Skip to main content

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.

KJV

Produxitque Dominus Deus de humo omne lignum pulchrum visu, et ad vescendum suave lignum etiam vitæ in medio paradisi, lignumque scientiæ boni et mali.

Vulgate

καὶ ἐξανέτειλεν ὁ θεὸς ἔτι ἐκ τῆς γῆς πᾶν ξύλον ὡραῖον εἰς ὅρασιν καὶ καλὸν εἰς βρῶσιν· καὶ τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς ἐν μέσῳ τῷ παραδείσῳ, καὶ τὸ ξύλον τοῦ εἰδέναι γνωστὸν καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ.

LXX

And out of the ground made Jehovah 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 the knowledge of good and evil.

ASV

וַ/יַּצְמַ֞ח יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהִים֙ מִן הָ֣/אֲדָמָ֔ה כָּל עֵ֛ץ נֶחְמָ֥ד לְ/מַרְאֶ֖ה וְ/ט֣וֹב לְ/מַאֲכָ֑ל וְ/עֵ֤ץ הַֽ/חַיִּים֙ בְּ/ת֣וֹךְ הַ/גָּ֔ן וְ/עֵ֕ץ הַ/דַּ֖עַת ט֥וֹב וָ/רָֽע

Hebrew

Open in reader with connections →

In the original Hebrew

16 distinct Hebrew words appear in this verse.

אֲדָמָ֔ה
'dmh
noun · 224×
גַן
gn
noun · 42×
דָֽעַת
d't
verb · 93×
חַי
chy
verb · 502×
ט֣וֹב
tvb
verb · 562×
יְהוָ֖ה
yhvh
proper_noun · 6455×
יְצַמַּ֥ח
ytsmch
verb · 33×
ךָ
k
noun · 2564×
כָּל
kl
noun · 5376×
מִן
mn
preposition · 1223×
מַאֲכָ֔ל
m'kl
noun · 29×
מַרְאֶ֖ה
mr'h
noun · 104×
עֵ֣ץ
'ts
noun · 324×
רָ֑ע
r'
verb · 664×
ת֣וֹךְ
tvk
noun · 416×
תַחְמֹ֖ד
tchmd
verb · 28×

Intertextual echoes

Quoted or echoed by 1 later passage.

  • Rev 22:2 · echo
    "In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."
    Genesis: tree of life — restored in the new Jerusalem

Prophecy

Typology

Historic Christian voices

6 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.

Analysis of the Biblical Account of Creation Last Wednesday we began this series of reflections on the reply Christ gave to his questioners on the subject of the unity and indissolubility of marriage. As we recall, the Pharisees who questioned him appealed to the Mosaic Law. However, Christ went back to the "beginning," quoting the words of Genesis. The "beginning" in this ca…
Now when God was about to fashion man out of the visible and invisible creation in His own image and likeness to reign as king and ruler over all the earth and all that it contains, He first made for him, so to speak, a kingdom in which he should live a life of happiness and prosperity. And this is the divine paradise , planted in Eden by the hands of God, a very storehouse of …
The tree of life represents wisdom (sophia), through which the soul attains immortality, while the tree of knowledge of good and evil represents the intermediate moral faculty that can lead either to virtue or to vice. Philo reads these not as literal trees in a garden but as powers within the human soul. To eat of the tree of life is to live by divine Wisdom; to eat of the tre…

Cross-references

  • 1Cor 8:1 — Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
  • Deut 6:25 — And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.
  • Ezek 31:8 — The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in hi
  • Ezek 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,
  • Ezek 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 t
  • Ezek 47:12 — And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new f
  • Ezek 47:12 — And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new f
  • Gen 1:11 — And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
  • Gen 2:16 — And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
  • Gen 2:17 — 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.
  • Gen 2:17 — 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.
  • Gen 3:3 — But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
  • Gen 3:22 — And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
  • Gen 3:22 — And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
  • Isa 44:25 — That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;
  • Isa 47:10 — For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.
  • John 6:48 — I am that bread of life.
  • Prov 3:18 — She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
  • Prov 3:18 — She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
  • Prov 11:30 — The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
  • Rev 2:7 — He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
  • Rev 2:7 — He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
  • Rev 22:2 — In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were fo
  • Rev 22:2 — In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were fo
  • Rev 22:14 — Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.