But the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
- KJV And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
- NKJV Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
- NASB Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
- NLT Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
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 calls to the man, asking, 'Where are you?' God seeks out the hiding sinner in grace.
Overview
God calls out to the man with the question 'Where are you?' not because he is uninformed, but to draw the man out and bring him to account. This pursuing question reveals a God who seeks the sinner rather than abandoning him. It anticipates the whole story of redemption, in which God repeatedly seeks his wayward people and finally comes in Christ to save them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Gen 4:9And the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I do not know!” he answered. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
- Gen 18:20–21Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,
- Josh 7:17–19He had the clans of Judah come forward, and the clan of the Zerahites was selected. He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward, and the family of Zabdi was selected.
- Gen 16:8“Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied.
- Gen 11:5Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building.
- Rev 20:12–13And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books.
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 3:9 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.