Genesis 2

So the heavens and the earth were finished, and everything that fills them.

1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

Note"Host" in the King James translates a Hebrew word meaning an army or organized array. Applied to the sky it covers the sun, moon and stars drawn up in ranks; applied to the earth, everything that fills it.

2By the seventh day God had finished the work he had made, and on the seventh day he rested from all the work he had made.

2And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

NoteThe Hebrew verb translated "rested" means "stopped, ceased", it says the work came to an end, not that God was tired. The related Hebrew noun is the source of the word "sabbath."

3God blessed the seventh day and set it apart as holy, because on that day he rested from all the work he had created and made.

3And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Note"Sanctified" translates a Hebrew verb meaning to mark something off from ordinary use and reserve it for a special one. It says nothing about being morally pure.

4This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, on the day the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

4These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

Note"These are the generations of" translates a Hebrew phrase, *toledoth*, meaning roughly "this is what came of" or "this is the account of." It recurs throughout Genesis as a heading that introduces the next stage of the story. Where the King James prints LORD in capital letters, the Hebrew has the personal name of Israel's God, four consonants usually written YHWH. Ancient Jewish practice was to avoid pronouncing it and say "my Lord" instead, and English translations have followed that by substituting "LORD" in capitals. Where you see ordinary "Lord" or "God," a different Hebrew word stands behind it.

5No plant of the field was yet on the earth, and no green plant of the field had yet grown, because the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth, and there was no man to work the ground.

5And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

NoteThe two Hebrew terms here, "plant of the field" and "herb of the field", appear to distinguish uncultivated scrub from the crops that need a farmer. The point of the verse is that neither rain nor human labor was yet in place.

6But a mist rose up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.

6But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "mist" occurs only twice in the Bible and its meaning is genuinely uncertain. Ancient translators took it as mist or vapor rising from the ground; many modern scholars, comparing similar words in other ancient languages, take it as underground water welling up as springs.

7Then the LORD God shaped the man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nose, and the man became a living being.

7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

NoteThere is a play on words in the Hebrew that English cannot carry: the man is *adam* and the ground he is shaped from is *adamah*. "Earthling from the earth" gives the flavor. "A living soul" translates *nephesh chayyah*, a phrase meaning simply "a living creature" or "a living being." The identical phrase is used of the animals in Genesis 1. It does not mean an immortal soul housed inside a body; in Hebrew usage a person is a *nephesh* rather than has one.

8The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man he had shaped.

8And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

NoteEden is a place name; the Hebrew word resembles a root meaning "delight" or "luxury," and it may also be connected to a word for a well-watered plain. "Garden" here means an enclosed, planted park of the kind ancient kings kept, not a vegetable plot; the Greek translation used the word *paradeisos*, from which English gets "paradise." "Eastward" gives no fixed point of reference, east of the writer, or in the eastern part of Eden. Both readings are possible in the Hebrew.

9Out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasing to look at and good for food. The tree of life was in the middle of the garden, and there was also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

9And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Note"Good and evil" is a paired opposite of the kind Hebrew uses to mean the whole range in between, like saying "young and old" for everybody. What the phrase covers here is disputed: it may mean moral discernment, or the full breadth of experience, or the practical knowledge of an adult as opposed to a child.

10A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four branches.

10And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

11The name of the first is Pison. It flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

11The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

NoteHavilah is unidentified. Elsewhere in the Bible the name is associated with Arabia; the location of these rivers and lands has never been settled.

12The gold of that land is good. Bdellium and onyx stone are also there.

12And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

NoteBdellium is a fragrant gum resin that oozes from certain trees and hardens into pale lumps, used in incense and perfume. The King James simply carries over the Hebrew word untranslated. The stone named here is traditionally rendered "onyx," but the exact gem the Hebrew word refers to is not certain; other suggestions include beryl and lapis lazuli.

13The name of the second river is Gihon. It flows around the whole land of Ethiopia.

13And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

NoteThe Hebrew reads "Cush," which the King James renders "Ethiopia." Cush normally means the region south of Egypt, in what is now Sudan and Ethiopia, but that is nowhere near the Tigris and Euphrates named two verses later, so some take this Cush to be a different territory east of Mesopotamia inhabited by the Kassites.

14The name of the third river is Hiddekel. It runs along the east side of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

14And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

NoteHiddekel is the Hebrew name for the river known in English as the Tigris. Assyria translates "Asshur," the region on the upper Tigris that later became the Assyrian empire.

15The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

15And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

NoteThe two Hebrew verbs are *abad*, to work or serve, and *shamar*, to keep, watch over or guard. Both are ordinary words for farm labor and for standing guard, and both are used elsewhere of the duties of priests.

16The LORD God gave the man this command: "You may freely eat from every tree in the garden,

16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

Note"Freely eat" translates a Hebrew construction that doubles the verb, "eating you may eat", for emphasis. English has no neat equivalent; it functions like an underline.

17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because on the day you eat from it you will surely die."

17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Note"Thou shalt surely die" uses the same doubled-verb emphasis as the permission in the previous verse: "dying you shall die." "In the day that" is a common Hebrew idiom meaning simply "when," not necessarily "within twenty-four hours."

18The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is right for him."

18And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Note"An help meet for him" is two separate ideas in the King James, not the single word "helpmeet" that later English made of it. "Help" translates *ezer*, one who supplies what is lacking; the same noun is used elsewhere in the Bible of God helping Israel, so it carries no suggestion of a subordinate. "Meet for him" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning "corresponding to him," "matching him," or "standing opposite him", his counterpart.

19Out of the ground the LORD God shaped 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 each living creature, that was its name.

19And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

NoteThe Hebrew verb form here can be read either as "formed" or as "had formed," which is why translations differ over whether the animals are made at this moment or the sentence is looking back at their earlier making. The Hebrew leaves it open.

20Adam gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal. But for Adam no helper was found who was right for him.

20And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

NoteUp to this point the Hebrew has said *ha-adam*, "the man," with the definite article, which is not a personal name any more than "the human" is. Somewhere in this stretch of chapters the same word starts functioning as the name Adam, and translators disagree about exactly where; the King James switches here.

21So the LORD God made a deep sleep fall on Adam, and he slept. He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place.

21And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

NoteThe Hebrew word rendered "rib" is *tsela*, which elsewhere in the Bible almost always means "side", the side of a building, of the ark, of a hill. "Rib" is one possible sense of it here and the traditional one, but "side" is equally defensible.

22From the rib the LORD God had taken out of the man, he made a woman, and he brought her to the man.

22And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

23And Adam said, "This one at last is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. She will be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

23And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

NoteThe wordplay is in the Hebrew: *ishshah*, woman, is drawn from *ish*, man. The two words are not in fact from the same root, but they sound alike, and the verse deliberately pairs them. English "woman" from "man" happens to preserve the effect.

24This is why a man will leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two of them will be one flesh.

24Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Note"Cleave" in 1611 English means to stick fast or cling to, the opposite of its other modern sense of splitting apart. The Hebrew verb is used of glue, of gripping, and of loyalty. "One flesh" draws on a Hebrew idiom in which "flesh" means kin or blood relation, compare "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" in the previous verse. The phrase asserts that marriage makes family out of two people who were not related.

25The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

25And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

NoteThe Hebrew word for "naked" here, *arummim*, sounds nearly identical to the word *arum*, "shrewd" or "crafty," which opens the very next verse describing the serpent. The chapter break hides a deliberate echo.