 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

World’s creation in the garden

On the day the Lord God made earth and sky— before any wild plants appeared on the earth, and before any field crops grew, because the Lord God hadn’t yet sent rain on the earth and there was still no human being[a] to farm the fertile land, though a stream rose from the earth and watered all of the fertile land— the Lord God formed the human[b] from the topsoil of the fertile land[c] and blew life’s breath into his nostrils. The human came to life. The Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east and put there the human he had formed. In the fertile land, the Lord God grew every beautiful tree with edible fruit, and also he grew the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river flows from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first river is the Pishon. It flows around the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 That land’s gold is pure, and the land also has sweet-smelling resins and gemstones. [d] 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It flows around the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris, flowing east of Assyria; and the name of the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 The Lord God took the human and settled him in the garden of Eden to farm it and to take care of it. 16 The Lord God commanded the human, “Eat your fill from all of the garden’s trees; 17 but don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because on the day you eat from it, you will die!” 18 Then the Lord God said, “It’s not good that the human is alone. I will make him a helper that is perfect for him.” 19 So the Lord God formed from the fertile land all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky and brought them to the human to see what he would name them. The human gave each living being its name. 20 The human named all the livestock, all the birds in the sky, and all the wild animals. But a helper perfect for him was nowhere to be found.

21 So the Lord God put the human into a deep and heavy sleep, and took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh over it. 22 With the rib taken from the human, the Lord God fashioned a woman and brought her to the human being. 23 The human[e] said,

“This one finally is bone from my bones
        and flesh from my flesh.
She will be called a woman[f]
        because from a man[g] she was taken.”

24 This is the reason that a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 The two of them were naked, the man and his wife, but they weren’t embarrassed.

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 2:5 Or man (Heb adam)
  2. Genesis 2:7 Heb adam
  3. Genesis 2:7 Heb adamah
  4. Genesis 2:12 Heb uncertain
  5. Genesis 2:23 Or man (Heb adam)
  6. Genesis 2:23 Or wife (Heb ishshah)
  7. Genesis 2:23 Or husband (Heb ish)