NAB Translation for Genesis 2:7

[Cory_G]

I’m reading the second Chapter in Genesis and I come across a verse that is regarding a fact that I remember, Adam was made from dust.
KJV Gen 2:7:

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Now in the NAB it reads
NAB Gen 2:7:

the LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being.

But in the NAB it translates
NAB ECC 3:20:

Both go to the same place; both were made from the dust, and to the dust they both return.

Does anyone know why in Genesis they use clay?

I figure it doesn’t matter much, but it did pique my curiosity.

 

[patrick457]

I’m reading the second Chapter in Genesis and I come across a verse that is regarding a fact that I remember, Adam was made from dust.

Now in the NAB it reads

But in the NAB it translates

Does anyone know why in Genesis they use clay?

I figure it doesn’t matter much, but it did pique my curiosity.

The word used in both Genesis 2:7 and Ecclesiastes 3:20 is 'aphar, which mean “dust,” “soil,” “loose earth,” “powder,” “ashes,” or even “mortar” or “plaster.” So I guess their rendering it as “clay” is more of a variation (especially as the footnote states that here “God is portrayed as a potter molding man’s body out of clay”)