Genesis 2:4-25

The Generations of Heaven and Earth

4 These are the generations of heaven and earth when they were created, in the day [that] Yahweh God made earth and heaven--
5 {before any plant of the field was} on earth, and [before] {any plant of the field} 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,
6 but a stream [would] rise from the earth and water the whole face of the ground--
7 when Yahweh God formed the man [of] dust from the ground, and he blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
8 And Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 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} the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 Now 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 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}."
19 And out of the ground Yahweh God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and he brought [each] to the man to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called that living creature [was] its name.
20 And the man {gave names} to every domesticated animal and to the birds of heaven and to all the wild animals. But for [the] man there was not found a helper {as his counterpart}.
21 And Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man. While he slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up {the flesh where it had been}.
22 And Yahweh God fashioned the rib which he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.
23 And the man said, "{She is now} bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh; {she} shall be called 'Woman,' for {she was taken} 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 and his wife, both of them, were naked, and they were not ashamed.

Genesis 2:4-25 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.

Footnotes 34

  • [a]. Or "family records"
  • [b]. Or "the sky"
  • [c]. Or "the earth"
  • [d]. Or "sky"
  • [e]. Literally "and every plant of the field not yet was"
  • [f]. Literally "and every plant of the field not yet"
  • [g]. Or "and"
  • [h]. "The man" indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  • [i]. "The man" indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  • [j]. Or "and"
  • [k]. Or "And"
  • [l]. "The man" indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  • [m]. "The man" indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  • [n]. Literally "eating you may eat"
  • [o]. Literally "of your eating"
  • [p]. Literally "dying you shall die"
  • [q]. Or "And"
  • [r]. "The man" indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  • [s]. Literally "as his opposite"
  • [t]. Or "the heavens"
  • [u]. "The man" indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  • [v]. "The man" indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  • [w]. "The man" indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  • [x]. Literally "called names"
  • [y]. Or "the sky"
  • [z]. Literally "animals of the earth/land"
  • [aa]. Literally "as his opposite"
  • [ab]. "The man" indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  • [ac]. Or "And"
  • [ad]. Literally "the flesh in the place of it"
  • [ae]. "The man" indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  • [af]. "The man" indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  • [ag]. "The man" indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
  • [ah]. "The man" indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.