Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
- KJV And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
- BSB The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”
- NKJV And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
- NASB Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
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 declares it is not good for the man to be alone and resolves to make a helper. Humans are made for relationship, and God provides for that need.
Overview
For the first time something is called 'not good': the man's solitude. God announces his intention to make a 'helper comparable to him,' one who corresponds to and completes the man as a fitting partner. The term 'helper' is no mark of inferiority, for it is often used of God himself; it points to the goodness of companionship and the complementary union God designs in marriage.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Eccl 4:9–12Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.
- Prov 18:22Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of Yahweh.
- 1 Pet 3:7You husbands, in the same way, live with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor to the woman, as to the weaker vessel, as being also joint heirs of the grace of life; that your prayers may not be hindered.
- 1 Cor 11:7–12For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man.
- Ruth 3:1Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?
- 1 Tim 2:11–13Let a woman learn in quietness with full submission.
- Gen 1:31God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.
- Gen 3:12The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
- 1 Cor 7:36But if any man thinks that he is behaving inappropriately toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of her age, and if need so requires, let him do what he desires. He doesn’t sin. Let them marry.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 2:18 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
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