So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
- KJV 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;
- BSB 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 and closed up the area with flesh.
- ESV So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
- NKJV And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
- NLT So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 puts the man into a deep sleep and takes one of his ribs. God himself prepares the material from which the woman will be made.
Overview
God causes a deep sleep to fall on the man and takes a rib from his side to form the woman. The man is passive in this act, receiving the woman wholly as a gift from God's hand. That she is taken from his side has long been seen as a picture of the closeness and equality of husband and wife, side by side under God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Gen 15:12When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him.
- Job 4:13In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
- Dan 8:18Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face toward the ground; but he touched me, and set me upright.
- Job 33:15In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, in slumbering on the bed;
- 1 Sam 26:12So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul’s head; and they went away: and no man saw it, or knew it, nor did any awake; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from Yahweh was fallen on them.
- Prov 19:15Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep. The idle soul shall suffer hunger.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Lay
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 2:21 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.