Genesis 2
1 And the heavens and the earth were finished, and the whole world of them.
That is the way God created the heavens and the earth.
2 And God finished on the sixth day his works which he made, and he ceased on the seventh day from all his works which he made.
By the time it was the seventh day, God had finished the work of creating everything, so he did not work any more on that day.
3 And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he ceased from all his works which God began to do.
God blessed each seventh day, and he set those days apart to be special days, because on the seventh day God did not work any more, after finishing all his work of creating everything.
4 This [is] the book of the generation of heaven and earth, when they were made, in the day in which the Lord God made the heaven and the earth,
That is how God created the heavens and the earth. God, whose name is Yahweh, made the heavens and the earth.
5 and every herb of the field before it was on the earth, and all the grass of the field before it sprang up, for God had not rained on the earth, and there was not a man to cultivate it.
At first there were no plants growing, because Yahweh God had not yet caused rain to fall on the ground. Furthermore, there was no one to till the ground for planting crops.
6 But there rose a fountain out of the earth, and watered the whole face of the earth.
Instead, mist rose up from the ground, so that it watered the surface of the ground.
7 And God formed the man [of] dust of the earth, and breathed upon his face the breath of life, and the man became a living soul.
Then Yahweh God took some soil and formed a man. He breathed into the man’s nostrils his own breath that gives life, and as a result the man became a living person.
8 And God planted a garden eastward in Edem, and placed there the man whom he had formed.
Yahweh God made a park/garden in a place named Eden, which was east of the land of Canaan, and he put there the man that he had created.
9 And God made to spring up also out of the earth every tree beautiful to the eye and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of learning the knowledge of good and evil.
Yahweh God also put there every kind of tree that is beautiful to see and that produced fruit that was good to eat. He also placed in the middle of the park/garden a tree [whose fruit would enable those who ate it] to live forever. He also placed there another tree whose fruit would enable those who ate it to know what actions were good [to do] and what actions were evil [to do].
10 And a river proceeds out of Edem to water the garden, thence it divides itself into four heads.
A river flowed from Eden to provide water for the park/garden. Outside of Eden, the river divided into four rivers.
11 The name of the one, Phisom, this it is which encircles the whole land of Evilat, where there is gold.
The name of the first river is Pishon. That river flows through all the land of Havilah, where there is gold.
12 And the gold of that land is good, there also is carbuncle and emerald.
That gold (is very pure/has no impurities in it). There is [also a sweet-smelling gum called] bdellium, and valuable stones called onyx.
13 And the name of the second river is Geon, this it is which encircles the whole land of Ethiopia.
The name of the second river is Gihon. That river flows through all the land of Cain.
14 And the third river is Tigris, this is that which flows forth over against the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
The name of the third river is Tigris. It flows east of [the city of] Asshur. The name of the fourth river is Euphrates.
15 And the Lord God took the man whom he had formed, and placed him in the garden of Delight, to cultivate and keep it.
Yahweh God took the man and put him in Eden park/garden to till/cultivate it and take care of it.
16 And the Lord God gave a charge to Adam, saying, Of every tree which is in the garden thou mayest freely eat,
But Yahweh said to him, “You must not eat the fruit of the tree that will enable you to know what actions are good to do and what actions are evil to do. If you eat any fruit from that tree, on that day your relationship with me will end. But I will permit you to eat the fruit of any of the other trees in the park/garden.”
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—of it ye shall not eat, but in whatsoever day ye eat of it, ye shall surely die.
18 And the Lord God said, [It is] not good that the man should be alone, let us make for him a help suitable to him.
Then Yahweh God said, “It is not good for this man to be alone. So I will make someone who will be a suitable partner for him.”
19 And God formed yet farther out of the earth all the wild beasts of the field, and all the birds of the sky, and he brought them to Adam, to see what he would call them, and whatever Adam called any living creature, that was the name of it.
Yahweh God had taken some soil and had formed from it all kinds of animals and birds, and he brought them to the man to hear what names he would give them.
20 And Adam gave names to all the cattle and to all the birds of the sky, and to all the wild beasts of the field, but for Adam there was not found a help like to himself.
Then the man gave names to all the kinds of livestock and birds and wild animals, but none of these creatures was a partner that was suitable for the man.
21 And God brought a trance upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and filled up the flesh instead thereof.
So Yahweh God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man was sleeping, Yahweh took out one of the man’s ribs. Then he immediately closed the opening in his body [and healed it].
22 And God formed the rib which he took from Adam into a woman, and brought her to Adam.
Yahweh then made a woman from the rib that he had taken from the man’s body, and he brought her to the man.
23 And Adam said, This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of her husband.
The man exclaimed, “[Wow]! This is truly (someone like me/what I was looking for!) She is truly from my bones and from my flesh. So I will call her woman, because she was taken from me, a man.”
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
[The first woman was taken from the man’s body, ] so that is why when a man and a woman marry, they must leave their parents. The man will join very closely to his wife, so that the two of them will be as though they are one person.
Although the man and his wife were naked, they were not ashamed about that.
