Man and Woman in the Garden

This [is] the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD[fn] God made [them]

5 

Now [no] shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth, nor had any plant of the field sprouted, for the LORD God had not [yet] sent rain upon the earth, and [there was] no man to cultivate the ground. 6 But springs[fn] welled up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.

7 

Then the LORD God formed man [from] the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.[fn]

8 

And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed. 9 Out of the ground the LORD God 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.

10 

Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it branched into four headwaters:

11 

• The name of the first [river] [is] the Pishon; it winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there [is] gold. 12 And the gold of that land [is] pure, [and] bdellium vvv and onyx [are found] there.
13 
• The name of the second river [is] the Gihon; it winds through the whole land of Cush.
14 
• The name of the third river [is] the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria.
• And the fourth river [is the] Euphrates.
15 

Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.

16 

And the LORD God commanded [him]“You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, 17 but 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

18 

The LORD God also said,“[It is] not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”

19 

And out of the ground the LORD God 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. 20 The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam[fn] no suitable helper was found.

21 

So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of [the man’s] ribs[fn] and closed up the area with flesh. 22 And from the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to [him]. 23 And the man said:

“This [is] now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called‘woman,’

for out of man she was taken.”

24 

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.[fn]

25 

And the man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed. 3