Genesis 2
1The word for “work,” here and in verse 3, is closely related to the word in Hebrew for “angel,” which reflects the concept of use.
2In Hebrew, the verb here translated “ceased” is related to the word “Sabbath”: “Because there is a difference between the celestial man and the spiritual man, the rest of the former is expressed in the original language by a word which means the Sabbath, while the rest of the latter is expressed by another word, from which the name Noah is derived, which properly means ‘rest’” (AC 851).
3“Jehovah” is how this name of the Lord is always spelled in the Heavenly Doctrine. In Latin, the “J” is pronounced as a “Y” and the “v” as a “w,” which agrees with the Hebrew. So although spelled “Jehovah,” it should be pronounced “Yehowah,” with the accent on the last syllable.
4“Man at his birth is like soil in which no seeds have been planted, but in which all seeds, both noble and ignoble, may be planted. This is why man was called Homo [man], from Humus [soil], and Adam [Hebrew for ‘man’], from Adama, which means soil” (TCR 48:13; see also AC 313).
5“The word ‘red’ in the original language is adam, from which is the name Adam, and also... the ground is called adama...; thus these names and things are from red” (AE 364:7).
6“Lives” is plural because it refers to both the life of the will and the life of the understanding (see AC 3623).
7as in Coronis 27
8literally, “commanded on the man” (as in AC 125, but see AE 617:15)
9“Eating thou shalt eat”: Hebrew commonly combines two forms of the same verb in this way. The Heavenly Doctrine consistently preserves this repetition and explains, “In the Word ... in each and every thing there is a likeness of a marriage, and a relation to the heavenly marriage. It is so here [Genesis 6:22], in that the one word is repeated” (AC 683).
10literally, “called”
11“To ‘build’ is to raise up that which has fallen” (AC 153).
12AC 151-156 uses the Latin word for “woman” (mulier) here, but in the next verse the Latin word for “wife” (uxor) is used. Hebrew has one word for both “woman” and “wife.” Here and elsewhere we follow the Latin as to which way to translate this word.
13This word for “man” in Hebrew is ish, and the word for “woman” is ishah.