Genesis 2:13-15

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Genesis 2:13 tn Heb “it is that which goes around.”
2. Genesis 2:13 sn Cush. In the Bible the Hebrew word כּוּשׁ (kush, “Kush”) often refers to Ethiopia (so KJV, CEV), but here it must refer to a region in Mesopotamia, the area of the later Cassite dynasty of Babylon. See Gen 10:7-10 as well as E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 20. The man Cush had a son named Havilah (see 2:11: “land of Havilah”). Another son was Nimrod, the centers of whose kingdom were in Babylon, Ninevah, and similarly placed cities. Eden was in the East, which was where the headwaters of the four rivers were.
3. Genesis 2:14 tn Heb “Asshur” (so NEB, NIV).
4. Genesis 2:15 tn The Hebrew verb נוּחַ (nuakh, translated here as “placed”) is a different verb than the one used in 2:8.
5. Genesis 2:15 tn Traditionally translated “the Garden of Eden,” the context makes it clear that the garden (or orchard) was in Eden (making “Eden” a genitive of location).
6. Genesis 2:15 tn Heb “to work it and to keep it.”sn Note that man’s task is to care for and maintain the trees of the orchard. Not until after the fall, when he is condemned to cultivate the soil, does this task change.