Genesis 2
Berean Standard Bible · Compare translations · Beginnings · Tap a verse to copy, share or highlight ·
25 verses · 600 words · ~3 min read · ~4 min listen
The Seventh Day
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.
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 God made them.
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 LordGod had not yet sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6But springs welled up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.
7Then the LordGod formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
8And the LordGod planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed. 9Out of the ground the LordGod 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:
15Then the LordGod took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.
16And the LordGod 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 LordGod 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 LordGod 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 no suitable helper was found.
21So the LordGod caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of the manʼs ribs and closed up the area with flesh. 22And from the rib that the LordGod had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him. 23And the man said:
24For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
25And the man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.
Footnotes (7)
- a v2 Cited in Hebrews 4:4
- b v4 Lordor 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.
- c v6 Or mist
- d v7 Or a living soul; cited in 1 Corinthians 15:45
- e v20 Or the man, as in verses 19 and 21
- f v21 Or took part of the manʼs side; similarly in verse 22
- g v24 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
Study notes on this chapter · 5
How to read the days of creation
Genesis 1 describes God creating in six days and resting on the seventh. Christians have read the days in several ways, and the question of how to relate the chapter to modern science is among the most discussed in biblical interpretation. The New Testament affirms creation through Christ and the created order, and Exodus ties the Sabbath to the six days.
When: Genesis; ancient readers such as Philo, Origen and Augustine already debated the nature of the days.
Ways people read this (5)
- Six ordinary days, with a young earth (young-earth creationism).
- Days as long periods, with an old earth (day-age, progressive creation).
- A literary framework: the days form a structure for teaching God's ordering of creation, without timing (framework view).
- An ancient cosmology: the chapter describes the cosmos as a temple, and its claims are functional, not material (cosmic temple or 'functional' readings).
- Augustine read creation as instantaneous, with the days an account for human understanding.
Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.
From the beginning: male and female, one flesh
Asked about divorce, Jesus goes back past Moses' legislation to creation, quoting Genesis 1:27 and 2:24 to ground marriage in God's design. Paul later quotes Genesis 2:24 too and calls it a great mystery that refers to Christ and the church.
When: Creation accounts in Genesis; Jesus' teaching, c. AD 30; Ephesians, c. AD 60.
Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.
Adam, the first man, and Christ, the last Adam
Paul says Adam was 'a type of the one to come': through one man sin and death entered the world, and through one man grace and life come to many. In 1 Corinthians he contrasts the first man, from the dust, with the last Adam, a life-giving spirit, and ties resurrection to this pairing.
When: Genesis, the opening of human history; Romans, c. AD 57; 1 Corinthians, c. AD 55.
Ways people read this (3)
- Adam was a historical individual whose act affected all humanity, as Paul's parallel suggests (common in many traditions).
- Adam is a representative figure for humanity, and Paul's point is about Christ's role more than Adam's historicity.
- Traditions differ on how Adam's sin is transmitted (original sin, ancestral sin, inherited mortality and so on).
Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.
The tree of life restored
After the fall, humanity is barred from the tree of life in Eden. Revelation's final chapters picture the tree of life along the river in the new Jerusalem, open to those who overcome and wash their robes. Many readers see the Bible's storyline as beginning and ending in a garden-city.
When: Genesis; Revelation, c. AD 90s.
Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.
Today, if you hear his voice, enter the rest
Psalm 95 warns the people not to harden their hearts as in the wilderness. Hebrews reads the warning as still open: Joshua did not give Israel the final rest, since David later speaks of 'today', so a Sabbath rest still remains for God's people, rooted in God resting on the seventh day.
When: Wilderness rebellion (c. 1446 BC or later); Psalm 95; Hebrews, before AD 70 (most likely).
Ways people read this (3)
- The rest is final salvation and life with God in the age to come.
- The rest is entered now through faith and fulfilled fully later.
- Some traditions draw from this a continuing Sabbath observance; others see the Sabbath as fulfilled in Christ.
Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.