Genesis 2:13 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 2:8-15

Man consisting of body and soul, a body made out of the earth and a rational immortal soul the breath of heaven, we have, in these verses, the provision that was made for the happiness of both; he that made him took care to make him happy, if he could but have kept himself so and known when he was well off. That part of man by which he is allied to the world of sense was made happy; for he was put in the paradise of God: that part by which he is allied to the world of spirits was well provided... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 2:13

And the name of the second river is Gihon ,.... There was one of this name in the land of Israel, which, or a branch of it, flowed near Jerusalem, 1 Kings 1:33 this Aben Ezra suggests is here meant, and which favours the notion of the above learned man, that the garden of Eden was in the land of Israel. Josephus F8 Antiqu, l. 1. c. 1. sect. 3. Philostorg. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 10. p. 482. takes it to be the river Nile, as do many others; it seems to have been a branch of the river... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 2:8-17

Man's first dwelling-place. The description of Eden commences an entirely new stage in the record. We are now entering upon the history of humanity as such. I. The first fact in that history is a state of " PLEASANTNESS ." The garden is planted by God. The trees are adapted to human life, to support it, to gratify it; and in the midst of the garden the two trees which represent the two most important facts with which revelation is about to deal, viz; immortality and sin. II. ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 2:13

And the name of the second is the Gihon , or "the bursting," from גֵּיחַ , to break forth. "Deep-flowing," T . Lewis renders it, connecting it with ω ̔ κεανο ì ς , and identifying it with Homer's βαθυῤῥόος ὠκεανός . The same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia (Cush). Under the impression that the African Cush was meant, the Alexandrine Jews discovered the Gihon in the Nile—an opinion in which they have been followed by Schulthess, Gesenius, Furst,... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Genesis 2:8-14

- XI. The Garden8. גן gan “garden, park,” παράδεισος paradeisos, “an enclosed piece of ground.” עדן ‛ēden “Eden, delight.” קדם qedem “fore-place, east; foretime.”11. פישׁון pı̂yshôn Pishon; related: “flow over, spread, leap.” חוילה chăvı̂ylâh Chavilah. חול chôl “sand.” חבל chebel “region.”12. בדלם bedolam, ἄνθραξ anthrax, “carbuncle,” (Septuagint) Βδέλλιον bdellion, a gum of eastern countries, Arabia, India, Media (Josephus, etc.). The pearl (Kimchi). שׁהם sohām πράσινος prasinos,... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Genesis 2:10-14

Genesis 2:10-14 . A river went out of Eden This river, branching itself into four streams, contributed much both to the pleasantness and fertility of the garden. Hiddekel and Euphrates are rivers of Babylon: but we need not wonder that the rise and situation of all these rivers cannot now be perfectly ascertained, considering the great changes produced in the state of the earth, as well by earthquakes as by the general deluge. Havilah had gold, and spices, and precious stones: ... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Genesis 2:4-25

2:4-4:26 EARLY HUMAN LIFELife in the Garden of Eden (2:4-25)From this point on, the story concentrates on the people God made, rather than on other features of the created universe. Again the Bible states that the world was not always as it is now, but was prepared stage by stage till it was suitable for human habitation. God created Adam (meaning ‘man’ or ‘mankind’) not out of nothing, but out of materials he had previously created. Like the other animals, Adam had his physical origins in the... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Genesis 2:13

verses 8-14 Figure of speech Parecbasis. App-6 . Gihon = the river E. of the Tigris. The modern Kerkhah, and ancient Khoaspes, rising in the mountains of the Kassi. Kas has been confused with the Heb, Cush. It is not the African Cush or Ethiopia, but the Accadian kas. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Genesis 2:10-14

"And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted and became four heads. The name of the first is Pishon; that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel that is it which goeth in front of Assyria. And the fourth river is... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 2:4-17

The creation of Man 2:4-17The differences between Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:3 and Genesis 2:4-25 have led many literary critics of the Bible to insist that two different writers composed these sections. But the similarities between these sections argue for a common writer. [Note: See William H. Shea, "Literary Structural Parallels between Genesis 1, 2," Origins 16:2(1989):49-68.] read more