🌱WEB · Genesis 2:24
What does Genesis 2:24 mean?
"Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh."
— Genesis 2:24 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Yahweh God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
Yahweh God made a woman from the rib which he had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
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.”
Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.
The man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.
Explanation
Genesis 2:24 comes at the close of the second creation account, immediately following the narrative of God forming Eve from Adam's side to be his companion and counterpart. After Adam's exclamation of joy and recognition upon seeing her—"This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh"—the narrator steps back and offers this verse as a summarizing statement about marriage itself. In plain language, the verse says that marriage involves a man leaving his family of origin and forming a new, primary bond with his wife, one so close and complete that the two become "one flesh"—a unity that is physical, emotional, and relational.
Traditionally, Genesis is attributed to Moses, compiling and writing under divine inspiration for the people of Israel as they were being formed into a covenant nation. This verse is not addressed to a specific historical audience in the way a letter would be; rather, it functions as a foundational statement within the creation narrative, explaining why human marriage exists and what it means. The word "therefore" ties it directly to the preceding verses: because woman was made from man, taken from his own body to be his suitable companion, marriage is the reversal and fulfillment of that original separation—two who were, in a sense, once one, becoming one again through the marriage bond.
Theologically, this verse establishes marriage as part of the created order, not merely a social convention invented later by human culture. It reveals several key ideas: the priority of the marriage relationship (a new family unit is formed, distinct from the family of origin), the depth of the marital bond ("one flesh" implies more than
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