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About this book

Genesis

About this book

The Seventh Day

Chapter 2

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

The Garden and the First Humans

4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created—when the Lord God made the earth and heavens.⁠ 5 Now 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. 6 Springs would well up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.⁠ 7 The 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.⁠ 8 The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden;⁠ and there he placed the man he had formed.⁠ 9 The 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.)⁠ 10 Now a river flows from Eden⁠ to water the orchard, and from there it divides into four headstreams. 11 The 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.) 13 The name of the second river is Gihon;⁠ it runs through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it.⁠ 16 Then the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.”⁠ 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.⁠ 21 So 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. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man,⁠ and he brought her to the man. 23 Then 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.”⁠ 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife,⁠ and they become one family.⁠ 25 The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 2:17 and 1 Kings 2:37

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

In 1 Kings, Solomon warns Shimei that leaving his house will mean death that very day. This echoes God’s warning in Genesis about eating from the tree and the rare language connects the scenes and points to a deliberate reference to Genesis.

Passages

Genesis 2:17

Hebrew Bible
16 Then the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.” 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.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

1 Kings 2:37

Hebrew Bible
36 Next the king summoned Shimei and told him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but you may not leave there to go anywhere. 37 If you ever do leave and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will certainly die. You will be responsible for your own death.” 38 Shimei said to the king, “My master the king’s proposal is acceptable. Your servant will do as you say.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Kings

References

"... The account of Solomon’s treatment of the rebellious Shimei at the end of the work seems to be an anticlimax, a strangely minor point on which to conclude a story of major events. But this piece, as well, connects to the opening scene of the work. The work begins with the pairing of the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and bad. To have one is to lose the other. The work ends with a short account of Shimei’s fate, but the words “knowledge,” “good,” “bad,” and “death” fill it, occurring fifteen times. And the formulation of the deity’s command to the first human reappears here in the formulation of King Solomon’s command to Shimei. God says: “In the day you eat from it: you’ll die!” (Genesis 2:17; repeated in 3:3) Solomon says: “In the day you go out ... you’ll die.” (1 Kings 2:37; repeated in 2:42) And this formulation (“In the day you do X ... you’ll die.”) occurs nowhere else in the Bible ..."
Richard Elliott Friedman, The Hidden Book in the Bible (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1998), 276.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 2:17 and 1 Kings 2:37

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