<P> The second part of the Genesis creation narrative, Genesis 2: 4 - 3: 24, opens with YHWH - Elohim (translated here "the LORD God", see Names of God in Judaism) creating the first man (Adam), whom he placed in a garden that he planted "eastward in Eden". "And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil ." </P> <P> The man was free to eat from any tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . Last of all, the God made a woman (Eve) from a rib of the man to be a companion for the man . In chapter three, the man and the woman were seduced by the serpent into eating the forbidden fruit, and they were expelled from the garden to prevent them from eating of the tree of life, and thus living forever . Cherubim were placed east of the garden, "and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way of the tree of life" (Genesis 3: 24). </P> <P> Genesis 2: 10--14 lists four rivers in association with the garden of Eden: Pishon, Gihon, Chidekel (the Tigris), and Phirat (the Euphrates). It also refers to the land of Cush--translated / interpreted as Ethiopia, but thought by some to equate to Cossaea, a Greek name for the land of the Kassites . These lands lie north of Elam, immediately to the east of ancient Babylon, which, unlike Ethiopia, does lie within the region being described . In Antiquities of the Jews, the first - century Jewish historian Josephus identifies the Pishon as what "the Greeks called Ganges" and the Geon (Gehon) as the Nile . </P> <P> According to Lars - Ivar Ringbom the paradisus terrestris is located in Shiz in northeastern Iran . </P>

Rivers that flow through the garden of eden