Genesis 2:4

Adam and Eve

4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

Genesis 2:4 in Other Translations

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,
ESV
4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
NLT
4 This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth. The Man and Woman in Eden When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
MSG
4 This is the story of how it all started, of Heaven and Earth when they were created.
CSB
4 These are the records of the heavens and the earth, concerning their creation at the time that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

Genesis 2:4 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 2:4

These [are] the generations of the heavens and the earth,
when they were created
That is, the above account, delivered in the preceding chapter, is a history of the production of the heavens and earth, and of all things in them; the creation of them being a kind of generation, and the day of their creation a sort of birthday; see ( Genesis 5:1 ) ( Matthew 1:1 )

in the day that the Lord God made the earth, and the heavens;
meaning not any particular day, not the first day, in which the heavens and the earth were created; but referring to the whole time of the six days, in which everything in them, and relating to them, were made. Here another name is added to God, his name "Jehovah", expressive of his being and perfections, particularly his eternity and immutability, being the everlasting and unchangeable "I am", which is, and was, and is to come: this name, according to the Jews, is not to be pronounced, and therefore they put the points of "Adonai", directing it so to be read; and these two names, "Jehovah Elohim", or "Adonai" and "Elohim", with them make the full and perfect name of God, and which they observe is here very pertinently given him, upon the perfection and completion of his works.

Genesis 2:4 In-Context

2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground,
6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Genesis 5:1; Genesis 6:9; Genesis 10:1; Genesis 11:10,27; Genesis 25:12,19; Genesis 36:1,9; Genesis 37:2
  • 2. Genesis 1:1; Job 38:8-11
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