Genesis 3
3
The snake tricked the woman
1God made lots of animals, but the snake was the animal that had the most brains. He was really smart. One day, the snake went to the woman and said to her, “Did God say, ‘You can’t eat fruit from any of the trees in the garden’? Is that true?”#Revelation 12:9; 20:2
2The woman said, “No, that’s not true. We can eat fruit from those trees there in the garden. 3God said that there is only one tree that we can’t eat from. We can’t eat any fruit that comes from one of the trees that is in the middle of the garden. God will not even let us touch that tree. He said that if we eat fruit from that tree, we will die.”
4The snake said to the woman, “You will not die. 5God knows what will happen if you eat fruit from that tree. He knows that if you eat fruit from that tree, you will know more things, like God himself. You will know if the things you do are good, or if they are bad.”
The man and the woman did the wrong thing
6The woman looked at that tree. It was pretty, and the fruit on that tree looked really good to eat, and she reckoned that if she eats some of that fruit, she will think properly. So the woman got some of that fruit, and she ate it, and she gave some of it to her husband, and he ate that fruit too. 7Straight away, the man and the woman knew more things. They knew that they were naked, and they felt shame. They wanted to make clothes to cover up their naked bodies, so they picked some big leaves from a tree and sewed the leaves together to make some clothes.
The man and the woman tried to hide from God
8Later on, in the cool part of the day, the man and the woman heard God walking in the garden. So they got behind some trees in the garden to hide from God.
9God called out to the man, “Where are you?”
10The man said, “I heard you walking in the garden and I was frightened, because I’m naked. So I hid from you.”
11God asked the man, “How do you know that you are naked? Did you eat some of that fruit from the tree that I told you not to eat from?”
12The man said, “Yes, but it was the woman that you put here with me, she gave me fruit from that tree, so I ate it.”
13Then God said to the woman, “Why did you do that bad thing?”#2 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Timothy 2:14
The woman said, “That snake tricked me. That’s the reason why I ate that fruit.”
God judged the snake
14Then God said, “Snake, you did the wrong thing, so I will curse you. I will not curse the other animals, but I will curse all you snakes. From now on, you are going to crawl around on your bellies. You will always be down on the ground in the dirt. 15The woman’s kids will hate you, and so will all their kids, and all the people that will be born later on. People will always be your enemies. And Snake, your kids will hate the woman’s kids, and so will all the snake mob that will be born later on. You snake mob will always be the people’s enemies. They will hit your heads, and you will bite their feet.”#Revelation 12:17
God judged the woman
16Then God said to the woman, “I’m going to give you a lot of trouble. You are going to have a lot of pain whenever you have a baby. It will hurt you a lot. But you will really want to have a husband, and your husband will be your boss.”
God judged the man
17-18Then God said to the man, “I told you not to eat any fruit from one of the trees in the middle of the garden, but you listened to your wife, and you ate that fruit. So I will curse the ground and make it bad for you. It will never be easy for you to get your food from the plants in the ground any more. The ground will have lots of rubbish plants and prickles in it.#Hebrews 6:8 19You will work very hard to get your food, so you will get hot, and you will sweat a lot. And later on, you will die. I made you from the dirt, and after you die, your body will turn back into dirt.”
God hunted Adam and Eve out of Eden
20Adam’s wife was the first woman, and all the people in the world came from her. So Adam gave her the name Eve. That name means somebody that gives life. 21God made some clothes from animal skins for Adam and his wife.
22After that, God said, “These people are like us now. They know what things are good, and what things are bad. We have to stop them, so they will not eat fruit from the other tree in the middle of the garden, the tree that makes people stay alive. If they eat that fruit, they will live for ever.”#Revelation 22:14 23So God hunted them out of the garden. To get food, they had to dig the ground and grow plants. You know, God made that man out of the ground, and after they left the garden, that man had to dig that same ground.
24After God hunted them out of the garden, he made sure that they couldn’t get back. He put some of his angel workers to be guards just outside the east side of the garden in Eden. Their job was to stop anybody from getting near the tree that makes people stay alive. They had long knives that were on fire, and they waved those long knives everywhere, to keep everyone away.
© 2021, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. All rights reserved.
Genesis 3
3
The First Sin
1 #
Ws 2.24; Rev 12.9; 20.2. The snake was sneakier than any of the other wild animals that the Lord God had made. One day it came to the woman and asked, “Did God tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?”
2The woman answered, “God said we could eat fruit from any tree in the garden, 3except the one in the middle. He told us not to eat fruit from that tree or even to touch it. If we do, we will die.”
4“No, you won't!” the snake replied. 5“God understands what will happen on the day you eat fruit from that tree. You will see what you have done, and you will know the difference between right and wrong, just as God does.”
6The woman stared at the fruit. It looked beautiful and tasty. She wanted the wisdom that it would give her, and she ate some of the fruit. Her husband was there with her, so she gave some to him, and he ate it too. 7At once they saw what they had done, and they realized they were naked. Then they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
8Late in the afternoon, when the breeze began to blow, the man and woman heard the Lord God walking in the garden. So they hid behind some trees.
Sin Brings a Curse
9The Lord God called out to the man and asked, “Where are you?”
10The man answered, “I was naked, and when I heard you walking through the garden, I was frightened and hid!”
11“How did you know you were naked?” God asked. “Did you eat any fruit from that tree in the middle of the garden?”
12“It was the woman you put here with me,” the man said. “She gave me some of the fruit, and I ate it.”
13 #
2 Co 11.3; 1 Ti 2.14. The Lord God then asked the woman, “What have you done?”
“The snake tricked me,” she answered, “and I ate some of that fruit.”
14So the Lord God said to the snake:
“Because of what you have done,
you will be the only animal
to suffer this curse—
For as long as you live,
you will crawl on your stomach
and eat dirt.
15 #
Rev 12.17. You and this woman
will hate each other;
your descendants and hers
will always be enemies.
One of hers will strike you
on the head,
and you will strike him
on the heel.”
16Then the Lord God said to the woman,
“You will suffer terribly
when you give birth.
But you will still desire
your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
17 #
He 6.8. The Lord said to the man,
“You listened to your wife
and ate the fruit
I told you not to eat.
And so, the ground
will be under a curse
because of what you did.
As long as you live,
you will have to struggle
to grow enough food.
18Your food will be plants,
but the ground will produce
thorns and thistles.
19You will sweat all your life
to earn a living;
you were made out of soil,
and you will once again
turn into soil.”
20The man Adam#3.20 The man Adam: In Hebrew “man” and “Adam” are the same. named his wife Eve#3.20 Eve: In Hebrew “Eve” sounds like “living.” because she would become the mother of all who live.
21Then the Lord God made clothes out of animal skins for the man and his wife.
22 #
Rev 22.14. The Lord said, “They now know the difference between right and wrong, just as we do. But they must not be allowed to eat fruit from the tree that lets them live forever.” 23So the Lord God sent them out of the Garden of Eden, where they would have to work the ground from which the man had been made. 24Then God put winged creatures at the entrance to the garden and a flaming, flashing sword to guard the way to the life-giving tree.
Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.