Chapter Five: And God Rested

The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed, to tend and keep it. And then the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” God had named the man Adam, and now gave Adam his first task. God brought every beast of the field and bird of the air which He had formed to Adam, and whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. Adam had begun to serve the Lord, as God blessed Him to be able to. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to Him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and He took one of the ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, a beautiful creation, made in His image just like the man, to serve and love. God brought the woman to the man, and Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore the two shall come together as one under God, to signify a great unity in the Lord, and to foreshadow a greater purpose yet to come. God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested. He blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work.