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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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1Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. ✦ 2And on the seventh day God ended 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 in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. ✦ 4This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, ✦ 5before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; ✦ 6but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. 7And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. ✦ 8The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. ✦ 9And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant 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 went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. ✦ 11The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ✦ 12And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. ✦ 13The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. ✦ 14The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. ✦ 15Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. ✦ 16And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; ✦ 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” ✦ 18And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” ✦ 19Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. ✦ 20So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. ✦ 21And 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. ✦ 22Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. ✦ 23And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” ✦ 24Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ✦ 25And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. ✦

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

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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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