Genesis 2:1-17

The Seventh Day, God Rests

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

2 And ²on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

The Creation of Man and Woman

4 ³These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

5 When no ⁴bush of the field^[a] was yet in the land^[b] and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up--for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man ⁵to work the ground,

6 and a mist^[c] was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground--

7 then the LORD God formed the man of ⁶dust from the ground and ⁷breathed into his ⁸nostrils the breath of life, and ⁹the man became a living creature.

8 And the LORD God planted a ¹⁰garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. ¹¹The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, ¹²and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

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

11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of ¹³Havilah, where there is gold.

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

13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush.

14 And the name of the third river is the ¹⁴Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

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

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,

17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ¹⁶you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat^[d] of it you ¹⁷shall surely die."

Genesis 2:1-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 2

In this chapter are contained a summary of the works of creation on the six days, and God's resting from his works on the seventh day, and the sanctification of that, Ge 2:1-4 and an account of various things relating to several parts of the creation enlarged on and explained, and of various circumstances omitted in the preceding chapter, which could not so well be taken notice of there; as of a mist arising out of the earth, which watered the herbs and plants before there was any rain to fall upon them, or a man to cultivate them, Ge 2:5,6 and of the matter and manner of man's formation, Ge 2:7 and of the planting of the garden of Eden, and the trees that were in it, and the rivers that watered it, and sprung from it, and the course they steered, the countries they washed, and what those countries abounded with, Ge 2:8-14 of man's being put into it to dress it, and keep it, and of the grant he had to eat of the fruit of any of the trees in it, excepting one, which was forbidden under a penalty of death, Ge 2:15-17 and of all the creatures, beasts and fowls, being brought to him, to give them names, Ge 2:18-20 and of God's providing an help meet for him, and forming Eve out of one of his ribs, and of their marriage together, and the institution of marriage, Ge 2:21-24 and the chapter is concluded with observing the present state and circumstances of our first parents before they fell, Ge 2:25.

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 4:19; Psalms 33:6
• 2. Exodus 20:8-11; Exodus 31:17; Deuteronomy 5:12-14; Hebrews 4:4
• 3. Genesis 1:1
• 4. [Genesis 1:11, 12]
• 5. Genesis 3:23
• 6. Genesis 3:19, 23; Genesis 18:27; Psalms 103:14; Ecclesiastes 12:7; 1 Corinthians 15:47
• 7. Genesis 7:22; Job 33:4; Isaiah 2:22
• 8. Job 27:3
• 9. Cited 1 Corinthians 15:45
• 10. ver. 15; Genesis 13:10; Isaiah 51:3; Ezekiel 28:13; Ezekiel 31:8; Joel 2:3
• 11. Genesis 3:22; Revelation 2:7; Revelation 22:2, 14
• 12. ver. 17
• 13. Genesis 10:7, 29; Genesis 25:18; 1 Samuel 15:7
• 14. Daniel 10:4
• 15. ver. 8
• 16. Genesis 3:1-3, 11, 17
• 17. Romans 6:23; James 1:15

Footnotes

• [a]. Or open country
• [b]. Or earth; also verse 6
• [c]. Or spring
• [d]. Or when you eat