Genesis 2:1–17

2And so the whole universe was completed. ^2*By the seventh day God finished what he had been doing and stopped working. ^3*He blessed the seventh day and set it apart as a special day, because by that day he had completed his creation^e and stopped working. ⁴And that is how the universe was created.

The Garden of Eden

When the Lord^f God made the universe, ⁵there were no plants on the earth and no seeds had sprouted, because he had not sent any rain, and there was no one to cultivate the land; ⁶but water would come up from beneath the surface and water the ground.

^7*Then the Lord God took some soil from the ground^g and formed a man^h out of it; he breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live.

⁸Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the East, and there he put the man he had formed. ^9*He made all kinds of beautiful trees grow there and produce good fruit. In the middle of the garden stood the tree that gives life and the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad.ⁱ

¹⁰A stream flowed in Eden and watered the garden; beyond Eden it divided into four rivers. ¹¹The first river is the Pishon; it flows round the country of Havilah. ¹²(Pure gold is found there and also rare perfume and precious stones.) ¹³The second river is the Gihon; it flows round the country of Cush.^{j 14}The third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria, and the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵Then the Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it. ¹⁶He said to him, “You may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, ¹⁷except the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad.^k You must not eat the fruit of that tree; if you do, you will die the same day.”