Genesis 2:6
in Genesis 2But springs welled up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
KJV
But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
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This verse in Genesis 2
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
no shrub of the field had yet appeared
on Genesis 2:5-6
No rain has fallen yet, and springs well up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. Some read this as a different atmosphere before the flood, and others take it as the ordinary ground fog of a dry season. Genesis records no rainfall until chapter 7.
This site's exposition
springs welled up from the earth
The Hebrew word is ed, used again only at Job 36:27. It waters the ground, adamah, and in verse 7 the man, adam, is formed from the dust of that ground. Adam Clarke held that God made everything ready and full grown before the man came to use it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
A commentator
Augustine of HippoTWO BOOKS ON GENESIS AGAINST THE MANICHAEANS 2.24.37 · Written before 430.
proposed
The gentle face of the earth, that is, the dignity of the earth, may be correctly viewed as the mother of the Lord, the Virgin Mary, who was watered by the Holy Spirit, who is signified in the Gospel by the term water.
Understand, O hearer, that although the days of creation were finished and God had blessed the sabbath day, which was sanctified, and he had completed his account, Moses still returned to tell the story of the beginning of creation even after the days of creation …
For it says, "The trees were not in existence and the vegetation had not yet sprouted, seeing that the Lord had not caused rain to fall on the earth. A fountain went up from the earth to irrigate the surface of the earth."
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 11 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
By means of diffusion, as of brightness out of light, of heat out of fire, of a river out of its headspring, of rain out of a full or humid cloud.
The saying that man and animals have a like beginning in generation is true of the body; for all animals alike are made of earth. But it is not true of the soul.
3 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
For the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground, but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
But there went up a mist from the earth,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
There went up a mist - This passage appears to have greatly embarrassed many commentators.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאֵ֖ד | veed | and water | H108 → | |
| יַֽעֲלֶ֣ה | yaaleh | <it> came up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| מִן־ | min- | from | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| הָאָ֑רֶץ | haaretz | the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| וְהִשְׁקָ֖ה | vehishkah | and it watered | H8248 → | 61 times |
| אֶֽת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| פְּנֵֽי־ | penei- | [the] surface of | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| הָֽאֲדָמָֽה׃ | haadamah | the ground | H127 → | 225 times |
וְאֵ֖דand water
veedH108 →
יַֽעֲלֶ֣ה<it> came up
yaalehH5927 →890 times
מִן־from
min-H4480 →1188 times
הָאָ֑רֶץthe earth
haaretzH776 →2504 times
וְהִשְׁקָ֖הand it watered
vehishkahH8248 →61 times
אֶֽת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
פְּנֵֽי־[the] surface of
penei-H6440 →2123 times
הָֽאֲדָמָֽה׃the ground
haadamahH127 →225 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies39
On this chapter
- Adam
- All Scripture Is God-Breathed
- The Numbers of Scripture
- The Covenants
- Creation and Evolution
- Creation to New Creation
Show the next 6 titles
Show the next 6 titles
- Eve: The Mother of All Living
- The Words Tov and Agathosyne
- Marriage and the Household
- The New Jerusalem
- The Words Erek Appayim and Makrothymia
- Sabbath Rest
Show the next 6 titles
- Two Traditions, One Song
- Whose Money Is It
- The Body and Sexual Ethics in Scripture
- The Fall & the Protoevangelium
- The Garden
- The Kingdom and Culture: Dominion, Transformation and Separation
Show the next 6 titles
About Genesis
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, TWO BOOKS ON GENESIS AGAINST THE MANICHAEANS 2.24.37; Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron); Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 11; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 2.2.1-2.3.1; Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary (church-history corpus); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary (church-history corpus).