Therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.
Parallel translations
- KJV Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
- BSB Therefore the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
- ESV therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
- NKJV therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.
- NASB therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
- NLT So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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
God sends Adam out of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. It marks humanity's exile from God's immediate presence because of sin.
Overview
Expulsion from the garden is the practical outworking of the broken fellowship between God and man. Adam returns to till ordinary ground, now under the curse, away from the place of unhindered communion with God. This exile sets the stage for the whole biblical story of God working to bring His people back into His presence, accomplished finally in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Gen 4:2Again she gave birth, to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
- Gen 4:12From now on, when you till the ground, it won’t yield its strength to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth.”
- Gen 3:19By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
- Gen 2:5No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground,
- Eccl 5:9Moreover the profit of the earth is for all. The king profits from the field.
- Gen 9:20Noah began to be a farmer, and planted a vineyard.
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 3:23 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.