Here comes the day off
1Earth, sky, and everything in them was created. 2By dawn of Day Seven, God had finished his work. He rested. No work that day. 3God chose Day Seven as his favorite—declaring it a holy day because creation’s work was done and he could rest. 4Here’s the story of how the LORD [1] God created the earth and sky. 5There weren’t any plants in farmed fields back then because there wasn’t any rain to nourish them or people to take care of them. 6Underground water worked its way up and watered the surface of the earth.Making humans from dust
7The LORD God made a man from the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath that brought him to life. The man was alive. 8The LORD God planted a garden called Eden somewhere in a land to the east. He put the man there. 9In that garden, the LORD God planted his best trees: beautiful, loaded with tasty fruit. He put two other trees there, in the middle of the garden. The fruit of one tree extended a person’s life. The fruit of the other tree gave people wisdom to know right from wrong.10A river in Eden watered the garden. Beyond Eden, the river divided into four branches.
11Pishon [2] is the first river. It flowed through the entire land of Havilah, [3] where people found gold. 12Not just any gold. This is the good stuff, pure. And lots of it. There’s also onyx, another precious mineral. And there’s sweet-smelling bdellium tree sap.
13Gihon [4] is the second river. It flowed around the land of Cush. [5]
14Tigris is the third river. It flowed down the east side of Assyria. [6] Euphrates is the fourth river.
15The LORD God put the man in the Garden of Eden and gave him a job: farm the land and take good care of it. 16The LORD God told the man, “You’re welcome to eat fruit from any tree in the garden. 17Just one exception. Don’t eat fruit from the tree that gives you wisdom to know right from wrong. If you do, you’re dead.” 18The LORD God said, “The man is alone. Not good. I’ll make a companion for him, to be his partner." [7] 19But first, the LORD God made all the animals and birds from the dust of the ground. He brought them to the man for naming. The man named each one, and the names stuck. 20The man named the cattle, the birds, and every other animal that lived. But for him, there was no companion yet.
21The LORD God put the man into a deep sleep, removed one of the man’s ribs, and then closed the wound. 22The LORD God made a woman from the rib. Then he presented the woman to the man. 23“At last,” the man said. “These bones came from my bones. This flesh came from my flesh. I’m going to call her Woman because she came from Man.” 24That’s why a man leaves his parents for a woman. The man and woman become part of each other—two people, yet one. 25The Man and the Woman were naked, and not the least bit ashamed about it.
