This was before there were plants on the earth. Nothing was growing in the fields. This was because the Lord had not yet made it rain on the earth. And there was no person to care for the plants.
Then the Lord God took dust from the ground and made a man. [9] The Lord breathed the breath of life into the man’s nose, and the man became a living thing.
You will work hard for your food,
until your face is covered with sweat.
You will work hard until the day you die.
And then you will become dust again.
I used dust to make you.
And when you die
you will become dust again.”
The Lord God said, “Look, the man has become like us—he knows about good and evil. And now the man might take the fruit from the tree of life. If the man eats that fruit, he will live forever.”
The Lord God forced the man to leave the garden. Then he put Cherub angels [23] at the entrance to the garden to protect it. The Lord God also put a sword of fire there. This sword flashed around and around guarding the way to the tree of life.
In the past, {you planted, and your plants grew well. But now} you will plant, and the ground will not help your plants grow. You will not have a home on the earth. You will wander from place to place.”