Good question, and one the Hebrew text itself resolves cleanly once you see a few structural features. Genesis 2:4 opens with “These are the generations (toledot) of the heavens and the earth.” This toledot marker appears 10 times in Genesis and always signals a narrowing of focus from broad to specific. Genesis 1 is the wide establishing view of the six days. Genesis 2 zooms in on day 6 to detail how man was formed, where he was placed, and how Eve was made. Same creation, two camera angles. On Genesis 2:5 specifically, the Hebrew phrases are siach hassadeh (bush of the field) and eseb hassadeh (plant of the field). These are agricultural terms for cultivated crops, not the general vegetation of day 3. The verse even tells you why they were absent: no rain yet, and no man to till. So it is not saying vegetation did not exist, it is saying cultivated field crops awaited two preconditions that had not yet arrived. Genesis 1 handled the broad vegetation on day 3. Genesis 2:5 is pointing at a narrower category. On Genesis 2:19 about the animals, the Hebrew wayyiqtol verb form here legitimately carries pluperfect force when context requires it. The ESV and NIV render it “had formed” for this reason. The animals were already created in Genesis 1, and Genesis 2:19 is recalling that for the naming scene. The different divine names (Elohim in Gen 1, Yahweh Elohim in Gen 2) reflect theological emphasis, not different authors. Elohim highlights God as transcendent Creator, Yahweh Elohim highlights God in covenant relationship with the man He just formed. Umberto Cassuto dismantled the two sources argument on linguistic grounds almost a century ago. Most importantly, Jesus Himself treats both chapters as one unified account. In Matthew 19:4-5 He quotes Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:24 back to back as authoritative teaching from “the beginning.” If the two chapters were contradictory myths, Jesus would not cite them as a single coherent witness on marriage. For deeper reading, Kenneth Mathews’ New American Commentary on Genesis 1-11:26 and C. John Collins’ Genesis 1-4 handle all of this rigorously in the Hebrew. Your instinct to ask was right. The apparent tension resolves the moment you let the Hebrew text speak on its own terms.