Adam
Adam was the first man. God formed him from the dust of the ground, placed him in the garden of Eden, and made Eve to be with him. Genesis 1–5 tells his story.
God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life. God placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it, and commanded him not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam named the animals, and God made the woman, Eve, from one of his ribs.
The serpent led Eve to eat the fruit of that tree, and Adam ate it with her. They hid from God, and God told them what their disobedience would bring: pain, hard work, and death. God made clothes of skin for them, and he sent the man out of the garden. Eve was with him outside Eden (Genesis 4:1).
Outside Eden, Adam and Eve had sons, Cain and Abel. After Cain killed Abel, they had another son, Seth. Adam lived 930 years. In the New Testament, Paul writes that sin and death came into the world through Adam, and that new life comes through Jesus Christ (Romans 5:12-19).
Adam's Story
Follow his life from the day God formed him to his death at 930 years old. Read each event in Scripture, and see how it all fits together.
- Part 1 · 4 eventsIn the GardenGod forms Adam from the dust, places him in Eden, and makes Eve to be with him.
- Part 2 · 5 eventsThe FallAdam and Eve eat from the one tree God told them not to eat from, and they are sent out of Eden.
- Part 3 · 3 eventsLife Outside EdenAdam and Eve have children, and Adam lives to be 930 years old.
Genesis tells Adam's life in order and gives few details about the years outside Eden. Christians read the first chapters of Genesis in different ways. Some read them as a plain record of history. Others read them as true teaching told in a figurative way, and many hold views in between. This timeline follows the order of the text.
Key facts
Tap a reference to read the verses.
- Made from
- The dust of the ground. Then God breathed into him the breath of life.
- Made in
- The image and likeness of God. Genesis 1:27 says God made people in his image, male and female.
- His name
- In Hebrew, Adam is also the word for “man” or “mankind.” Genesis 5:2 says God gave this name to both male and female when he created them.
- In Genesis 5:2 some Bibles read “called them man” (BSB), and others “called their name Adam” (KJV).
- Wife
- Eve, “the mother of all the living”
- Home
- The garden of Eden, then the land outside it after he was sent out
- Work
- To work the garden and take care of it, and later to work the ground outside it
- Children
- Cain, Abel and Seth, and other sons and daughters
- Age at death
- 930 years
- In Jesus' family line
- Luke traces Jesus' family back to “Adam, the son of God.”
- In the New Testament
- Paul compares Adam and Christ: sin and death came through one man, and life comes through Jesus, whom he calls “the last Adam.”