Yahweh God made a woman from the rib which he had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
Parallel translations
- KJV And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
- BSB And from the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him.
- NKJV Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
- NASB And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
- NLT Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.
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 makes a woman from the man's rib and brings her to him. The first marriage is established as God's own design and gift.
Overview
God fashions the woman from the man's rib and personally presents her to him, acting as the giver and the one who joins them together. This shows that marriage originates in God's gracious design rather than human invention. The intimacy of being made from the man's own body grounds the deep unity of husband and wife celebrated in the next verses.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 1 Cor 11:8–9For man is not from woman, but woman from man;
- 1 Tim 2:13For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
- Heb 13:4Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Prov 18:22Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of Yahweh.
- Prov 19:14House and riches are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from Yahweh.
- Ps 127:1A Song of Ascents. By Solomon. Unless Yahweh builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless Yahweh watches over the city, the watchman guards it in vain.
- Gen 2:19Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature became its name.
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 2:22 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.