God formed the man from the dust
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καὶ ἔπλασεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς· καὶ ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πνοὴν ζωῆς, καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν.
The chapter's most famous verse. ἔπλασεν, "formed, moulded" — a potter's verb (πλάσσω gives English "plasma, plastic") — renders Hebrew יָצַר (yatsar), used elsewhere of a potter shaping clay (Jer 18:2-6); the man (Hebrew אָדָם, adam) is moulded from χοῦν, "dust/soil," itself an echo of אֲדָמָה (adamah, "ground") — the wordplay is the point: man is Ground-Being, humus made human. God then ἐνεφύσησεν, "breathed into" his face πνοὴν ζωῆς, "a breath of life," and the man becomes εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν, "a living soul" (Hebrew נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה, nephesh chayyah) — not that he is given a soul, but that the whole animated being, body and breath together, IS a living נֶפֶשׁ/ψυχή, the same word later used of animals (Gen 1:20-24).
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