Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Genesis 2
The Seventh Day
So the heavens and the earth were completed, with everything in them. On the seventh day God completed the work and rested from all the work God had done. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on that day God rested from all the work of creation.
The Garden and the Human
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the LORD God made earth and heaven, no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth, and no plant of the field had sprouted, because the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no human to work the ground. But a flow of water rose from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.
The LORD God shaped the human from dust taken from the ground and breathed the breath of life into the human's nostrils. The human became a living being. The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the human God had formed. The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, beautiful to look at and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden. From there, the river divided into four branches. The first river was named Pishon. It wound through all the land of Havilah, where there was gold. The gold of that land was good. Bdellium and onyx were found there too. The second river was named Gihon. It wound through all the land of Cush. The third river was the Tigris, flowing east of Assyria. The fourth was the Euphrates.
Work and a Boundary
The LORD God took the human and settled him in the garden of Eden to work it and care for it.
The LORD God commanded the human, “You may eat freely from every tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
A Corresponding Helper
The LORD God said, “It is not good for the human to be alone. I will make him a helper who corresponds to him.” The LORD God formed every wild animal and every bird in the sky from the ground and brought them to the human to see what he would call them. Whatever he called each living creature became its name. The human named all the livestock, the birds in the sky, and every wild animal. But no helper corresponding to him was found for the human.
The LORD God put the human into a deep sleep. While he slept, God took one of his sides and closed the flesh over the place. The LORD God built the side taken from the human into a woman and brought her to him.
The human said,
“At last! Bone from my bones,
and flesh from my flesh.
She will be called Woman,
because she was taken from Man.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother, holds fast to his wife, and they become one flesh. The human and his wife were both naked, and neither felt ashamed.