The tree of life and the tree of knowing good and evil
Read the full text in our reader
καὶ ἐξανέτειλεν ὁ θεὸς ἔτι ἐκ τῆς γῆς πᾶν ξύλον ὡραῖον εἰς ὅρασιν καὶ καλὸν εἰς βρῶσιν· καὶ τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς ἐν μέσῳ τῷ παραδείσῳ, καὶ τὸ ξύλον τοῦ εἰδέναι γνωστὸν καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ.
Two trees, singled out among all the garden's ξύλα ὡραῖα ("beautiful trees"): τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς, "the tree of life" (reappearing at Rev 2:7, 22:2,14,19, having passed out of reach at Gen 3:22-24), and τὸ ξύλον τοῦ εἰδέναι γνωστὸν καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ — literally "the tree of knowing [the] known-thing of good and of evil," the LXX's own slightly awkward, very literal rendering of Hebrew עֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע ("the tree of the knowledge of good and evil"). "Good and evil" here is widely read as a merism — not two specific things but the whole moral spectrum, "everything."
Open The Septuagint 2.9 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
You are reading a page of the The Septuagint — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
The Septuagint 2.9 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/septuagint/2.9/