Gen 2:2 – TIPs

God finished the work that he had done

The Hebrew in Genesis 2:2 that is translated as “God finished the work that he had done” in English is translated in Makonde as “God had finished all the work of creation” to to make it clear that God was finished creating it was not going to continue later. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

rest (after creation)

The Hebrew term that is typically translated as “rest” in English is translated in Bari as “stand.” P. Guillebaud (in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 189ff. ) explains: “The normal word for ‘rest,’ yukan, which had been used originally had to be rejected, because, as [the language assistant] Daniele pointed out, it also means taking a rest or ‘breather,’ and so implies the resumption of work after a pause. As the point here is the cessation of work, we had to use a different term altogether, literally ‘God stood from work.’ (In Exod. 31:17 God is said to have ‘rested’ and to have ‘refreshed himself’ after the labours of creation.)”

In Orma it is translated as “God removed his hand.” George Payton explains: “We were translating Genesis, and we came to the verse in 2:2 where God ‘rested’ from the work of creating. Of course we did not want to communicate that God was tired from that work, as the English suggests. So I asked my translator, ‘When you finish working in your field preparing it before the rainy season and you have done all you can, there is nothing more you can do until it rains. What would you say that you have done in relation to the work? Finished? Stopped? Or something else?’ He said, ‘I would say that I removed my hand from that work, meaning it was finished and I am done with it.’ In 2:2 we used what he said and rendered the verse ‘On the 7th day God removed his hand from all the work that he had done.'”

he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done

For the phrase “he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done,” see Hebrews 4:4.

on the seventh day God finished the work

The Hebrew in Genesis 2:2 that is translated as “on the seventh day God finished the work” or similar in English is rendered in the Ancient Greek Septuagint translation as “on the sixth day God finished the work” (συνετέλεσεν ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἕκτῃ τὰ ἔργα), “reflecting concern known elsewhere in Jewish traditions to resolve the apparent problem, recording in Genesis 2:2 that God finished his work but resting completely.” (Source: Law 2013, p. 46)

The Russian Synodal, that predominantly uses the Greek Septuagint as its base text, strikes a compromise of sorts in its translation: “by the seventh day, God had finished the work.” The Udmurt and Chuvash versions that follow the Russian Synodal translation, the same translation has been chosen. Note that Udmurt and Chuvash are spoken in heavily Orthodox areas. (Source: Andrei S. Desnitsky in The Bible Translator 2005, p. 245ff. )

Genesis 2 in Jamaican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Genesis 2 into Jamaican Sign Language:

Source: Jamaican Sign Language Bible Translation

2:1 God had finished creating the heavens and the earth and everything in them. This took seven days, so God worked for seven days creating the heavens and the earth and all the things He placed in them.

2:2 On the seventh day God rested.

2:3 God blessed the seventh day as His own special day. Why? Because he had completed His work creating the heavens and the earth and on this day He rested.

2:4 So that is it.

The heavens and the earth were created by Yahweh a very long time ago. This story is about what happened afterwards.

2:5 The earth had not yet grown green grass or trees. Why? Because Yahweh had not yet made it rain on the earth. There was also no one to sow the land and take care of the plants.

2:6 From deep within the earth, water sprang up and spread over the ground [mud]. This was used to create human.

2:7 Yahweh took this mud from the ground and formed a human. And Yahweh breathed life into the human and he inhaled and became living.

2:8 In the east, Yahweh planted a garden, He named this garden Eden. Then Yahweh took the human he created and placed him in the garden.

2:9 In the garden there were beautiful trees of every different kind that all produced fruits that were good to eat. Among all these trees stood one tree in the middle of the garden that was the tree of life. Next to it was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If someone eats from the tree of life, they will live forever. If they eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they will come to know good and evil.

2:10 A river flowed out of the garden of Eden that nourished the trees. It parted and became four rivers.

2:11 The first river was called Pishon which flowed out into the land called Havilah. Havilah had these three things: a lot of gold,

2:12 Bdellium [gum from a tree that is used to make fragrance] and onyx [a shiny black stone].

2:13 The second river Gihon, which flowed out into the land called Cush.

2:14 The third river called Tigris, flowed out into the land called Assyria in the east. And the fourth river was called Euphrates

2:15 Yahweh placed the human in the garden of Eden to work and take care of it.

2:16 Yahweh commanded the human, “You may eat from any tree in this garden.

2:17 But the tree in the middle- the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you must not eat from this tree. If you disobey me and eat from this tree your life will be ruined and you will die.”

2:18 Yahweh looked at the human and said, “He is lonely, this is not good. I will create another person to help him.”

2:19 Yahweh had already created all the animals. He called all the animals to the man, all the four-legged beasts, the crawling creatures and winged animals, He called them to the man.

2:20 And the man gave names to all the animals. The man gave names to all the animals, to the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the forest, he named them all. The man saw that there were many, many animals but none was human like him.

2:21 So Yahweh caused the man to fall into a very deep sleep. As he slept, Yahweh took one of his ribs from his body and then healed his skin.

2:22 Then Yahweh used the man’s rib to create a woman. He sent her to the man. The man awoke and saw the woman.

2:23 He said, “Finally! A person like me. We are both bone and flesh. We are the same. She was created from my rib. She is ‘woman,’ my companion.”

2:24 This is why a man leaves his mother, his father and family to find a woman who will become his wife and they two will become one.

2:25 The man and the woman were both naked, but they were not ashamed.

Back-translation by Amakedia Wallen, coordinated by Tashi Widmer

complete verse (Genesis 2:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 2:2:

Kankanaey: “When the seventh day arrived, that was when- God -rested, because his work was completely/already finished.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “With six days God finished all His work and on the seventh day He rested.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “He finished this within six days, and on the seventh day he rested from all his work.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “By the time it was the seventh day, God had finished the work of creating everything, so he did not work any more on that day.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

respectful form of "do" (nasaru)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way to do this is through the usage of lexical honorific forms, i.e., completely different words, as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, nasaru (なさる), the respectful form of suru (する) or “do,” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("stop")