On Thu, 14 Mar 2002, Allen Roy wrote:
>
> There is a simple solution to this apparent conundrum. The NIV translates
> it this way: GE 2:19 "Now the LORD God HAD FORMED out of the ground all the
> beasts of the field and all the birds of the air." This makes verse 19
> parenthetical; referring to what God HAD previously done. Thus God brings
> to Adam the beasts and birds which had been previously created for Adam to
> name.
>
> The same thing goes for verses 7 and 8.
>
> GE 2:7 the LORD God formed the man* from the dust of the ground and
> breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living
> being.
>
> GE 2:8 Now the LORD God HAD PLANTED a garden in the east, in Eden; and
> there he put the man he had formed.
>
Hebrew verbs have only two tenses. Thus translators may feel free to
choose whichever of our English past tenses makes the most sense to them.
The NIV translators have done this apparently to avoid an apparent
contradiction between Gen. 1 and Gen. 2, although some commentators are
not comfortable with what they did. I don't think they had to do this in
verse 8 since "plant" does not mean "create".
Gordon Brown
Department of Mathematics
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0395
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