Genesis 2:23-25
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
23 the man said:
“This one, at last, is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
This one shall be called ‘woman,’
for out of man this one has been taken.”[a]
24 (A)That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.[b]
25 The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.[c]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 2:23 The man recognizes an affinity with the woman God has brought him. Unlike the animals who were made from the ground, she is made from his very self. There is a play on the similar-sounding Hebrew words ’ishsha (“woman,” “wife”) and ’ish (“man,” “husband”).
- 2:24 One body: lit., “one flesh.” The covenant of marriage establishes kinship bonds of the first rank between the partners.
- 2:25 They felt no shame: marks a new stage in the drama, for the reader knows that only young children know no shame. This draws the reader into the next episode, where the couple’s disobedience results in their loss of innocence.
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