Genesis 3:24

So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
out	וַיְגָ֖רֶשׁ vay.Ga.resh	H1644	to drive out from a possession · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
man	הָֽאָדָ֑ם ha.'a.Dam	H120	ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
placed	וַיַּשְׁכֵּן֩ vai.yash.Ken	H7931	to reside or permanently stay (literally or figurativel… · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
east	מִקֶּ֨דֶם mi.Ke.dem	H6924	the front · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
garden	לְגַן le.gan-	H1588	a garden (as fenced) · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
Eden	עֵ֜דֶן 'E.den	H5731	Eden · proper noun, a place name
Cherubims	הַכְּרֻבִ֗ים ha.ke.ru.Vim	H3742	a cherub or imaginary figure · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
flaming	לַ֤הַט La.hat	H3858	a blaze · noun, common masculine singular construct
sword	הַחֶ֙רֶב֙ ha.Che.rev	H2719	drought · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
way	הַמִּתְהַפֶּ֔כֶת ha.mit.ha.Pe.khet	H2015	to turn about or over · definite article + verb, hithpael active participle, feminine singular absolute
keep	לִשְׁמֹ֕ר lish.Mor	H8104	properly · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
way	דֶּ֖רֶךְ De.rekh	H1870	a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders singular construct
tree	עֵ֥ץ 'etz	H6086	a tree (from its firmness) · noun, common masculine singular construct
life	הַֽחַיִּֽים Ha.chai.Yim	H2416	alive · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Hebrews 1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
Psalms 104:4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
Exodus 25:18-22 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
1 Chronicles 21:16-17 And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretch…
Hebrews 10:18-22 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Genesis 2:8-9 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Joshua 5:13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 3:22–end

Sentence being passed upon the offenders, we have here execution, in part, done upon them immediately. Observe here, I. How they were justly disgraced and shamed before God and the holy angels, by the ironical upbraiding of them with the issue of their enterprise: "Behold, the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil! A goodly god he makes! Does he not? See what he has got, what preferments, what advantages, by eating forbidden fruit!" This was said to awaken and humble them, and to bring them to a sense of their sin and folly, and to repentance for it, that, seeing themselves thus wretchedly deceived by following the devil's counsel, they might henceforth pursue the happiness God…

Read the whole note in the console

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 3:24

placed . . . cherbim--The passage should be rendered thus: "And he dwelt between the cherubim at the East of the Garden of Eden and a fierce fire, or Shekinah, unfolding itself to preserve the way of the tree of life." This was the mode of worship now established to show God's anger at sin and teach the mediation of a promised Saviour as the way of life, as well as of access to God. They were the same figures as were afterwards in the tabernacle and temple; and now, as then, God said, "I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims" (Exo 25:22). Next: Genesis Chapter 4

Adam Clarke on Genesis 3:24

So he drove out the man - Three things are noted here: 1. God's displeasure against sinful man, evidenced by his expelling him from this place of blessedness; 2. Man's unfitness for the place, of which he had rendered himself unworthy by his ingratitude and transgression; and, 3. His reluctance to leave this place of happiness. He was, as we may naturally conclude, unwilling to depart, and God drove him out. He placed at the east - מכדם mikkedem, or before the garden of Eden, before what may be conceived its gate or entrance; Cherubims, הכרבים hakkerubim, The cherubim. Hebrew plurals in the masculine end in general in im: to add an s to this when we introduce such words into English, is very…

Read the whole note in the console

The Church Fathers

Blessed is he who was pierced and so removed the sword from the entry to paradise.
— Ephrem the Syrian, HYMNS ON PARADISE 2.1

The second Adam, Jesus Christ, points out that through the water of the bath of rebirth, the flickering flame—by which the cherubim guardian blocked the entry into paradise when the first Adam was expelled—would be extinguished. Where the one went out with his wife, having been conquered by his enemy, there the other might return with his spouse (namely, the church of the saints), as a conqueror over his enemy.
— Bede, Homilies on the Gospels 1.12

"God placed cherubim and a flaming sword that moves"—this could be said in the one word movable—"to guard the way to the tree of life." Those who translate the Hebrew words in Scripture say that "cherubim" means in Latin "the fullness of knowledge." The flaming, movable sword means temporal punishments, because times move in their continual variety. It is called flaming because every tribulation burns somehow or other. But it is one thing to be burned until consumed, another to be burned until purified.
— Augustine of Hippo, TWO BOOKS ON GENESIS AGAINST THE MANICHAEANS 2.23.35

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Adam — Red, a Babylonian word, the generic name for man, having the same meaning in the Hebrew and the Assyrian languages. It was the name given to the first man, whose creation, fall, and subsequent…
Cherub — Plural cherubim, the name of certain symbolical figures frequently mentioned in Scripture. They are first mentioned in connection with the expulsion of our first parents from Eden (Gen. 3:24). There…
Cherub, Cherubim — The symbolical figure so called was a composite creature-form which finds a parallel in the religious insignia of Assyria, Egypt and Persia, e.g. the sphinx, the winged bulls and lions of Nineveh,…
Devil — (Gr. diabolos), a slanderer, the arch-enemy of man’s spiritual interest (Job 1:6; Rev. 2:10; Zech. 3:1). He is called also “the accuser of the brethen” (Rev. 12:10). In Lev. 17:7 the word “devil” is…
Serpent — (Heb. nahash; Gr. ophis), frequently noticed in Scripture. More than forty species are found in Syria and Arabia. The poisonous character of the serpent is alluded to in Jacob’s blessing on Dan (Gen.…
Tree of the knowledge of good and evil — Stood in the midst of the garden of Eden, beside the tree of life (Gen. 2, 3). Adam and Eve were forbidden to take of the fruit which grew upon it. But they disobeyed the divine injunction, and so…
Adam · .Subsequent history of — .Subsequent history of
Banishment · Of Adam and Eve, from E — Of Adam and Eve, from E
Cherubim · Eastward of the gar — Eastward of the gar
Devil, The · The author of the fall — The author of the fall
Eden · 1. The gar — 1. The gar

Genesis 3:24

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 3:22–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 3:24

Adam Clarke on Genesis 3:24

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 3:24

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 3:22–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 3:24

Adam Clarke on Genesis 3:24

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Genesis 3:24

John Calvin on Genesis 3:23–end

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 3:22–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 3:24

Rashi on Genesis 3:16