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Genesis 2

1The heavens and the earth were finished, with all their array. 2On the seventh day God finished the work he had done, and on the seventh day he ceased from all the work he had done. 3God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he ceased from all his work of creation.

4These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When Yahweh God made earth and heaven, 5no shrub of the field was yet on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, because Yahweh God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no human to work the ground. 6But a flow rose from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7Yahweh God formed the human from dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the human became a living creature. 8Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and put there the human he had formed. 9Yahweh God made every tree pleasant to look at and good for food grow from the ground, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four headwaters. 11The name of the first is Pishon; it winds around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12The gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13The name of the second river is Gihon; it winds around the whole land of Cush. 14The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

15Yahweh God took the human and settled him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. 16Yahweh God commanded the human, “You may freely eat from every tree of the garden, 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because on the day you eat from it you will certainly die.”

18Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the human to be alone. I will make him a helper corresponding to him.” 19Yahweh God formed from the ground every wild animal of the field and every bird of heaven, and brought them to the human to see what he would call them. Whatever the human called each living creature was its name. 20The human gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of heaven, and to every wild animal of the field, but for the human no helper corresponding to him was found. 21Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall on the human, and he slept. He took one of his ribs and closed the flesh in its place. 22Yahweh God built the rib he had taken from the human into a woman, and brought her to the human. 23The human said, “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh! This one will be called Woman, because from Man this one was taken.” 24That is why a man leaves his father and mother, holds fast to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25The two of them were naked, the human and his wife, and they felt no shame.

Translation notes 5

2:2–3 — Seventh day. The Hebrew says that God finished his work on the seventh day and ceased on that day. The draft retains both statements. “Ceased” carries the verb from which Sabbath is named; it does not itself say that God needed recovery from fatigue.

2:4–7 — Generations; human; flow. “Generations” introduces successive sections of Genesis and can describe an account of origins and developments. Hebrew links the human, adam, with the ground, adamah. “A living creature” is also used for animals in chapter 1; this wording does not describe a detachable soul being inserted. The watering term in verse 6 is uncertain: “mist” and a groundwater flow are major alternatives.

2:9–14 — Knowledge; geography. “Good and evil” can express comprehensive discernment, including moral judgment; the phrase does not identify the fruit or define every kind of knowledge. The ancient river names and place descriptions do not establish the garden's location. The substances traditionally called bdellium and onyx are not securely identified.

2:18–23 — Helper; rib. A helper need not be subordinate: the emphasis is on a counterpart corresponding to the human. The Hebrew word rendered “rib” also means a side; the bodily operation favors a rib here, though “side” remains possible. The poem links woman and man through the sound of the Hebrew words ishshah and ish. This is the narrative's wordplay, not a claim about their historical derivation.

2:19, 24 — Sequence; one flesh. Verse 19 narrates God's forming the animals without an explicit “previously”; the draft preserves its wording rather than adjusting the sequence to chapter 1. Verse 24 states the kinship and bodily union of husband and wife without adding a later doctrinal explanation.