And out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food: the trees have two values given. The first term means “beautiful,” as in Good News Translation. The second refers to the fruit of the trees; that is, “good to eat,” or “trees that produce fruit that is good to eat.” Good News Translation has “He made all kinds of beautiful trees grow there and produce good fruit,” which expresses the sense accurately and naturally in English. In some languages “made … grow” must be expressed as “planted and cared for” or “planted and dug around.”
Also planted in the garden are the tree of life … and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These are represented as two trees. However, in 3.24, after the man and woman are removed from the garden, only the tree of life is mentioned as being guarded by the flaming sword. Tree of life is also used in a figurative sense in Pro 3.18; 11.30; 13.12; 15.4. Gen 3.22 describes the effect of eating from this tree as enabling the person who eats to “live forever.” Tree of life may be translated as “the tree that gives life” (Good News Translation) or “the tree whose fruit causes people to live forever.”
The second tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, is mentioned by this name only here and in verse 17. In 3.6 this tree is reported by the woman as one whose fruit is to “make one wise.” After having eaten from it “they knew that they were naked” (3.7). Some interpreters hold, therefore, that knowledge of good and evil means a consciousness of sex. Others take the expression to mean the ability to discern between moral right and wrong, or the independent mind to decide what is good and bad without reference to God. More probably, however, good and evil is an idiom involving polar contrasts (as in “heaven and earth”) and refers not just to what is good and what is bad, but to everything, all kinds of knowledge. In Gen 24.50 “bad or good” means “everything whether it is bad or good.” Because of the many different explanations of tree of the knowledge of good and evil, most translators prefer a rather literal expression such as “tree whose fruit makes people know what is good and what is bad.”
In the midst of the garden means in the middle of the garden and not necessarily at the precise center.
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .