Now the snake was the most cunning of all living beings that YAHWEH-God had made. He deviously asked the woman, “Did God really tell you, ‘You must not eat fruit from any tree of the garden—?’ ”
But the woman interrupted, “—We may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, except the tree in the center of the garden. God told us, ‘Don’t eat its fruit, or even touch it, or you’ll die.’ ”
But the snake said to her, “You certainly won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the tree produced delicious fruit, delightful to look upon, and desirable to give one insight, she took its fruit and ate it. She gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he also ate it. Immediately, their eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked, vulnerable, and ashamed; so they sewed fig leaves together for coverings.
Then Adam and his wife heard the sound of YAHWEH-God passing through the garden in the breeze of the day. So, they hid among the trees concealing themselves from the face of YAHWEH-God.
Then YAHWEH-God called Adam’s name and asked, “Where are you?”
Adam answered, “I heard your powerful presence moving in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
“Who told you that you were naked?” God said. “Did you eat the fruit of the tree that I commanded you not to eat?”
Adam pointed to the woman and said,
“The woman you placed alongside me—
she gave me fruit from the tree,
and I ate it.”
So YAHWEH-God said to the woman,
“What have you done?”
The woman pointed to the snake and said,
“The shining snake tricked me,
and I ate.”
YAHWEH-God then said to the snake,
“Because you have done this,
you are cursed above every wild animal,
condemned above every creature of the field!
You will slither on your belly
and eat dust all the days of your life!
And I will place great hostility between you and the woman,
and between her seed and yours.
He will crush your head
as you crush his heel.”
Then God said to the woman,
“I will cause your labor pains in childbirth to be intensified;
with pain you will give birth to children.
You will desire to dominate your husband,
but he will want to dominate you.”
And to Adam he said,
“Because you obeyed your wife instead of me,
and you ate from the forbidden tree
when I had commanded you not to,
the ground will be cursed because of you.
You will eat of it through painful toil all the days of your life.
It will sprout weeds and thorns,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
You will painfully toil and sweat
to produce food to eat,
until your body—taken from the ground—returns to the ground.
For you are from dust,
and to dust you will return.”
The man named his wife Eve—“Life-Giver,” because she would become the mother of every human being.
YAHWEH-God made garments from animal skins to clothe Adam and Eve. And YAHWEH-God said, “The man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. And now he might take in his hands fruit from the Tree of Life, and eat it, and live forever.” Therefore, YAHWEH-God expelled him from Eden’s paradise to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove them out of the garden, and placed fearsome angelic sentries east of the garden of Eden, with a turning fiery sword to guard the way to the Tree of Life.
Bible App
Bible App for Kids
