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Genesis 2

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A close-up of day six: God forms the man, plants the garden of Eden, gives one command, and makes the woman.

Genesis 2 zooms in from cosmos to garden. The man is formed from dust and given priestly work "to keep" Eden; the one prohibition sets the stage for chapter 3; and the making of the woman establishes marriage as "one flesh" covenant union.

Part of Creation📖 Genesis introduction

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1And so the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their heavenly lights. ✦ 2By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. ✦ 3Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. ✦ 4This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. ✦ 5Now no shrub of the field was yet on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. ✦ 6But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 7Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living person. ✦ 8The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. ✦ 9Out of the ground the Lord God caused every tree to grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. ✦ 10Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. ✦ 11The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ✦ 12The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there as well. ✦ 13The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush. ✦ 14The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. ✦ 15Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it. ✦ 16The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat; ✦ 17but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.” ✦ 18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” ✦ 19And out of the ground the Lord 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; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. ✦ 20The man gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. ✦ 21So 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. ✦ 22And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. ✦ 23Then the man said, “At last this is bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called ‘woman,’ Because she was taken out of man.” ✦ 24For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. ✦ 25And the man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

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

In this chapter

Person / place AdamPerson / place The Garden of EdenConcept The Breath of God (Ruach)Concept The Sabbath

Where this chapter connects

Gen 3 ·14Gen 1 ·11Gen 2 ·9Ezek 31 ·6Gen 10 ·61 Cor 15 ·4Gen 25 ·4Job 33 ·3

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

  • ★ Start hereDocumentaryExpedition BibleJoel Kramer · Free · evangelical

    On-location biblical archaeology from a credentialed archaeologist (M.A., excavated in Israel) — the best free place to start on "did it really happen?"

  • ★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical

    A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

  • ★ Start hereVideoOverview: Genesis 1–11BibleProject · 9 min · Free

    The single best free starting point for Genesis 1–11 — clear, visual, and faithful to the literary design.

  • VideoSpoken GospelSpoken Gospel · Free · evangelical

    Short, gospel-centered videos and spoken-word poems showing how each passage points to Jesus — especially strong on the Old Testament.

  • ReferenceBook of Genesis — Visual GuideBibleProject · Free

    A free structured guide to the whole book — outline, themes, and links to each video.

  • DocumentaryIs Genesis History?Del Tackett · Free · evangelical

    A young-earth-creationist case for a literal Genesis, free on YouTube. (YEC is one view held by faithful Christians; others read Genesis differently — see the genre guide on how to read it.)

Pastoral

  • SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical

    Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

  • CommentaryCommentary on Genesis 1Matthew Henry · Free

    The beloved devotional-pastoral classic, free and public domain — warm, quotable, verse by verse.

Seminary

  • ★ Start hereCommentaryGenesis (Word Biblical Commentary)Gordon J. Wenham · Paid · evangelical

    For decades the gold-standard commentary on Genesis — technical but rich. (See the ranked list for alternatives like Hamilton, NICOT.)

  • BookThe Pentateuch as NarrativeJohn H. Sailhamer · ~560 pp · Library · evangelical

    A literary-theological reading that makes Genesis's design visible.

Commentaries & study tools

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