Genesis 2:15

2:15 The Lord God took the man and placed ¹  him in the orchard in ²  Eden to care for it and to maintain it. ³ 

Genesis 3:23

3:23 So the Lord God expelled him ⁴  from the orchard in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken.

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¹ tn The Hebrew verb נוּחַ (nuakh, translated here as “placed”) is a different verb than the one used in 2:8.

² tn Traditionally translated “the Garden of Eden,” the context makes it clear that the garden (or orchard) was in Eden (making “Eden” a genitive of location).

³ tn Heb “to work it and to keep it.”

sn Note that man’s task is to care for and maintain the trees of the orchard. Not until after the fall, when he is condemned to cultivate the soil, does this task change.

⁴ tn The verb is the Piel preterite of שָׁלַח (shalakh), forming a wordplay with the use of the same verb (in the Qal stem) in v. 22: To prevent the man’s “sending out” his hand, the Lord “sends him out.”