Genesis 2 · Verse 6

Genesis 2:6

But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
Genesis 2:6, King James Version

Genesis 2:6 in other translations

BSBBut springs welled up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.
WEBbut a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground.
ASVbut there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
YLTand a mist goeth up from the earth, and hath watered the whole face of the ground.
DARBYBut a mist went up from the earth, and moistened the whole surface of the ground.
BBEBut a mist went up from the earth, watering all the face of the land.
WebsterBut there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

What does Genesis 2:6 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 2:5-6

5-6. rain, mist--(See on Ge 1:11).

Read the full comment on Genesis 2:5-6 →

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 6 There went up a mist - This passage appears to have greatly embarrassed many commentators. The plain meaning seems to be this, that the aqueous vapours, ascending from the earth, and becoming condensed in the colder regions of the atmosphere, fell back upon the earth in the form of dews, and by this means an equal portion of moisture was distributed to the roots of plants, etc. As Moses had said, Gen 2:5, that the Lord had not caused it to rain upon the earth, he probably designed to teach us, in Gen 2:6, how rain is produced, viz., by the condensation of the aqueous vapors, which are generally through the heat of the sun and other causes raised to a considerable height in the atmosphere, where, meeting with cold air, the watery particles which were before so small and light that they could float in the air, becoming condensed, i.e., many drops being driven into one, become too heavy to be any longer suspended, and then, through their own gravity, fall down in the form which we term rain.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Genesis 2:4-7

Here is a name given to the Creator, "Jehovah." Where the word "LORD" is printed in capital letters in our English Bibles, in the original it is "Jehovah." Jehovah is that name of God, which denotes that he alone has his being of himself, and that he gives being to all creatures and things. Further notice is taken of plants and herbs, because they were made and appointed to be food for man. The earth did not bring…

Read the full comment on Genesis 2:4-7 →

Genesis 2:6 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.

וְאֵ֖דve.'Edand waterH108
יַֽעֲלֶ֣הya.'a.Leh<it> came upH5927
מִן\־min-fromH4480
הָאָ֑רֶץha.'A.retzthe earthH776
וְהִשְׁקָ֖הve.hish.Kahand it wateredH8248
אֶֽת\־'et-<obj.>H853
כָּל\־kol-allH3605
פְּנֵֽי\־pe.nei-[the] surface ofH6440
הָֽאֲדָמָֽה\׃Ha.'a.da.Mahthe groundH127

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
there went up a mist. or, a mist which went up.
6

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

Context

  • Genesis 2:5

    And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

  • Genesis 2:6

    But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

  • Genesis 2:7

    And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Read all of Genesis 2

Genesis 2:6 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Mas subía de la tierra un vapor, que regaba toda la faz de la tierra.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		mais une vapeur montait de la terre et arrosait toute la surface du sol.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Ein Dunst aber stieg auf von der Erde und befeuchtete die ganze Oberfläche des Erdbodens.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		sed fons ascendebat e terra, irrigans universam superficiem terræ.