In the Book of Genesis, the Genesis creation narrative tells of the creation of the first humans, humankind, in Genesis 1:26–30 as male and female. According to the Documentary hypothesis of the Genesis creation narrative, there are two stories that derive from independent sources: a Priestly source (P) (sixth-fifth centuries BCE) in Gen. 1:1–2:4a and in Genesis 5; and an older Jahwist (J) or Jahwist-Elohist (J-E) (tenth-ninth centuries BCE) in Genesis 2:4b-25. Scholars recognize two separate accounts of the creation in the Old Testament.[2]:15;[11] In the Priestly narrative (Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:4a), God creates the world in six days, culminating in the creation of humanity, then rests on the seventh day. Here, in the Priestly narrative, the emphasis is on the entirety of the universe and its creation. In an older Jahwist or Jahwist-Elohist sources (tenth-ninth centuries BCE) in Genesis 2:4b-25, also known as the "subordinating (of woman) account", Yahweh fashions a man (Heb. adam, "man" or "mankind", Gen. 2:4–7) from the dust (Heb. adamah) and blows the breath of life into his nostrils. Here, in the Jahwist narrative, the emphasis is on the Earth within the universe, and humankind's residence on the Earth. Contrast, for example, the order of terms in Gen. 1:1 where it says that God made the "heavens and the Earth" with Gen. 2:4 where it says "God made the Earth and the heavens".[2]:15

In the Jahwist version of the story, God places the man in a garden in Eden where he is permitted to till the land and tend the garden and animals, Gen. 2:8–15. God also places a tree in the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and God prohibits the man from eating the fruit of this tree, warning him that he would die if he ate the fruit Gen. 2:17. But none of the animals are found to be a suitable companion for the man, so God causes the man to sleep and creates a woman from a part of his body (English-language tradition describes the part as a rib, but the Hebrew word tsela, from which this interpretation is derived, having multiple meanings, could also mean "side"). The woman is established as subordinate to the man, as the impetus for her creation is to serve the needs of the man by being his "helpmate" and to ensure that he not "be alone."Gen. 2:18 However, some argue for a translation of the Hebrew ezer as "companion," as used elsewhere in the Bible; under that reading, the hierarchical relationship is not manifest in the original text but rather a result of mistranslation.[12]

The man describes the woman in Gen. 2:23a as "bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh", and he calls his new partner "woman" (Heb. ishshah), "for this one was taken from a man" (Heb. ish). The chapter ends by establishing the state of primeval innocence, noting that the man and woman were "naked and not ashamed", Gen 2:25, and so provides the departure point for the subsequent narrative in which wisdom is gained through disobedience at severe cost.