5 | Genesis
T
Genesis | 5
his is the account of the heavens and the e arth when they were
created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
Now no s hrub had yet appeared on the e arth and no p
lant had
yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and
there was no one to work the g round, but streams came up from the
earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord
God formed a man from the dust of the g round and b
reathed into
his nostrils the b
reath of life, and the man became a living being.
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden;
and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all
kinds of t rees grow out of the g round — trees that were pleasing to
the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree
of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A river watering the garden f lowed from Eden; from there it
was separated into four headwaters. The name of the f irst is the
Pishon; it w
inds t hrough the entire land of Havilah, w
here t here is
gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also
there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it w
inds through
the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it
runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Eu
phrates.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden
to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the
man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must
not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when
you eat from it you will certainly die.”
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be a lone. I will
make a helper suitable for him.”
Now the Lord God had f ormed out of the g round all the wild
animals and all the b
irds in the sky. He b
rought them to the man to
see what he w
ould name them; and whatever the man c alled each
living creature, that was its name. So the man gave n
ames to all the
livestock, the b
irds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God
caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and w
hile he was sleep
ing, he took one of the m
an’s ribs and then c losed up the p
lace with
f lesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken
out of the man, and he b
rought her to the man.
The man said,
2:4–2:23
2:4–2:23