KING JAMES VERSION (KJV)
TRANSLATION, MEANING, CONTEXT
To get what Genesis 2:21 means based on its source text, scroll down or follow these links for the original scriptural meaning , biblical context and relative popularity.
“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;”
What does this verse really mean? Use this table to get a word-for-word translation of the original Hebrew Scripture. This shows the English words related to the source biblical texts along with brief definitions. Follow the buttons in the right-hand column for detailed definitions and verses that use the same root words. Use this reference information to gain deeper insight into the Bible and enrich your understanding. Information based on Strong's Exhaustive Concordance[1].
| KJV Verse | Original Hebrew | Meaning/ Definition This is a simplified translation of the original Hebrew word. Follow the buttons on the right to get more detail. | More Use the buttons below to get details on the Hebrew word and view related Bible verses that use the same root word. |
|---|---|---|---|
| “And the Lord” | יְהוָ֨ה | (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jeho-vah, Jewish national name of God | Lord |
| “God” | אֱלֹהִ֧ים׀ | Gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative | God |
| “caused a deep sleep” | תַּרְדֵּמָ֛ה | A lethargy or (by implication) trance | caused deep sleep |
| “to fall” | וַיַּפֵּל֩ | To fall, in a great variety of applications (intransitive or causative, literal or figurative) | fall |
| “upon” | עַל | Above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications | upon |
| “Adam,” | הָאָדָ֖ם | Ruddy i.e., a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.) | Adam |
| “and he slept:” | וַיִּישָׁ֑ן | Properly, to be slack or languid, i.e., (by implication) sleep (figuratively, to die); also to grow old, stale or inveterate | slept |
| “and he took” | וַיִּקַּ֗ח | To take (in the widest variety of applications) | took |
| “one” | אַחַת֙ | Properly, united, i.e., one; or (as an ordinal) first | one |
| “of his ribs,” | מִצַּלְעֹתָ֔יו | A rib (as curved), literally (of the body) or figuratively (of a door, i.e., leaf); hence, a side, literally (of a person) or figuratively (of an object or the sky, i.e., quarter); architecturally, a (especially floor or ceiling) timber or plank (single or collective, i.e., a flooring) | ribs |
| “and closed up” | וַיִּסְגֹּ֥ר | To shut up; figuratively, to surrender | closed up |
| “the flesh” | בָּשָׂ֖ר | Flesh (from its freshness); by extension, body, person; also (by euphemistically) the pudenda of a man | flesh |
| “instead” | תַּחְתֶּֽנָּה׃ | The bottom (as depressed); only adverbially, below (often with prepositional prefix underneath), in lieu of, etc | instead |
| “thereof;” | תַּחְתֶּֽנָּה׃ | The bottom (as depressed); only adverbially, below (often with prepositional prefix underneath), in lieu of, etc | thereof |
See Genesis 2:21 with its adjacent verses in bold below. Follow either of the two large buttons below to see these verses in their broader context of the King James Bible or a Bible concordance.
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19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
The King James Bible (1611) and Strong's Concordance (1890) with Hebrew and Greek dictionaries are sourced from the BibleForgeDB database (https://github.com/bibleforge) within the BibleForge project (http://bibleforge.com). Popularity rankings are based on search volume data from the Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool.