Genesis 2
1 That is the way God created the heavens and the earth.
The creation of the heavens, the earth, and everything in them was complete.
2 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.
By the time the seventh day came, God had finished the work he'd done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work he'd been doing.
3 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.
God blessed the seventh day, and set it apart as holy, because he rested from all the work he'd done in creation.
4 That is how God created the heavens and the earth. God, whose name is Yahweh, made the heavens and the earth.
This is the account of the Lord God's creation when he made the heavens and the earth.
5 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.
Up to this point there were no wild plants or crops growing on the earth, because the Lord God hadn't sent rain, and there was no one to cultivate the ground.
6 Instead, mist rose up from the ground, so that it watered the surface of the ground.
Dew came up from the earth and made the whole surface of the ground wet.
7 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.
The Lord God shaped the man Adam from the dust of the ground. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and Adam became a living being.
8 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.
The Lord planted a garden in Eden, in the east. There he put the man Adam he had created.
9 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].
The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow in the garden, beautiful trees and trees producing fruit that's good to eat. The tree of life was in the middle of the garden, along with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river flowed from Eden to provide water for the park/garden. Outside of Eden, the river divided into four rivers.
A river flowed out from Eden to water the garden. From there it split into four branches.
11 The name of the first river is Pishon. That river flows through all the land of Havilah, where there is gold.
The first branch was called the Pishon and it flowed through the whole land of Havilah, where gold is found.
12 That gold (is very pure/has no impurities in it). There is [also a sweet-smelling gum called] bdellium, and valuable stones called onyx.
(The gold from that land is pure. Bdellium and onyx stone are also found there.)
13 The name of the second river is Gihon. That river flows through all the land of Cain.
The second branch was called the Gihon and it flowed through the whole land of Cush.
14 The name of the third river is Tigris. It flows east of [the city of] Asshur. The name of the fourth river is Euphrates.
The third branch was called the Tigris and it flowed east of the city of Asshur. The fourth branch was called the Euphrates.
15 Yahweh God took the man and put him in Eden park/garden to till/cultivate it and take care of it.
The Lord God put the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and care for it.
16 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.”
The Lord God ordered Adam, “You are free to eat fruit from every tree in the garden,
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because the day you eat from it you are certain to die.”
18 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.”
Then the Lord God said, “It's not good for Adam to be alone. I will make someone to help him, someone that's like him.”
19 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.
The Lord God used the ground to make all the wild animals, and all the birds. He took them all to Adam to see what he would call them, and Adam named every living creature.
20 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.
Adam gave names to all the livestock, all the birds, and all the wild animals. But Adam didn't find anyone like him who could help him.
21 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].
So the Lord God put Adam into a deep sleep and as he slept the Lord God removed one of Adam's ribs and closed up the place where he took it with body tissue.
22 Yahweh then made a woman from the rib that he had taken from the man’s body, and he brought her to the man.
The Lord God made a woman, using the rib he'd taken from Adam, and presented her to Adam.
23 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.”
“Finally!” said Adam. “Here is bone from my bone and flesh from my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.”
24 [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.
This is the reason a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two become one being.
25 Although the man and his wife were naked, they were not ashamed about that.
Adam and his wife Eve were both naked, but they weren't embarrassed about it.
