Genesis 1:27

1:27 God created humankind ¹  in his own image,

in the image of God he created them, ² 

male and female he created them. ³ 

Genesis 2:20-23

2:20 So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam ⁴  no companion who corresponded to him was found. ⁵  2:21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, ⁶  and while he was asleep, ⁷  he took part of the man’s side ⁸  and closed up the place with flesh. ⁹  2:22 Then the Lord God made ¹⁰  a woman from the part he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 2:23 Then the man said,

“This one at last ¹¹  is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

this one will be called ¹²  ‘woman,’

for she was taken out of ¹³  man.” ¹⁴ 

Genesis 5:2

5:2 He created them male and female; when they were created, he blessed them and named them “humankind.” ¹⁵ 

Malachi 2:14-16

2:14 Yet you ask, “Why?” The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, ¹⁶  to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law. ¹⁷  2:15 No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. ¹⁸  What did our ancestor ¹⁹  do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth. ²⁰  2:16 “I hate divorce,” ²¹  says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” ²²  says the Lord who rules over all. “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful.”

[1:27]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text has the article prefixed to the noun (הָאָדָם, ha’adam). The article does not distinguish man from woman here (“the man” as opposed to “the woman”), but rather indicates previous reference (see v. 26, where the noun appears without the article). It has the same function as English “the aforementioned.”

[1:27]  ² tn The third person suffix on the particle אֵת (’et) is singular here, but collective.

[1:27]  ³ sn The distinction of “humankind” as “male” and “female” is another point of separation in God’s creation. There is no possibility that the verse is teaching that humans were first androgynous (having both male and female physical characteristics) and afterward were separated. The mention of male and female prepares for the blessing to follow.

[2:20]  ⁴ tn Here for the first time the Hebrew word אָדָם (’adam) appears without the article, suggesting that it might now be the name “Adam” rather than “[the] man.” Translations of the Bible differ as to where they make the change from “man” to “Adam” (e.g., NASB and NIV translate “Adam” here, while NEB and NRSV continue to use “the man”; the KJV uses “Adam” twice in v. 19).

[2:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “there was not found a companion who corresponded to him.” The subject of the third masculine singular verb form is indefinite. Without a formally expressed subject the verb may be translated as passive: “one did not find = there was not found.”

[2:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man.”

[2:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he slept.” In the sequence the verb may be subordinated to the following verb to indicate a temporal clause (“while…”).

[2:21]  ⁸ tn Traditionally translated “rib,” the Hebrew word actually means “side.” The Hebrew text reads, “and he took one from his sides,” which could be rendered “part of his sides.” That idea may fit better the explanation by the man that the woman is his flesh and bone.

[2:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “closed up the flesh under it.”

[2:22]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew verb is בָּנָה (banah, “to make, to build, to construct”). The text states that the Lord God built the rib into a woman. Again, the passage gives no indication of precisely how this was done.

[2:23]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term הַפַּעַם (happa’am) means “the [this] time, this place,” or “now, finally, at last.” The expression conveys the futility of the man while naming the animals and finding no one who corresponded to him.

[2:23]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text is very precise, stating: “of this one it will be said, ‘woman’.” The text is not necessarily saying that the man named his wife – that comes after the fall (Gen 3:20).

[2:23]  ¹³ tn Or “from” (but see v. 22).

[2:23]  ¹⁴ sn This poetic section expresses the correspondence between the man and the woman. She is bone of his bones, flesh of his flesh. Note the wordplay (paronomasia) between “woman” (אִשָּׁה, ’ishah) and “man” (אִישׁ, ’ish). On the surface it appears that the word for woman is the feminine form of the word for man. But the two words are not etymologically related. The sound and the sense give that impression, however, and make for a more effective wordplay.

[5:2]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew word used here is אָדָם (’adam).

[2:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the Lord is a witness between you and [between] the wife of your youth.”

[2:14]  ¹⁷ sn Though there is no explicit reference to marriage vows in the OT (but see Job 7:13; Prov 2:17; Ezek 16:8), the term law (Heb “covenant”) here asserts that such vows or agreements must have existed. References to divorce documents (e.g., Deut 24:1-3; Jer 3:8) also presuppose the existence of marriage documents.

[2:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and not one has done, and a remnant of the spirit to him.” The very elliptical nature of the statement suggests it is proverbial. The present translation represents an attempt to clarify the meaning of the statement (cf. NASB).

[2:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the one.” This is an oblique reference to Abraham who sought to obtain God’s blessing by circumventing God’s own plan for him by taking Hagar as wife (Gen 16:1-6). The result of this kind of intermarriage was, of course, disastrous (Gen 16:11-12).

[2:15]  ²⁰ sn The wife he took in his youth probably refers to the first wife one married (cf. NCV “the wife you married when you were young”).

[2:16]  ²¹ tc The verb שָׂנֵא (sane’) appears to be a third person form, “he hates,” which makes little sense in the context, unless one emends the following word to a third person verb as well. Then one might translate, “he [who] hates [his wife] [and] divorces her…is guilty of violence.” A similar translation is advocated by M. A. Shields, “Syncretism and Divorce in Malachi 2,10-16,” ZAW 111 (1999): 81-85. However, it is possible that the first person pronoun אָנֹכִי (’anokhi, “I”) has accidentally dropped from the text after כִּי (ki). If one restores the pronoun, the form שָׂנֵא can be taken as a participle and the text translated, “for I hate” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

[2:16]  ²² tn Heb “him who covers his garment with violence” (similar ASV, NRSV). Here “garment” is a metaphor for appearance and “violence” a metonymy of effect for cause. God views divorce as an act of violence against the victim.