And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Parallel translations
- WEB The man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.
- BSB And the man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.
- NKJV And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
- NASB And the man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.
- NLT Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.
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
The man and woman are naked yet unashamed. In their innocence before the fall there is full openness and no guilt.
Overview
The couple are naked and feel no shame, picturing the innocence and unbroken fellowship that marked human life before sin. Their lack of shame reflects perfect transparency before God and one another. This state of innocence stands in sharp contrast to the shame and hiding that immediately follow the fall in chapter 3, highlighting all that sin would soon destroy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Gen 3:7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
- Gen 3:10–11And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
- Rom 10:11For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
- Jer 17:13O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
- Joel 2:26And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
- Isa 54:4Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
- Isa 47:3Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.
- Ezek 16:61Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.
- Exod 32:25And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)
- Ps 25:3Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
- Luke 9:26For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.
- Mark 8:38Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
- Isa 44:9They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.
- Ps 31:17Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.
- Jer 6:15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
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
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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 2:25 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.