Genesis 2
1 And the heavens and the earth are completed, and all their host;
That is the way God created the heavens and the earth.
2 and God completes by the seventh day His work which He has made, and ceases by the seventh day from all His work which He has 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 blesses the seventh day, and sanctifies it, for in it He has ceased from all His work which God had created for making.
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 These [are] the generations of the heavens and of the earth in their being created, in the day of YHWH God’s making the earth and the heavens;
That is how God created the heavens and the earth. God, whose name is Yahweh, made the heavens and the earth.
5 and no shrub of the field is yet in the earth, and no herb of the field yet sprouts, for YHWH God has not rained on the earth, and there is not a man to serve the ground,
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 and a mist goes up from the earth, and has watered the whole face of the ground.
Instead, mist rose up from the ground, so that it watered the surface of the ground.
7 And YHWH God forms the man—dust from the ground, and breathes into his nostrils breath of life, and the man becomes a living creature.
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 YHWH God plants a garden in Eden, at the east, and He sets there the man whom He has 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 YHWH God causes to sprout from the ground every tree desirable for appearance, and good for food, and the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden, and the Tree of 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 is going out from Eden to water the garden, and from there it is parted, and has become four chief [rivers];
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 first [is] Pison, it [is] that which is surrounding the whole land of Havilah where the gold [is],
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; the bdellium and the shoham stone [are] there;
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] Gihon, it [is] that which is surrounding the whole land of Cush;
The name of the second river is Gihon. That river flows through all the land of Cain.
14 and the name of the third river [is] Hiddekel, it [is] that which is going east of Asshur; and the fourth river is the 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 YHWH God takes the man, and causes him to rest in the Garden of Eden, to serve it and to 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 YHWH God lays a charge on the man, saying, “From every tree of the garden eating you 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 from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, you do not eat from it, for in the day of your eating from it—dying you die.”
18 And YHWH God says, “[It is] not good for the man to be alone; I make him a helper as his counterpart.”
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 YHWH God forms from the ground every beast of the field, and every bird of the heavens, and brings [them] to the man, to see what he calls it; and whatever the man calls a living creature, that [is] its name.
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 the man calls names to all the livestock, and to bird of the heavens, and to every beast of the field; but for man a helper has not been found as his counterpart.
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 YHWH God causes a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he sleeps, and He takes one of his ribs, and closes up flesh in its stead.
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 YHWH God builds up the rib which He has taken out of the man into a woman, and brings her to the man;
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 the man says, “This at last! Bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh!” For this is called Woman, for this has been taken from Man;
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 a man leaves his father and his mother, and has cleaved to his wife, and they have become 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.
25 And both of them are naked, the man and his wife, and they are not ashamed of themselves.
Although the man and his wife were naked, they were not ashamed about that.
