Genesis 2:8–23

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.”

¹⁸Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to live alone. I will make a suitable companion to help him.” ¹⁹So he took some soil from the ground and formed all the animals and all the birds. Then he brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and that is how they all got their names. ²⁰So the man named all the birds and all the animals; but not one of them was a suitable companion to help him.

²¹Then the Lord God made the man fall into a deep sleep, and while he was sleeping, he took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the flesh. ²²He formed a woman out of the rib and brought her to him. ²³Then the man said,

“At last, here is one of my own kind—

Bone taken from my bone, and flesh from my flesh.

‘Woman’ is her name because she was taken out of man.”^l