1The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them. 2By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. 3God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.

The Creation of Man and Woman

4This is the account of the heavens and

the earth when they were created – when the Lord God made the earth and heavens.

5Now no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6Springs would well up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 7The Lord God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

8The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed. 9The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.)

10Now a river flows from Eden to

water the orchard, and from there it divides into four headstreams. 11The name of the first is Pishon; it runs through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12(The gold of that land is pure; pearls and lapis lazuli are also there). 13The name of the second river is Gihon; it runs through the entire land of Cush. 14The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

15The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it. 16Then the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.”

18The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.” 19The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam no companion who corresponded to him was found. 21So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was asleep, he took part of the man’s side and closed up the place with flesh. 22Then the Lord God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23Then the man said,

“This one at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

this one will be called ‘woman,’

for she was taken out of man.”

24That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife, and they become a new family. 25The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.