Genesis 2 Updates

Genesis 2:3

KJV: 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it : because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

KJVu: 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it , because in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.


Genesis 2:4

KJV:4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

KJVu: 4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

Note: Originally, I had updated "generations" with "histories" (original logic below.) I never had complete peace with this one in that it didn’t make the verse significantly more clear. The Holy Spirit kept bringing me back to this verse, so I have undone the update. The original comment is left below for completeness:

Comments on Original Update:
I chose "histories" since "generations" are associated with lineage. This verse and the ones following it are more of a historical recap of God’s creation. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance lists "(figuratively) history" as an alternative.


Genesis 2:5

KJV: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.

KJVu: 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 sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground.


Genesis 2:9

KJV: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.

KJVu: 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food . The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.


Genesis 2:10

KJV:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden ; and from thence it was parted , and became into four heads.

KJVu: 10 A river went out of Eden to water the garden , and from there it parted and became four rivers.

Note: The four rivers are discussed in the verses 11-14. The [river]heads are implicit by the single river splitting into four.


Genesis 2:11

KJV:11 The name of the first is Pison : that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold ;

KJVu: 11 The name of the first is Pison ; it surrounds the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold .

Note: Compasseth was updated to "surrounds," see Strong’s H5437 '…​go about or around, surround, encircle, change direction'. Also considered "compasses" and "encompasses." In the end, "Surrounds" added more clarity. See Bible Study Tools 'The verb "to compass" occurs frequently in the senses of "to surround" and "to go round about," e.g. Genesis 2:11' and Webster’s 1828 Dictionary 'To surround; to environ; to inclose on all sides;'


Genesis 2:12

KJV:12 And the gold of that land is good : there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

KJVu: 12 And the gold of that land is good , and there is bdellium and the onyx stone.


Genesis 2:13

KJV:13 And the name of the second river is Gihon : the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

KJVu: 13 And the name of the second river is Gihon ; it surrounds the whole land of Ethiopia.

Notes: See note on use of "surrounds" in Gen. 2:11


Genesis 2:14

KJV: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.

KJVu: 14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel ; it goes toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.


Genesis 2:16

KJV:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat :

KJVu: 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat ;


Genesis 2:17

KJV:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

KJVu: 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it ; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."


Genesis 2:18

KJV:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone ; I will make him an help meet for him.

KJVu: 18 And the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone . I will make for him a help mate."

Note: Originally I updated "help meet" with "helper." However, "helper" didn’t fully convey what God intended Eve to be for Adam. A "helper" could have been named Bob, but Eve’s role would be much larger than "helper", she would be Adam’s mate for life and bear their children. For KJV people, this deeper meaning is captured in the term "help meet," but is easily lost in the term "helper." The term "help mate" bridges the gap. A non-KJV reader will grasp that the woman God is creating for Adam is more than just his "helper", but also will be his lifelong "mate." As a bonus for KJVers, "help mate" sounds similar to the "help meet" that we are all familiar with. See below for comments on the original update.

Comments on Original Update:
"Help meet" is a term that most everyone in the KJV community is very familiar with. It is often thought of as "helper" and "wife." However, outside the KJV community you often get "help meet what?" when mentioning the phrase. There are some really strange translations used here. Several articles such as this, this and this take you beyond the "updating" process into "translation," which is outside the scope of this project. Strong’s H5828 defines it as "help, succour" and "one who helps." Succour is defined as "a person or thing that provides help." That is a "helper", so to stay true to the KJV, I opted to use "helper."


Genesis 2:19

KJV:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them : and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

KJVu: 19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every bird of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them . Whatever Adam called every living creature, that became the name of it.

Note: See note on use of "birds" in Gen. 1:20


Genesis 2:20

KJV:20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

KJVu: 20 And Adam gave names to all the animals, and to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was no help mate found for him.

Note: See note on use of "help mate" in Gen. 2:18


Genesis 2:21

KJV:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept : and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

KJVu: 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept ; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh .


Genesis 2:22

KJV:22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

KJVu: 22 With the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, he made a woman, and brought her unto the man.

Note: Clearly God used the rib to make a woman. Starting the passage with "And the rib…​" does not clearly convey this as well as "With the rib…​" In addition, starting the passage with "And the rib…​" violates English’s embedded clause rule - that is a sentence should stand on its own without an embedded clause, which it does not when beginning with "And the rib…​" Consider the two with the embedded clause removed:

And the rib made he a woman…​"
With the rib made he a woman…​"

Or, as further updated:

And the rib he made a woman…​"
With the rib he made a woman…​"


Genesis 2:23

KJV:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh : she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

KJVu: 23 And Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh ; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. "


Genesis 2:24

KJV:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife : and they shall be one flesh.

KJVu: 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cleave unto his wife ; and they shall be one flesh.


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