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Thursday, July 17th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Genesis 2:18

God said, "It's not good for the Man to be alone; I'll make him a helper, a companion." So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn't find a suitable companion.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Adam;   God;   Wife;   Women;   Scofield Reference Index - Deity;   Eight Covenants;   Thompson Chain Reference - Association-Separation;   Associations;   Co-Operation;   Companionship;   Unity-Strife;   Wives;   Women;   The Topic Concordance - Creation;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Man;   Marriage;   Woman;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Eve;   Marriage;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Adam;   Eve;   Fornication;   Marriage;   Women;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Abortion;   Adam;   Eve;   Fulfillment;   God;   Head, Headship;   Marriage;   Sexuality, Human;   Teach, Teacher;   Woman;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Covenant;   Law;   Marriage;   Sabbath;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Help-Meet;   Marriage;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Creation;   Ethics;   Fall;   Genesis;   Gift, Giving;   Helpmeet;   Image of God;   Marriage;   Sex, Biblical Teaching on;   Tree of Life;   Woman;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Adam;   Eden, Garden of;   Ethics;   Generation;   Hexateuch;   Man;   Marriage;   Woman;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Marriage;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Adam;   Eve;   Marriage;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Garden of Eden;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Anthropology;   Eve, in the Old Testament;   Good;   Help;   Marriage;   Polygamy;   Woman;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Adam;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Aquila (Βλώμβσ);   Köcher, Hermann Friedrich;   Marriage;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for July 12;   Today's Word from Skip Moen - Devotion for June 24;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
The LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."
King James Version
And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
Lexham English Bible
Then Yahweh God said, "it is not good that the man is alone. I will make for him a helper as his counterpart."
New Century Version
Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is right for him."
New English Translation
The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him."
Amplified Bible
Now the LORD God said, "It is not good (beneficial) for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper [one who balances him—a counterpart who is] suitable and complementary for him."
New American Standard Bible
Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."
Geneva Bible (1587)
Also the Lorde God saide, It is not good that the man should be himself alone: I wil make him an helpe meete for him.
Legacy Standard Bible
Then Yahweh God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."
Contemporary English Version
The Lord God said, "It isn't good for the man to live alone. I need to make a suitable partner for him."
Complete Jewish Bible
Adonai , God, said, "It isn't good that the person should be alone. I will make for him a companion suitable for helping him."
Darby Translation
And Jehovah Elohim said, It is not good that Man should be alone; I will make him a helpmate, his like.
Easy-to-Read Version
Then the Lord God said, "I see that it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make the companion he needs, one just right for him."
English Standard Version
Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him."
George Lamsa Translation
Then the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper who is like him.
Good News Translation
Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to live alone. I will make a suitable companion to help him."
Christian Standard Bible®
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.”
Literal Translation
And Jehovah God said, It is not good, the man being alone. I will make a helper suited to him.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And the LORDE God sayde: It is not good yt ma shulde be alone. I wil make him an helpe, to beare him copany.
American Standard Version
And Jehovah God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him.
Bible in Basic English
And the Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be by himself: I will make one like himself as a help to him
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the Lord God sayde: It is not good yt the man should be alone, I wyll make hym an helpe lyke vnto hym.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the LORD God said: 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him.'
King James Version (1611)
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone: I will make him an helpe meet for him.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone, let us make for him a help suitable to him.
English Revised Version
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
Berean Standard Bible
The LORD God also said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper."
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the Lord God seide, It is not good that a man be aloone, make we to hym an help lijk to hym silf.
Young's Literal Translation
And Jehovah God saith, `Not good for the man to be alone, I do make to him an helper -- as his counterpart.'
Webster's Bible Translation
And the LORD God said, [It is] not good that the man should be alone: I will make him a help meet for him.
World English Bible
Yahweh God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."
New King James Version
And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him."
New Living Translation
Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him."
New Life Bible
Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper that is right for him."
New Revised Standard
Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And Yahweh God said, It is, not good, that the man should remain alone, - I will make for him a helper as his counterpart.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself.
Revised Standard Version
Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him."
Update Bible Version
And Yahweh God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a matching helper for him.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."

Contextual Overview

18 God said, "It's not good for the Man to be alone; I'll make him a helper, a companion." So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn't find a suitable companion.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

good: Genesis 1:31, Genesis 3:12, Ruth 3:1, Proverbs 18:22, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, 1 Corinthians 7:36

I will: Genesis 3:12, 1 Corinthians 11:7-12, 1 Timothy 2:11-13, 1 Peter 3:7

meet for him: Heb. as before him

Reciprocal: Genesis 2:20 - but Genesis 4:19 - two wives Psalms 115:12 - the house of Israel Ecclesiastes 4:8 - one Malachi 2:14 - thy companion Matthew 19:10 - General John 2:1 - a marriage 1 Corinthians 11:9 - the man 1 Timothy 2:13 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 1:31
God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good! It was evening, it was morning— Day Six.
Genesis 3:12
The Man said, "The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it." God said to the Woman, "What is this that you've done?"
Ruth 3:1
One day her mother-in-law Naomi said to Ruth, "My dear daughter, isn't it about time I arranged a good home for you so you can have a happy life? And isn't Boaz our close relative, the one with whose young women you've been working? Maybe it's time to make our move. Tonight is the night of Boaz's barley harvest at the threshing floor.
Proverbs 18:22
Find a good spouse, you find a good life— and even more: the favor of God !
1 Corinthians 7:36
If a man has a woman friend to whom he is loyal but never intended to marry, having decided to serve God as a "single," and then changes his mind, deciding he should marry her, he should go ahead and marry. It's no sin; it's not even a "step down" from celibacy, as some say. On the other hand, if a man is comfortable in his decision for a single life in service to God and it's entirely his own conviction and not imposed on him by others, he ought to stick with it. Marriage is spiritually and morally right and not inferior to singleness in any way, although as I indicated earlier, because of the times we live in, I do have pastoral reasons for encouraging singleness.
1 Peter 3:7
The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God's grace, you're equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals so your prayers don't run aground.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the Lord God said,.... Not at the same time he gave the above direction and instruction to man, how to behave according to his will, but before that, even at the time of the formation of Adam and which he said either to him, or with himself: it was a purpose or determination in his own mind, and may be rendered, as it is by many, he "had said" b, on the sixth day, on which man was created,

[it is] not good that man should be alone; not pleasant and comfortable to himself, nor agreeable to his nature, being a social creature; nor useful to his species, not being able to propagate it; nor so much for the glory of his Creator:

I will made him an help meet for him; one to help him in all the affairs of life, not only for the propagation of his species, but to provide things useful and comfortable for him; to dress his food, and take care of the affairs of the family; one "like himself" c, in nature, temper, and disposition, in form and shape; or one "as before him" d, that would be pleasing to his sight, and with whom he might delightfully converse, and be in all respects agreeable to him, and entirely answerable to his case and circumstances, his wants and wishes.

b ויאמר "dixerat", Vatablus, Drusius, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. c כנגדו "simile sibi", V. L. Sam. Syr. d "Tanquam coram eo", Montanus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

- XIII. The Naming of the Animals

Here man’s intellectual faculties proceed from the passive and receptive to the active and communicative stage. This advance is made in the review and designation of the various species of animals that frequent the land and skies.

A new and final need of man is stated in Genesis 2:18. The Creator himself, in whose image he was made, had revealed himself to him in language. This, among many other effects, awakened the social affection. This affection was the index of social capacity. The first step towards communication between kindred spirits was accomplished when Adam heard and understood spoken language. Beyond all this God knew what was in the man whom he had formed. And he expresses this in the words, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” He is formed to be social, to hold converse, not only with his superior, but also with his equal. As yet he is but a unit, an individual. He needs a mate, with whom he may take sweet counsel. And the benevolent Creator resolves to supply this want. “I will make him a helpmeet for him” - one who may not only reciprocate his feelings, but take an intelligent and appropriate part in his active pursuits.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Genesis 2:18. It is not good that the man should be alone — לבדו lebaddo; only himself. I will make him a help meet for him; עזר כנגדו ezer kenegdo, a help, a counterpart of himself, one formed from him, and a perfect resemblance of his person. If the word be rendered scrupulously literally, it signifies one like, or as himself, standing opposite to or before him. And this implies that the woman was to be a perfect resemblance of the man, possessing neither inferiority nor superiority, but being in all things like and equal to himself. As man was made a social creature, it was not proper that he should be alone; for to be alone, i.e. without a matrimonial companion, was not good. Hence we find that celibacy in general is a thing that is not good, whether it be on the side of the man or of the woman. Men may, in opposition to the declaration of God, call this a state of excellence and a state of perfection; but let them remember that the word of God says the reverse.


 
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