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Genesis 2

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The Seventh Day: God's Rest and Blessing 1–3

1
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. ​
2
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. ​
3
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. ​

The Account of Man's Creation 4–7

4
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, ​
5
And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. ​
6
But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. ​

The Garden of Eden and Its Rivers 8–14

8
And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. ​
9
And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. ​
10
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11
The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; ​
12
And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
13
And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
14
And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

Man's Mandate and the Prohibition 15–17

15
And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. ​
16
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. ​

The Creation of Woman and Marriage 18–25

18
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. ​
19
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. ​
20
And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; ​
22
And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. ​
24
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. ​
25
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Genesis 2

Verse 1

were finished — Kalah, to complete; it is the verb rendered 'ended' in v.2. 'The host of them' (tsaba) is the whole array of heaven and earth, made 'by the breath of his mouth' (Ps 33:6). Ex 20:11 gathers the six days into one statement: 'in six days the LORD made heaven and earth'.

Verse 2

he rested — Shabath, to cease; it is the root of 'sabbath'. Rest here is not weariness, for the Creator 'fainteth not, neither is weary' (Isa 40:28). 'His work' (melakah) is named three times in vv.2–3. Heb 4:4 quotes the verse, and Christ says, 'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work' (John 5:17).

Verse 3

blessed… and sanctified — Barak, to bless, and qadash, to set apart as holy; this is the first place 'sanctify' is used in Scripture. Ex 20:11 gives it as the ground of the fourth commandment, 'the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it', and Christ says, 'The sabbath was made for man' (Mark 2:27).

Verse 4

the generations of the heavens and of the earth — Toledah, an account of what comes from a beginning; the heading returns at Gen 5:1 ('the generations of Adam'), 6:9, 10:1, 11:10, 11:27, 25:12, 25:19, 36:1, 36:9 and 37:2. Here the divine name first appears in the text: 'the LORD God' is the Creator of ch.1 now named as the one who forms and plants.

Verse 5

a man to till the ground — Adam, man, is to work adamah, ground, words linked in sound. 'Till' is abad, the verb of 'dress it' in v.15 and of 'to till the ground from whence he was taken' in Gen 3:23. The field waits for rain from the LORD God and for the man whom v.7 forms.

Verse 7

breathed into his nostrils — Yatsar, 'formed', is the potter's verb (Isa 64:8, 'we are the clay, and thou our potter'). The neshamah, 'breath', is given by God himself, and 'living soul' is nephesh chayyah, the pair rendered 'living creature' in v.19. Paul quotes the verse of the first man in 1 Cor 15:45.

Verse 8

planted a garden eastward in Eden — Gan, a fenced garden, and qedem, 'the front', hence east; the LORD God himself 'planted' it. Ezekiel calls it 'the garden of God' (Ezek 28:13), and after the fall cherubim are set 'at the east of the garden of Eden' (Gen 3:24).

Verse 9

the tree of life — It stands 'in the midst of the garden' beside the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life returns at the end of Scripture: 'in the midst of the paradise of God' (Rev 2:7), by the river (Rev 22:2), with a 'right to the tree of life' for those who keep his commandments (Rev 22:14).

Verse 11

Pison… Havilah — The first river 'compasseth' (sabab, goes around) Havilah, where 'the gold of that land is good' (v.12). Havilah is also a name in Genesis: a son of Cush (Gen 10:7), a son of Joktan (Gen 10:29), and a land marked in 'from Havilah unto Shur' (Gen 25:18).

Verse 15

to dress it and to keep it — Abad, to work or serve, is the verb of 'till the ground' in v.5; shamar, to guard, is the cherubim's task at the garden's east, 'to keep the way of the tree of life' (Gen 3:24). The work is given to the man before the fall.

Verse 17

thou shalt surely die — The Hebrew doubles the verb (mut, to die, twice: 'dying thou shalt die'), which the KJV renders 'surely'. Its outworking is the word of Gen 3:19, 'unto dust shalt thou return'. Paul traces it: 'as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive' (1 Cor 15:22).

Verse 18

It is not good that the man should be alone — The first 'not good' after 'it was very good' (Gen 1:31). Ezer, 'help', is a word the Psalms use of the LORD himself: 'he is our help and our shield' (Ps 33:20; cf. 121:2). The solution is stated before it is found; v.20 ends 'there was not found an help meet for him'.

Verse 19

whatsoever Adam called every living creature — The animals are 'formed' (yatsar) from the ground, as the man was in v.7, and 'living creature' is the nephesh chayyah of 'living soul' there. Naming is the exercise of the dominion of Gen 1:26 ('Thou madest him to have dominion', Ps 8:6).

Verse 21

a deep sleep — Tardemah, the word for the sleep that falls on Abram before the LORD makes a covenant with him (Gen 15:12, 18). Tsela, 'ribs', is rendered 'side' in Ex 25:12, of the sides of the ark. The LORD God 'closed up the flesh instead thereof', and of what he had taken 'made he a woman' (v.22).

Verse 23

bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh — Words of kinship, spoken by Laban to Jacob (Gen 29:14) and by the tribes to David (2 Sam 5:1). 'Woman' (ishshah) comes from 'Man' (ish). Pa'am, 'now', is literally 'this time'. Paul writes of the church, 'members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones' (Eph 5:30).

Verse 24

shall cleave unto his wife — Dabaq, to cling, the verb of Ruth with Naomi (Ruth 1:14) and of 'to him shalt thou cleave' (Deut 10:20). Christ cites the verse in answer to the Pharisees and adds, 'What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder' (Matt 19:5–6); Paul applies it to Christ and the church (Eph 5:31–32).

Verse 25

naked… and were not ashamed — Arom, naked, and bush, to be ashamed. After the fall they 'knew that they were naked' (Gen 3:7) and the man says, 'I was afraid, because I was naked' (Gen 3:10); the Hebrew there is another word, eyrom, and they hide (Gen 3:8). Ch.2 closes with the man and his wife as the LORD God made them.