Genesis 3
3
The Fall
1Now #Matt. 10:16; 2 Cor. 11:3; Rev. 12:9; 20:2the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You#3:1 In Hebrew you is plural in verses 1–5 shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3but God said, #ch. 2:17‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4#ver. 13; John 8:44; [2 Cor. 11:3]But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,#3:6 Or to give insight she took of its fruit #1 Tim. 2:14 and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, #ver. 12, 17; Hos. 6:7and he ate. 7#ver. 5 Then the eyes of both were opened, #ch. 2:25and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
8And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool#3:8 Hebrew wind of the day, and the man and his wife #[Ps. 139:1-12; Jer. 23:23, 24]hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”#3:9 In Hebrew you is singular in verses 9 and 11 10And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, #ver. 7; ch. 2:25because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12The man said, #ch. 2:18; Job 31:33“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, #ver. 4; 2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Tim. 2:14“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and #Isa. 65:25; Mic. 7:17dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring#3:15 Hebrew seed; so throughout Genesis and #Isa. 7:14; Mic. 5:3; Matt. 1:23, 25; Luke 1:34, 35; Gal. 4:4; 1 Tim. 2:15 her offspring;
#
Rom. 16:20; Heb. 2:14; Rev. 20:1-3, 10 he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
16To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
# [John 16:21] in pain you shall bring forth children.
# ch. 4:7; Song 7:10 Your desire shall be contrary to#3:16 Or shall be toward (see 4:7) your husband,
but he shall #1 Cor. 11:3; 14:34; Eph. 5:22-24; Col. 3:18; 1 Tim. 2:11, 12; Titus 2:5; 1 Pet. 3:1, 5, 6rule over you.”
17And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
# ch. 2:17 of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
# ch. 5:29; [Rom. 8:20-22] cursed is the ground because of you;
#
Eccles. 2:22, 23 in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
# ch. 2:7; Ps. 103:14 for you are dust,
and #Job 34:15; Ps. 104:29; Eccles. 3:20; 12:7; Rom. 5:12to dust you shall return.”
20The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.#3:20 Eve sounds like the Hebrew for life-giver and resembles the word for living 21And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
22Then the Lord God said, #ver. 5 “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand #ch. 2:9and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden #ch. 2:5to work the ground from which he was taken. 24He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the #Ps. 18:10; 104:4; Heb. 1:7; [Ex. 25:18-22; Ezek. 28:11-16]cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
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Genesis 3
3
1The serpent was more cunning than any of the other wild animals that the Lord God had made. He asked Eve, “Did God really say that you can't eat fruit from every#3:1. “Every”: the word could also be translated “any,” however this would then mean that the serpent was suggesting that God had told Adam and Eve not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden, which seems less likely. tree in the garden?”
2Eve replied to the serpent, “We can eat from the trees in the garden, but not the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden. 3God told us, ‘You mustn't eat from that tree, or even touch it, otherwise you'll die.’”#3:3. “Otherwise you'll die.” The word used for “otherwise,” can indicate a possibility of something happening, rather than absolute certainty. So the phrase could be translated, “otherwise you might die,” a difference from God's clear prohibition, also claiming that God had said the fruit was not to be touched.
4“You certainly won't die,” the serpent told Eve. 5“It's because God knows that as soon as you eat it, you'll see things differently, and you'll be like God, knowing both what is good and what is evil.”
6Eve saw that the fruit of the tree appeared good to eat. It looked very attractive. She really wanted it so she could become wise. So she took some of its fruit and ate it, and she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it too. 7Immediately they saw everything differently and realized they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves up.
8Later they heard the Lord walking in the garden in the evening when the breeze was blowing. Adam and Eve went and hid out of sight of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9The Lord God called out to Adam, “Where are you?”
10“I heard you walking in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid,” he replied.
11“Who told you that you were naked?” asked the Lord God. “Did you eat fruit from the tree I ordered you not to?”
12“It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit from the tree, and I ate it,” Adam replied.
13The Lord God asked Eve, “Why have you done this?”
“The serpent tricked me, and so I ate it,” she replied.
14Then the Lord God told the serpent, “Because of what you've done, you are cursed more than any of the other animals. You will slide along on your belly and eat dust as long as you live. 15I will make sure you and your children, and the woman and her children, are enemies. One of her children will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
16He told Eve, “I will make pregnancy much more difficult, and giving birth will be very painful. However, you will still desire your husband, but he will have control over you.”#3:16. “But he will have control over you” or “and he will also desire you.”
17He told Adam, “Because you did#3:17. “Did”: the word is “listened to,” but not in the sense of only hearing something. It means acting on what has been heard, obeying. what your wife told you, and ate fruit from the tree after I ordered you, ‘Don't eat fruit from this tree,’ the ground is now cursed because of you. You will have to work painfully hard to grow food from it throughout your whole life. 18It will grow thorns and thistles for you, and you will have to eat wild plants.#3:18. Plants were originally allocated to the animals. See 1:30. 19You will have to sweat to grow enough food to eat until you die and return to the ground. For you were made from dust and you will return to dust.”
20Adam named his wife Eve, because she was to be the mother of all human beings. 21The Lord God made Adam and Eve clothes from animal skins and dressed them.
22Then the Lord God observed, “Look, the human beings#3:22. “The human beings”: literally, “the man,” but this must be understood inclusively since Eve had also fallen. have become like one of us, knowing both what is good and what is evil. Now if they take the fruit from the tree of life and eat it, then they'll live forever!” 23So the Lord God expelled them from the Garden of Eden. He sent Adam to cultivate the ground from which he'd been made. 24After he drove them out, the Lord God placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden angels and a sword that flashed in every direction. They were to prevent access to the tree of life.
Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com