Genesis 2

Day number 7

1God finished making everything. He finished making the sky, and the earth, and everything that is on the earth too. 2After God finished all that, it was day number 7, and God rested on that day.#Hebrews 4:4, 10 3So God made day number 7 a good and special day. He said, “I’ve finished making everything now, and I’m resting on day number 7. So day number 7 is a special day.”#Exodus 20:11

At first everything was different

4This story is about the time when God made the earth and the sky. 5At first, God didn’t send any rain on the earth, and there were no people to make the ground right for the plants. So nothing was growing on the earth at that time. 6Water used to come up from under the ground and wet the top of all the ground.

God made the first man

7God took some dirt, and he made a man out of it. Then God breathed into the man’s nose, and God’s breath gave him life. So that man became a living person.#1 Corinthians 15:45

The garden in Eden

8Then God made a garden in a place called Eden. It was in the east part of the land. And God put the man in that garden. 9And God made some trees grow there in that garden. They were pretty, and they had fruit that was good to eat. And God put 2 special trees in the middle of the garden. If people eat the fruit of one of those trees, they will stay alive. And if they eat the fruit from the other tree, they will know if the things they do are good, or if they are bad.#Revelation 2:7; 22:2, 14

10A river started in Eden, and it watered the garden. Then that river flowed out and split up into 4 rivers. 11The 1st river was called Pishon. It flowed around the land called Havilah. In that country there was lots of gold. 12It was really good gold. And there were pretty stones, and a good-smelling gum that comes from a tree, too.

13The 2nd river was called Gihon. It flowed all around the country called Cush.

14The 3rd river was called Tigris. It flowed east of the country called Assyria.

The 4th river was called Euphrates.

15God put the man into the garden in Eden and gave him some work to do. He had to look after the garden and make sure all the plants grew strong and healthy.

The special tree

16And God told the man, “You can eat fruit from the trees in this garden. 17There is only one tree that you can’t eat its fruit. You can’t eat the fruit from that tree that lets you know if the things you do are good, or if they are bad. I’m telling you, if you eat any fruit from that tree, you will die, for sure.”

God made the first woman

18And God said, “It is not good for this man to be by himself. I’m going to make somebody else to be a mate for the man, somebody that will be good for him.”

19And God made all the animals and birds out of dirt from the ground, and he brought them to the man. God wanted the man to give all the animals and birds their names. The man could say any name he wanted for each one, and those names stayed with them. 20So the man gave each animal a name. He named all the wild animals, and all the animals that are not wild, and all the birds. That man’s own name was Adam. (That name means man.) There were lots of animals and birds, but none of them were the right sort of mate that was good for Adam.

21So God made the man go to sleep. It was a really strong deep sleep. And while he was asleep, God took out one of his rib bones. Then God closed up the place where that rib was. 22Then God used the man’s rib bone and made a woman from it. After the man woke up, God took the woman over to the man. 23The man looked at that woman, and he said, “This is really good. Now I have a mate. God took out a part of my body, and he made it into a mate for me. Yes, he used my rib bone to make her. God made her out of a man’s body, so I’m going to call her woman.”

24That’s how God made a woman, he made her out of a man’s body. That is the reason why a man will leave his mother and father and marry a woman. The man and his wife will join with each other, and their bodies will be like one body.#Matthew 19:5; Mark 10:7-8; 1 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 5:31

25The man and his wife didn’t have any clothes on. They were both naked, but they didn’t feel any shame.

Genesis 2

The Seventh Day

(Exodus 16:22–30; Hebrews 4:1–11)

1Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work.#2:2 Cited in Hebrews 4:4

3Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day He rested from all the work of creation that He had accomplished.

Man and Woman in the Garden

4This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord #2:4 Lord or GOD, with capital letters, represents the proper name of the God of Israel and the one true God, transliterated from the Hebrew as YHWH; here and throughout the Scriptures. God made them.

5Now no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth, nor had any plant of the field sprouted; for the Lord God had not yet sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6But springs #2:6 Or mist welled up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.

7Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.#2:7 Or a living soul; cited in 1 Corinthians 15:45

8And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed. 9Out of the ground the Lord God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it branched into four headwaters:

11The name of the first river is Pishon; it winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12And the gold of that land is pure, and bdellium and onyx are found there.

13The name of the second river is Gihon; it winds through the whole land of Cush.

14The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it runs along the east side of Assyria.

And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15Then the Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.

16And the Lord God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

18The Lord God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”

19And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam #2:20 Or the man, as in verses 19 and 21 no suitable helper was found.

21So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of the man’s ribs #2:21 Or took part of the man’s side; similarly in verse 22 and closed up the area with flesh. 22And from the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him. 23And the man said:

“This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ‘woman,’

for out of man she was taken.”

24For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.#2:24 LXX and the two will become one flesh; cited in Matthew 19:5, Mark 10:7–8, 1 Corinthians 6:16, and Ephesians 5:31

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

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Genesis 2

Genesis 2