2:4-6 This is the book of when the sky and earth were brought into existence. On the day the Sovereign God made sky and earth, at first there were no fields of green plants, because the Sovereign God had not yet brought rain on the earth, and there was no human to work the ground. But a spring came up from out of the ground and watered the surface.

2:7-9 Then the Sovereign God formed the human out of dust from the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the human's face, and the human became a living soul. Then the Sovereign God planted a paradise in Eden, toward the east, and there he put the human he had formed. Now the Sovereign God had caused the earth to produce every sort of beautiful fruit tree. In the center of the paradise grew the Tree of Life, and also the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

2:10-14 There is a river that goes out from Eden to water the paradise, and from there it separates into four branches. The first river is called Phison, which encircles the whole land of Havilah— a land of the finest gold, and of red and green precious stones. The second river is called Gihon, which encircles the whole land of Ethiopia. The third river is called Tigris, which goes across from Assyria. The fourth river is called Euphrates.

2:15-17 Now the Sovereign God took the human he had formed and put him into the paradise, to cultivate it and to guard it. The Sovereign God then gave Adam this responsibility: You may eat from any tree in the paradise, except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If you eat from that tree, you will most certainly die!

2:18-20 Then the Sovereign God said, It is not good for the human to be alone. Let's make someone to stand as his equal. Now the Sovereign God had formed out of the earth all the wild animals of the field and all the birds of the sky. So he led them to Adam to see what names he'd give them. Whatever Adam called a living thing, that was its name. He named all the cattle, the birds of the sky, and all the field animals. But for Adam himself there was no one to stand as his equal.

2:21-25 So the Sovereign God put Adam into a state of deep sleep. He took part of one side of Adam and attached flesh to it, and then built that into a woman. He presented her to Adam, who exclaimed, Now this is my own flesh and bone! She will be called Woman, because she was taken from the man. This is why a person leaves his father and mother to join closely to his wife, and the two are to be one flesh. Adam and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.

2:4-6 Here we see a slightly different wording for the beginning of creation: the book (Gk. biblos, Heb. generations) of the earth and sky being brought into existence. Now no one can say that the word Bible doesn't appear in the Bible. ;-D Then we're given details about how the earth was watered at first. Some say this statement about no rain only applied until Adam was made. But though it would be an argument from silence, we should be aware that scripture never speaks of rain falling before the Flood.

2:7-9 After a passing mention of the creation of the first human, we're told that he was placed in the Garden of Eden, where the trees of Life and The Knowledge of Good and Evil were. Too many people just call that one the Tree of Knowledge and jump to the conclusion that it's the Gnostic concept of enlightenment, which in turn is used to paint the serpent as the real savior from the bumbling demiurge who wanted to keep enlightenment to himself. But this is about a precise kind of knowledge, which essentially means the loss of innocence.

2:10-14 As for the rivers flowing from Eden, it's significant that they're described in geographical terms that would only have meaning after the great Flood, such as the territories of Ethiopia and Assyria. It's often argued that the Flood wiped out Eden and its original river system, but why would Moses then describe the rivers in terms of post-Flood geography? But because he did, we can know the general area of Eden, and it describes the area shown in this image, as far as I could find out. It takes more than picking out a few features to identify a land, which I only need to say because it's popular now to claim Eden was really either at what we call the Arctic Circle or somewhere on the African continent, take your pick. But directions in scripture are from the land of Israel, so east means east of there— not north, south, or west.

But before we move on, what have we not seen in this alleged second creation story? How about the luminaries, or the firmament and what it separated, or the sea creatures? Starting a creation story with an explanation about why there weren't any plants, is like starting a book on how to make a car with what kind of oil it takes. Now as for the different names of God compared to chapter one, which only used Elohim (Gk. Theos), this one uses a phrase: YHWH Elohim (Gk. Kurios Theos, though often without Kurios).

2:15-17 Here we're given more detail about the creation of the first human, who was given two primary tasks to perform: to cultivate and protect the Garden of Eden. What need could there have been for protection? First of all, we note that this is just prior to God giving the warning about the TKGE. Such knowledge would certainly include understanding what at the time must have been quite puzzling: the concept of death.

But surely there is more here than meets the eye, since the garden needed guarding from something. We're told in Rom. 5:12 that there was no death before sin, so we can rule out carnivorous animals. And we can rule out invasive plants, since that too only came after sin, as we'll see in Gen. 3. Is this when the enemy later known as Satan was found to be sinful, since at creation all the angles shouted for joy, per Job 38:7? And is this why God said it was not good for the first human to be alone? Always be careful with speculation though; scripture does not tell us God's reasons for these things. This becomes even more critical when we get to chapter 3.

2:18-20 The warning about the TKGE is immediately followed by the statement by God, not Adam, that the human should not be alone. The Hebrew text also shows that it isn't until Eve is made that new terms are introduced for both she and Adam: he is eesh and she is esh-shaw, though at the end of the chapter Adam is used for the man. We'll need to pay close attention to that in chapter 3.

Now if we're paying attention to the context, we should ask why it is that between the first ever not good thing and the creation of woman, God brings the animals to Adam to see what he'd call them. We'll elaborate on that in the final section. Some say that God created animals at the time he brought them to the human, because in both Greek and Hebrew the tense of the verb formed seems to indicate it being done at that moment. However, in the Greek text we see the word yet paired with formed, which together indicates something done earlier. Otherwise we have a conflict with creation sequence as given in chapter 1, where the human was the last thing created. Things like that are what lead simpletons to jump to the conclusion of two creation accounts, but they have to ignore a lot to do that, including the consensus of people who study linguistics for a living that had formed is the most likely rendering, and that this passage is not concerned with sequence.

2:21-25 Speaking of creation sequence, we now come to the creation of Eve. The fact that she was made last is often claimed to be proof of secondary status compared to Adam, but it's the fallacy of special pleading to say in the same breath that humans are greatest in authority since they were created last. And of course God has never mandated authority on the basis of first to be made; that is a purely human construct, and one that only appeared after sin entered the world. If the Bible shows us anything about the times God does directly intervene in society, it is that he chooses the young over the old, the weak over the strong, the inferior over the superior, and the despised over the honored. This is stated explicitly in 1 Cor. 1:27-28.

Notice also that when Adam first sees Eve, it's not her differences that he rejoices in, but her similarities. She literally had his flesh and bones! The stated purpose of God (remember, not Adam) was to make someone like Adam, not someone inferior like the animals— who, incidentally, were made from the dust just as Adam was. The sequence of not good, to naming animals, to Eve, tells us that God brought the animals to Adam to show him that none were his equal, not to show him he needed another subordinate. And besides, which one is it that needs help, the weaker or the stronger? If one wishes to claim that helpers are weaker in spite of this, then they must say that God, as our helper, is weaker than us. There is no escaping this logic without committing a fallacy.