Passage

Genesis 2.24

"For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh." (Genesis 2:24, NASB95)

The foundational marriage text of Scripture, and the verse Jesus appeals to as decisive when pressed on divorce (Matthew 19.4-6, Mark 10.7-8). Paul cites it as the mystery underlying Christ and the church (Ephesians 5.31). The apologetic significance is direct, the New Testament treats Adam and Eve as historical and Genesis 2 as foundational for sexual ethics, not as a culturally contingent myth that later revelation supersedes.

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"22. and the rib, which Jehovah God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23. And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

"24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

"25. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." (Genesis 2:22-25, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"22. Yahweh God made a woman from the rib which he had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man.”"

"24. Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh."

"25. The man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed." (Genesis 2:22-25, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"22. And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. ^{made: Heb. builded} 23. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. ^{Woman: Heb. Isha} ^{Man: Heb. Ish}"

"24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

"25. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." (Genesis 2:22-25, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"22. And Jehovah God buildeth up the rib which He hath taken out of the man into a woman, and bringeth her in unto the man; 23. and the man saith, 'This [is] the [proper] step! bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh!' for this it is called Woman, for from a man hath this been taken;"

"24. therefore doth a man leave his father and his mother, and hath cleaved unto his wife, and they have become one flesh."

"25. And they are both of them naked, the man and his wife, and they are not ashamed of themselves." (Genesis 2:22-25, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: the inspired narrator (traditional Mosaic authorship), commenting in editorial voice on the creation of the woman
Audience: the Israelite congregation receiving the Torah; the verse anchors marriage in creation rather than in cultural convention
Location: the narrative frame is Eden, the editorial voice writes from later Israelite vantage
Time period: events depict primal creation; composition traditionally c. 1446 to 1406 BC under Moses

Theological reading

Verse 24 is the editorial verdict the narrator draws from the creation of the woman from the man. Three verbs structure the clause, leave (azab), cleave (dabaq), become one flesh (basar echad). The order is purposive, the man departs prior allegiance to his parents, attaches himself by covenant to his wife, and the two together constitute a new biological-and-relational unit. The Hebrew dabaq is covenant-language, used elsewhere for Israel's covenantal cleaving to YHWH (Deuteronomy 10:20, 11:22), the marriage bond is read as a creation-ordained covenant.

Jesus' appeal in Matthew 19.4-6 and Mark 10.7-8 makes Genesis 2:24 normative against the Mosaic divorce concession of Deuteronomy 24:1. Pressed by the Pharisees on grounds for divorce, Jesus reaches behind Moses to creation, "from the beginning it has not been this way." His logic requires both the historicity and the priority of Genesis 2, what God joined in creation a later legal provision cannot dissolve at will. Paul follows in Ephesians 5.31, quoting Genesis 2:24 and reading the one-flesh union as a mysterion (mystery) bearing on the union of Christ and the church.

The apologetic force is twofold. First, the New Testament treats Genesis 2 as historical and normative anthropology, not as a culturally bounded myth. Modern objections that re-read the creation narratives as ancient near-eastern theological poetry unbinding contemporary sexual ethics run head-on into Jesus' own hermeneutic. Second, the verse fixes marriage as one man and one woman as a creation ordinance prior to Israel, prior to the covenant at Sinai, prior to Christ. Christian sexual ethics traces to this verse and the New Testament citations of it, not to later ecclesial accretion.

Key words

H1320 - basar, basar, flesh, the noun in "one flesh" naming the biological and relational unity of the covenant bond.
H0259 - echad, echad, one, the same numerical and unity word that names YHWH's oneness in Deuteronomy 6:4.
H0001 - ab, ab, father, the parental allegiance left behind when the new household is formed.

Theological themes

Marriage as creation ordinance. The bond precedes Israel, the Mosaic law, and the New Covenant; it is grounded in creation itself, not in cultural arrangement.
One-flesh unity. The new household is a biological-and-relational unit; the verb dabaq (cleave) is covenant-language.
Jesus' Genesis-2 hermeneutic. Jesus answers the divorce question by appeal to creation behind Moses; what God joined in creation a later legal provision cannot dissolve at will.
Pauline mystery. Ephesians 5:31 reads the one-flesh union as bearing on the union of Christ and the church.
Historicity of Adam and Eve. The New Testament citation pattern treats the verse as historical anthropology, not myth.

Cross-references

Matthew 19.4-6, Jesus' decisive citation of this verse against the divorce concession.
Mark 10.7-8, the parallel Markan citation.
Ephesians 5.31, Paul reading the one-flesh union as the Christ-and-church mystery.
Genesis 1.27, the male-and-female creation statement Jesus pairs with this verse.
1 Corinthians 6.16, Paul's negative citation against the union with a prostitute.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.