And Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all the living.
Parallel translations
- WEB The man called his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living.
- KJV And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
- NKJV And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
- NASB Now the man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
- NLT Then the man—Adam—named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live.
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
Adam names his wife Eve, meaning 'living', because she would be the mother of all humanity. It is an act of faith and hope amid the sentence of death.
Overview
In naming her Eve, 'living one', Adam expresses confidence that life will continue despite the curse of death just pronounced. The name reflects trust in God's promise of offspring through whom the deliverer would come. From Eve descends the whole human family, and ultimately the Savior who gives life to all who believe.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Matt 1:23“Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”).
- Gen 2:23And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man she was taken.”
- Gen 5:29And he named him Noah, saying, “May this one comfort us in the labor and toil of our hands caused by the ground that the LORD has cursed.”
- Gen 2:20The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
- Gen 16:11The angel of the LORD proceeded: “Behold, you have conceived and will bear a son. And you shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction.
- Acts 17:26From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.
- Gen 35:18And with her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin.
- 1 Sam 1:20So in the course of time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the LORD.”
- Matt 1:21She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”
- Gen 29:32–35And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.”
- Exod 2:10When the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses and explained, “I drew him out of the water.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 3:20 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.