The man called his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living.
Parallel translations
- KJV And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
- BSB And Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all the 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 shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel”; which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”
- Gen 2:23The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man.”
- Gen 5:29He named him Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, caused by the ground which Yahweh has cursed.”
- Gen 2:20The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper comparable to him.
- Gen 16:11Yahweh’s angel said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because Yahweh has heard your affliction.
- Acts 17:26He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings,
- Gen 35:18As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin.
- 1 Sam 1:20When the time had come, Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of Yahweh.”
- Matt 1:21She shall give birth to a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”
- Gen 29:32–35Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Reuben. For she said, “Because Yahweh has looked at my affliction. For now my husband will love me.”
- Exod 2:10The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, “Because 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.