Genesis 3:23

Therefore the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The LORD God executes judgment immediately after declaring it in Genesis 3:22, removing Adam from the Garden of Eden. This action concludes the fall narrative before the cherubim are stationed in Genesis 3:24.

The words — The verb וַֽ/יְשַׁלְּחֵ֛/הוּ (va/y.sha.le.Che./hu) literally means "and he sent him out." The phrase לַֽ/עֲבֹד (la./'a.Vod) means "to till" or "to work" the ground.

The thread — The command to work the ground appears in Genesis 3:19, where Adam is told he will eat bread by the sweat of his brow. The motif recurs in Genesis 4:2 and Genesis 4:12 with Cain’s tilling of the soil and its subsequent refusal to yield.

Why it lands — The text states that human labor is now a forced consequence of exile rather than a prior blessing. It requires the reader to acknowledge that survival outside the garden depends on toiling the very ground from which humanity was formed.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וַֽיְשַׁלְּחֵ֛הוּva/y.sha.le.Che./huand/ he sent out/ him יְהוָ֥הYah.wehYahweh אֱלֹהִ֖ים'E.lo.HimGod מִגַּן־mi./gan-from/ [the] garden of עֵ֑דֶן'E.denEden לַֽעֲבֹד֙la./'a.Vodto/ till אֶת־'et-<obj.>הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔הha./'a.da.Mahthe/ ground אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.Sherwhere לֻקַּ֖חlu.Kachhe was taken מִשָּֽׁם׃mi./Shamfrom/ there

King James Version

Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

Cross-references

Genesis 4:2 Later she gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, while Cain was a tiller of the soil.
Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 4:12 When you till the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”
Genesis 2:5 Now no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth, nor had any plant of the field sprouted, for the LORD God had not yet sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.
Ecclesiastes 5:9 The produce of the earth is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.
Genesis 9:20 Now Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.