The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field: man translates Hebrew ʾadam without the article, and so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends “Adam”; however, most modern translations agree with Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. See discussion in the section “Translating ʾadam” in “Translating Genesis,” page 11. The classification of land animals is now domestic, wild animals, and birds. Nothing is said about the group of small creeping animals. The order differs here from that in 1.20, 24.

But for the man there was not found a helper fit for him: in spite of having looked at and named each of the animals and birds, the man did not find what he was looking for. A helper fit for him is as in verse 18. The passive construction in this clause will have to be made active in many languages; for example, “the man did not find….” Alternatively the expression there was not found may be taken as an idiomatic way of saying “there wasn’t”; for example, one translation has “But in all that lot there wasn’t a real mate for him. No.”

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 .