Eden, Garden of


The beautiful garden containing the tree of life, where God intended Adam and Eve to live in peaceful and contented innocence, effortlessly reaping the fruits of the Earth. The garden also contained the tree of knowledge of good and evil, from which Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat. When they disobeyed and ate the forbidden fruit, God drove them from the garden. Their sin and consequent loss of God's grace and of their paradise is known as the Fall of Man.

Notes for Eden, Garden of

Figuratively, a “Garden of Eden” (sometimes simply “the Garden,” or “Eden”) is any state or place of complete peace and happiness.

Words Nearby Eden, Garden of

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.