Genesis 2:8

2:8 The Lord God planted an orchard ¹  in the east, ²  in Eden; ³  and there he placed the man he had formed. ⁴ 

Genesis 2:10

2:10 Now ⁵  a river flows ⁶  from Eden ⁷  to

water the orchard, and from there it divides ⁸  into four headstreams. ⁹ 

Genesis 4:16

4:16 So Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and lived in the land of Nod, ¹⁰  east of Eden.

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¹ tn Traditionally “garden,” but the subsequent description of this “garden” makes it clear that it is an orchard of fruit trees.

sn The Lord God planted an orchard. Nothing is said of how the creation of this orchard took place. A harmonization with chap. 1 might lead to the conclusion that it was by decree, prior to the creation of human life. But the narrative sequence here in chap. 2 suggests the creation of the garden followed the creation of the man. Note also the past perfect use of the perfect in the relative clause in the following verse.

² tn Heb “from the east” or “off east.”

sn One would assume this is east from the perspective of the land of Israel, particularly since the rivers in the area are identified as the rivers in those eastern regions.

³ sn The name Eden (עֵדֶן, ’eden) means “pleasure” in Hebrew.

⁴ tn The perfect verbal form here requires the past perfect translation since it describes an event that preceded the event described in the main clause.

⁵ tn The disjunctive clause (note the construction conjunction + subject + predicate) introduces an entire paragraph about the richness of the region in the east.

⁶ tn The Hebrew active participle may be translated here as indicating past durative action, “was flowing,” or as a present durative, “flows.” Since this river was the source of the rivers mentioned in vv. 11-14, which appear to describe a situation contemporary with the narrator, it is preferable to translate the participle in v. 10 with the present tense. This suggests that Eden and its orchard still existed in the narrator’s time. According to ancient Jewish tradition, Enoch was taken to the Garden of Eden, where his presence insulated the garden from the destructive waters of Noah’s flood. See Jub. 4:23-24.

⁷ sn Eden is portrayed here as a source of life-giving rivers (that is, perennial streams). This is no surprise because its orchard is where the tree of life is located. Eden is a source of life, but tragically its orchard is no longer accessible to humankind. The river flowing out of Eden is a tantalizing reminder of this. God continues to provide life-giving water to sustain physical existence on the earth, but immortality has been lost.

⁸ tn The imperfect verb form has the same nuance as the preceding participle. (If the participle is taken as past durative, then the imperfect would be translated “was dividing.”)

⁹ tn Or “branches”; Heb “heads.” Cf. NEB “streams”; NASB “rivers.”

¹⁰ sn The name Nod means “wandering” in Hebrew (see vv. 12, 14).