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Genesis 3 names the first woman Eve, a Hebrew name connected to "living." The Greek Septuagint translates this as Life rather than keeping the name, preserving the wordplay for Greek readers.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 3:20
Hebrew Bible
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” 20 The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. 21 The Lord God made garments from skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
LXX Genesis 3:20
Septuagint
19 By the sweat of your face you will eat your bread until you return to the earth from which you were taken, for you are earth and to earth you will depart.” 20 And Adam called the name of his wife Life, because she is the mother of all the living. 21 And the Lord God made leather tunics for Adam and for his wife and clothed them. 22 Then God said, “See, Adam has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, and now perhaps he might reach out his hand and take of the tree of life and eat, and he will live forever.”
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Notes and References
"... a heavenly projection of Eve, whose name in LXX Gen 3:20 is Zoe, "Life." This can also lead to an additional identification between Sophia and the tree of Life, as in Prov 3:18. Some of the Sophia-figures explicitly bear the Biblical titles of Eve, such as the "Mother of the living" or Zoe."
Rasimus, Tuomas
Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence
(p. 175) Brill, 2009
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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