What does 結ばれ mean in this bible verse? I've been practising my Japanese by reading the bible. And I came across a usage of that I don't quite understand. More specifically, it's the first sentence of Genesis 4:1 from the "Living Japanese Bible". > Which is, in the English "New International Version" is > Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. What is doing here? I get that the use of the stem means it's acting similar to , but I don't get what exactly it's to mean in this context. Is it saying Adam made love to her, then she gave birth to Cain? Or is it saying they're married, then by saying she gave birth, imply that Adam did her? Btw, sorry if I'm getting all wrong here.

You are correct, it is the stem of , and since it's the passive voice, it means "was joined to/with". And yes, that's a way of specifically saying "he lay with", not just "was married to".

> After that, Adam was joined with his wife Eve, and (then) Eve gave birth to Cain.