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LXX Genesis

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 2

1 And the heavens and the earth were finished, and the whole world of them. 2 And God finished⁠ on the⁠ sixth day his works⁠ which he made, and he ceased on the seventh day from all his works which he made.⁠ 3 And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he ceased from all his works which God began to do. 4 This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth, when they were made, in the day in which God made the heaven and the earth, 5 and every herb of the field before it was on the earth, and all the grass of the field before it sprang up, for God had not rained on the earth, and there was not a man to cultivate it. 6 But there rose a fountain out of the earth, and watered the whole face of the earth. 7 And God formed the man of dust of the earth,⁠ and breathed upon his face the breath of life,⁠ and the man became a living soul. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and placed there the man whom he had formed. 9 And God made to spring up also out of the earth every tree beautiful to the eye and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of learning the knowledge of good and evil. 10 And a river proceeds out of Eden to water the garden, from there it divides itself into four heads. 11 The name of the one, Pishon, this it is which encircles the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good, there also is carbuncle and emerald. 13 And the name of the second river is Gihon, this it is which encircles the whole land of Ethiopia. 14 And the third river is Tigris, this is that which flows forth over against the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates. 15 And the Lord God took the man whom he had formed, and placed him in the garden, to cultivate and keep it. 16 And the Lord God gave a charge to Adam, saying, Of every tree which is in the garden you may freely eat, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of it you shall not eat, but in whatever day you eat of it, you shall surely die. 18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone, let us make for him a help suitable to him.⁠ 19 And God formed yet farther out of the earth all the wild beasts of the field, and all the birds of the sky, and he brought them to Adam, to see what he would call them, and whatever Adam called any living creature, that was the name of it. 20 And Adam gave names to all the cattle and to all the birds of the sky, and to all the wild beasts of the field, but for Adam there was not found a help like to himself. 21 And God brought a trance upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and filled up the flesh instead of it. 22 And the Lord God formed the rib which he took from Adam into a woman, and brought her to Adam. 23 And Adam said, This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of her husband. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cling to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.⁠ 25 And the two were naked, both Adam and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Texts in conversation

Compare LXX Genesis 2:7 and Wisdom of Solomon 7:1

Septuagint · Deuterocanon

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Summary

The Wisdom of Solomon uses the Greek Septuagint translation of Genesis to describe humans as “earthborn” and “first-formed.” This language may reflect an interpretation that death was not a punishment but a natural result of being formed from the earth.

Passages

LXX Genesis 2:7

Septuagint
6 But there rose a fountain out of the earth, and watered the whole face of the earth. 7 And God formed the man of dust of the earth, and breathed upon his face the breath of life, and the man became a living soul. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and placed there the man whom he had formed.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Genesis

Wisdom of Solomon 7:1

Deuterocanon
1 I myself am also mortal, like everyone else, and am a descendant of one formed first and born of the earth. 2 I was molded into flesh in the time of ten months in my mother’s womb, being compacted in blood from the seed of man and pleasure of marriage. 3 I also, when I was born, drew in the common air, and fell upon the kindred earth, uttering, like all, for my first voice, the same cry.
50 BCE – 50 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Wisdom of Solomon

References

"... The focus on mortality in Wisdom of Solomon 7:1 is entirely dependent on the J creation account. The rare substantive adjective “first-formed,” for example, is a nominalized form of the verb from LXX Genesis 2:7. Additionally, Adam is described as “earthborn” since he was formed “from the earth” (LXX Genesis 2:7). Like Ben Sira, the author of Wisdom of Solomon sees mortality in the creation account of Genesis 2, apart from any reference to Adam’s transgression. The implied logic of Wisdom of Solomon 7:1 is explicitly stated by Philo in the Exposition on the Law. Mortality and perishability are inherent to being “earthborn” (Special Laws 2.124; On the Creation of the World 82; see also Questions and Answers on Genesis 1.51). Interpreting Genesis 2:7, Philo argues that a human being is a “composite” creature, a result of combining an “earthy,” “mortal” body with the “divine breath,” which is the “immortal” soul (On the Creation of the World 135; see also Plato, Phaedo 79b–80a). As Karina Martin Hogan argues concerning Wisdom of Solomon 7:1, “The universality of physical mortality [...] is associated with the fact that the first man was formed from the earth (Genesis 2:7).” ..."
Tyler Allen Stewart, “‘The Present Evil Age’: The Origin and Persistence of Evil in Galatians” (diss., Marquette University, 2019), 92–93.

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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LXX Genesis 2:7 and Wisdom of Solomon 7:1

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