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Genesis 2:8-10
New Catholic Bible
Genesis 2:8-10
New Catholic Bible
8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden,[a] in the east, and he put the man he had formed there. 9 The Lord God made all sorts of beautiful and nourishing trees sprout out of the earth, among which was the tree of life[b] in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; then it divided into four tributaries.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Genesis 2:8 Eden is derived from Sumerian edin, which means a level, steppe-like, desert region. The garden occupies an eastern section of it; this word, too, gan in Hebrew, is properly Sumerian and means a watered and cultivated piece of land. It was translated into Greek as paradeisos, “garden,” giving rise to the name “earthly paradise.”
- Genesis 2:9 The tree of life symbolizes the possibility of becoming immortal that was granted as an unmerited gift to human beings, although these were by nature subject to death (Gen 3:22). The tree of the knowledge of good and evil symbolizes the attribute proper to the Creator, by reason of which God is the foundation of the moral order. The first couple attempt to usurp this attribute (Gen 3:5, 22), desiring to decide for themselves what is good and evil for them.
