Genesis — Chapter 3

Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that the ETERNAL God had made. It said to the woman, “Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?”

The woman replied to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the other trees of the garden.

It is only about fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said: ‘You shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die.’”

And the serpent said to the woman, “You are not going to die,

but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who knowadivine beings who know In contrast to others “God, who knows.” good and bad.”

When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were naked; and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths.

They heard the sound of the ETERNAL God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of day; and the Human and his wife hid from the ETERNAL God among the trees of the garden.

The ETERNAL God called out to the Human and said to him, “Where are you?”

He replied, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”

“Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the tree from which I had forbidden you to eat?”

The Human said, “The woman You put at my side—she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

And the ETERNAL God said to the woman, “What is this you have done!” The woman replied, “The serpent duped me, and I ate.”

Then the ETERNAL God said to the serpent,“Because you did this,More cursed shall you beThan all cattleAnd all the wild beasts:On your belly shall you crawlAnd dirt shall you eatAll the days of your life.

I will put enmityBetween you and the woman,And between your offspring and hers;They shall strike at your head,And you shall strike at their heel.”

And to the woman [God] said,“I will greatly expandYour toil—and your pregnancies;In hardship shall you bear children.Yet your urge shall be for your husband,And his will shall prevail over yours.”

To Adam [God] said, “Because you did as your wife said and ate of the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’Cursed be the ground because of you;By toil shall you eat of itAll the days of your life:

Thorns and thistles shall it sprout for you.But your food shall be the grasses of the field;

By the sweat of your browShall you get bread to eat,Until you return to the ground—For from it you were taken.For dustbdust Heb. ʻaphar, as in 2.7; cf. the second note there. you are,And to dust you shall return.”

The Human named his wife Eve,cEve Heb. ḥawwah. because she was the mother of all the living.dliving Heb. ḥai.

And the ETERNAL God made garments of skins for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

And the ETERNAL God said, “Now that humankind has become like any of us, knowing good and bad, what if one should stretch out a hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever!”

So the ETERNAL God banished them from the garden of Eden, to till the humusehumus Heb. ʼadamah, lit. “soil,” as in 2.7; cf. the second note there. from which they were taken:

humankind was driven out; and east of the garden of Eden were stationed the cherubim and the fiery ever-turning sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.