And the LORD God planted a garden: And is here used as a link word that shows the next act in the series is now to begin; this may be expressed, for example, “Then, Afterward, Later, Following that.” For LORD God see verse 4. Planted translates a verb meaning to put something into the soil so that it will grow. It is used of a vineyard in Gen 9.20 and of olive trees in Deut 6.11. Garden as used here gives the picture of a park or orchard, and not simply a vegetable garden, or a place where grass, shrubs, and flowers grow around a house. In translation the term used should refer to a fairly large area under cultivation, where trees also grow. The Septuagint translates garden by a word meaning “paradise”; but this word, which has been taken over into many languages, often carries with it popular ideas that distort the biblical picture. In languages in which the common word for garden refers only to a food garden, some other term or expression should be used in this context. One translation, for instance, has “In the east … the LORD God made ready a good place [to live] for the man.”

Eden is the geographical name of the land or region where the garden is located, whose location is unknown today. Another Hebrew word that sounds the same as Eden and means “luxury, delight” should not be confused with this place name. The place name Eden later became associated with the word for luxury and delight. In the east gives further information about the location of the garden. The place is east of the writer, not east of Eden, and so it may be advisable to say, for example, “in the lands east of Israel,” “in the lands east of Judah,” or “… east of the Jordan river.” In some languages east is expressed as “where the sun rises” or “beyond big mountain.”

And there he put the man whom he had formed serves to close the creative event begun in Gen 2.7. There means “in the garden.”

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 .