Texts in Conversation
In Genesis 1, animals are created before humans, but in Genesis 2, they are created after humans. Interpreters have tried to reconcile this by reading the verb in Genesis 2 as referring to an earlier event, but the Hebrew grammar does not support that. This suggests the two chapters describe two distinct creation narratives.
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Genesis 1:26
Hebrew Bible
24 God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” It was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” 27 God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Genesis 2:19
Hebrew Bible
18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.” 19 The 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. 20 So 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.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Genesis 2:19 ... To harmonize the order of events with the chronology of chapter one, some translate the prefixed verb form with vav (ו) consecutive as a past perfect (“had formed,” compare NIV) here. In chapter one the creation of the animals preceded the creation of man; here the animals are created after the man. However, it is unlikely that the Hebrew construction can be translated in this way in the middle of this pericope, for the criteria for unmarked temporal overlay are not present here ..."
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