Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground: then translates the ordinary Hebrew linking form waw; but here it marks a transition to the opening of a creative act, everything before having been description of the setting. Translators should show that this is a step forward in the story action. For LORD God see verse 4.
Formed translates a word meaning “to shape, mold, fashion.” In Isa 29.16; 41.25, the word is used to refer to the work of a potter. See also Psa 94.9; 95.5; 104.26. The term is used more figuratively in Isa 27.11 with the sense of shaping a nation, or of determining historical events in Isa 22.11 (“planned it”); 37.26 (“planned”); 46.11 (“purposed”).
Many languages have creation stories that are similar to this, in that a creator molds human beings and animals from local materials; and the terms used in these stories will generally be suitable equivalents for the Hebrew verb used here.
Man and ground are the same as used in Gen 2.5. Good News Translation and many others provide a footnote on verse 7 to show the play on words between ʾadam and ʾadamah. Such a note can have a wider function than merely showing the similarity of the words for “man” and “ground.” For example, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says “The Hebrew text uses here the word ʾadam, which is translated ‘man,’ and which is related to the word ʾadamah, which means ‘ground.’ But ʾadam is also the proper noun ‘Adam,’ and is translated thus from 4.25 onward.” It will be well for translators to decide where the personal name “Adam” will be introduced. To assist you in making this decision, a discussion of the problem and suggestions are given in the section “Translating ʾadam,” in “Translating Genesis,” page 11.
Dust from the ground: dust translates a word that is more appropriately rendered “clods, lumps of earth, soil, or dirt.” Dust in English refers to dirt that has become like fine powder, easily carried by the wind or floating in the air.
The expression formed man of dust from the ground is quite complex in many languages, and it may need to be translated as two or more actions. For example, in some translations this is expressed as “Then the LORD God took some earth, and he made a man with it….”
And breathed into his nostrils may require some adjustment in translation; for example, “God blew into the man’s nostrils” or “God sent his breath into the man’s nostrils.” The breath of life is to be understood as “the breath that gives life” or “the breath that causes the man to live.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates “Then the LORD God breathed into his [the man’s] nose and gave him life.”
Translators need to use the word breathed with caution, since such action is sometimes associated with causing a person deadly harm; for example, by sending a harmful spirit into a person. In such cases it may be necessary to make clear the purpose of this action; for example, “In order to give him life, God breathed into the man’s nostrils.” In some languages there is no noun-like word for “life,” and so it is necessary to say “caused him to live” or “made him into a man that lives.”
And man became a living being has sometimes been translated “… became a living soul” (King James Version). As in 1.20, 21, 24, where it is applied to the birds and animals, living being translates nefesh hayyah. See also 2.19. In Num 6.6 and 19.13, nefesh refers to a dead body; but in reference to a living human being, it means “living being,” or “person.” The purpose of the writer in chapter 1 is to say that God’s creation of animals made them “living creatures”; and in the same way here in chapter 2, the creation of the man made him likewise a “living creature” or “living being.” Good News Translation translates this term as “began to live,” which is often used in languages that do not express living as a term describing a noun.
Some languages must make clear the transitions in a series of events. In verse 7 there are three events indicated by formed, breathed, and became. In such cases it may be necessary to say “… after God formed the man, he breathed into his nostrils. When he had breathed into the man’s nostrils, the man began to live.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .