What Is Man That You Care For Him?

Ben Harris | Feb 12, 2023

Topics: Creation

Scripture: Genesis 1:26-2:17

26 Then God said, “Let us(A) make man[a] in[b] our image, according to our likeness.(B) They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl[c] on the earth.”(C)

27 So God created man
in his own image;
he created him in the image of God;
he created them male and female.(D)

28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth,(E) and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” 29 God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This will be food for you,(F) 30 for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it—I have given[d] every green plant for food.”(G) And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed.(H) Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.

So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed.(I) On the seventh[e] day God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested[f] on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.(J) God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested(K) from all his work of creation.(L)

Man and Woman in the Garden

These are the records(M) of the heavens and the earth, concerning their creation. At the time[g] that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, no shrub of the field(N) had yet grown on the land,[h] and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not made it rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground. But mist would come up from the earth and water all the ground. Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground(O) and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils,(P) and the man became a living being.(Q)

The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east,(R) and there he placed the man he had formed. The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden,(S) as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.(T)

10 A river went[i] out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers.[j] 11 The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah,[k](U) where there is gold. 12 Gold from that land is pure;[l] bdellium[m] and onyx[n] are also there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris,(V) which runs east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.(W)

15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden,(X) 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”(Y)

Footnotes

  1. 1:26 Or human beings; Hb ’adam, also in v. 27
  2. 1:26 Or as
  3. 1:26 Or scurry
  4. 1:30 I have given added for clarity
  5. 2:2 Sam, LXX, Syr read sixth
  6. 2:2 Or ceased, also in v. 3
  7. 2:4 Lit creation on the day
  8. 2:5 Or earth
  9. 2:10 Or goes
  10. 2:10 Lit became four heads
  11. 2:11 Or of the Havilah
  12. 2:12 Lit good
  13. 2:12 A yellowish, transparent gum resin
  14. 2:12 Identity of this precious stone uncertain

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