First ReadingGenesis 2:18-25*
From the Book of Genesis
18The Lord God said,“It is not good for the man to be alone.I will make him a helper comparable to him.”19Out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field,and every bird of the sky,and brought them to the man to see what he would call them.Whatever the man called every living creature became its name.20The man gave names to all livestock,and to the birds of the sky,and to every animal of the field;but for man there was not found a helper comparable to him.21The Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep.As the man slept, he took one of his ribs,and closed up the flesh in its place.22The Lord God made a woman from the ribwhich he had taken from the man,and brought her to the man.23The man said, “This is now bone of my bones,and flesh of my flesh.She will be called ‘woman,’because she was taken out of Man.”24Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother,and will join with his wife,and they will be one flesh.25The man and his wife were both naked,and they were not ashamed.