Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.
- KJV And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
- BSB Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.
- NKJV Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
- NLT The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God places the man in the garden to cultivate and keep it. Work and care for creation are part of God's good design, not a result of the fall.
Overview
God settles the man in Eden with the task of cultivating and keeping it, showing that meaningful work was part of human life before sin entered. The words 'cultivate and keep' carry overtones of service and guarding, framing humanity's role as faithful stewardship under God. This dignifies labor as a God-given calling and a way of honoring the Creator.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Ps 128:2For you will eat the labor of your hands. You will be happy, and it will be well with you.
- Gen 2:8Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.
- Eph 4:28Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, producing with his hands something that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.
- Gen 2:2On the seventh day God finished his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.
- Job 31:33if like Adam I have covered my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Lay
The single best free starting point for Genesis 1–11 — clear, visual, and faithful to the literary design.
Pastoral
The beloved devotional-pastoral classic, free and public domain — warm, quotable, verse by verse.
Commentaries & study tools
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The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 2:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.