Many of our English Bibles, including three of the six bestselling translations of 2024, the NIV (1st), NLT (4th), and CSB (6th), have all chosen to make an intriguing omission from Genesis 2. The Hebrew word haśādeh goes untranslated 4 times within the NIV, 3 times within the NLT, MSG, and VOICE, and twice in the CSB and TPT.
Ha means "the," while śādeh means "field."
The grand conspiracy you were perhaps imagining from the title of this article is probably deflating after that reveal. On the surface, it doesn't seem a big deal if the English phrase "of the field" is missing a few times.
If I hadn't pointed it out, you may not have even noticed it when we compare translations below. And if you noticed it, a natural assumption would be that certain translations had left out "of the field" (or added it) to aid the readability of the text.
Despite its exclusion seeming innocuous and inconsequential, haśādeh's presence in Genesis 2 completely changes the story. Let me show you how.
