Genesis 2:12
in Genesis 2And the gold of that land is pure, and bdellium and onyx are found there.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
KJV
And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
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This verse in Genesis 2
Commentary
12 notes on this verse"The river," we are told, "is separated into four branches." The name of one is Pishon, which encircles all the land of Hevila, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx are there. The name of the second river is Gihon. This river encircles all the land of Ethiopia. The name of the third river is Tigris, which river flows by the Assyrians. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. There are, therefore, four rivers. Pishon—so called by the Hebrews but named Ganges by the Greeks—flows in the direction of India.
This site's exposition
a river flowed out of Eden
on Genesis 2:10-14
Four rivers are named, and two of them, the Hiddekel and the Euphrates, are still on the map. The other two have never been identified. The passage reads as geography, and the writer troubles to say where the gold is pure. Revelation 22:1 sets a river and the tree of life together again, flowing from the throne.
This site's exposition
bdellium and onyx
The pure gold of that land is joined by two stones. Bdellium is named again only at Numbers 11:7, where manna looks like it, and onyx stones bore the names of the tribes of Israel on the high priest's shoulders at Exodus 28:9. Adam Clarke granted that the exact meaning of both Hebrew names cannot be fixed.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
Perhaps, however, those people who like to talk from their own wisdom do not concede again that these rivers are rivers or these waters really waters but propound some different interpretation to people ready to lend them their ears. Let us, however, I beg you, not be convinced by them but block our ears against them; let us instead place our credence in sacred Scripture and heed what is told us there.
The river Phison separates all the countries of India [lying along its course] from the country of the Huns. In scripture the Indian region is called Euilat (Havilah). For it is thus written in Genesis: Now the river goeth out from Eden to water Paradise.
The Church, setting forth the likeness of paradise, includes within her walls fruit-bearing trees, whereof that which does not bring forth good fruit is cut off and is cast into the fire. These trees she waters with four rivers, that is, with the four Gospels, wherewith, by a celestial inundation, she bestows the grace of saving baptism. Can any one water from the Church's fountains who is not within the Church? Can one impart those wholesome and saving draughts of paradise to any one if he is perverted, and of himself condemned, and banished outside the fountains of paradise, and has dried up and failed with the dryness of an eternal thirst?
The Medieval Church2 voices
In that place are found bdellium and onyx stone. Bdellium is, as Pliny the Elder writes, an aromatic tree, black in color, of the size of an olive, with oak-like leaves, fruit like the fig, and its nature is such that it exudes gum.
There is found gold, and the gold of that land is good. Pliny the Elder reports that the regions of India abound in gold veins more than other lands, whence even their islands took the names Chryse and Argyre from the abundance of gold or …
4 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
Then there is the ocean that encircles the entire earth like a sort of river and to which it seems to me that Scripture referred when it said that "a river flowed out of paradise." It has sweet potable water and supplies the seas, but because the water remains stagnant in the seas for a long time it becomes brackish. The sun and the waterspouts are constantly drawing up the less dense water, and from this the clouds are formed and the rain comes, the water becoming sweet by filtration. This ocean is divided into four heads, of four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; this is the Ganges of India. The name of the second is Gehon; this is the Nile, which comes down from Ethiopia into Egypt. The name of the third is Tigris, and of the fourth, Euphrates.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Observe, That which God plants he will take care to keep watered. The trees of righteousness are set by the rivers, Ps. i. In the heavenly paradise there is a river infinitely surpassing these; for it is a river of the water of life, not coming out of Eden, as this, but proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb ( Rev. xxii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
And the gold of that land is good,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
There is bdellium (בדלח bedolach) and the onyx stone, אבן השהם eben hashshoham - Bochart thinks that the bedolach or bdellium means the pearl-oyster; and shoham is generally understood to mean the onyx, or species of agate, a precious stone which has its name from ονυξ a man’s nail, to the color of which it nearly approaches. It is impossible to say what is the precise meaning of the original words; and at this distance of time and place it is of little consequence.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Saadiah Gaon renders bedolach (bedellium) as pearls. He compares manna to them. However, Scripture merely says that manna had the color of bedolach.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
This is to explain that it is not the Havilah of Egypt, concerning which it is said, And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, 345 Genesis:18. for this one [referred to here] is in the extreme east.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּֽזֲהַ֛ב | uzahav | and [the] gold of | H2091 → | 389 times |
| הָאָ֥רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| הַהִ֖וא | hahiv' | <the> that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| ט֑וֹב | tov | [is] good | H2896 → | 538 times |
| שָׁ֥ם | sham | [are] there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| הַבְּדֹ֖לַח | habedolach | <the> bdellium | H916 → | |
| וְאֶ֥בֶן | veeven | and [the] stone of | H68 → | 273 times |
| הַשֹּֽׁהַם׃ | hashoham | <the> onyx | H7718 → |
וּֽזֲהַ֛בand [the] gold of
uzahavH2091 →389 times
הָאָ֥רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
הַהִ֖וא<the> that
hahiv'H1931 →1879 times
ט֑וֹב[is] good
tovH2896 →538 times
שָׁ֥ם[are] there
shamH8033 →834 times
הַבְּדֹ֖לַח<the> bdellium
habedolachH916 →
וְאֶ֥בֶןand [the] stone of
veevenH68 →273 times
הַשֹּֽׁהַם׃<the> onyx
hashohamH7718 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ezekiel 28:13You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every kind of precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald. Your mountings and settings were crafted in…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 28:15
From the day you were created you were blameless in your ways—until wickedness was found in you.
- Ezekiel 27:16
Aram was your customer because of your many products; they exchanged turquoise, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and rubies for your wares.
- Genesis 2:8
And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed.
- Isaiah 54:11–12
“O afflicted city, lashed by storms, without solace, surely I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires.
- Isaiah 51:3
For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness…
- Ezekiel 28:15
Through
Numbers 11:7Now the manna resembled coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of gum resin.
it leads to
- Exodus 16:31
Now the house of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.
- Exodus 16:14–15
When the layer of dew had evaporated, there were thin flakes on the desert floor, as fine as frost on the ground.
- Exodus 16:31
Through
Job 28:16It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire.
it leads to
- Psalms 45:9
The daughters of kings are among your honored women; the queen stands at your right hand, adorned with the gold of Ophir.
- Psalms 45:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies16
On this verse
About Genesis
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, On Paradise; Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron); Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography, Book 11; Cyprian, Epistle LXXII.10; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 13.15-16; John Damascene, ORTHODOX FAITH 2.9; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.