Genesis 2 — Hebrew and Greek compared
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Same 1 Similar 5 Different 11 Divergent 2 Disparate 6
Disparate in this chapter: 2:2, 2:3, 2:4, 2:7, 2:17, 2:18
Each verse is rendered independently from the Hebrew (Rabbinic reading tradition) and from the Greek (Saints reading tradition). The badge classifies the relationship between the two readings; the note beneath examines the difference and records attributed Jewish and Christian interpretation. Disparate verses are marked in red. Where the two sources number a verse differently, each column shows its own reference.
Seventh Day
2:1 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their host.
Greek · Saints priority
Thus heaven and earth were completed, and all their ordered array.
H presents creation’s host; G uses kosmos for its order or adornment. The images differ without implying different completed creatures.
2:2 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
On the seventh day God completed the work that He had made, and on the seventh day He ceased from all the work that He had made.
Greek · Saints priority
On the sixth day God completed the works that He had made, and on the seventh day He ceased from all the works that He had made.
The completion day is seventh in H and sixth in G. Both place cessation on the seventh. The numerical difference remains even when interpreters reconcile the sequence.
Rabbinic — Rashi on Genesis 2:2: He offers Sabbath rest itself as the completion of creation, alongside Rabbi Shimon’s explanation of God’s exact knowledge of the boundary between the days.
2:3 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He ceased from all His work that God had created to make.
Greek · Saints priority
God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He ceased from all His works that God had begun to make.
H’s difficult closing expression uses “created”; G uses “begun.” Both speak of blessed cessation, but their descriptions of the preceding work differ.
Creation of Man
2:4 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that YHWH God made earth and heavens,
Greek · Saints priority
This is the book of the origin of heaven and earth, when it came into being, on the day that God made heaven and earth
G introduces a book of origin, replaces created with came into being, names God without Lord, and reverses H’s closing earth–heavens order. The next verse continues its syntax.
Rabbinic — Rashi on Genesis 1:1: In his comment on 1:1, he associates Elohim with judgment and the joined divine names in 2:4 with mercy accompanying judgment.
2:5 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
when no shrub of the field was yet on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for YHWH God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no human to work the ground;
Greek · Saints priority
and every green thing of the field before it came into being upon the earth, and every plant of the field before it sprouted; for God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no human to work the earth;
G grammatically continues the objects of “made” in 2:4. H describes vegetation not yet present. G has God where H has YHWH God.
2:6 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
but a mist would rise from the earth and water the whole face of the ground.
Greek · Saints priority
but a spring would rise from the earth and water the whole face of the earth.
G explicitly has a spring. The rare Hebrew ed is disputed: mist, flow, or rising water are proposed senses. The comparison does not turn that uncertainty into a proven contradiction.
2:7 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
YHWH God formed the human, dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the human became a living soul.
Greek · Saints priority
God formed the human, dust from the earth, and breathed into his face a breath of life; and the human became a living soul.
H specifies nostrils; G specifies the face and omits Lord here. Both affirm divine formation and animation; the bodily description differs without establishing that G rejects embodiment.
2:8 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
YHWH God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east, and placed there the human whom He had formed.
Greek · Saints priority
The Lord God planted a paradise in Eden, toward the east, and placed there the human whom He had formed.
Greek paradeisos denotes an enclosed park or garden here. Its later religious associations should not replace this narrative location.
2:9 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
YHWH God caused to grow from the ground every tree desirable to see and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Greek · Saints priority
God further caused to grow from the earth every tree beautiful to see and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of paradise, and the tree of knowing what is knowable of good and evil.
G adds “further,” has God without Lord, and gives a fuller knowledge expression. Both name the two trees; the Greek formulation remains linguistically difficult.
Rivers of Eden
2:10 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
A river flows out from Eden to water the garden; from there it divides and becomes four heads.
Greek · Saints priority
A river flows out from Eden to water paradise; from there it divides into four beginnings.
Both describe a river’s fourfold division. Heads and beginnings preserve the respective images without imposing a modern map.
2:11 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
The name of the first is Pishon; it circles all the land of Havilah, where there is gold.
Greek · Saints priority
The name of the first is Pishon; it circles all the land of Havilah, where there is gold.
Recognizable names are used for the same river and land; differing transliterations alone do not change the referents.
2:12 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
The gold of that land is good; bdellium and the shoham stone are there.
Greek · Saints priority
The gold of that land is good; the carbuncle and the green stone are there.
The named materials differ. The Hebrew shoham and Greek gem names are not assigned certain modern mineral identities.
2:13 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
The name of the second river is Gihon; it circles all the land of Cush.
Greek · Saints priority
The name of the second river is Gihon; it circles all the land of Ethiopia.
G interprets Cush through its own geographical name. Ancient Ethiopia must not be equated automatically with the borders of the modern state.
2:14 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Asshur. The fourth river is Euphrates.
Greek · Saints priority
The third river is Tigris; it flows opposite the Assyrians. The fourth river is Euphrates.
H’s directional phrase and place name become G’s “opposite” and people name. Familiar river names represent the corresponding Hebrew and Greek names.
Forbidden Tree
2:15 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
YHWH God took the human and settled him in the garden of Eden to work it and guard it.
Greek · Saints priority
The Lord God took the human whom He had formed and placed him in paradise to work it and guard it.
G adds “whom he had formed” and does not name Eden in this verse of RH. “Of delight” is not inserted into this Greek column.
2:16 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
YHWH God commanded the human, saying, “From every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
Greek · Saints priority
The Lord God commanded Adam, saying, “From every tree in paradise you may freely eat;
G now uses Adam as a name, where H has the human with the article. Both address a singular recipient here.
2:17 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat from it you shall surely die.”
Greek · Saints priority
but from the tree of knowing good and evil you shall not eat; on whatever day you eat from it, you shall surely die.”
H keeps singular “you”; all three Greek second-person verbs are plural. G broadens the grammatical address after singular 2:16. The shared death warning is emphatic, not merely a statement of eventual mortality.
Creation of Woman
2:18 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
YHWH God said, “It is not good for the human to be alone; I will make him a helper corresponding to him.”
Greek · Saints priority
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the human to be alone; let us make him a helper corresponding to him.”
H has singular “I will make”; G has plural “let us make.” The changed divine deliberation is significant, but the verse does not itself identify plural addressees.
2:19 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
YHWH God formed from the ground every wild animal of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the human to see what he would call them; whatever the human called each living creature, that was its name.
Greek · Saints priority
God further formed from the earth all the wild animals of the field and all the birds of the sky, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them; whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.
G has “further,” God without Lord, and Adam as a name. The duplicated clause and missing purpose phrase in the draft’s Hebrew cell are repaired.
Rabbinic — Rashi on Genesis 2:19: He reconciles the birds’ association with water in 1:20 and ground here by describing their formation from mud. This is an interpretive reconciliation.
2:20 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
The human gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the sky, and every wild animal of the field; but for the human no helper corresponding to him was found.
Greek · Saints priority
Adam gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals of the field; but for Adam no helper like him was found.
The naming and absence of a suitable helper agree; G uses the name Adam and explicit likeness language.
2:21 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
YHWH God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the human, and he slept. He took one of his ribs and closed up flesh in its place.
Greek · Saints priority
God cast a trance upon Adam, and he slept. He took one of his ribs and filled up flesh in its place.
Deep sleep becomes ekstasis, a trance or displaced state; both explicitly say he slept. Rib/side terminology is preserved without claiming Greek consciousness during the act.
2:22 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
YHWH God built the rib that He had taken from the human into a woman, and brought her to the human.
Greek · Saints priority
The Lord God built the rib that He had taken from Adam into a woman, and brought her to Adam.
Both use the architectural verb “built.” G’s proper name continues where H uses the human.
2:23 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
The human said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman, because she was taken from Man.”
Greek · Saints priority
Adam said, “This now is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman, because she was taken from her husband.”
H makes a wordplay on ish and ishah. G has “her man/husband,” explicitly marking the relationship; Greek gunē and anēr do not reproduce the Hebrew wordplay.
2:24 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Greek · Saints priority
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
G explicitly adds “the two.” H already names man and wife, but does not contain that numerical phrase in this verse.
Saints — Matthew 19:4–6: Jesus joins the creation of male and female with the two becoming one flesh in teaching about marriage. The explicit “two” corresponds to the Greek Genesis wording.
2:25 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
Both were naked, the human and his wife, and they were not ashamed.
Greek · Saints priority
The two were naked, Adam and his wife, and they were not ashamed.
Both explicitly describe the pair without shame. G uses Adam as a name.
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Saints Translation · Companion comparison edition · working draft awaiting specialist review.