Genesis 2:21-23

2:21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, ¹  and while he was asleep, ²  he took part of the man’s side ³  and closed up the place with flesh. ⁴  2:22 Then the Lord God made ⁵  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 ⁶  is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

this one will be called ⁷  ‘woman,’

for she was taken out of ⁸  man.” ⁹ 

[2:21]  ¹ tn Heb “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man.”

[2:21]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “closed up the flesh under it.”

[2:22]  ⁵ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Or “from” (but see v. 22).

[2:23]  ¹² 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.