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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

Genesis Echoes Atrahasis in the Creation of Humans from Clay

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Atrahasis describes humanity being created from clay mixed with the flesh and blood of a slain god. Genesis 2 uses a similar image, with God forming the first human from the soil of the ground and breathing life into him.

Passages

Atrahasis

Ancient Near East, Babylonian
Then one god should be slaughtered. And the gods can be purified by immersion. Nintu shall mix clay With his flesh and his blood. Then a god and a man Will be mixed together in clay. Let us hear the drumbeat forever after Let a ghost come into existence from the gods flesh Let her proclaim it as his living sign And let the ghost exist so as not to forget (the slain god). They answered Yes! in the assembly, The great Anunnaki who assign the fates. On the first, seventh, and fifteenth of the month He made a purification by washing. Ilawela who had intelligence They slaughtered in their assembly. Nintu mixed clay With his flesh and blood. They heard the drumbeat forever after. A ghost came into existence from the gods flesh, And she (Nintu) proclaimed it as his living sign. The ghost existed so as not to forget (the slain god). After she had mixed that clay,
1800–1701 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Atrahasis

Genesis 2:7

Hebrew Bible
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.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

References

“… Not only does Genesis share a common outline of primeval history with its neighbors, it also concurs with contemporary culture on various other points. Both agreed that an invisible supernatural world existed; that a God or gods existed; were personal; could think, speak, and communicate with men; indeed control human affairs. Genesis also agreed with oriental theology that man is more than material: he has a spiritual divine dimension. Atrahasis tells of man being made out of the mixture of clay and the flesh and blood of a dead god (Atrahasis 1.208–60). This parallels Genesis 2:7 where the Lord creates man out of the dust of the earth and breathes into him the divine breath of life. Similarly, Egyptian texts speak of man being made in the image of God (compare Genesis 1:26–27). Creation as an act of separation between light and darkness, land and sea, and by the word of God all find parallels in Near Eastern theology. …”
Gordon J. Wenham, Word Biblical Commentary: Genesis 1-15 (Word, 1987), 34–35.

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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Atrahasis and Genesis 2:7

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