Genesis 2:16

And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden,

BSB

Parallel translations

4 additional translations

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KJV

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

ASV

And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

YLT

And Jehovah God layeth a charge on the man, saying, `Of every tree of the garden eating thou dost eat;

DBT

And Jehovah Elohim commanded Man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou shalt freely eat;

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Commentary voices

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Voices3

On this verse

Knowing once more how the will of man could sway to either side, in anticipation God secured the grace given them by a command and by the place where he put them. For he brought them into his own garden and gave them a law so that, if they kept the grace and remained good, they might still keep the life in paradise without sorrow or pain or care, besides having the promise of incorruption in heaven.

Athanasius of Alexandria· On the Incarnation of the Word 3.4, 373patristic

Related commentary

And the Lord God commanded the man,....

John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed

Now he that made him knew both him and what was good for him, better than he did himself, and he said, "It is not good that he should continue thus alone." (1.) It is not for his comfort; for man is a sociable creature.

Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan

Voices on this verse

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Rabbinic commentary

How the Hebraic tradition has read this verse — and Marcus Brown’s own reading of it.

Cross-references

9 linked verses

The verses this one reaches9

1 Samuel 15:22
But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.
Genesis 3:3
but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’”
1 Timothy 4:4
For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected,
1 Timothy 6:17
Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.
Genesis 2:9
Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 1:29
Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food.
Genesis 3:1–2
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”
Genesis 1:11
Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind.” And it was so.
Genesis 3:17
And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

Cross-references

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The quotation web

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Original language

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Around this verse

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The Creation of Eve — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866) — public domain

Genesis — The book of beginnings. Creation, fall, flood, covenant, election, providence — eleven generational seams stitch one unbroken story from heaven-and-earth to a coffin in Egypt.

Canon: Old Testament
Author: Moses — by traditional attribution; the book is the first of the Pentateuch
Date: Composed c. 15th–13th century BC; draws on older patriarchal sources (the toledoth framework is internal)

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
1 Samuel 15:22
But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of…
leads to
- Hosea 6:6
  For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
- Psalms 51:16–17
  For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings.
- Proverbs 21:3
  To do righteousness and justice is more desirable to the LORD than sacrifice.
- Amos 5:21–24
  “I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.
- Mark 12:33
  and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, which is more important than all burnt offerings and…
Through
Genesis 2:9
Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life…
leads to
- Genesis 3:22
  Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life,…
- Revelation 2:7
  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the…
- Revelation 22:14
  Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by its gates.

The whole web at once: see the Arc.

Where the connections lead

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Continue: Genesis 2 →