eden

Everyday

1. (Bible) The Garden of Eden was the beautiful garden where, in Genesis, God put the first people, Adam and Eve, before they disobeyed by eating the forbidden fruit and had to leave. tree →
2. An Eden is any very beautiful, peaceful place, like a paradise. tree →

In the lessons

In RE the story of Eden is about trust, temptation and choices; the serpent tempts Eve and Adam to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Writers call a lovely garden or island "an Eden". The Eden Project in Cornwall is a famous garden in giant domes. Phrases: the Garden of Eden, a little Eden, east of Eden.

Examples

• God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. tree →
• The serpent tempted Eve in Eden. tree →
• After eating the fruit, Adam and Eve had to leave Eden. tree →
• Nan's garden in summer is a little Eden. tree →
• We visited the Eden Project and its rainforest dome. tree →
• The island looked like an Eden of palm trees and blue sea. tree →
• The garden was a very Eden, with running water amongst its lawns, with flowers and the lament of doves and the jug-jug of nightingales. tree →

Note

Capital E. The input is lower case, but the word is a name. The Bible says "fruit", not "apple" — the apple is a later picture tradition.

In Jewish tradition

The garden God planted in the east where He placed the first man, from which a river flowed and divided into four. Eden is also the name of a trading place and of a people in Assyrian lands.

Interpretation. Tradition sees Eden as a place of perfect closeness to God, and the word is linked to "delight"; it also stands for the future world to come. The prophet Ezekiel calls the finest trees "the trees of Eden, in the garden of God," a picture of greatness and beauty.

Examples

• And the LORD God planted a garden eastward, in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed. (Torah GEN.2.8, JPS 1917) tree →
• And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became four heads. (Torah GEN.2.10, JPS 1917) tree →
• Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. (Torah GEN.3.23, JPS 1917) tree →
• Haran and Canneh and Eden, the traffickers of Sheba, Asshur was as thine apprentice in traffic. (Prophets EZK.27.23, JPS 1917) tree →
• I made it fair by the multitude of its branches; so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied it. (Prophets EZK.31.9, JPS 1917) tree →
• Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar? (Prophets 2KI.19.12, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Capital E. The input is lower case, but the word is a name. The Bible says "fruit", not "apple" — the apple is a later picture tradition.