⁸ ·Then the Lord God [or The Lord God had] planted a garden in the east [^Cprobably east of Palestine], in a place called Eden [^Crelated to a word meaning “luxurious”], and put the man he had formed into it. ⁹ The Lord God caused every ·beautiful [^Ldesirous to see] tree and every tree that was good for food to grow out of the ground. In the middle of the garden, God put the tree ·that gives life [^Tof life] and also the tree ·that gives the knowledge [^Tof the knowledge] of good and evil.

¹⁰ A river flowed through Eden and watered the garden. From there the river ·branched out [divides] to become four ·rivers [^Lheads]. ¹¹ The first river, named Pishon [^Cotherwise unknown], flows around the whole land of Havilah [^Cotherwise unknown], where there is gold. ¹² The gold of that land is excellent. Bdellium [^Ca sweet-smelling resin like myrrh] and onyx [^Ca precious stone] are also found there. ¹³ The second river, named Gihon [^Ca small stream in Jerusalem (1 Kin. 1:33), but here perhaps referring to another river], flows around the whole land of Cush [^Coften referring to Ethiopia, but here likely a place in Mesopotamia; see 10:7]. ¹⁴ The third river, named Tigris [^Ca major river in Mesopotamia], flows out of Assyria [^Cin northern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq)] toward the east. The fourth river is the Euphrates [^Ca major river in Mesopotamia; the location of Eden is uncertain, but this passage suggests Mesopotamia].