The Seventh Day
1With this the heavens and the earth were completed, including all of their vast array.a2By the seventh day God had completed the work he had been doing, so on the seventh day he stopped working onb everything that he had done.3Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God stopped working onc everything that he had been creating.
Humans in the Garden
4These are the records of the universe at itsd creation. On the day that the LORD God made the earth and skies,e5no shrubs had yet grown in the meadows of the earth and no vegetation had sprouted,f because the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there were no human beingsg to work the ground.6Instead, an underground streamh would arise out of the earth and water the surface of the ground.7So the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground, breathed life into his lungs,i and the man became a living being.
8The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, towardj the east, where he placed the man whom he had formed.9The LORD God caused every tree that is both beautifulk and suitable for food to spring up out of the ground. The tree of life was also in the middle of the garden, along with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.10A river flows from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides, becoming four branches.11The name of the first one is Pishon—it winds through the entire land of Havilah,l where there is gold.12The gold of that land is pure;m bdelliumn and onyx are also foundo there.13The name of the second river is Gihon—p it winds through the entire land of Cush.q14The third river is named the Tigris— it flows to the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
15The LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden in order to have him work it and guardr it.16The LORD God commanded the man: “You may freely eat from every tree of the garden,17but you are not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because you will certainly die during the day that you eat from it.”
The Creation of the Woman
18Later, the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make the womansto be an authorityt correspondingu to him.”19After the LORD God formed from the ground every wild animalv and every bird that flies, he brought each of themw to the man to see what he would call it. Whatever the man called each living creature became its name.20The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds that fly, and to each of earth’s animals,x but there was not found a strengthy correspondingz to him,21so the LORD God caused a deep sleep to overshadow the man.
When the manaa was asleep, he removed one of the man’sbb ribs and closed up the flesh where it had been.22Then the LORD God formed the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.23So the man exclaimed,
“At last! This is
bone from my bones
and flesh from my flesh.
This one will be called ‘Woman,’
because she was taken from Man.”cc
24(Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife, and they will become one flesh.)25Even though both the man and his wife were naked, they were not ashamed about it.dd
Footnotes:
a 2:1 Lit.their hosts; i.e. armies of sentient beings or stars (if referring to the night sky)
b 2:2 Orhe rested from
c 2:3 OrGod rested from
d 2:4 Lit.the heavens and the earth at their
e 2:4 Lit.heavens; orspace
f 2:5 Lit.sprouted in the fields
g 2:5 Lit.there was no man
h 2:6 Ormist
i 2:7 Lit.nostrils
j 2:8 Lit.in
k 2:9 Lit.is pleasing to the eyes
l 2:11 Possibly a reference to Nubia, a source of gold for ancient Egypt
m 2:12 Lit.good
n 2:12 i.e. a gum resin; orpearl
o 2:12 The Heb. lacksalso found
p 2:13 Possibly an ancient reference to one of the branches of the Nile River
q 2:13 Possibly a portion of northeast Africa
r 2:15 Orand watch over
s 2:18 The Heb. lacksthe woman
t 2:18 Ormake a strength; ormake a power
u 2:18 Orequal
v 2:19 Lit.every animal of the field; i.e., non-domesticated animals, as opposed to domesticated livestock
w 2:19 The Heb. lackseach of them
x 2:20 I.e., non-domesticated animals, as opposed to domesticated livestock
y 2:20 Orfound an authority orfound a power
z 2:20 Orequal
aa 2:21 Lit.When he
bb 2:21 Lit.of his
cc 2:23 The Heb. roots forMan andWoman are identical.
dd 2:25 The Heb. lacksabout it
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1
Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY.
Bible Hub
