Genesis 3

CHAPTER 3

1But the serpent was feller or more sly than all living beasts of [the] earth, which the Lord God had made. The which serpent said to the woman, Why commanded God to you, that ye should not eat of each tree of paradise?

2To whom the woman answered, We eat of the fruit of trees that be in paradise;

3soothly God commanded to us, that we should not eat of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of paradise, and that we should not touch it, lest peradventure we die.

4Forsooth the serpent said to the woman, Ye shall not die by death;

5for why God knoweth that in what-ever day ye shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.

6Therefore the woman saw that the tree was good, and sweet to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightable in beholding; and she took of the fruit thereof, and ate, and gave to her husband, and he ate.

7And the eyes of both were opened; and when they knew that they were naked, they sewed [together] the leaves of a fig tree, and made breeches to themselves.

8And when they heard the voice of the Lord God going in paradise at the wind after midday, Adam and his wife hid them from the face of the Lord God in [the] midst of the trees of paradise.

9And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him, Where art thou?

10And Adam said, I heard thy voice in paradise, and I dreaded, for I was naked, and I hid me.

11To whom the Lord said, Who showed to thee that thou were naked, no but for thou hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded to thee that thou shouldest not eat?

12And Adam said, The woman which thou gavest for fellowship to me, gave me of the tree, and I ate.

13And the Lord said to the woman, Why didest thou this thing? The which answered, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

14And the Lord God said to the serpent, For thou didest this, thou shalt be cursed among all [the] living things, and unreasonable beasts of [the] earth; thou shalt go on thy breast, and thou shalt eat earth in all the days of thy life.

15I shall set [or put] enmities betwixt thee and the woman, and betwixt thy seed and her seed; she shall break thine head, and thou shalt set ambushes to her heel.

16Also God said to the woman, I shall multiply thy wretchednesses and thy conceivings; in sorrow thou shalt bear thy children; and thou shalt be under power of thine husband, and he shall be lord of thee.

17Soothly God said to Adam, For thou heardest the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded to thee that thou shouldest not eat, the earth shall be cursed in thy work, that is, for thy sin; in travails thou shalt eat thereof in all the days of thy life;

18it shall bring forth thorns and briars to thee, and thou shalt eat herbs of the earth;

19in [the] sweat of thy cheer, [or face], thou shalt eat thy bread, till thou turn again into the earth of which thou art taken; for thou art dust, and thou shalt turn again into dust.

20And Adam called the name of his wife Eve, for she was the mother of all men living.

21And the Lord God made coats of skins to Adam and Eve his wife, and clothed them;

22and said, Lo! Adam is made as one of us, and knoweth good and evil; now therefore see ye, lest peradventure he put [out] his hand, and take [also] of the tree of life, and eat, and live without end.

23And the Lord God sent him out of paradise of liking or the garden of Eden, that he should work the earth, of which he was taken.

24And God casted out Adam, and setted before paradise of liking cherubim, that is, gave it unto the keeping of angels, and a sword of flame turning about to keep charge of the way of the tree of life.

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Genesis 3

The Temptation and the Fall

1Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” #Mt 10:16; 2Co 11:3; Rv 12:9; 20:2

2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’”#Gn 2:17

4“No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman.#Jn 8:44 5“In fact, God knows that when#3:5 Lit on the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.#1Tm 2:14; Jms 1:14–15; 1Jn 2:16 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Sin’s Consequences

8Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze,#3:8 Lit at the wind of the day and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.#Jb 34:22–23 9So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

10And he said, “I heard you#3:10 Lit the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”

11Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

12The man replied,#Jb 31:33; Pr 28:13 “The woman you gave to be with me — she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.”

13So the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”

And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”#Rm 7:11; 2Co 11:3; 1Tm 2:14

14So the Lord God said to the serpent:

Because you have done this,

you are cursed more than any livestock

and more than any wild animal.

You will move on your belly

and eat dust all the days of your life.#Is 65:25; Mc 7:17

15I will put hostility between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring.#3:15 Lit your seed and her seed

He will strike your head,

and you will strike his heel.#Heb 2:14; 1Jn 3:8

16He said to the woman:

I will intensify your labor pains;

you will bear children with painful effort.#Jn 16:21; 1Tm 2:15

Your desire#Gn 4:7 will be for your husband,

yet he will rule over you.

17And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’:

The ground is cursed because of you.#Gn 5:29; Rm 8:20–22; Heb 6:8

You will eat from it by means of painful labor#3:17 Lit it through pain

all the days of your life.

18It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field.#Gn 2:5

19You will eat bread#3:19 Or food by the sweat of your brow

until you return to the ground,#Ps 90:3; 104:29; Ec 12:7

since you were taken from it.

For you are dust,

and you will return to dust.”

20The man named his wife Eve#3:20 Lit Living, or Life because she was the mother of all the living. 21The Lord God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them.

22The Lord God said, “Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.”#Gn 2:9; Rv 2:7 23So the Lord God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24He drove the man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life.#Ex 25:18–22; Ps 104:4; Ezk 10:1–20; Heb 1:7

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