Genesis 2 · Verse 8

Genesis 2:8

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

Genesis 2:8, King James Version

Genesis 2:8 in other translations

BSB	And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed.
WEB	The LORD God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.
ASV	And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward, in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
YLT	And Jehovah God planteth a garden in Eden, at the east, and He setteth there the man whom He hath formed;
DARBY	And Jehovah Elohim planted a garden in Eden eastward, and there put Man whom he had formed.
BBE	And the Lord God made a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had made.
Webster	And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

What does Genesis 2:8 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

8. Eden--was probably a very extensive region in Mesopotamia, distinguished for its natural beauty and the richness and variety of its produce. Hence its name, signifying "pleasantness." God planted a garden eastward, an extensive park, a paradise, in which the man was put to be trained under the paternal care of his Maker to piety and usefulness.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 8 A garden eastward in Eden - Though the word עדן Eden signifies pleasure or delight, it is certainly the name of a place. See Gen 4:16; 2Kgs 19:12; Isa 37:12; Eze 27:23; Amo 1:5. And such places probably received their name from their fertility, pleasant situation, etc. In this light the Septuagint have viewed it, as they render the passage thus: Εφυτευσεν ὁ Θεος παραδεισον εν Εδεν, God planted a paradise in Eden. Hence the word paradise has been introduced into the New Testament, and is generally used to signify a place of exquisite pleasure and delight. From this the ancient heathens borrowed their ideas of the gardens of the Hesperides, where the trees bore golden fruit; the gardens of Adonis, a word which is evidently derived from the Hebrew עדן Eden; and hence the origin of sacred gardens or enclosures dedicated to purposes of devotion, some comparatively innocent, others impure. The word paradise is not Greek; in Arabic and Persian it signifies a garden, a vineyard, and also the place of the blessed. The Mohammedans say that God created the Jennet al Ferdoos, the garden of paradise, from light, and the prophets and wise men ascend thither. Wilmet places it after the root farada, to separate, especially a person or place, for the purposes of devotion, but supposes it to be originally a Persian word, vox originis Persicae quam in sua lingua conservarunt Armeni. As it is a word of doubtful origin, its etymology is uncertain.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Genesis 2:8-14

The place fixed upon for Adam to dwell in, was not a palace, but a garden. The better we take up with plain things, and the less we seek things to gratify pride and luxury, the nearer we approach to innocency. Nature is content with a little, and that which is most natural; grace with less; but lust craves every thing, and is content with nothing. No delights can be satisfying to the soul, but those which God himself has provided and appointed for it. Eden signifies delight and pleasure. Wherever it was, it had all desirable conveniences, without any inconvenience, though no other house or garden on earth ever was so. It was adorned with every tree pleasant to the sight, and enriched with every tree that yielded fruit grateful to the taste and good for food. God, as a tender Father, desired not only Adam's profit, but his pleasure; for there is pleasure with innocency, nay there is true pleasure only in innocency. When Providence puts us in a place of plenty and pleasure, we ought to serve God with gladness of heart in the good things he gives us. Eden had two trees peculiar to itself. 1. There was the tree of life in the midst of the garden. Of this man might eat and live. Christ is now to us the Tree of life, Re 2:7; 22:2; and the Bread of life, Joh 6:48, 51. 2. There was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so called because there was a positive revelation of the will of God about this tree, so that by it man might know moral good and evil. What is good? It is good not to eat of this tree. What is evil? It is evil to eat of this tree. In these two trees God set before Adam good and evil, the blessing and the curse.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Genesis 2:8 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.

וַיִּטַּ֞עvai.yi.Ta'and he plantedH5193

יְהוָ֧הYah.wehYahwehH3068

אֱלֹהִ֛ים'E.lo.HimGodH430

גַּן\־gan-a gardenH1588

בְעֵ֖דֶןbe.'E.denin EdenH5731

מִקֶּ֑דֶםmi.Ke.demfrom [the] eastH6924

וַיָּ֣שֶׂםvai.Ya.semand he putH7760

שָׁ֔םShamthereH8033

אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853

הָֽאָדָ֖םha.'a.Damthe manH120

אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.SherwhomH834

יָצָֽר\׃ya.Tzarhe had formedH3335

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

Cross references for Genesis 2:8

Genesis 3:24
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Ezekiel 28:13
Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
Genesis 13:10
And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.
2 Kings 19:12
Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar?
Genesis 4:16
And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
Ezekiel 31:8-9
The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chesnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.
Joel 2:3
A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
Isaiah 51:3
For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
Ezekiel 31:16
I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.
Ezekiel 27:23
Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants.
Ezekiel 31:18
To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

a garden.
13:10; Eze 28:13; 31:8,9; Joe 2:3
eastward.
3:24; 4:16; 2Ki 19:12; Eze 27:23; 31:16,18
put the.
15

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

Context

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.
Genesis 2:8
And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Genesis 2:9
And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Read all of Genesis 2

Genesis 2:8 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Y había Jehová Dios plantado un huerto en Edén al oriente, y puso allí al hombre que había formado.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Et l’ Éternel Dieu planta un jardin en Éden, du côté de l’orient, et il y plaça l’homme qu’il avait formé.
German Elberfelder 1871	Und Jehova Gott pflanzte einen Garten in Eden gegen Osten, und er setzte dorthin den Menschen, den er gebildet hatte.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Plantaverat autem Dominus Deus paradisum voluptatis a principio, in quo posuit hominem quem formaverat.