Genesis 2–4

CHAPTER 2

¹Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all ^atheir hosts.

²And ¹on ^athe seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and ^bHe rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

³Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created ¹in making it.

The Generations of the Heavens and the Earth

^4aThese are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in ^bthe day that ¹Yahweh God made earth and heaven.

^5aNow no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet grown, ^bfor Yahweh God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to ¹cultivate the ground.

⁶But a ¹stream would rise from the earth and water the whole ²surface of the ground.

⁷Then Yahweh God formed man of ^adust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so the ^bman became a living ¹being.

⁸And Yahweh God planted a ^agarden in Eden, toward the east; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.

⁹And out of the ground Yahweh God caused to grow ^aevery tree that is ^bdesirable in appearance and good for food; ^cthe tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰Now a ^ariver went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four ¹rivers.

¹¹The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that ¹went around the whole land of ^aHavilah, where there is gold.

¹²Now the gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there.

¹³And the name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that ¹went around the whole land of Cush.

¹⁴And the name of the third river is ^1aTigris; it is the one that went east of ²Asshur. And the fourth river is the ^3bEuphrates.

¹⁵Then Yahweh God took the man and ¹set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.

¹⁶And Yahweh God ^acommanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat;

¹⁷but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it ^ayou will surely die.”

¹⁸Then Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; ^aI will make him a helper ¹suitable for him.”

^19aAnd out of the ground Yahweh God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the ¹sky, and He ^bbrought each to the man to see what he would call it; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

²⁰And the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the ¹sky and to every beast of the field; but for ²Adam there was not found ^aa helper ³suitable for him.

²¹So Yahweh God caused a ^adeep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.

²²And Yahweh God ¹fashioned ^athe rib, which He had taken from the man, into a woman, and He brought her to the man.

²³Then the man said,

“^aThis one finally is bone of my bones,

And flesh of my flesh;

This one shall be called ¹Woman,

Because this one was taken out of ²Man.”

^24aTherefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

^25aAnd the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

CHAPTER 3

Adam and Eve Sent Out from the Garden

¹Now ^athe serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘¹You shall not eat from ²any tree of the garden’?”

²And the woman said to the serpent, “^aFrom the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;

³but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.’”

^4aAnd the serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!

⁵“For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and ^ayou will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

^6aThen the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, so she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

⁷And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they ^aknew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves ¹loin coverings.

⁸Then they heard the sound of ^aYahweh God walking in the garden in the ¹cool of the day, ^band the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God in the midst of the trees of the garden.

⁹Yahweh God called to the man and said to him, “^aWhere are you?”

¹⁰And he said, “^aI heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

¹¹And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

^12aAnd the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave to me from the tree, and I ate.”

¹³Then Yahweh God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “^aThe serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴And Yahweh God said to the serpent,

“^aBecause you have done this,

Cursed are you more than any of the cattle,

And more than every beast of the field;

On your belly you will go,

And ^bdust you will eat

All the days of your life;

¹⁵And I will put ^aenmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her seed;

^bHe shall ¹bruise you on the head,

And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

¹⁶To the woman He said,

“I will greatly multiply

Your pain and ¹conception,

In pain you will ^2abear children;

Your desire will be for your husband,

And ^bhe will rule over you.”

¹⁷Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;

^aCursed is the ground because of you;

^bIn ¹pain you will eat of it

All the days of your life.

¹⁸“Both thorns and thistles it shall ^agrow for you;

And you will eat the ¹plants of the field;

¹⁹By the sweat of your ¹face

You will eat bread,

Till you ^areturn to the ground,

Because ^bfrom it you were taken;

For you are dust,

And to dust you shall return.”

²⁰Now the man called his wife’s name ^1aEve, because she was the mother of all the living.

²¹Then Yahweh God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.

²²Then Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of ^aUs ¹to know good and evil; and now, lest he send forth his hand and take also from ^bthe tree of life and eat and live forever”—

²³therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to ¹cultivate the ground from which he was taken.

²⁴So ^aHe drove the man out; and at the ^beast of the garden of Eden He stationed the ^ccherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to ¹guard the way to ^dthe tree of life.

CHAPTER 4

Cain and Abel

¹Now the man ¹knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and ²gave birth to ³Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a ⁴man with the help of Yahweh.”

²And again, she ¹gave birth to his brother Abel. ^aAbel was ^ba keeper of flocks, but Cain was a cultivator of the ground.

³So it happened ¹in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh of the fruit of the ground.

^4aAbel, on his part, also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And ^bYahweh had regard for Abel and for his offering;

⁵but ^afor Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So ^bCain became very angry, and his countenance fell.

⁶Then Yahweh said to Cain, “^aWhy are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?

⁷“^aIf you do well, ¹will not your countenance be lifted up? ^bAnd if you do not do well, sin is lying at the door; and its desire is for you, ^cbut you must rule over it.”

⁸Then Cain ¹spoke to Abel his brother; and it happened when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and ^akilled him.

⁹Then Yahweh said to Cain, “^aWhere is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰And He said, “What have you done? ^aThe voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me from the ground.

¹¹“And now, ^acursed are you from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

¹²“^aWhen you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; ^byou will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.”

¹³And Cain said to Yahweh, “My punishment is too great to bear!

¹⁴“Behold, You have ^adriven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and ^bI will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and it will be that ^cwhoever finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵So Yahweh said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him ^asevenfold.” And Yahweh ^1bappointed a sign for Cain, so that no one who found him would strike him.

¹⁶Then Cain went out from the presence ^aof Yahweh and ¹settled in the land of ²Nod, east of Eden.

¹⁷Then Cain ¹knew his wife, and she conceived and ²gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son.

¹⁸Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad ¹was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael ²was the father of Methushael, and Methushael ³was the father of Lamech.

¹⁹And Lamech took for himself ^atwo wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah.

²⁰And Adah ¹gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and have livestock.

²¹And his brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.

²²As for Zillah, she also ¹gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

²³And Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah,

Hear my voice,

You wives of Lamech,

Give ear to my word,

^aFor I ¹have killed a man for ²striking me;

And a boy for wounding me;

²⁴If Cain is avenged ^asevenfold,

Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”

^25aThen Adam ¹knew his wife again; and she ²gave birth to a son and named him ³Seth, for she said, “God ⁴has set for me another ⁵seed in place of Abel, ^bfor Cain…