## The man ##

Possible meanings are 1) God was referring to one human—the man, or 2) God was referring to humans in general, which at this point was the man and his wife. Even if God was speaking about one person, what he said applied to both of them.

## like one of us ##

This can also be translated as "like us." The pronoun "us" is plural. (See the note on "Let us make" in [Genesis 1:26](../01/26.md).)

## knowing good and evil ##

"He knows what is good and what is bad” This can be translated as "he know everything, whether good or bad." This is a figure of speech that refers to both extremes and everything in between. In this verse, it means "everything, including both good and evil." (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-merism]])

## he must now be allowed ##

This can be translated as "I will not let him."

## put forth his hand ##

"reach out with his hand"

## the ground from which he had been taken ##

The man was made out of ground. This does not refer to a particular plot of land that the man was taken from.

## So God drove the man out of the garden ##

"God forced the man to leave the garden." This refers to the event in [Genesis 3:22](./22.md) where it says "Yahweh God sent him out of the garden of Eden." God did not send the man out a second time.

## in order to guard the way to the tree of life ##

"in order to stop people from going to the tree of life."

## flaming sword ##

Possible meanings are 1) a sword that had flames coming from it, or 2) a fire that was shaped like a sword. Languages that do not have swords could use another weapon such as a spear or arrow.