Hebrew Definite Article

I am trying to understand the differences between these three verses in relation to the word "Man".

Gen 1.26 Then God said, “Let us make man אָדָ֛ם

Gen 1.27 So God created man אֶת־הָֽאָדָם in his own image,

Gen 2.15 The Lord God took the man אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֑ם and put him in the garden

What I do understand is the use of word אָדָ֛ם in Gen 1.26 to denote mankind in general.

What I don't understand is this, the English translations of Gen 1.27 does not add the definite article in front of man which means to me that in this case "Man" is again used as in Gen 1.26 to denote mankind in general.

However in Gen 2.15 which uses the same word as Gen 1.27 אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֑ם for man it is translated as "The Man". I understand that "The Man" is referring to Adam specifically but why is it not translated the same way in Gen 1.27 since it uses the same word.

Just a little confused.

Thanks for your help.

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Comments

Kevin Becker

The first thing to say is the the article in Hebrew is not exactly the same as the article in English. Just because it is present in the Hebrew does not mean that its presence in English will mean the same thing as in Hebrew.

The NET Bible note on this word says "The Hebrew text has the article prefixed to the noun (הָאָדָם, ha’adam). The article does not distinguish man from woman here (“the man” as opposed to “the woman”), but rather indicates previous reference (see v. 26, where the noun appears without the article). It has the same function as English “the aforementioned.”"

Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Biblical Studies Press, 2006; 2006).

Alexander

Like Kevin pointed out, it's not unsimilar to Greek. In Greek, the article is present in front of all names. For example, ὁ χριστός can be translated as The Christ or just Christ. It depends on context. In Matthew 24:5, Jesus is telling the disciples that others will come saying that they are ὁ χριστός. In that sense, in English, "the christ" makes sense. However, in Matthew 23:10, Jesus tells them that they have one leader, namely Christ. The Greek reads ὁ χριστός but in English just Christ makes more sense.