¹⁸ The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”^(A)

²¹ So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep;^(A) and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs^[a] and then closed up the place with flesh. ²² Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib^[b](B) he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

²³ The man said,

² He created them^(A) male and female^(B) and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind”^[a] when they were created.

¹⁵ Has not the one God made you?^(A) You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.^[a](B) So be on your guard,^(C) and do not be unfaithful^(D) to the wife of your youth.

⁴ “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’^[a](A)

⁶ “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’^[a](A)