Almost every Christian remembers the Sunday School stories of God creating Adam, putting him into a deep sleep and extracting a rib from his side from which Eve was made. Even into adulthood, people perpetuate this story.

It is not true.

There is no Hebrew word for rib.

The Hebrews simply used the word ‘bone’ [Hebrew etsem] for all bones of animal and man. So, what then is to be made of Gen 2:22  “and the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man”.

The word for ‘rib’ here is ‘Tsela’ which is never translated rib, except in Genesis 2. It is far more frequently translated ‘side’ or ‘chamber’. The KJV translates Strong’s H6763 (Tsela) in the following manner: side (19x), chamber (11x), boards (2x), corners (2x), rib (2x), another (1x), beams (1x), halting (1x), leaves (1x), planks (1x).

The only two times it is translated ‘rib’ are in Genesis 2.

Where else does this word ‘tsela’ occur? Here are a few examples:

Some Examples:

Exodus 25:12 (RSV) 12 “And you shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side (tsela) of it, and two rings on the other side of it.”

Exodus 26:20 20 “and for the second side (tsela) of the tabernacle, on the north side twenty frames,” Etc.

It is pretty clear the word does not mean rib.

How about other places where the word ‘rib’ appears. Doesn’t that mean that the Hebrews had a word for rib? Well – actually, no!

The word ‘rib’ appears in only 4 other cases – all describing the ‘5th rib’

eg 2Samuel 3:27 KJV “And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.”

You will notice that the word ‘rib’ is in italics in the JKV translation. That means that the word does not occur in Hebrew – it has been added in English.

The verse literally reads:

“And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth, that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.”

Notice how the RSV translates it.

“27 And when Abner returned to Hebron, Jo′ab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he smote him in the belly, so that he died, for the blood of As′ahel his brother.”

There is one other place where the word ‘ribs’ occurs.

Daniel 7:5 “And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.”

The prophecy of Daniel was written partly in Hebrew, but mostly in Aramaic (Chaldean). The word for ribs here is not a Hebrew word, but an Aramaic word; ‘ala’. So, we are still left with Hebrew having no word for ribs.

Most versions use the word rib in Genesis 2, out of tradition, I guess. It is interesting that, putting Genesis 2:22 into Bible Hub on the web, we get 28 versions of the verse. Only one gets it right. The New English Translation:

“Then the LORD God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.”