1 The heavens and the earth and their immense arrangement were completed.

2 By the seventh day God had finished his work. He rested from all his work on the seventh day.

3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. This is because he rested from all the work of creation he had done.

4 This is the account of when Jehovah God created the heavens and the earth.

5 No shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth. No plant of the field had yet sprung up, for Jehovah God had not sent rain on the earth. There was no man to work the ground.

6 Mist came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.

7 Jehovah God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. The man became a living being.

8 Now Jehovah God planted a garden in the east, in Eden. He put the man he had formed there.

9 Jehovah God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden. From there it was separated into four headwaters.

11 The name of the first river is the Pishon. It winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

12 The gold of that land is good. Bdellium and onyx stone are also there.

13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It winds through the entire land of Cush.

14 The name of the third river is the Tigris. It runs along the east side of Asshur. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 Jehovah God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

16 Jehovah God commanded the man: »You are free to eat from any tree in the garden.

17 »But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When you eat of it you will surely die.«

18 Jehovah God said: »It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.«

19 Then Jehovah God formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to let him name them. Whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But no suitable helper was found for Adam.

21 Jehovah God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh.

22 Then Jehovah made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man. He brought her to the man.

23 The man said: »This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called ‘Woman.’ This is because she was taken out of Man.«

24 This is the reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife. They will become one flesh.

25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.