Illustration created for this project.
Adam
The first man, formed by God and placed in the Garden of Eden; with Eve, the father of humanity.
What we know — and how we know it
Bible — stated in scripture (with verse) · 1
Scholarly — supported scholarly belief · 2
Family & lineage
Name & titles
ScholarlyThe Hebrew adam means "human" or "humankind" and is bound by wordplay to adamah, "ground" or "soil," from which the man is formed in Genesis 2:7; it also resonates with adom, "red." The name is therefore a deliberate etymological pun rather than an ordinary personal name.
Hebrew onomastics; adam / adamah wordplay internal to Genesis 2:7.
ScholarlyIn the opening chapters of Genesis adam frequently functions as a collective or generic noun, "the human," often with the definite article (ha-adam), and mainstream Old Testament scholarship notes the gradual grammatical shift by which it becomes a proper name. This is a recognized textual observation, not external attestation of a historical individual.
Standard critical/textual reading of ha-adam in Genesis 1-5.
Where in scripture
GenesisDeuteronomy1 ChroniclesJobHoseaLukeRomans1 Corinthians1 TimothyJude
Genesis 2:7Genesis 2:19Genesis 2:20Genesis 2:21Genesis 2:23Genesis 3:8Genesis 3:9Genesis 3:17Genesis 3:20Genesis 3:21Genesis 4:1Genesis 4:25Genesis 5:1Genesis 5:2Genesis 5:3Genesis 5:4Genesis 5:5Deuteronomy 32:81 Chronicles 1:1Job 31:33Hosea 6:7Luke 3:38Romans 5:141 Corinthians 15:22
…and 4 more mentions
Family
In their own words — 3 recorded sayings
“And the man said, This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh: let her name be Woman because she was taken out of Man.” — Genesis 2:23
“And he said, Hearing your voice in the garden I was full of fear, because I was without clothing: and I kept myself from your eyes.” — Genesis 3:10
“And the man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree and I took it.” — Genesis 3:12
Speaker attribution: Clear Bible MACULA (CC BY 4.0). Wording: Bible in Basic English (public domain).
In art
