Genesis 2:23

23 Then the man said, "This at last is ¹bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was ²taken out of Man."^[a]

Genesis 2:23 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 2:23

And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh
of my flesh
Of "his bones", because made out of a pair of his ribs, as some think, one on each side, and therefore expressed in the plural number, "and of his flesh", a part of which was taken with the rib; this Adam knew, either being awake while she was made, though asleep when the rib was taken out; or by divine revelation, by an impress of it on his mind; or it might have been declared to him in a dream, while asleep, when, being in an ecstasy or trance, this whole affair was represented unto him: and this was "now" done, just done, and would be done no more in like manner; "this time" ^F15, this once, as many render it; so it was, but hereafter the woman was to be produced in the way of generation, as man: she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man:
her name was "Ishah", because taken from "Ish", as "vira" in Latin from "vir", and "woman" in our language from "man".

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 (Meph taz) "hac vice", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Vatablus, so the Targum; (touto apax) , Symmachus & Theodotion; "hoc semel", Fagius.

Genesis 2:23 In-Context

21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

23 Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 29:14; Judges 9:2; 2 Samuel 5:1; 2 Samuel 19:13; [Ephesians 5:28-30]
• 2. 1 Corinthians 11:8

Footnotes

• [a]. The Hebrew words for woman (ishshah) and man (ish) sound alike