1 And the heavens and the earth are completed, and all their host;
Epistle of Barnabas · AD 132 Further, He says to them, "Your new moons and your Sabbath I cannot endure." Ye perceive how He speaks: Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but that is which I have made, [namely this,] when, giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 You see, in saying at this point that God rested from his works, Scripture teaches us that he ceased creating and bringing from nonbeing into being on the seventh day, whereas Christ, in saying that "my father is at work up until now and I am at work," reveals his unceasing care for us: he calls "work" the maintenance of created things, bestowal of permanence on them and govern…
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 In recapitulating the Divine works, Scripture says (Genesis 2:1): "So the heavens and the earth were finished and all the furniture of them"
2 and God completeth by the seventh day His work which He hath made, and ceaseth by the seventh day from all His work which He hath made.
Hebrews · AD 69 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
Bede · AD 735 And he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. Not as if God rested like a weary man from excessive labor through human frailty after completing the world's creation; but He is said to have rested from all His work, because He ceased to create any new creature thereafter.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Rest is taken in two senses, in one sense meaning a cessation from work, in the other, the satisfying of desire. Now, in either sense God is said to have rested on the seventh day.
3 And God blesseth the seventh day, and sanctifieth it, for in it He hath ceased from all His work which God had prepared for making.
Ephrem the Syrian · AD 373 Just as the trees, the vegetation, the animals, the birds and even humankind were old, so also were they young. They were old according to the appearance of their limbs and their substances, yet they were young because of the hour and moment of their creation. Likewise, the moon was both old and young.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Heaven, too, will be the fulfillment of that sabbath rest foretold in the command: "Be still and see that I am God." This, indeed, will be that ultimate sabbath that has no evening and that the Lord foreshadowed in the account of his creation: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 He blessed: The blessing referred to the increase by multiplication; for which reason God said to the creatures which He blessed: "Increase and multiply." Now, this increase is effected through God's Providence over His creatures, securing the generation of like from like.
4 These are births of the heavens and of the earth in their being prepared, in the day of Jehovah God's making earth and heavens;
Ephrem the Syrian · AD 373 After speaking about the Sabbath rest, and how God had blessed and sanctified this day, Scripture returns to the narrative of the initial establishment of creation, this time passing over, with only a few words, things it had already spoken of and recounting at greater length matters it had previously omitted.
Bede · AD 735 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. With this conclusion, Scripture addresses those who assert that the world always existed without a beginning, or those who believe that the world was indeed made by God, but from material not made by God, but which was coeternal with the Creator and without beginning.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 When "the earth brought forth the green herb." But concerning the production of plants, Augustine's opinion differs from that of others. For other commentators, in accordance with the surface meaning of the text, consider that the plants were produced in act in their various species on this third day; whereas Augustine (Gen. ad lit.
5 and no shrub of the field is yet in the earth, and no herb of the field yet sprouteth, for Jehovah God hath not rained upon the earth, and a man there is not to serve the ground,
John Chrysostom · AD 407 The earth in compliance with the Lord's word and direction produced plants and was stirred into pangs of fertility without depending on the sun for assistance (how could it, after all, the sun not yet being created?), nor on the moisture from showers, nor on human labor (human beings, after all, not having been brought forth).
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Now God also makes the vegetation of the field, but by raining upon the earth; that is, he makes souls become green again by his word. But he waters them from the clouds, that is, from the writings of the prophets and apostles.
Bede · AD 735 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. For who does not see that these things could not have been said about the first creation of the earth when it was still void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the abyss?
6 and a mist goeth up from the earth, and hath watered the whole face of the ground.
Gaius Marius Victorinus · AD 370 Christ is that spring of which the prophet says, "It irrigates and waters the whole earth." But Christ irrigates the whole universe, both visible and invisible; with the spring of life he waters the substance of everything that exists.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 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.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 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. For the souls of brutes are produced by some power of the body; whereas the human soul is produced by God.
7 And Jehovah God formeth the man--dust from the ground, and breatheth into his nostrils breath of life, and the man becometh a living creature.
1 Corinthians · AD 55 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 Therefore the soul is not blood, because blood is of the flesh; nor is the soul a harmony, because harmony of this sort is also of the flesh; neither is the soul air, because blown breath is one thing and the soul something else.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 The body of the first man was so fashioned and from the slime of the earth formed, that nevertheless it was subject to the soul and in its own way proportionate, proportionate, I say, with respect to an equal temperament, with respect to a most beautiful and manifold organization, and with respect to uprightness of stature.
8 And Jehovah God planteth a garden in Eden, at the east, and He setteth there the man whom He hath formed;
Hippolytus of Rome · AD 235 Now these things we are under the necessity of setting forth at length, in order to disprove the supposition of others. For some choose to maintain that paradise is in heaven, and forms no part of the system of creation.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 I SEE YOUR INSATIABLE interest, your great enthusiasm and eager attention, and the way you are all coming to spiritual teaching expectant and impatient. On the other hand, I am conscious of my own great inadequacy.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 It should be noted that as a fruit delights both sight and taste, it delights the sense of sight mostly by its excellence and beauty, but the sense of taste, by its sweetness and flavor. Likewise, these theories sustain the intellect by their beauty, and the affective dispositions by their sweetness.
9 and Jehovah God causeth to sprout from the ground every tree desirable for appearance, and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Cyprian · AD 258 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.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Behold still another form of kindness out of regard for this creature. (109c) You see, since he wanted him to live in the garden, he ordered various trees to come forth from the earth, that could both delight him with their appearance and be pleasing to the taste.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 It is true that in this regard there comes the danger of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so that, after dismissing the tree of life by reason of the sweetness of emotions, the soul may wander around other sciences and go so far that it can no longer come back but is excluded from the delights of paradise and loses the flavor of the tree of life.
10 And a river is going out from Eden to water the garden, and from thence it is parted, and hath become four chief rivers;
Victorinus of Pettau · AD 304 Now is manifested the reason of the truth why the fourth day is called the Tetras, why we fast even to the ninth hour, or even to the evening, or why there should be a passing over even to the next day. Therefore this world of ours is composed of four elements-fire, water, heaven, earth. These four elements, therefore, form the quaternion of times or seasons.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 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.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 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. In the first diffusion, equality is lacking, for brightness is not the same as light.
11 the name of the one is Pison, it is that which is surrounding the whole land of the Havilah where the gold is,
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 "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.
Cosmas Indicopleustes · AD 550 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. And from there it was parted and became four heads.
Bede · AD 735 This is the one which encircles the whole land of Havilah. This is the region of India, deriving its name from being settled after the flood by Havilah, son of Joktan, who was the son of Eber the patriarch of the Hebrews, whom Josephus also reports with his brothers possessed the land from the river Cephen and the region of India to the place called Hieria.
12 and the gold of that land is good, there is the bdolach and the shoham stone;
Bede · AD 735 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 silver.
13 and the name of the second river is Gibon, it is that which is surrounding the whole land of Cush;
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 The second river is Gihon, by which, when they were sojourning in Egypt, was laid down the law of the Israelites that they should depart from Egypt, and having girded their loins they should as a sign of temperance partake of a lamb. It is fitting that the chaste and the sanctified should celebrate the Pasch of the Lord.
Bede · AD 735 And the name of the second river is Geon. It is the one which goes around all the land of Ethiopia. The name of the third river is Tigris. It goes towards the Assyrians. The fourth river is Euphrates.
14 and the name of the third river is Hiddekel, it is that which is going east of Asshur; and the fourth river is Phrat.
Ephrem the Syrian · AD 373 The four rivers, then, are these: the Pishon, which is the Danube; the Gihon, which is the Nile; and then the Tigris and the Euphrates, between which we dwell. Although the places from which they flow are known, the source of the spring is not known.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 The third river is the Tigris, which flows by the Assyrian land. To this river the deceiver Israel was dragged as a prisoner. This river is the swiftest of all rivers. The Assyrians dwell by it, guarding its course—for this is the meaning of its name.
15 And Jehovah God taketh the man, and causeth him to rest in the garden of Eden, to serve it, and to keep it.
Tertullian · AD 220 For (the title) God, indeed, which always belonged to Him, it names at the very first: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth;" Genesis 1:1 and as long as He continued making, one after the other, those things of which He was to be the Lord, it merely mentions God. "And God said," "and God made," "and God saw;" but nowhere do we yet find the Lord.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 15.) And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of delight. For delight, in Hebrew, it is called Eden. Therefore, the Seventy have interpreted it as delight. But Symmachus, who had just before translated it as flourishing paradise, here puts it as 'in the garden of the shore', which also signifies pleasantness and luxury.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Genesis 2: God placed man in paradise, that he might work: likewise, in chapter 3 of the same it was said to man sinning: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread, etc.
16 And Jehovah God layeth a charge on the man, saying, `Of every tree of the garden eating thou dost eat;
Tertullian · AD 220 Adam had received from God the law of not tasting "of the tree of recognition of good and evil," with the doom of death to ensue upon tasting.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 Why did He use the singular 'thou shalt eat' when He bade them eat of every tree, and, again, when He bade them eat of the tree of good and evil, why did He use the plural 'You shall not eat'? This is no trifling question. This problem can, in fact, be solved by the authority of the Scriptures if you study them carefully.
John Damascene · AD 749 The tree of knowledge of good and evil is the power of discernment by multidimensional vision. This is the complete knowing of one's own nature.
17 and of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou dost not eat of it, for in the day of thine eating of it--dying thou dost die.'
Tertullian · AD 220 The law, however, which you find fault with, and wrest into a subject of contention, was imposed on man by Goodness, aiming at his happiness, that he might cleave to God, and so not show himself an abject creature rather than a free one, nor reduce himself to the level of the other animals, his subjects, which were free from God, and exempt from all tedious subjection; but migh…
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Without good reason certain writers are deeply puzzled when they seek to discover how the tree of the knowledge of good and evil could have been so called before man broke God's commandment by touching it and from experience discerning the difference between the good that he lost and the evil that he committed.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 It is said in Genesis: "Of every tree that is in paradise, you shall eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in whatever hour you eat of it, you shall die the death." Adam with his wife contracted the vice of curiosity, when the devil said to them: "You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil": he also contracted the vice of carnality, when…
18 And Jehovah God saith, `Not good for the man to be alone, I do make to him an helper--as his counterpart.'
Philo of Alexandria · AD 50 (17) Why God says, "It is not good for man to be alone; let us make him a help meet for him?" [Gen 2:18] By these words God intimates that there is to be a communion, not with all men, but with those who are willing to be assisted and in their turn to assist others, even though they may scarcely have any power to do so; since love consists not more in utility than in the harmon…
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 Still another question arises, that concerning the saying of the Lord: 'It is not good for man to be alone.' [ Gen 2:18 ] Recognize the fact, first of all, that, when God created man from the slime of the earth, He did not add: 'God saw that it was good,' [ Gen 1:14 ] as He did in the case of each of His works.
Bede · AD 735 The Lord God also said: It is not good for man to be alone, let us make a helper suitable for him. And this speech of God is to be believed to have been made not by a corporeal voice emitted externally into the air, but on earth by the intention of the divine will, through which all things were created, ineffably, according to what we also taught above, where it is written: Let…
19 And Jehovah God formeth from the ground every beast of the field, and every fowl of the heavens, and bringeth in unto the man, to see what he doth call it; and whatever the man calleth a living creature, that is its name.
Philo of Alexandria · AD 50 (20) Why did God bring every animal to man, that he might give them their names? [Gen 2:19] He has here explained a great source of perplexity to the students of philosophy, admonishing them that names proceed from having been given, and not from nature; for a natural nomenclature is with peculiar fitness assigned to each creature when a man of wisdom and pre-eminent knowledge…
Severian of Gabala · AD 425 While Adam had been given the whole earth, he had been given paradise for his home. He could leave and go out of paradise, but there was not a habitable place for humans beyond its borders—only for senseless animals, four-footed animals, wild monsters and crawling bugs. His "basilica" and "palace" was located in paradise.
Bede · AD 735 For whatever Adam called every living soul, that was its name; and Adam gave names to all the animals of the earth, to all the birds of the sky, and to all the beasts of the earth. It is evident that Adam in that language, in which all of mankind spoke until the construction of the tower when languages were divided, named the animals of the earth and the birds of the sky.
20 And the man calleth names to all the cattle, and to fowl of the heavens, and to every beast of the field; and to man hath not been found an helper--as his counterpart.
Ephrem the Syrian · AD 373 They were not actually "fashioned," for the earth produced the animals, and the water the birds. [Gen. 1:20] By saying "fashioned" Scripture wishes to indicate that all animals, reptiles, cattle and birds came into being as a result of the combining of earth and water.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 I AM VERY GRATIFIED by you for the fact that yesterday you received with great enthusiasm the exhortation we gave and, far from being upset at the length of the discourse, you followed it to the very end in such a way that your desire for listening reached great heights and continued at that level.
Bede · AD 735 But for Adam there was not found a helper like him. Therefore, the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam; and while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and filled up flesh for it. And the Lord God built the rib which he had taken from Adam into a woman.
21 And Jehovah God causeth a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he sleepeth, and He taketh one of his ribs, and closeth up flesh in its stead.
Philo of Alexandria · AD 50 (25) What the rib is which God took from the man whom he had formed out of the earth, and which he made into a woman? [Gen 2:21-22] The letter of this statement is plain enough; for it is expressed according to a symbol of the part, a half of the whole, each party, the man and the woman, being as sections of nature co-equal for the production of that genus which is called man.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 "God caused drowsiness to come upon Adam," the text says, "and he slept." It wasn't simply drowsiness that came upon him nor normal sleep; instead the wise and skillful creator of our nature was about to remove one of Adam's ribs.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 In Genesis: "The Lord cast a deep sleep upon Adam, and when he had fallen asleep, he took one of his ribs" and made a woman "and brought her to Adam." And why, while he slept, did He take one of his ribs? Could He not have done this while he was awake? This is mystical. Was not the Church formed from the side of Christ, when Christ fell asleep on the cross?
22 And Jehovah God buildeth up the rib which He hath taken out of the man into a woman, and bringeth her in unto the man;
Ephrem the Syrian · AD 373 "The Lord cast a stillness on Adam and he slept; He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. And the Lord made the rib that He had taken from Adam into a woman, and He brought her to Adam." [ Gen. 2:21,2:22 ] Now the man, who was wakeful, anointed with radiance, and as yet ignorant of what sleep was, fell naked on the ground and slept.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Scripture says that the woman was made as man's helper so that by spiritual union she might bring forth spiritual offspring, that is, the good works of divine praise, while he rules and she obeys. He is ruled by wisdom; she, by the man. For Christ is the head of the man, and the man is the head of the woman.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 The woman was formed from the side of the man as a companion and help for immaculate propagation. In that state the body was such that from it there would be a seminal separation for the propagation of offspring through the assistance of the female sex equally co-principiating.
23 and the man saith, `This is the proper step! bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh!' for this it is called Woman, for from a man hath this been taken;
Clement of Rome · AD 99 To these men who spent their lives in the practice of holiness, there is to be added a great multitude of the elect, who, having through envy endured many indignities and tortures, furnished us with a most excellent example.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 23.) Now this is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. It does not seem to sound in Greek and Latin why she is called Woman, because she was taken out of Man; but the etymology is preserved in the Hebrew language. For Man is called 'Is', and Woman is called 'Issa'.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Conjugal chastity accords with the law of nature by reason of the revelation shown from above. For Adam prophetically said after his deep sleep: This now is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. Wherefore a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall be in one flesh.
24 therefore doth a man leave his father and his mother, and hath cleaved unto his wife, and they have become one flesh.
1 Corinthians · AD 55 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. [Genesis 2:24] But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication.
Ephrem the Syrian · AD 373 He said "a man shall leave his father and his mother and attach himself to his wife " [ Gen. 2:24 ] so that they might be united and the two of them become one, without division, as they were originally.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Conjugal chastity accords with the law of nature by reason of the revelation shown from above. For Adam prophetically said after his deep sleep: This now is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. Wherefore a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall be in one flesh.
25 And they are both of them naked, the man and his wife, and they are not ashamed of themselves.
Ephrem the Syrian · AD 373 Following this it says, "The two of them were naked, but they were not ashamed. " [ Gen. 2:25 ] It was not because they were ignorant of what shame was that they were not ashamed; for had they been infants, as the pagans say, Scripture would not have said that "they were naked but were not ashamed," nor would it have spoken of "Adam and his wife" had they not been adults.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 [Man and woman] were aware, of course, of their nakedness, but they felt no shame, because no desire stirred their organs in defiance of their deliberate decision. The time had not yet come when the rebellion of the flesh was a witness and reproach to the rebellion of man against his Maker.
Bede · AD 735 And they were both naked. Adam and his wife, and were not ashamed. "And rightly so, for why would they feel shame when they perceived no law in their members opposing the law of their mind?