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Genesis 2:6

EOB (Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible):

Streams flowed up from the earth and watered all the land.

EOB Footnote:

The LXX reads “spring” (Greek: pege) while the MT has a word (Hebrew: ‘ed) of uncertain meaning, variously interpreted as “mist,” “stream,” or “flood.” The exact sense of the Hebrew term is debated among scholars, but the LXX translators understood it as a water source rising from below. The MT adds “from the earth” to specify the origin of this water, which the LXX implies but does not state explicitly. The verb in the LXX (“was going up”) renders the Hebrew imperfect, indicating continuous or repeated action in the past.

Other Translations:

KJV (King James Version):

But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

WEB (World English Bible):

But a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground.

Benton LXX (Vaticanus):

But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

Douai-Rheims (Vulgate):

But a spring rose out of the earth, watering all the surface of the earth.

Apostoliki Diakonia (LXX):

A mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.

YLT (Young Literal Translation )(MT):

And mist goes up from the earth and waters the whole face of the ground.

BBE (Bible in Basic English):

But a mist went up from the earth, watering all the face of the land.

EOB COMMENTARY:

EOB Commentary:

Commentary on Genesis 2:6

The Mist and Divine Watering

This verse presents a primordial image of the earth being watered not by rain from above but by a mist (or spring, depending on translation) rising from below. The Hebrew word “ed” has been variously understood as mist, vapor, stream, or underground spring. This detail, while seemingly minor, carries significant theological weight in the Orthodox tradition.

Typological Significance

The Fathers saw in this upward-rising moisture a type of the grace that would later descend from heaven. Before the Fall, the earth was sustained by waters emerging from within, suggesting an intimate, organic relationship between creation and its sustenance. Saint Ephrem the Syrian notes that this mist represents God’s gentle provision for creation before the more dramatic cycles of rain and storm became necessary. The earth, in its pristine state, was watered almost sacramentally, without violence or excess.

Christological Reading

Orthodox interpreters have connected this passage to Christ as the true source of living water. Just as the mist rose to water the face of the ground before any plant had sprung up, so Christ, the pre-eternal Word, sustained creation before His visible manifestation in the flesh. The Gospel of John’s imagery of living water springing up to eternal life finds a distant echo here. The ground awaiting cultivation prefigures humanity awaiting the coming of the Second Adam who would truly till and tend the human heart.

Liturgical and Spiritual Connections

In Orthodox hymnography, particularly during Theophany, we encounter themes of water as both primordial element and vehicle of sanctification. The blessing of waters recalls how God has always used water as an instrument of life and blessing. The mist of Genesis 2:6 stands at the beginning of this sacred history of water, which culminates in the baptismal font where the new creation emerges.

The image also resonates with Orthodox understanding of theosis. The mist rising from below to meet divine intention from above suggests the synergy between human effort and divine grace. We are called to rise toward God even as His grace descends to meet us. Saint Maximus the Confessor’s theology of cosmic liturgy, where all creation participates in offering itself back to God, finds a seed in this primordial watering.

Patristic Witness

Saint Basil the Great, in his Hexaemeron, reflects on the ordered beauty of God’s provision for creation, noting how even before rain, God ensured the earth would not lack moisture. This demonstrates divine providence operating through natural means, a theme central to Orthodox cosmology that refuses to separate the natural from the supernatural.

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