Genesis 3
3
Man's Disobedience
1 #
Rev 12.9; 20.2. Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. 9And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13#2 Cor 11.3. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
14And the Lord God said unto the serpent,
Because thou hast done this,
thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field;
upon thy belly shalt thou go,
and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15and I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
and between thy seed and her seed;
it shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel.
16Unto the woman he said,
I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception;
in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;
and thy desire shall be to thy husband,
and he shall rule over thee.
17 #
Heb 6.8. And unto Adam he said,
Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife,
and hast eaten of the tree,
of which I commanded thee, saying,
Thou shalt not eat of it:
cursed is the ground for thy sake;
in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee;
and thou shalt eat the herb of the field:
19in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
till thou return unto the ground;
for out of it wast thou taken:
for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
20And Adam called his wife's name Eve;#3.20 That is, Living. because she was the mother of all living. 21Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
22 #
Rev 22.14. And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 24So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.
Genesis 3
3
The first sin and the first murder
The first sin
1The snake was more cunning 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?”#Rev 12.9; 20.2.
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. 7Straight away they saw what they had done, and they realized they were naked. Then they sewed fig leaves together to make something to cover themselves.
8Late in the afternoon a breeze began to blow, and the man and woman heard the LORD God walking in the garden. They were frightened and hid behind some trees.
The trouble with sin
9The LORD 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.”
13The LORD God then asked the woman, “What have you done?”#2 Co 11.3; 1 Ti 2.14.
“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 dust.
15You and this woman#Rev 12.17.
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 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.”
17The LORD said to the man,#He 6.8.
“You listened to your wife
and ate fruit from that tree.
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 have to sweat
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.
22The LORD said, “These people 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 for ever.”#Rev 22.14. 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.
© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012