5And every plant of the field before it sprung up in the earth, and every herb of the ground before it grew: for the Lord God had not rained upon the earth; and there was not a man to till the earth.

6But a spring rose out the earth, watering all the surface of the earth.

7And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

8And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning: wherein he placed man whom he had formed.

9And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life also in the midst of paradise: and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

10And a river went of the place of pleasure to water paradise, which from thence is divided into four heads.

11The name of the one is Phison: that is it which compasseth all the land of Hevilath, where gold groweth.

12And the gold of that land is very good: there is found bdellium, and the onyx stone.

13And the name of the second river is Gehon: the same is it that compasseth all the land of Ethiopia.

14And the name of the third river is Tigris: the same passeth along by the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

15And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress it, and keep it.

16And he commanded him, saying: Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat:

17But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death.

18And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone; let us make him a help like unto himself.

19And the Lord God having formed out of the ground all the beasts of the earth, and all the fowls of the air, brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: for whatsoever Adam called any living creature the same is its name.

20And Adam called all the beasts by their names, and all the fowls of the air, and all the cattle of the field: but for Adam there was not found a helper like himself.

21Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam: and when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it.

22And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and brought her to Adam.

23And Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.

24Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh.

25And they were both naked, to wit, Adam and his wife: and were not ashamed.

An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.

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Genesis 2

The Seventh Day—Rest

1So the sky, the earth and all that filled them were finished. 2By the seventh day God finished the work he had been doing. So on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3God blessed the seventh day and made it a holy day. He made it holy because on that day he rested. He rested from all the work he had done in creating the world.

The First People

4This is the story of the creation of the sky and the earth. When the Lord God made the earth and the sky, 5there were no plants on the earth. Nothing was growing in the fields. The Lord God had not yet made it rain on the land. And there was no man to care for the ground. 6But a mist often rose from the earth and watered all the ground.

7Then the Lord God took dust from the ground and formed man from it. The Lord breathed the breath of life into the man’s nose. And the man became a living person. 8Then the Lord God planted a garden in the East, in a place called Eden. He put the man he had formed in that garden. 9The Lord God caused every beautiful tree and every tree that was good for food to grow out of the ground. In the middle of the garden, God put the tree that gives life. And he put there the tree that gives the knowledge of good and evil.

10A river flowed through Eden and watered the garden. From that point the river was divided. It had four streams flowing into it. 11The name of the first stream is Pishon. It flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12That gold is good. Bdellium and onyx# Bdellium is an expensive, sweet-smelling resin like myrrh. And onyx is a gem. are also there. 13The name of the second river is Gihon. It flows around the whole land of Cush. 14The name of the third river is Tigris. It flows out of Assyria toward the east. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

15The Lord God put the man in the garden of Eden to care for it and work it. 16The Lord God commanded him, “You may eat the fruit from any tree in the garden. 17But you must not eat the fruit from the tree which gives the knowledge of good and evil. If you ever eat fruit from that tree, you will die!”

The First Woman

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

19From the ground God formed every wild animal and every bird in the sky. He brought them to the man so the man could name them. Whatever the man called each living thing, that became its name. 20The man gave names to all the tame animals, to the birds in the sky and to all the wild animals. But Adam# This is the name of the first man. It also means “humans,” including men and women. did not find a helper that was right for him. 21So the Lord God caused the man to sleep very deeply. While the man was asleep, God took one of the ribs from the man’s body. Then God closed the man’s skin at the place where he took the rib. 22The Lord God used the rib from the man to make a woman. Then the Lord brought the woman to the man.

23And the man said,

“Now, this is someone whose bones came from my bones.

Her body came from my body.

I will call her ‘woman,’

because she was taken out of man.”

24So a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife. And the two people will become one body.

25The man and his wife were naked, but they were not ashamed.

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Genesis 2

Genesis 2