Genesis 2:16

16 And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, "From every tree of the garden {you may freely eat},

Genesis 2:16 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 2:16

And the Lord God commanded the man
Over whom he had power and authority; and he had a right to command him what he pleased, being his Creator, benefactor, and preserver; and this is to be understood not of man only, but of the woman also, whose creation, though related afterwards, yet was before this grant to eat of all the trees of the garden but one, and the prohibition of the fruit of that; for that she was in being, and present at this time, seems manifest from ( Genesis 3:2 Genesis 3:3 ) saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
a very generous, large, and liberal allowance this: or "in eating thou mayest eat" ^F25; which was giving full power, and leaving them without any doubt and uncertainty about their food; which they might freely take, and freely eat of, wherever they found it, or were inclined to, even of any, and every tree in the garden, excepting one, next forbidden.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 (lkat lka) "comedendo comedas", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius

Genesis 2:16 In-Context

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 and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it.

16 And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, "From every tree of the garden {you may freely eat},

17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day {that you eat} from it {you shall surely die}."

18 Then Yahweh God said, "[it is] not good [that] the man is alone. I will make for him a helper {as his counterpart}."

Footnotes

• [a]. "The man" indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
• [b]. Literally "eating you may eat"