Genesis 2 · Verse 15

Genesis 2:15

And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Genesis 2:15, King James Version

Genesis 2:15 in other translations

BSBThen the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.
WEBThe LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.
ASVAnd Jehovah God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
YLTAnd Jehovah God taketh the man, and causeth him to rest in the garden of Eden, to serve it, and to keep it.
DARBYAnd Jehovah Elohim took Man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to till it and to guard it.
BBEAnd the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to do work in it and take care of it.
WebsterAnd the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it.

What does Genesis 2:15 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
15. put the man into the garden of Eden to dress it--not only to give him a pleasant employment, but to place him on his probation, and as the title of this garden, the garden of the Lord (Ge 13:10; Eze 28:13), indicates, it was in fact a temple in which he worshipped God, and was daily employed in offering the sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 15 Put him into the garden - to dress it, and to keep it - Horticulture, or gardening, is the first kind of employment on record, and that in which man was engaged while in a state of perfection and innocence. Though the garden may be supposed to produce all things spontaneously, as the whole vegetable surface of the earth certainly did at the creation, yet dressing and tilling were afterwards necessary to maintain the different kinds of plants and vegetables in their perfection, and to repress luxuriance. Even in a state of innocence we cannot conceive it possible that man could have been happy if inactive. God gave him work to do, and his employment contributed to his happiness; for the structure of his body, as well as of his mind, plainly proves that he was never intended for a merely contemplative life.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
After God had formed Adam, he put him in the garden. All boasting was thereby shut out. Only he that made us can make us happy; he that is the Former of our bodies, and the Father of our spirits, and none but he, can fully provide for the happiness of both. Even in paradise itself man had to work. None of us were sent into the world to be idle. He that made our souls and bodies, has given us something to work with; and he that gave us this earth for our habitation, has made us something to work upon. The sons and heirs of heaven, while in this world, have something to do about this earth, which must have its share of their time and thoughts; and if they do it with an eye to God, they as truly serve him in it, as when they are upon their knees. Observe that the husbandman's calling is an ancient and honourable calling; it was needful even in paradise. Also, there is true pleasure in the business God calls us to, and employs us in. Adam could not have been happy if he had been idle: it is still God's law, He that will not work has no right to eat, 2Th 3:10.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Genesis 2:15 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיִּקַּ֛חvai.yi.Kachand he tookH3947
יְהוָ֥הYah.wehYahwehH3068
אֱלֹהִ֖ים'E.lo.HimGodH430
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
הָֽאָדָ֑םha.'a.Damthe manH120
וַיַּנִּחֵ֣הוּvai.ya.ni.Che.huand he put himH5117
בְגַן\־ve.gan-in [the] garden ofH1588
עֵ֔דֶן'E.denEdenH5731
לְעָבְדָ֖הּle.'a.ve.Dahto till itH5647
וּלְשָׁמְרָֽהּ\׃u.le.sha.me.Rahand to keep itH8104

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Genesis 2:15

  • Psalms 128:2

    For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.

  • Genesis 2:8

    And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

  • Ephesians 4:28

    Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

  • Genesis 2:2

    And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
the man. or, Adam.
2; Job 31:33
put.
8; Ps 128:2; Eph 4:28

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Genesis 2:14

    And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

  • Genesis 2:15

    And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

  • Genesis 2:16

    And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

Read all of Genesis 2

Genesis 2:15 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Tomó, pues, Jehová Dios al hombre, y le puso en el huerto de Edén, para que lo labrara y lo guardase.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et l’ Éternel Dieu prit l’homme et le plaça dans le jardin d’Éden pour le cultiver et pour le garder.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und Jehova Gott nahm den Menschen und setzte ihn in den Garten Eden, ihn zu bebauen und ihn zu bewahren.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Tulit ergo Dominus Deus hominem, et posuit eum in paradiso voluptatis, ut operaretur, et custodiret illum: