1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and everything they contained; all creatures great and small[a].
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested[a] on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed[a] the seventh day, and sanctified[b] it; because on that day God rested from all His work which He had created and made[c].
4a These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created:
4b In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
5 before every plant of the field was in the earth, when not even the grass had yet sprung up (for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground);
6 at that time there came up a spring from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground,
7 and the LORD God formmed[a] man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life[b]; and man became a living soul[c].
8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 There the LORD God brought forth from the ground every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was lost, and became the source of four different rivers:
11 The name of the first is Pishon, which flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
12 and the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx[a] stone.
13 And the name of the second river is Gihon, which flows around the whole land of Cush.
14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel[b], which flows around to the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you will eat;”
17 “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you should not eat; for on the day[a] that you eat it, dying[b], you shall die[c].”
18 And the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a suitable helper.”
19 And the LORD God who had formed out of the ground every beast of the field, and every bird of the heavens, then brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the heavens, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a suitable helper.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in stead thereof:
22 And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and brought her to Adam.
23 And Adam said, “Now[a] this one has the same[b] flesh and bones as I do; she shall be called Woman[c], because from[d] out of Man[e] she was taken.”
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
[1a] The chapter break here is artificial; please see commentary for [1].
[2a] 'rest' also 'cease', even 'abstain' (Strongs, Stone, others). God's work was complete on the sixth day, and entering the Seventh day he ceased or abstained from all work. The meaning in ceased or abstained and also present in 'rested' is that the work was stopped, and will begin again later, but not during the seventh day. This also falls into the category of 'we shall know God from his actions'.
[3a] Ibn Ezra writes 'blessed' and 'sanctified' in that God blessed the seventh day with renewal and abundance; and he sanctified it in that no work was done on that day.
[3b] 'sanctified' vs. 'hallowed' because 'hallowed' has extraneous and shoehorned readings (such as the holiness of 'saints', or a reference to the apostles of jesus) that are considered antagonistic to the text.
[3c] made indicates that there was an ongoing process despite his rest, for he had created the world and the world was continuing to re-create itself (such as animals mating and giving birth). It does not say animals or even Man was necessarily aware of God's rest on the seventh day.
[4a] LORD God here; Hebrew usage is “Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hîm” which we will follow the KJV's use of 'God' for “’ĕ·lō·hîm” and 'LORD' for “Yah·weh” in all occurrences.
According to rashi this is the summary line of Genesis 1:1 to 2:3. Thus ends the first context of Genesis. You can see this in the language, as well as in the use of “Yah·weh” “’ĕ·lō·hîm” in this verse.
[4b] On that day – Thus we see verse 4 should be split into two different verses. The KJV, ASV and others translate this more akin to “the generations of heaven and earth when they were created”, where “when” is “on that day”, but this is not supported by a closer look at the underlying Hebrew scriptures. In any case the meaning is almost the same, and this way is much clearer and easier to understand.
[7a] 'formmed' with two m's to indicate two yuds on the Hebrew word; see 2:7 “way·yî·y·ṣer” (וַיִּיצֶר֩) versus 2:19 “way·yî·ṣer” (וַיִּצֶר֩). Rashi indicates this refers to the spiritual nature of man.
[7b] This “niš·maṯ ḥay·yîm” is very similar to 'living creatures' (see 7b).
[7c] This “lə·ne·p̄eš ḥay·yāh” (living soul) here is the same word used for other living creatures in Genesis 1; it is not 5397 “neshamah” which would be assumed by the English used. What seems special here is that God did not speak Man into existence as he did with the fish, birds and animals; instead he took some of his existing creation and manually breathed life into it; in this manner we acquired a soul and are different from the animals; in this manner we were created in the image of God.
[8] God formed Adam outside of the garden so he could show him the world outside of the Garden of Eden, and witness the creation of the Garden of Eden. Thus Adam would know what the world outside the garden would be like if were he to disobey God's first commandment. See also the commentary for 2:15 which bears strongly on this.
[12a] Beryl.
[14b] Tigris.
[15] Again mentions put into the garden (see 2:8). After showing what the world outside the garden was like, and making the express point that the garden is self-watering, God put Adam into the garden 'to tend it and keep it'. Yet this immediately does not make sense since we have just been told the garden does not require such care. How then is Adam to fulfill his job to tend to the garden? Thus we see that to tend to the garden means to fufill God's positive commandments in that he shall eat of any tree as follows, and to guard it means to guard against the commission of the anti-commandment, thou shall not eat (as follows). This implies the purpose of Man in the garden is to serve God; for if he does so, his material needs will be satisfied – as Adam was in gan-eden – to think that only Adam's physical exertion would bring him sustenance is to discount God's role in the picture. In this way there was formed a relationship between God and Man.
[17a] this 'beyowm' is not unknown; see 2:4, 5:1, 5:2 and many other verses. It is the definite proposition 'when'. It is not an if-clause. I've left it 'on the day' because it also reads that and it doesn't affect the meaning. You would need to be taught this meaning in context anyway, so it's fine. I changed it to 'on the day' vs. 'in the day' to reflect there is more here.
[17b] 'dying' This dying refers to the death of one nature of man and the birth of another (see [17]c). I.e. 'dying' to the nature of Good and the abstract notion of sin, without desire to do it, and thus eventually one will die (see [17]c).
[17c] When the knowledge of good and evil enters the mind and one becomes subject to evil impulses, jealousy, hatred, honor, and so forth, it becomes impossible to achieve the goal of spirituality (as long as you are still on earth). In Adam's case (see 3:10) he became ashamed to remain in God's presence. Thus, in a sub-optimal spiritual state, eternal life would eventually become an unbearable burden (See commentary for 3:10). Thus, one becomes subject to death. However, we also note that nowhere does it say man was created immortal, and he certainly did not first eat from the tree of life, before eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam lived to 930, the implication being that he would have lived longer had he not sinned.
[18] lit. 'opposite' him or 'to oppose' him (see: strongs, Stone edition commentary, Rashi, etc). Connected but different. This indicates the purpose of the wife is not merely to follow her husband's orders like a slave, but to contribute equally and at times oppose him if he is acting rashly, for instance.
[19,20] There is nothing to indicate this is not entirely in parentheses – as an explanation for why God then made a helper. It could also be taken as a lesson to man; there is no mate for man among the animals. For man was created with free will; and had not yet been commanded to reproduce after his kind.
Nevertheless I have chosen to translate this using the pluperfect, reading it as 'God showed to Adam all of the creatures he had created' and not 'God created and then showed'. This is emphasized by the exact specification of the time of the event in Genesis 2:5, and the idea that this chapter does not reiterate the events of creation but expresses 'more to the story' i.e. the second account is the story of the creation of man. The story here is not about the order of Creation (for that, see Genesis 1), but to show the same story from the perspective of the creation of Man. This statement of elaboration vs. a different story of creation has support from Stone edition and other sources.
The idea of Man being taught some sort of lesson with the parade of animals also has support; God wanted to show Adam that no animal was suitable; “but no suitable helper was found” by Adam, who was examining the Animals. Thus Adam would desire from God for a suitable partner and would repsect her vs. taking her for granted as if she was created all along just for him (And the woman, also, indebted to the man, shall not take him for granted).
Rashi states, all creatures incl. male and female. Adam would notice these all had a mate, and none of them did not have a mate (or were wildly unsuitable anyways). Immediately a deep sleep fell upon him; and this story illustrates the special nature of the creation of Man and Woman, their uniqueness among all other creatures; for they are even special to each other beyond what is found in the animal kingdom.
[23a] “ap-pa-‘am,” (i.e. now or finally) is missing from most translations which indicates Adam's approval of this woman over all other creatures.
[23b] 'bone of my bones', 'flesh of my flesh' means that her bones and flesh were of the same stock as Adam's.
[23c,e] “’iš-šāh,” and “’îš” respectively. This play on words was made by Adam in gan-eden, therefore we know that Hebrew is the Holy language of creation.
[23d] “mê-’îš lu-qo-ḥāh-” i.e. from out of man was taken (her).
[1] This passage strikes me as odd because it really belongs at the end of Genesis 1;
The division of the Bible into chapters and verses has received criticism from some traditionalists and modern scholars. Critics state that the text is often divided in an incoherent way, or at inappropriate rhetorical points, and that it encourages citing passages out of context. Nevertheless, the chapter and verse numbers have become indispensable as technical references for Bible study.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapters_and_verses_of_the_Bible “Christian Versions”
Thus no theological point may be derived from this split (coherent or not) other than to counter a possible ulterior motive; the first account of creation belongs together with itself, and not as part of the second account (with which it has become associated by proximity). Why? because should the 7th day be associated with the sixth, and God rested from all his work and accomplishments, it would imply ever so more strongly that it was God's intent that Adam and Eve would eat from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil! The fact is, that should these two stories be in harmony as we expect, the events which unfold from this point on in the text are in the same timeline as prior; and that at the end of the sixth day things were very good and on the seventh day God had finished the work of creation – which would include all of the events of Genesis 2:4-25 and including all of Genesis 3!
Especially note we still read “’ĕ·lō·hîm” in 2:2 and 2:3, versus in 2:4, which shows when this context comes to an end.
[4] No verse shows the point behind [1-3] mores than [4], which I have decided here to split across sections in order to illustrate the point.
This chapter acts as an expose and an expansion of the sixth day narrative, as it itself states, 'on that particular day,'.
Selected commentary.
h.ויכל אלהים ביום השביעי AND ON THE SEVENTH DAY GOD FINISHED — R. Simeon says: A human being (literally, flesh and blood) who cannot know exactly his times and moments (who cannot accurately determine the point of time that marks the division between one period and that which follows it) must needs add from the week-day and observe it as the holy day (the Sabbath), but the Holy One, blessed be He, who knows His times and moments, began it (the seventh day) to a very hair’s breadth (with extreme exactness) and it therefore appeared as though He had completed His work on that very day (Genesis Rabbah 10:9). Another explanation: What did the world lack? Rest! Sabbath came — Rest came; and the work was thus finished and completed (Genesis Rabbah 10:9)!
h.ויברך … ויקדש AND GOD BLESSED … AND HE SANCTIFIED — He blessed it through the Manna, that on all other days of the week there should fall for them (the Israelites) an Omer for each person, whereas on the sixth day there should fall twice as much of that bread. So, too, He sanctified it through the Manna, that it should not fall at all on the Sabbath (Genesis Rabbah 11:2). This verse is written here with reference to what would happen in the future.
h.אשר ברא אלהים לעשות WHICH GOD IN CREATING HAD MADE — The work which should have been done on the Sabbath He did in the double work which He executed on the sixth day, as it is explained in Genesis Rabbah 11:9.
h.אלה THESE [ARE THE GENERATIONS] — “These” means those that are mentioned above.
h.‘תולדות השמים והארץ בהבראם ביום עשות ה THESE ARE THE PRODUCTIONS OF THE HEAVEN AND OF THE EARTH WHEN THEY WERE CREATED, IN THE DAY THE LORD GOD MADE EARTH AND HEAVEN — The verse teaches you that all of them (the productions of heaven and earth) were created on the first day when God made earth and heaven. Another explanation of the word בהבראם: It may be divided as בה' בראם He created them with the letter ‘ה, as it is said, (Isaiah 26:4) כי ביה ה' צור עולמים “For in Jah, the Lord, is the rock of worlds”, which may be explained to mean (taking צור in sense of Former, Creator) “for by means of ב these two letters י ה of the Divine Name (יהוה) God formed the two worlds” (Menachot 29b), and this verse teaches that this world was created by means of the ‘ה — a suggestion that all created beings must descend to the nether world “to behold the pit” — the world being like this letter ‘ה , which is closed on all sides but open at the bottom, thus giving away by which they must descend.
h.טרם יהיה בארץ WAS NOT YET IN THE EARTH — Wherever טרם occurs in the Scriptures it means “not yet” and does not mean “before”. It cannot be made into a verbal form, saying הטרים as one says הקדים (verbal form of קדם) and this passage proves that this is the meaning and not “before” as well as another (Exodus 9:30), כי טרם תראון “that ye do not yet fear the Lord”. Therefore you must explain this verse also thus: “No plant of the field was yet in the earth” at the time when the creation of the world was completed on the sixth day before man was created, and וכל עשב השדה טרם יצמח means “and every herb of the field had not yet grown”. But as regards the third day of creation about which it is written “The earth brought forth etc.” this does not signify that they came forth above the ground but that they remained at the opening of the ground (i. e. just below the surface) until the sixth day (Chullin 60a).
h.כי לא המטיר BECAUSE GOD HAD NOT CAUSED IT TO RAIN — And what is the reason that God had not caused it to rain? כי אדם אין לעבוד את האדמה BECAUSE THERE WAS NO MAN TO TILL THE GROUND, and there was, therefore, no one to recognize the utility of rain. When Adam came (was created), however, and he realised that it was necessary for the world, he prayed for it and it fell, so that trees and verdure sprang forth.
h.ה' אלהים THE LORD GOD — The Lord (יהוה) is His Name, whereas אלהים signifies that He is Ruler and Judge over all. This, too, is its meaning, according to the plain sense, wherever it occurs: The Lord who is God (Ruler and Judge).
h.ואד יעלה AND A MIST WENT UP — This has reference to the creation of Adam: viz., He caused the deep to rise and filled the clouds with water to moisten the dust, and man was created. It is like a kneader of bread who first pours in water and afterwards kneads the dough — similarly here: He first watered the ground and afterwards He formed man (Genesis Rabbah 14:1).
[7] formmed h.וייצר AND GOD FORMED — Here the letter yod is written twice to intimate that there were two formations — a formation of man for this world, and a formation of man for resurrection; in the case of animals, however, which will not stand after death for judgment before God the word referring to their formation— ויצר —(Genesis 2:19) is not written with two yods (Midrash Tanchuma, Tazria 1).
h.עפר מן האדמה DUST OF THE EARTH — He gathered his dust (i. e. that from which he was made) from the entire earth — from its four corners — in order that wherever he might die, it should receive him for burial (Midrash Tanchuma, Pekudei 3). Another explanation: He took his dust from that spot on which the Holy Temple with the altar of atonement was in later times to be built of which it is said, (Exodus 20:24) “An altar of earth thou shalt make for Me” saying, “Would that this sacred earth may be an expiation for him so that he may be able to endure” (Genesis Rabbah 14:8).
h.ויפח באפיו AND BREATHED INTO HIS NOSTRILS — He made him of both, of earthly and of heavenly matter: the body of the earthly, and the soul of the heavenly. For on the first day were created heaven and earth, on the second, He created the firmament for the heavenly beings, on the third He said, “Let the dry land appear” — for the earthly beings, on the fourth He created the lights for the heavenly beings, on the fifth He said, “Let the waters swarm…” — for the earthly beings. Consequently on the sixth there had to be created a being composed of both, of heavenly and of earthly matter, for otherwise there would have been envy (lack of harmony) among the works of Creation, in that there would have been devoted to one class of them one day more of the Creation than to the others (Genesis Rabbah 12:8).
h.לנפש חיה A LIVING SOUL — Also cattle and beasts are called נפש חיה (1:20, 22, 24), but the נפש of man is the most highly developed of all of them, because to him was granted understanding and speech.
h.מקדם EASTWARD — In the east of Eden He planted the garden. Should you say, however, it is already written, (1:27) “and He created the man etc.”, then I say that I have seen the Baraitha of R. Eliezer the son of R. José the Galilean, dealing with the thirty two rules of interpretation according to which the Torah (Agada) can be interpreted, and the following is one of them: when a general statement of an action is followed by a detailed account of it, the latter is a particularisation of the former: — “And He created the man” is a general statement, but it does not explicitly state whence he was created and what God did unto him. Now it repeats it and explains these things: “And the Lord God formed man”, “and He made to grow for him the garden of Eden”, and He caused a deep sleep to fall upon him.” He who hears this might think that it is a different account entirely, whereas it is nothing else but the details of the former general statement. Similarly with reference to the cattle the creation of which has been mentioned above (1:27). it resumes and writes, (2:19) “and out of the ground the Lord [God] formed every beast of the field etc.”, for the purpose of explaining “and He brought them unto the man to give them names”, and also to state that the fowls were created from the swamps.
h.ויצמח AND HE CAUSED TO GROW — The verse speaks here only with reference to the garden (Genesis Rabbah 13:1)
h.בתוך הגן IN THE MIDST OF THE GARDEN — means in the very centre of the garden.
h.פישון PISHON — This is the Nile, the River of Egypt. Because its waters grow plentiful and rise and water the land, it is called Pishon, the name being of the same root as the verb in (Habakkuk 1:8) ופשו פרשיו “and their horsemen increased”; another interpretation of the name Pishon is: it is so called because it grows flax (פשתן) (Genesis Rabbah 16:2) for it is said with reference to Egypt (Isaiah [19]:9) “Moreover they that work in combed flax, shall be ashamed.”
h.גיחון GICHON — It is so called because it flows on with a roar, its roaring being very noisy,—similar in meaning to (Exodus 21:28) וכי יגח “And if an [ox] gore” — for when it gores it rushes on roaring (Berakhot 59b.).
h.חדקל TIGRIS — It is called חדקל because its waters are pungent in taste (חד) and light in weight (קל) (Berakhot 59b).
h.פרת EUPHRATES — It is called פרת because its waters grow (פרה) and increase and make men healthy (Berakhot 59b). כוש ואשור CUSH AND ASHUR did not then exist as countries, but Scripture writes with reference to the names which those districts would bear in the future (Ketubot [10]b; Genesis Rabbah 16).
h.קדמת אשור means AT THE EAST OF ASHUR.
h.הוא פרת IS THE EUPHRATES — the most important of all, being mentioned in connection with the Land of Israel (Genesis Rabbah 16:3).
h.ויקח AND HE TOOK — He took him with kind words and induced him to enter (Genesis Rabbah 16:3).
h.'לא טוב היות וגו IT IS NOT GOOD etc. — I shall make an help meet for him in order that people may not say that there are two Deities, the Holy One, blessed be He, the only One among the celestial Beings without a mate, and this one (Adam), the only one among the terrestrial beings, without a mate (Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer 12).
h.עזר כנגדו A HELP MEET FOR HIM — (כנגדו literally, opposite, opposed to him) If he is worthy she shall be a help to him; if he is unworthy she shall be opposed to him, to fight him (Yevamot 63a).
h.ויצר מן האדמה NOW OUT OF THE GROUND THE ETERNAL GOD HAD FORMED — The formation spoken of here is the creation mentioned above (1:25) “And God made the beast of the earth etc.” and this statement comes (is repeated) here to point out that the fowls were created from the swamps; for above it is said that they were created from the waters and here it states that they were created from the earth. Furthermore it teaches you here that when they were created, immediately — on the very same day — He brought them to Adam to give them names (Chullin 27b); and in the statement of the Agada (Genesis Rabbah [17]:4) we are told that this expression יצירה means domination and subjugation, like (Deuteronomy 20:19) כי תצור אל עיר “when thou shalt besiege a city“, for He subjugated them under the power of Adam.
h.וכל אשר יקרא לו האדם נפש חיה וגו — Invert it (the phrases of the sentence) and then explain it thus: every living creature to which Adam should give a name — that should remain its name forever.
h.ולאדם לא מצא עזר… ויפל ה' אלהים תרדמה FOR THE MAN HE HAD NOT FOUND A HELP MEET FOR HIM … AND THE ETERNAL GOD CAUSED AN OVERPOWERING SLEEP TO FALL — When He brought them, He brought them before him male and female of each and every kind. Thereupon he said: all these have a mate, but I have no mate! Immediately He caused to fall [an overpowering sleep upon him] (Genesis Rabbah [17]:4).
h.מצלעותיו OF HIS RIBS — The word means of his sides, similar to (Exodus 26:20) ולצלע המשכן “and for the second side of the tabernacle”; this has a bearing upon what they (the Sages) say, (Eruvin [18]a): They were created with two faces (sides).
h.ויסגור AND HE CLOSED UP the place where it was cut (Berakhot 61b).
h.ויישן ויקח AND HE SLEPT AND then HE TOOK in order that he should not see the piece of flesh out of which she was created, for she might be despised by him (Sanhedrin 39a).
h.ויבן AND HE FORMED (literally, He built) — as a structure, wide below and narrower above for bearing the child, just as a wheat-store is wide below and narrower above so that its weight should not strain the walls (Berakhot 61a).
h.ויבן את הצלע לאשה AND HE MADE THE RIB INTO A WOMAN — לאשה means that is should become a woman, like (Judges 8:21) “and Gideon made it לאפוד ” i. e., that it should become an ephod.
h.זאת הפעם THIS NOW — This teaches that Adam endeavoured to find a companion among all cattle and beasts, but found no satisfaction except in Eve (Yevamot 63a).
h.לזאת יקרא אשה כי מאיש וגו THIS SHALL BE CALLED WOMAN, BECAUSE THIS WAS TAKEN OUT OF MAN — Here we have a kind of play upon words (the words אשה and איש sounding similar): hence we may learn that the language used at the time of the Creation was the Holy Tongue (Hebrew) (Genesis Rabbah [18]:4).
h.על כן יעזב איש THEREFORE A MAN LEAVETH — The Divine Spirit says this, thus prohibiting immoral relationship to the “Sons of Noah” also (Sanhedrin 57b).
h.לבשר אחד ONE FLESH — Both parents are united in the child.
h.ולא יתבוששו AND THEY WERE NOT ASHAMED — for they did not know what modestly meant, so as to distinguish between good and evil. Although he (Adam) had been endowed with knowledge to give names to all creatures, yet the evil inclination did not become an active principle in him until he had eaten of the tree, when it entered into him and he became aware of the difference between good and evil.